One should also take into account that the OS X desktop environment is quite a bit more complex than Springboard, with all sorts of background services running and what not. As logging in for a single user already takes much longer on OS X than it takes for iOS to set up the home screen, it doesn't make much sense to<span style="line-height:1.4em;"> extrapolate the multiuser experience on OS X to that on iOS.</span>
Aren't those all already running with the first user?
Safari refreshes don't bother me because, you know, web pages were always backed up in this new cloud thing called the World Wide Web. But hey, if you like stale web pages, complain away!
If the next iPad doesn't have 2GB ram (or iOS 8 doesn't fix Safari) I don't know if I'll be buying another iPad for a while. The tab refreshes in Safari drive me nuts. And they happen ALL THE TIME.
yeah, thats my biggest complained about the air. constantly reloading safari tabs, which means im constantly losing state on various sites.
and then we'll get the cries of fragmentation from all the Fandroids.
It doesn't matter what Apple releases you will hear cries from Fandroids and Apple Zealots as well that don't like anything to change at all. Apple will never win with those two extremes. It is like a discussion between tea party extremists and ultra-left socialists. Luckily 95% of the actual buying public do not fall into either of those camps so there impassioned debates held ad nauseam won't amount to a hill of beans.
I suspect that the new iPads will have at least 4GB RAM
Here's the Surface 2 Pro Specs:
Storage* and Memory
64/128GB 256/512GB 4GB RAM 8GB RAM
It will be hilarious that the best versions of Office Apps for a tablet will be running 2-up side-by-side on an iPad
I doubt that the next iPad will have 4GB. It might still have just 1GB (saves battery). 2GB would be the most. After all, the Surface Pro 2 you are referring to is an Intel x64-based design (the same as the MacBook Air). The Surface 2 has 2GB RAM.
Sounds a lot like this feature will ONLY be available on the 6th iPad.
Not if they announce it at WWDC. If they do, the feature will be supported at least on the A7-based iPad Air and maybe the A7-based Retina iPad mini and A6X-based 4th iPad. Otherwise, they'll wait until they have a hardware launch in order to announce the new features.
Safari refreshes don't bother me because, you know, web pages were always backed up in this new cloud thing called the World Wide Web. But hey, if you like stale web pages, complain away!
are you serious? web pages are used for more than reading an article on your daily news site. web apps often make heavy use of javascript to mimic stateful computing. every time the tab refreshes all that state is lost in whatever web app you may be using. not good, and nobody in their right mind would defend it.
The tab refreshes in Safari drive me nuts. And they happen ALL THE TIME.
I still get entire CRASHES of Safari, even in 7.1.1. There's a particular website, Weather Underground, that allows me to reproduce the crash 100% reliably. Hey Apple; stop adding features and fix the existing software!
I doubt that the next iPad will have 4GB. It might still have just 1GB (saves battery). 2GB would be the most. After all, the Surface Pro 2 you are referring to is an Intel x64-based design (the same as the MacBook Air). The Surface 2 has 2GB RAM.
Will this update be compatible with the iPad 3? I'm worried that Apple will start moving support away from its non-Air models soon like it did with the first generation iPad, after the iPad 2-4 were so far superior to its first model, it couldn't keep up. As the owner of a iPad 3, I hope it doesn't go the way of the first generation iPad too soon.
Not if they announce it at WWDC. If they do, the feature will be supported at least on the A7-based iPad Air and maybe the A7-based Retina iPad mini and A6X-based 4th iPad. Otherwise, they'll wait until they have a hardware launch in order to announce the new features.
I fully expect with the A8 and iOS 8 that Apple will up ram to 2GB of the iPhone and iPad. They got a lot of mileage out of 1GB but you can only do so much with that before you notice a speed hit.
Not sure if this is just a bad example or the entire concept is flawed but I'm struggling to see the benefits here. It takes so many taps and planning to run two apps concurrently that I don't see how it's better then jumping in and out of both apps independently. I suppose an open spreadsheet combined with an email might justify this multitasking but then again, I would simply jump to a laptop or desktop if I knew it would really require multitasking.
This rumour seems likely when you look at their "App Nap" feature they added in the latest OSX Mavericks.
"App Nap
App Nap regulates applications you’re not using so they consume less energy. When an app is open but not visible — say it’s hidden behind another window, or you’re using a different app in full screen — App Nap conserves battery life by slowing the app down."
I'm sure they've utilised this technology for iOS Multitasking, in fact I bet App Nap for OSX was based on research for multitasking in iOS, just like the iPad was developed before Apple came up with the iPhone.
I don't know how that would work. The entire ecosystem doesn't appear to be designed to make that work.
For example, imagine you have an iPad for family where 4 of the people play Infinity Blade. The game was bought and they all want to play it when it's their time. The game is 1.80 GiB. But right now, your game details are stored with the app which means that you would need that game installed 4x for this to work. Does that make sense? I don't think so.
But lets say space is infinite or they resolve the problem by storing apps clean in a general repository in iOS 8 but with every developer updating the million apps instantly so that apps are stored clean, like with Mac OS X. How do you switch users? On a Mac it can take many seconds to change the UI and load the app and that's with a faster system. If RAM is until 8 GiB I'm not sure you can store all these family accounts in memory so it's there at the push of a button. Even if you could there are power usage concerns by using RAM. So you are either dealing with speed or battery life.
It all just seems highly unlikely. If we still don't even have a Guest Account option that would only load Safari and a couple other apps without saving any data I can't see how we're going to get user accounts.
Currently user-specific data/saved games/settings are not stored "with the app" implying that to support multiple users you'd have to install multiple copies of the binaries. All that stuff is stored in the iOS file system in app-specific locations, but not in the same folder as the app itself. I don't think it's all that different from the way user settings are stored separately from the applications in OS X. If Apple wanted to support this, they could give developers to tools to update their apps. If past experience is any guild, it could be a very simple update for well-designed apps that have been updated for iOS 7.
Frankly, I think the harder part would be adjusting the iOS eco system for this. Today, my family of 4 has something like 4 iPads, 6 iPod touches/iPhones that aren't phones any more, and 2 iPhone, plus who knows how many old iPods all tied to my account. It's great that I all the apps, music, movies that I bought can be used by everyone, but it's increasingly complicated. My kids are reaching an age where they should have their own accounts, but there is no clean transition path. Ideally (from my perspective, if not the content providers') I would be able to share my apps, music, etc. with everyone in my household, but they would have their own distinct iOS accounts. So my devices wouldn't automatically download their dumb new apps, and vice versa. I'm sure I'm not unique in this challenge. I hope Apple comes up with an elegant solution soon.
It all just seems highly unlikely. If we still don't even have a Guest Account option that would only load Safari and a couple other apps without saving any data I can't see how we're going to get user accounts.
Those issues don't seem so impossible to overcome. I just don't think it is something that Apple wants to do because they would prefer that every member of the family to have their own device anyway.
This is surely a sign that the large screen iPad is on its way. Also I wonder if this means Apple is going to increase RAM to 2 GB for the iPad AIr 2. Multitasking will be more memory intensive and Apple wants to make the experience as smooth as possible.
This means... I have to change all my apps design and learn new APIs.
Those issues don't seem so impossible to overcome. I just don't think it is something that Apple wants to do because they would prefer that every member of the family to have their own device anyway.
You would be surprised just how many single users would also like multi-user accounts. One for your secret emails and hook up apps and one for your wife/husband/partner etc...to view without fear. Or just allow the ability to have a secret vault where these apps are hidden from prying eyes.
Comments
Aren't those all already running with the first user?
Sounds a lot like this feature will ONLY be available on the 6th iPad.
Not gonna happen.
Not late at all.
I’d think more that the app just won’t work in this way without explicitly being built for it.
If the next iPad doesn't have 2GB ram (or iOS 8 doesn't fix Safari) I don't know if I'll be buying another iPad for a while. The tab refreshes in Safari drive me nuts. And they happen ALL THE TIME.
yeah, thats my biggest complained about the air. constantly reloading safari tabs, which means im constantly losing state on various sites.
and then we'll get the cries of fragmentation from all the Fandroids.
It doesn't matter what Apple releases you will hear cries from Fandroids and Apple Zealots as well that don't like anything to change at all. Apple will never win with those two extremes. It is like a discussion between tea party extremists and ultra-left socialists. Luckily 95% of the actual buying public do not fall into either of those camps so there impassioned debates held ad nauseam won't amount to a hill of beans.
Ha cool, another one of Samsung's features that Apple will be using/stealing.
apple had implemented multitasking decades before samsung ever made a computing device. durr.
I suspect that the new iPads will have at least 4GB RAM
Here's the Surface 2 Pro Specs:
Storage* and Memory
64/128GB 256/512GB
4GB RAM 8GB RAM
It will be hilarious that the best versions of Office Apps for a tablet will be running 2-up side-by-side on an iPad
I doubt that the next iPad will have 4GB. It might still have just 1GB (saves battery). 2GB would be the most. After all, the Surface Pro 2 you are referring to is an Intel x64-based design (the same as the MacBook Air). The Surface 2 has 2GB RAM.
Sounds a lot like this feature will ONLY be available on the 6th iPad.
Not if they announce it at WWDC. If they do, the feature will be supported at least on the A7-based iPad Air and maybe the A7-based Retina iPad mini and A6X-based 4th iPad. Otherwise, they'll wait until they have a hardware launch in order to announce the new features.
Safari refreshes don't bother me because, you know, web pages were always backed up in this new cloud thing called the World Wide Web. But hey, if you like stale web pages, complain away!
are you serious? web pages are used for more than reading an article on your daily news site. web apps often make heavy use of javascript to mimic stateful computing. every time the tab refreshes all that state is lost in whatever web app you may be using. not good, and nobody in their right mind would defend it.
The tab refreshes in Safari drive me nuts. And they happen ALL THE TIME.
I still get entire CRASHES of Safari, even in 7.1.1. There's a particular website, Weather Underground, that allows me to reproduce the crash 100% reliably. Hey Apple; stop adding features and fix the existing software!
I'd bet on 2 GiB.
Not if they announce it at WWDC. If they do, the feature will be supported at least on the A7-based iPad Air and maybe the A7-based Retina iPad mini and A6X-based 4th iPad. Otherwise, they'll wait until they have a hardware launch in order to announce the new features.
I fully expect with the A8 and iOS 8 that Apple will up ram to 2GB of the iPhone and iPad. They got a lot of mileage out of 1GB but you can only do so much with that before you notice a speed hit.
Not sure if this is just a bad example or the entire concept is flawed but I'm struggling to see the benefits here. It takes so many taps and planning to run two apps concurrently that I don't see how it's better then jumping in and out of both apps independently. I suppose an open spreadsheet combined with an email might justify this multitasking but then again, I would simply jump to a laptop or desktop if I knew it would really require multitasking.
This rumour seems likely when you look at their "App Nap" feature they added in the latest OSX Mavericks.
"App Nap
App Nap regulates applications you’re not using so they consume less energy. When an app is open but not visible — say it’s hidden behind another window, or you’re using a different app in full screen — App Nap conserves battery life by slowing the app down."
I'm sure they've utilised this technology for iOS Multitasking, in fact I bet App Nap for OSX was based on research for multitasking in iOS, just like the iPad was developed before Apple came up with the iPhone.
I don't know how that would work. The entire ecosystem doesn't appear to be designed to make that work.
For example, imagine you have an iPad for family where 4 of the people play Infinity Blade. The game was bought and they all want to play it when it's their time. The game is 1.80 GiB. But right now, your game details are stored with the app which means that you would need that game installed 4x for this to work. Does that make sense? I don't think so.
But lets say space is infinite or they resolve the problem by storing apps clean in a general repository in iOS 8 but with every developer updating the million apps instantly so that apps are stored clean, like with Mac OS X. How do you switch users? On a Mac it can take many seconds to change the UI and load the app and that's with a faster system. If RAM is until 8 GiB I'm not sure you can store all these family accounts in memory so it's there at the push of a button. Even if you could there are power usage concerns by using RAM. So you are either dealing with speed or battery life.
It all just seems highly unlikely. If we still don't even have a Guest Account option that would only load Safari and a couple other apps without saving any data I can't see how we're going to get user accounts.
Currently user-specific data/saved games/settings are not stored "with the app" implying that to support multiple users you'd have to install multiple copies of the binaries. All that stuff is stored in the iOS file system in app-specific locations, but not in the same folder as the app itself. I don't think it's all that different from the way user settings are stored separately from the applications in OS X. If Apple wanted to support this, they could give developers to tools to update their apps. If past experience is any guild, it could be a very simple update for well-designed apps that have been updated for iOS 7.
Frankly, I think the harder part would be adjusting the iOS eco system for this. Today, my family of 4 has something like 4 iPads, 6 iPod touches/iPhones that aren't phones any more, and 2 iPhone, plus who knows how many old iPods all tied to my account. It's great that I all the apps, music, movies that I bought can be used by everyone, but it's increasingly complicated. My kids are reaching an age where they should have their own accounts, but there is no clean transition path. Ideally (from my perspective, if not the content providers') I would be able to share my apps, music, etc. with everyone in my household, but they would have their own distinct iOS accounts. So my devices wouldn't automatically download their dumb new apps, and vice versa. I'm sure I'm not unique in this challenge. I hope Apple comes up with an elegant solution soon.
Those issues don't seem so impossible to overcome. I just don't think it is something that Apple wants to do because they would prefer that every member of the family to have their own device anyway.
This is surely a sign that the large screen iPad is on its way. Also I wonder if this means Apple is going to increase RAM to 2 GB for the iPad AIr 2. Multitasking will be more memory intensive and Apple wants to make the experience as smooth as possible.
This means... I have to change all my apps design and learn new APIs.
Those issues don't seem so impossible to overcome. I just don't think it is something that Apple wants to do because they would prefer that every member of the family to have their own device anyway.
You would be surprised just how many single users would also like multi-user accounts. One for your secret emails and hook up apps and one for your wife/husband/partner etc...to view without fear. Or just allow the ability to have a secret vault where these apps are hidden from prying eyes.