Cory Doctorow
’s article on BoingBoing is an
older review of the iPad
, one of Apple’s most famous products.
At the time of this article, however, the iPad was simply the latest Apple product to hit the market
and was not yet so popular.
Doctorow’s entire career has been entrenched in and around technology. He got his start as a CD-ROM programmer and is now a successful blogger and author. He is currently the co-editor of the BoingBoing blog
on which this article was posted. One of his main points in this article comes from Doctorow’s passionate advocacy of free digital media sharing. He argues that
the iPad is just another way for established technology companies to control our technological freedom and creativity
.
In “
Why I Won’t Buy an iPad (and Think You Shouldn’t, Either
)
” published on Boing Boing in April of 2010, Cory Doctorow
successfully uses his experience with technology, facts about the company Apple, and appeals to consumer needs to convince potential iPad buyers that Apple and its products, specifically the iPad, limit the digital rights of those who use them by controlling and mainstreaming the content that can be used and created on the device
.
One example
of Doctorow’s position is his comparison of Apple’s iStore to Wal-Mart. This is an appeal to the consumer’s logic—or an appeal to logos. Doctorow wants the reader to take his comparison and consider how an all-powerful corporation like the iStore will affect them. An iPad will only allow for apps and programs purchased through the iStore to be run on it; therefore, a customer must not only purchase an iPad but also any programs he or she wishes to use. Customers cannot create their own programs or modify the hardware in any way.
Overall, Doctorow makes a good argument about why there are potentially many better things to drop a great deal of money on instead of the iPad. He gives some valuable information and facts that consumers should take into consideration before going out to purchase the new device. He clearly uses rhetorical tools to help make his case, and, overall,
he is effective as a
writer, even if, ultimately, he was ineffective in convincing the world not to buy an iPad
.