We like to hack things, to take them apart to understand how they work, recombine their elements, improve them and add new ones, some of which we’ve built from scratch. We hack all kinds of things–computers, cars, food, networks, governments, music and so on.
We hack some things that we don’t own (like open-source software) and many things we do. Once we buy something we consider it ours to hack, and we don’t need or seek anyone’s permission to do so. Nobody can dictate where, how or what we hack, particularly when we’re not breaking any laws.
Our work is profoundly beneficial; it’s a big source of creative destruction in the economy and society. We turn out innovations much better and faster than big sleepy incumbents do, and we also keep them on their feet. They might not like us, but they can’t stop us; we’ll either hack their wares or turn out better ones. So we don’t need to play nice with them, and don’t have any interest in doing so.
Entities that welcome us are, in the not-too-long-run, going to outperform those that don’t, because we bring so much energy and generate so much innovation.
McAfee writes, “The sustained and rampant success of the iCosystem directly challenges core aspects of this ethos. It calls into question the idea that maximum innovation results from maximum autonomy, which has become almost an article of faith in some quarters. Millions of users and the iCosystem are teaming up to behave in ways that upset some geeks’ ideas about the way the world works, or how it should. Hyperbole, vitriol, contempt and alarmism are all-too-common reactions when this happens. We’d be better served by thoughtful reconsideration of how technology-based innovation occurs, and how it can best be encouraged.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
I’m a geek and I love Apple products.
I’d appreciate for so-called journalists to make a difference in between smart geeks and stupid geeks.
Two kinds of people in the world, those who work on <strike>cars</strike> computers and those who <strike>drive</strike> use them.
Ever seen the look on a backyard mechanic’s face when they pop the hood of a Lexus.
My favorite type of geek is one who derives pleasure from grinding these things in a blender!
Real geeks don’t need, or write How to’s, nor do they hang out on news blogs promoting their craft.
Real geeks wouldn’t whine over a product whose tolerances are so exact, they are unable to hack in to it without leaving a trace.
Geeks who only recently became aware of Apple’s products have encountered not only a language
barrier but tighter tolerances in the physical aspects of the machine and the analog holes.
Their trouble with products like iPad is, it is too dificult to differentiate their work from the devices inherent features and benefits.
It’s hard to improve near perfection. Not that I’m saying the device is
anywhere near perfect, but given how tightly integrated the device is to the ITS (iTunes System) it leaves little margin for improvment, at the moment.
The real geeks’ interest in devices like these is I/O, and the thirty-pin port isn’t doing it for them.
They thrive on the analog hole and the holes found in Apple’s products like Apple TV and the Macintosh, are so wide open, even non geeks like me have been able to extend these products well beyond their intended use.
I am grateful to those who’ve pushed the envelope of Apple’s products, like Davilla over at the XBMC project and the crew at FireCore. They’re software engineers who have embraced the Apple platform and are making a difference.
A big thanks to the hacker/geek community, a spice of life.
Hobbyist Geeks on their own can do whatever they want!!!! As long as criminals do not get their info. But unfortunately the Hacker Criminals gets it via Internet. 🙁 Bad for all of us!!!!
Russian:China Spies are everywhere!
Most Hackers are up to No good.
Apple thinks for our interest and is a major player of Safe Fun Do that Internet stuff you like without the fuss!
Buy AAPL stocks…. 2011 = $401 bucks
Geeks =/= Hackers
God this guy is dumb…
All the so-called geek rage against the iPad exists because, a long time ago, Microsoft tried and succeeded at selling people on the idea that ‘power’ means being presented with a billion superfluous configuration settings, a convoluted labyrinth of directories, cryptic filenames, missing DLLs, and the eternal spectre of being forced to dive into the Registry and edit it by hand at a moment’s notice just to keep the system running or fix some enigmatic bug.
That’s why any computer that, y’know… Just works, doesn’t force you to spend large amounts of your time babysitting the operating system and tweaking vast arrays of minute settings, and instead lets you just do your thing without being frequently interrupted by some alert or system error gets derided as being “not serious”, “limited”, and “a toy” by all the “Power users”(*snicker*) who’ve bought in to Microsoft’s twisted idea of ‘power’.
So it isn’t really that the iPad’s violating geek ethos, it’s that the iPad’s starting to call a very-long-standing-but-also-very-wrong meme into doubt, and that’s making the suckers who believe in it as well as people who have alot invested in it(i.e., most IT employees) RAGE WITH TEH RAGEY RAGE.
‘why argue …’ gets the *DING*: “And then there’s iOS. No CLI at all.”
Correct. THAT is the one gigantic factor that ticks off geeks. No CLI, no diabolical mastermind control. No *evil laugh*. No ‘BWAHAHA’.
DARN, but that’s the future: Technology that is seriously user-friendly. No user-hostility required.
Take heart geeks: There will always be a way into the guts of the machine. There will always be programming, right down to the level of machine language. As the CLI disappears from public view, the geeks who know the underpinnings will be more valued and seen as more gawd-like than ever. Your diabolical mastermind powers will become even more mystical in the minds of the lusers.
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A real hacker wouldn’t buy one anyway. They’re not free…
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” /> I think there is confusion between geeks and hackers. Just because you’re a geek doesn’t make you a hacker and real hackers tend to be the uber-geeks in that they exist in a world largely defined by their interests (like research scientists taken to ra level), not the ‘real’ one.
ps. if you don’t know what I mean by free (no, not free of charge: its usage here a double entendre of sorts) then you’ll need to work on your geekness!
The iPad can be hacked.
Perhaps it isn’t as easy to hack but you’d think the “hacker ethos” would be to consider that a fascinating challenge.
They can be jailbroken, they can be disassembled, they can even be blended. If you want to you can start your own app store and compete with apple. Once you buy an iPad you can do any darn thing with it that you are capable of doing. If you aren’t able to do something that you want to do maybe you need to try harder.
….but it’s magical!!! I think the real reason is that “geeks” can’t afford a iPad, maybe they spent too much money on WoW!
In my experience, hackers hate Apple products because they simply can’t afford them.
Actually, I’d say that iOS and iDevice and mac loathing boils down to something like:
If a thing is not difficult, complex and arcane it sucks.
Kinda like idiot hipsters and their single speed bikes.
This article gives way too much credit to geeks, there are actually few that can hack. The majority are tinkerers. They like to tinker with their gadgets. It makes them feel they have power over their gadgets.
The vast majority of people just want to have stuff that works.
But the mass lemming syndrome has kept these people from deviating from the Windows herd…
“We geeks like, nay, REVEL in, control. We know how to mount and dismount a “drive” by entering a CLI command via the Terminal program – just one example out of many. OSX and Linux let us do these things, if we choose, while Windows does not. “
You’re not much of a geek if you don’t know that you can mount drives and partitions in CLI in Windows–it’s the DISKPART and/or MOUNTVOL commands.
That said, I can’t see why a geek would care about the iPad one way or the other. Just because the product is an appliance doesn’t invalidate its usefulness.
Use what you like, like what you use.
we knew that most Apple fanbots would have to have one anyway…
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we knew that most Apple fanbots would have to have one anyway. custom bedroom furniture
Blah blah blah blah…
That is not true. That description is not universal for what a geek is.
Haha, you people with your Apple device think you can do things that “geeks” can do without all the hassles! Very funny. You can do what steve jobs says you can do and you love it, strange people!
Also, what do you think all the Devs are that write all the apps you use. Apple products are for the less technical among us, which is fair enough. But dont give “geeks” grief because you have to rely on steve jobs letting you do something, or a dev writing you an app. If you love the locked down world, then good luck to you but your missing out on so much. In my opinion Apple dont make any good devices, the minute they stop forcing everyone to use iTunes and actually letting you access your own files properly for people who wish to do so, then ill change my opinion. After the iPhone 4 fiasco, how can anyone really stick up for Apple. They made a faulty phone, bad design and no major improvements over the 3gs. Ive tested and reviewed every Apple product ive been able to get my hands on, the only one id use would be an ipod and only so I dont flatten the battery playing music on my android phone.
Good luck to the people who love the Apple products, they do bring technology to the less technically minded but if you want to experience something different than what Apple allow you to do, try reading some books, noone who takes IT seriously use apple products. Ive worked in IT for 20 years, Apple have always been for the bad learners among us, for the slightly brighter people who can actually learn how to use something, anything other than apple will be a huge advantage!
Flash, ha. You guys are missing out on so much
Chris
“The iPad can be hacked.
Perhaps it isn’t as easy to hack but you’d think the “hacker ethos” would be to consider that a fascinating challenge.”
Great comment, however the reason why there is little interest in hacking this device is because its not that good! Why hack it when you can just purchase a netbook and not bother!