Being an enthusiast of technology, I get great satisfaction from playing with new computing devices. I also get great satisfaction out of getting new functionality out of old computers and gadgets. Which is why I am completely torn about being yet another blog writing about the iPad.

The thing about the iPad is it’s simplicity. This inspires love from those tired of fighting with their computers. It also inspires hate from those that like to customize every aspect of their UI to the point where it is unrecognizable to most users. I used to be a customizer. There is something fulfilling about being the only user able to use a specific computer. I can see why PC users would hate not seeing the file system, knowing where files are, and customizing every aspect of the experience.

The iPad, while similar to the iPod Touch/iPhone, is still a huge departure from the general use PCs we have been used to. It is a clean break from the Mouse/Keyboard UI we have been using since the mid-80s. It’s about time. It is absolutely the future of computing, and will be as widely copied and stolen from as the Mac UI by Microsoft and the iPhone has been by other smartphone makers.

I love the disruption and change that every Apple product seems to prod industries into. Make no mistake, tablets have been around for close to 10 years. Their problem is they tried to cram a mouse/keyboard UI into something that is mobile and unsuited for that paradigm. Hence even netbooks (really crappy small laptops) have gained in popularity when it should have been more mobile and useable computing devices.

What bugs me is that there are truly innovative companies capable of pulling of an iPad. HP, Microsoft, Sony, any one of the mobile phone companies. This should have been done years ago, but nobody had the balls to develop something new, to ask their users to embrace change and learn. To be loved and hated for bringing needed change to stagnant industries. I love that Apple does that. Success or failure, they are trying to create change.

I won’t be in line to buy one, just like I wasn’t in line to buy an iPhone. I have not pre-ordered, and won’t for a while. I have enough technology and gadgets in the house, and we are sophisticated enough users that another computer is just not needed with 2 Macs in the house. I still think it is the future, though, and that my son may never have to ever use a keyboard or mouse. Just like I have never had to use punch cards, or kids today have never had to use floppy disks. Change comes, and I look forward to changing with it. That is why I love following technology, and even more why I really like Apple.

It’s all about change.

I agree with a few points:

• Don’t listen to analysts, they are usually wrong when it comes to Apple.
• Apple and Verizon are going to meet.

Where I don’t agree is that it will be CDMA. I think it will be Verizon’s flagship LTE device, to launch a new 4g network. First my Gruber-style disclaimer:

I know nobody at Apple, this is pure speculation.

Let’s put this together. The rumor is Qualcomm will provide the chips for it. Correct. CDMA? Nope. I bet LTE, as Qualcomm is sampling chips as we speak. Apple does not play with old technology, so I think CDMA is off the table. So who will have a 30 market LTE network in 2010? Yup.

So, a 4G, truly next generation phone. If you read this press release here, and scroll down to the MDM9600 line, take a look at supported legacy standards:

“MDM9600™ chipset designed to support UMTS, HSPA+, EV-DO Rev. B, UMB and LTE”

Read this other Qualcomm press release. Dual carrier? You mean two carriers might get the iPhone, one with a clear performance advantage if they do have an LTE network? That is what I think.

The rest of the world is on a multiple carrier deal with Apple, I think it is North America’s turn. This chipset will work on AT&T and Verizon. I believe that is what the iPhone 4G will be. A LTE phone that can play on both networks.

In my home I have 2 Macs that have at their various stages of life run Tiger, Leopard, and Snow Leopard. One has a boot camp partition that has run Windows XP, and now Windows Vista Business. I built a home theater PC (HTPC) that ran XP, but now runs Windows 7 RC1. I recently bought a laptop for my parents, which came with Vista Pro.

I have never had a Mac OS make me angry enough to say bad words. I have had Mac Apps (I am looking at you Adobe) cause me to break the curse barrier, but not the OS itself. XP and Windows 7 I place on that level as well. XP has given me interesting times, but I am able to laugh them off and keep working.

Vista, on the other hand, has driven PCs from the home.  The HTPC has been downgraded (then upgraded!) to XP then 7. I bought the second Mac laptop for my wife to do her stuff on, because I could not bear to continue administrating the PC I had been keeping on life support. The only reason Vista stays on the boot camp partition is because:

• I am lazy.
• It plays games, nothing else.

So what prompts this anger? I spent 15 minutes updating my 2 macs, and 2 hours updating the 2 Vistas today. I have the UAC (user account control, ie. Thing that annoys you every time you click on something) disabled on my Mac, so I don’t get as mad with it. On the new laptop, however, I have not disabled it, as I feel my parents need that extra layer of safety, albeit annoying safety.

The UAC is the biggest source, but not the only one. I went into the Windows update screen, kicked off an update, which promptly failed on installation. The reason? Windows was working in the background doing the same update. Why did it let me start in the first place, slowing both processes down, when a simple check would have told me to not bother, as Windows is doing the job for me. Little things. Deleting the Adobe-installed reader icon from the desktop prompting the grey screen UAC interruption. OF COURSE I WANT TO DELETE THIS ICON, I CLICKED ON IT AND MOVED IT TO THE TRASH BIN. Little things.

Again, this all seems small and petty, and it might be, but this avalanche of little annoyances has kept me on outdated OSes (XP) and soon-to-be-expiring Release Clients and not on a proper OS. The good news is that Windows 7 is quite shiny, and the little petty annoyances are mostly gone. I hate that I am going to have to spend money on 2 licences, but my sanity, and my potty mouth, need Windows 7. Or Mac OS.

So I just found out that Capcom released Megaman II for the iPhone. The GREATEST GAME EVER released on the NES, on the iPhone. High tech, mixed with retro awesome. Instant buy, and another reason for us NES babies to appreciate where we are. The NES carts we paid $50 for are now $2.99 and a 10 second download. I love progress.

Our cellular phones now play the games that enthralled us as kids/teenagers, and only use a small fraction of the processing power of said devices. Our kids are going to laugh at this in 10 years as they play PS3 emulated games on the 3d iVirtuals embedded in their brains.