30 Days With the iPad: Day 1

Here we go again. Some of you might say I am some sort of glutton for punishment, but it's time to start a new 30 Days With project. I am typing this in the iWork Pages app on an iPad 2 because this month I am spending 30 Days With the iPad.

I don't mean 30 days playing with the iPad to see if I can beat my 5 year old daughter at Angry Birds (I can't--she's an iPad game prodigy), or sitting around reading books in the Kindle app (although I have a library of unread books I have purchased sitting there waiting for me). I will probably spend some time doing both of those things, but that isn't the focus of the project.

No, I mean 30 days giving up my trusty Dell XPS M1330 laptop--the notebook PC that has been my sole source of income for the past three years. I mean giving up the Windows 7 OS that I love--again. In case you're just joining us, I just got done spending 30 Days With Ubuntu Linux. I was looking forward to getting back to Windows, but this should be an interesting project.

Basically, this is a case of me trying to practice what I preach. Since the original iPad first hit the street, I have been a fan, and I have been a proponent that the iPad can--in fact--replace a notebook PC and be the primary computing platform for most users. Can it really? I guess we'll find out.

As I mentioned, I already know it can play Angry Birds, and that it can be an eReader. I know I can surf the Web, and watch a Netflix movie. I use the iPad regularly in the casual sense. But, the question is if my notebook died tomorrow, could I make my living from the iPad just as I currently do from my Windows PC.

Just as with the Ubuntu Linux experience last month, the daily posts during the 30 Days With the iPad project will cover a range of topics--some of which will be about the apps needed for certain functions, or just setting up the things one might need in order to use the iPad as a PC replacement instead of just a consumer gadget for consuming content.

I know up front that there are a number of issues I will encounter that are / will be addressed when iOS 5 is released. I will try to at least point those out as we go along.

I hope you will come back each day and follow the journey. Feel free to comment on the posts. Share your own experiences--especially if you have experiences with rival tablets and can offer some additional perspective on how those platforms might be better, or at least different. You can also pose questions either in the comments, or just email me directly at tony@s3kur3.com.

Alrighty then. Let's go.

Read the last "30 Days" series: 30 Days With Ubuntu Linux

Day 2: Choosing the Right iPad

Go to Page 2 for a complete list of links to the "30 Days With the iPad" entries.