I don't know man. This feels like typical Apple: deny, deny, deny the thing.
Typical would imply that it's a regular thing. I recall video on iPod and music subscription services as two cases in the last twenty years. That's pretty much it, though.
And Apple were right about both: video on iPod sucked, and music subscription is a really, really shitty idea. But that ship has sailed.
Don’t forget ebooks.
What about ebooks? Did Apple ever make disparaging comments about them? Because they were a huge bit at the original iPad introduction. Specifically, digital textbooks.
... Microsoft has demonstrated that a converged device doesn't work well and this is always what Apple has said they won't do for years, which is convergence. The fridge-toaster: ...
Updated....
I get that you are saying that running a touch screen based OS on non-touch screen hardware (and vice-versa) does not work well.
But many use that argument to proclaim that tablets can never work as laptops and laptops can never work well in tablet mode.
But, as you pointed out previously, if they switch software modes when they switch hardware modes, there is no reason why tablets can't function well as laptops when they are in laptop mode and vice versa.
Another, rather simple, quick and dirty way to achieve that on the M1 iPad would be to simply add Bootcamp to it and allow the user to either boot MacOS or iPadOS. That would certainly not be as elegant being able to switch back and forth. But it would remove what is now simply an arbitrary limitation put on the M1 iPad by Apple administrators / bureaucrats.
But then, why would Apple want to do that? Their current answer is: If you want a tablet, give us a $1,000. Then, if you want a laptop, give us another $1,000. As long as their customers tolerate that they will likely continue the practice
It sure looks to me like macOS and iOS are already merged. Apple made running iOS apps on the new iMac 24 part of their dog and pony show. Someone described the iMac 24 as an iPad on a stick and except for a touch screen that isn't far from the truth. By the way how DO you run iOS apps on the M1 Macs? Do you have access to the iOS App Store?
Thats nothing like merging the two. macOS has a different user interface to iOS, a totally different paradigm. A mouse driven paradigm vs a touch paradigm. A mostly open paradigm vs a closed paradigm. A desktop vs a mobile OS.
Yes they can run some iOS apps into macOS where they work badly in the absence of a touch screen ( but developers could always do that), but merging macOS into iOS would either remove macOS, annoying all of us who want a desktop system, or it would be macOS.
macOS > iOs, at least in terms of software. In terms of hardware gimcracks iOS has haptic responses, GPS, accelerometer. Apps written for iOS using these are useless on macOS.
I have an M1 and I use the iOs apps very rarely. I just tried a weather app and it looks just about ok. It is is a resizable window but the layout isn't very Mac like. Tabs are at the bottom, not the top. Probably these should be in a sidebar. A dedicated Mac app would have a menu item as well.
(With SwiftUI they have handled this with the same code base producing different outputs. What appears as a navigation to a second screen on iOS appears as master details on Mac and iPad. )
Sorry, but iPad already works perfectly well using a mouse and external keyboard.
Most of the limitations are in the limitations of the file system and Safari -- which has nothing to do with touch vs cursor control. Rather, it is a remnant of a dummied down, simplified iOS legacy..
Conspiracy theorists cherry pick things they claim support their theory (iPad has an M1 chip!), and claim things that don’t (like continued, consistent denials from Apple that iPads and Macs will be combined) are just evidence of the conspiracy. There’s really nothing that will change their minds.
Joswiak said Apple has no plans to merge the products. Instead, the addition of the Mac-focused chip is part of the company's continual goal to make each product the best in their own categories.
"There's two conflicting stories people like to tell about the iPad and Mac. On the one hand, people say that they are in conflict with each other. That somebody has to decide whether they want a Mac, or they want an iPad. Or people say that we're merging them into one: that there's really this grand conspiracy we have, to eliminate the two categories and make them one. And the reality is neither is true. We're quite proud of the fact that we work really, really hard to create the best products in their respective category."
There is some conflict in their marketing with this. They've shown ads about the iPad as a replacement for a traditional computer and they've heavily promoted Swift coding in education and talked about the jobs the App Store supports. Tim Cook said learning to code is more important than English as a second language:
But you can't code outside of tutorial environments on an iPad, there are restrictions on dynamic code in the OS. Software development is one of Apple's largest segments of pro users. Dynamic code is also used for scripting and plugins inside creative software.
Take a student of science and art. The iPad allows them to draw, paint and sculpt art in a convenient and comfortable way. The Mac allows them to develop software and have unrestricted access to the filesystem for data, backups, downloads and run all kinds of powerful software.
What they are saying is somewhat true, both these products perform well at those respective tasks but a student of both has to choose between them or buy both.
If they started with an iPad and allow it to run macOS when connected to a keyboard (no touch input) then it would behave no differently from a standard Mac laptop in that mode. It's not a merged OS, it's just allowing the same hardware to perform both functions. The only tricky part would be switching between them, whether the iPad mode is like an app inside macOS that goes fullscreen or it's an OS switch with suspend/resume or macOS runs as a mode inside iPadOS.
Here's a video of how the latter option would look:
The part with touching the macOS UI is obviously not a usable experience, the main Mac use would be around 5:00 with keyboard and mouse/trackpad.
Microsoft has demonstrated that a converged device doesn't work well and this is always what Apple has said they won't do for years, which is convergence. The fridge-toaster:
Where convergence goes wrong is when two products perform different functions (fridge and toaster) or are designed for different inputs (Windows with a touch UI). It works very well for things that are complimentary like iPod + GPS + phone + PDA = iPhone. Most of the functions of an iPad and Mac are identical, web browsing takes up most of the usage and is the same on both. Games, email, calendars and so on are the same on both systems. The biggest difference between an iPad and a Mac experience is how the user interacts with it, which is determined by how the user holds the device.
If it's held it like a tablet, nobody wants to be poking at desktop UI elements with their finger, that requires different software. If it's in a dock like the magic keyboard cover, nobody wants to be poking at the screen at all, the keyboard and trackpad are much more comfortable.
Look at the use case shown in the following video at 6:45:
That's an iPad Pro hooked up to an XDR display. It looks amazing and powerful but in reality not usable at all as it's just mirroring the output and you can't use it like you could a Mac system. If that hardware allowed switching over to the Mac system in that environment, it could do everything a Mac could - run Final Cut, Logic, all the Adobe Suite, Da Vinci, Xcode, Node JS, Python, web servers, app publishing.
It could lead to a problem where people end up preferring the power of macOS on the iPad and that would push towards the system becoming more of a converged mess. There's also the issue that a Mac system on a 10" tablet display is not a good experience either (although it could be scaled up a bit), it would mainly be useful on a 12" model and/or external display. But it would be a much better value product for a student or anyone that only wanted a single device to offer the best experience for both tablet and desktop use.
Looking ahead at other products like AR, that can change things entirely because the interaction is no longer a choice between hand-held tablet or keyboard-based, it's a superset of both. The UI can be as big as it needs to be and allow for touch input.
Maybe iPadOS will just continue to improve to the point it doesn't matter but it's now 11 years in and that would surely have been the case by now. Apple's preference is for people to do some things on iPad and some things on Mac and buy both if they need both. The spec of the new iPad Pro offers an opportunity to have those functions on the same hardware. It would be a neat addition to an iPad, even in a limited form to be able have the extra freedom and power macOS offers when the need arises.
Hate to say it after your lengthy post... but the Big Sur UI would like a word.
I don't know man. This feels like typical Apple: deny, deny, deny the thing. Right up until the moment they introduce the thing. I just feel like MacOS has been slowly but surely iOSified (iPadOSified if you will) more and more. Could I just be reinforcing my preconceived notions with non-coincidental coincidences? Probably. Likely.
It hasn’t tho. They’ve added a couple things on the surface, like the notifications center. But fundamentally Mac computing is a different use case and user experience.
They’ve been saying this perfectly clearly for years now. Does that mean there will never be a next-thing? No. But Jos was clear, just like Craig was clear.
You really like using that graphic huh? As for the OS unification, I freely admit I could be wrong and admitted as much in the comment you quoted. The clarity of their statements means little in this circumstance though. Previous declarations about different things were just as emphatic, right up to the point they weren't. As I said, it's just a feeling. It's not a prognostication or anything grand. If it turns out I'm wrong, no big deal. If it turns out I'm right I'm an omniscient all seeing God. I can live with either outcome.
They weren't nearly as emphatic. And the market around them changed in some cases. So if another company like MS, or Samsung produced a hybrid device that was actually useful then they would think about it. For now they clearly mean what they have said. Its not like they are not trying to make cross ( Apple) platform coding easier, they are working full belt on that, SwiftUI being the most portable. In the middle of these efforts they are clearly saying - no merging.
And the history of the operating systems that Apple produces is one of divergence, not convergence. From OS X, to iOS, iPad Os, watchOS and tvOS.
But, as you pointed out previously, if they switch software modes when they switch hardware modes, there is no reason why tablets can't function well as laptops when they are in laptop mode and vice versa.
<<snip>>
But then, why would Apple want to do that? Their current answer is: If you want a tablet, give us a $1,000. Then, if you want a laptop, give us another $1,000. As long as their customers tolerate that they will likely continue the practice
It sure does come across that way.
I almost wonder if Apple is (or should be) thankful for the conspiracy theorists contemplating an unholy merger of the Mac UI and iPad UI into a single mish-mash UI. That 'fake news' is a nice distraction from the more desirable form of "merger" you describe, in which the two UI paradigms remain distinct, but coexist in the same device.
Alternatively, perhaps Apple does plan to create exactly the device you describe, and they are just putting all the pieces in place such that the mode switch from Mac UI to iPad UI is as seamless and painless as possible. If that's their plan, then we certainly seem to be getting very close, now that the hardware specs of an iPad Pro and Mac laptop are almost identical.
and if the center stage feature is such a BFD, why not put it on the iMac?? Seems like a no-brainer.
Because the video chat use case for a desktop Mac is different from the use case for a mobile device like an iPad or iPhone, would be my guess why they didn't use an ultrawide camera on the iMac.
You honestly think Apple thinks about use cases? No, they just want you to buy both devices. I'd love that feature for an iMac because it makes the device more versatile and in general, how cool would that be?
Attach a keyboard with trackpad and the system transitions to a macOS UX. Add external mouse and external keyboard via Bluetooth and the system transitions to macOS. Do none of that: iPad OS. Just to make this happen they need to rename the Files app to Finder and add the other missing apps such as Calculator and Dictionary and Terminal and Text Edit etc. And on the Mac replace Automator with Shortcuts. Users could literally run macOS after attaching to their magic keyboard and they could pull the iPad off the magnets and it would seamlessly switch back to iPadOS.
I don’t know. I guess though then the iPad Pro would have no case on it and very few people use their devices like this with no case. Perhaps there’s a method to keeping them separate, and I don’t just mean buying both devices but I mean philosophically perhaps if you need a Mac laptop then just get one.
I don't know man. This feels like typical Apple: deny, deny, deny the thing. Right up until the moment they introduce the thing. I just feel like MacOS has been slowly but surely iOSified (iPadOSified if you will) more and more. Could I just be reinforcing my preconceived notions with non-coincidental coincidences? Probably. Likely.
It hasn’t tho. They’ve added a couple things on the surface, like the notifications center. But fundamentally Mac computing is a different use case and user experience.
They’ve been saying this perfectly clearly for years now. Does that mean there will never be a next-thing? No. But Jos was clear, just like Craig was clear.
You really like using that graphic huh? As for the OS unification, I freely admit I could be wrong and admitted as much in the comment you quoted. The clarity of their statements means little in this circumstance though. Previous declarations about different things were just as emphatic, right up to the point they weren't. As I said, it's just a feeling. It's not a prognostication or anything grand. If it turns out I'm wrong, no big deal. If it turns out I'm right I'm an omniscient all seeing God. I can live with either outcome.
I use the images because I’m given so many opportunities to — people keep denying what their eyes are telling them. Apple execs have said the same things on this for years and years. Craig that WWDC slide would put an end to it but...nope. People citing silly examples (best/worst is the Pencil as stylus) doesn’t change it. Nor does adding a screen to the iPod, which was a relatively minor change compared to the entirely different use cases of iPad vs Mac. Cars and trucks. Same with a bigger iPhone - basic UX remains unchanged. Ive said their sticking point was getting the thickness & weight down. By pursuing thinner engineering they achieved it. Still not the difference between the lightness of cars and the utility of trucks.
What is funny is I used this slide several days ago, the butthurts told me I didn’t know what I was talking about, and then...Jos says the same thing in this interview. Heh.
I don't know man. This feels like typical Apple: deny, deny, deny the thing. Right up until the moment they introduce the thing. I just feel like MacOS has been slowly but surely iOSified (iPadOSified if you will) more and more. Could I just be reinforcing my preconceived notions with non-coincidental coincidences? Probably. Likely.
It hasn’t tho. They’ve added a couple things on the surface, like the notifications center. But fundamentally Mac computing is a different use case and user experience.
They’ve been saying this perfectly clearly for years now. Does that mean there will never be a next-thing? No. But Jos was clear, just like Craig was clear.
You really like using that graphic huh? As for the OS unification, I freely admit I could be wrong and admitted as much in the comment you quoted. The clarity of their statements means little in this circumstance though. Previous declarations about different things were just as emphatic, right up to the point they weren't. As I said, it's just a feeling. It's not a prognostication or anything grand. If it turns out I'm wrong, no big deal. If it turns out I'm right I'm an omniscient all seeing God. I can live with either outcome.
They weren't nearly as emphatic. And the market around them changed in some cases. So if another company like MS, or Samsung produced a hybrid device that was actually useful then they would think about it. For now they clearly mean what they have said. Its not like they are not trying to make cross ( Apple) platform coding easier, they are working full belt on that, SwiftUI being the most portable. In the middle of these efforts they are clearly saying - no merging.
And the history of the operating systems that Apple produces is one of divergence, not convergence. From OS X, to iOS, iPad Os, watchOS and tvOS.
George is absolutely correct on this topic. He is NOT asking for merging the iOS and MacOS. He is simply expecting 2 different OSes to run in same hardware which is very much capable of doing that (M1 iPad Pro) in different scenarios, based on user selection. There is NOTHING out of ordinary in that ask from George. It is a perfectly valid expectation.
IF Apple does not take this path, the ONLY reason would be shareholder's interest - i.e. sell 2 devices to customers to increase revenue instead of selling 1 device which is capable of performing both the functions (tablet & laptop) equally well. If that is the decision that Apple takes, then that would be a bad move on the part of Apple. We will have to wait and see which way they go.
Attach a keyboard with trackpad and the system transitions to a macOS UX. Add external mouse and external keyboard via Bluetooth and the system transitions to macOS. Do none of that: iPad OS. Just to make this happen they need to rename the Files app to Finder and add the other missing apps such as Calculator and Dictionary and Terminal and Text Edit etc. And on the Mac replace Automator with Shortcuts. Users could literally run macOS after attaching to their magic keyboard and they could pull the iPad off the magnets and it would seamlessly switch back to iPadOS.
I don’t know. I guess though then the iPad Pro would have no case on it and very few people use their devices like this with no case. Perhaps there’s a method to keeping them separate, and I don’t just mean buying both devices but I mean philosophically perhaps if you need a Mac laptop then just get one.
If you think it's just that simple, you don't know how this stuff actually works. MacOS and iPadOS are two different operating systems. Windows came out with a version that did that sort of switching around of user interfaces, and it was universally panned. By trying to be all things to all people, they created a mess that didn't work well for anyone. The reason the Mac and iPad are separate is because they function differently. Is there overlap? Sure. But that doesn't mean they're the same house with different color drapes.
Attach a keyboard with trackpad and the system transitions to a macOS UX. Add external mouse and external keyboard via Bluetooth and the system transitions to macOS. Do none of that: iPad OS. Just to make this happen they need to rename the Files app to Finder and add the other missing apps such as Calculator and Dictionary and Terminal and Text Edit etc. And on the Mac replace Automator with Shortcuts. Users could literally run macOS after attaching to their magic keyboard and they could pull the iPad off the magnets and it would seamlessly switch back to iPadOS.
I don’t know. I guess though then the iPad Pro would have no case on it and very few people use their devices like this with no case. Perhaps there’s a method to keeping them separate, and I don’t just mean buying both devices but I mean philosophically perhaps if you need a Mac laptop then just get one.
If you think it's just that simple, you don't know how this stuff actually works.
If you think it is too complex for a company like Apple to pull of, then you don't know how this stuff gets done by such large companies.
I don't know man. This feels like typical Apple: deny, deny, deny the thing. Right up until the moment they introduce the thing. I just feel like MacOS has been slowly but surely iOSified (iPadOSified if you will) more and more. Could I just be reinforcing my preconceived notions with non-coincidental coincidences? Probably. Likely.
It hasn’t tho. They’ve added a couple things on the surface, like the notifications center. But fundamentally Mac computing is a different use case and user experience.
They’ve been saying this perfectly clearly for years now. Does that mean there will never be a next-thing? No. But Jos was clear, just like Craig was clear.
You really like using that graphic huh? As for the OS unification, I freely admit I could be wrong and admitted as much in the comment you quoted. The clarity of their statements means little in this circumstance though. Previous declarations about different things were just as emphatic, right up to the point they weren't. As I said, it's just a feeling. It's not a prognostication or anything grand. If it turns out I'm wrong, no big deal. If it turns out I'm right I'm an omniscient all seeing God. I can live with either outcome.
They weren't nearly as emphatic. And the market around them changed in some cases. So if another company like MS, or Samsung produced a hybrid device that was actually useful then they would think about it. For now they clearly mean what they have said. Its not like they are not trying to make cross ( Apple) platform coding easier, they are working full belt on that, SwiftUI being the most portable. In the middle of these efforts they are clearly saying - no merging.
And the history of the operating systems that Apple produces is one of divergence, not convergence. From OS X, to iOS, iPad Os, watchOS and tvOS.
George is absolutely correct on this topic. He is NOT asking for merging the iOS and MacOS. He is simply expecting 2 different OSes to run in same hardware which is very much capable of doing that (M1 iPad Pro) in different scenarios, based on user selection. There is NOTHING out of ordinary in that ask from George. It is a perfectly valid expectation.
IF Apple does not take this path, the ONLY reason would be shareholder's interest - i.e. sell 2 devices to customers to increase revenue instead of selling 1 device which is capable of performing both the functions (tablet & laptop) equally well. If that is the decision that Apple takes, then that would be a bad move on the part of Apple. We will have to wait and see which way they go.
No, it's not a "perfectly valid expectation." Apple designs their hardware and operating systems concurrently as single units. They don't create generic hardware to run whatever you want to put on it. This is why their devices work as well as they do. Slapping MacOS into an iPad because some guy on a message board insists that it ought to work ok is ridiculous. It's not about greedily selling two devices instead of one. It's about not selling mismatched devices that undermine their entire business model just because some small segment of the market can't get past their fantasy narrative of "what Apple should do."
I don't know man. This feels like typical Apple: deny, deny, deny the thing. Right up until the moment they introduce the thing. I just feel like MacOS has been slowly but surely iOSified (iPadOSified if you will) more and more. Could I just be reinforcing my preconceived notions with non-coincidental coincidences? Probably. Likely.
It hasn’t tho. They’ve added a couple things on the surface, like the notifications center. But fundamentally Mac computing is a different use case and user experience.
They’ve been saying this perfectly clearly for years now. Does that mean there will never be a next-thing? No. But Jos was clear, just like Craig was clear.
You really like using that graphic huh? As for the OS unification, I freely admit I could be wrong and admitted as much in the comment you quoted. The clarity of their statements means little in this circumstance though. Previous declarations about different things were just as emphatic, right up to the point they weren't. As I said, it's just a feeling. It's not a prognostication or anything grand. If it turns out I'm wrong, no big deal. If it turns out I'm right I'm an omniscient all seeing God. I can live with either outcome.
They weren't nearly as emphatic. And the market around them changed in some cases. So if another company like MS, or Samsung produced a hybrid device that was actually useful then they would think about it. For now they clearly mean what they have said. Its not like they are not trying to make cross ( Apple) platform coding easier, they are working full belt on that, SwiftUI being the most portable. In the middle of these efforts they are clearly saying - no merging.
And the history of the operating systems that Apple produces is one of divergence, not convergence. From OS X, to iOS, iPad Os, watchOS and tvOS.
George is absolutely correct on this topic. He is NOT asking for merging the iOS and MacOS. He is simply expecting 2 different OSes to run in same hardware which is very much capable of doing that (M1 iPad Pro) in different scenarios, based on user selection. There is NOTHING out of ordinary in that ask from George. It is a perfectly valid expectation.
IF Apple does not take this path, the ONLY reason would be shareholder's interest - i.e. sell 2 devices to customers to increase revenue instead of selling 1 device which is capable of performing both the functions (tablet & laptop) equally well. If that is the decision that Apple takes, then that would be a bad move on the part of Apple. We will have to wait and see which way they go.
No, it's not a "perfectly valid expectation." Apple designs their hardware and operating systems concurrently as single units. They don't create generic hardware to run whatever you want to put on it. This is why their devices work as well as they do. Slapping MacOS into an iPad because some guy on a message board insists that it ought to work ok is ridiculous. It's not about greedily selling two devices instead of one. It's about not selling mismatched devices that undermine their entire business model just because some small segment of the market can't get past their fantasy narrative of "what Apple should do."
Well, let us revisit this thread after one year. I am still hoping that Apple DOES care about its customers and will enable this functionality fairly soon. As and when they enable this functionality in future, people like you (who defend Apple at ANY COST) will talk in a different tone.
I don't know man. This feels like typical Apple: deny, deny, deny the thing. Right up until the moment they introduce the thing. I just feel like MacOS has been slowly but surely iOSified (iPadOSified if you will) more and more. Could I just be reinforcing my preconceived notions with non-coincidental coincidences? Probably. Likely.
It hasn’t tho. They’ve added a couple things on the surface, like the notifications center. But fundamentally Mac computing is a different use case and user experience.
They’ve been saying this perfectly clearly for years now. Does that mean there will never be a next-thing? No. But Jos was clear, just like Craig was clear.
You really like using that graphic huh? As for the OS unification, I freely admit I could be wrong and admitted as much in the comment you quoted. The clarity of their statements means little in this circumstance though. Previous declarations about different things were just as emphatic, right up to the point they weren't. As I said, it's just a feeling. It's not a prognostication or anything grand. If it turns out I'm wrong, no big deal. If it turns out I'm right I'm an omniscient all seeing God. I can live with either outcome.
They weren't nearly as emphatic. And the market around them changed in some cases. So if another company like MS, or Samsung produced a hybrid device that was actually useful then they would think about it. For now they clearly mean what they have said. Its not like they are not trying to make cross ( Apple) platform coding easier, they are working full belt on that, SwiftUI being the most portable. In the middle of these efforts they are clearly saying - no merging.
And the history of the operating systems that Apple produces is one of divergence, not convergence. From OS X, to iOS, iPad Os, watchOS and tvOS.
George is absolutely correct on this topic. He is NOT asking for merging the iOS and MacOS. He is simply expecting 2 different OSes to run in same hardware which is very much capable of doing that (M1 iPad Pro) in different scenarios, based on user selection. There is NOTHING out of ordinary in that ask from George. It is a perfectly valid expectation.
IF Apple does not take this path, the ONLY reason would be shareholder's interest - i.e. sell 2 devices to customers to increase revenue instead of selling 1 device which is capable of performing both the functions (tablet & laptop) equally well. If that is the decision that Apple takes, then that would be a bad move on the part of Apple. We will have to wait and see which way they go.
No, it's not a "perfectly valid expectation." Apple designs their hardware and operating systems concurrently as single units. They don't create generic hardware to run whatever you want to put on it. This is why their devices work as well as they do. Slapping MacOS into an iPad because some guy on a message board insists that it ought to work ok is ridiculous. It's not about greedily selling two devices instead of one. It's about not selling mismatched devices that undermine their entire business model just because some small segment of the market can't get past their fantasy narrative of "what Apple should do."
Well, let us revisit this thread after one year. I am still hoping that Apple DOES care about its customers and will enable this functionality fairly soon. As and when they enable this functionality in future, people like you (who defend Apple at ANY COST) will talk in a different tone.
1. Do remind us all to come back for a reunion. Just because a company doesn't comply with the demands of a few folks on a message board, that doesn't mean they don't care about their customers. One could argue that making sure the things they do produce work well is a good way to show their affection to the seemingly large numbers of customers who line up to buy the things. Microsoft sells the hybrid gadget you're looking for, but apparently not that many customers want one. Is that the better way to show customers you care?
2. I don't "defend Apple at ANY COST," whatever that actually means. For instance, I'm still irritated at Apple for getting out of the WiFi router business. In the context of their interest in expanding the HomeKit market, it doesn't make sense to me that they would cede the networking heart of all that to other companies. I'm still using AirPort routers, but unless they reverse course (and they probably won't), I'll eventually have to go with some other brand.
I guess I do waste more time than I should trying to explain to people here that it doesn't make sense to expect a highly successful company to do things that go against their fundamental business model in order to replicate other companies' products that even those companies' own customers don't seem to like that much.
Attach a keyboard with trackpad and the system transitions to a macOS UX. Add external mouse and external keyboard via Bluetooth and the system transitions to macOS. Do none of that: iPad OS. Just to make this happen they need to rename the Files app to Finder and add the other missing apps such as Calculator and Dictionary and Terminal and Text Edit etc. And on the Mac replace Automator with Shortcuts. Users could literally run macOS after attaching to their magic keyboard and they could pull the iPad off the magnets and it would seamlessly switch back to iPadOS.
I don’t know. I guess though then the iPad Pro would have no case on it and very few people use their devices like this with no case. Perhaps there’s a method to keeping them separate, and I don’t just mean buying both devices but I mean philosophically perhaps if you need a Mac laptop then just get one.
That's true.
But iPad OS would need a stronger file system and Safari would need to be brought up to speed for it to be in the same company as MacBook.
... A couple weeks ago I tried doing something on an iPad using an external keyboard and mouse. It went well except that I needed to use tabs in Safari and there were none. Perhaps I should have installed a different browser, but still... I got the job done but it was pain under Safari on the iPad.
Attach a keyboard with trackpad and the system transitions to a macOS UX. Add external mouse and external keyboard via Bluetooth and the system transitions to macOS. Do none of that: iPad OS. Just to make this happen they need to rename the Files app to Finder and add the other missing apps such as Calculator and Dictionary and Terminal and Text Edit etc. And on the Mac replace Automator with Shortcuts. Users could literally run macOS after attaching to their magic keyboard and they could pull the iPad off the magnets and it would seamlessly switch back to iPadOS.
I don’t know. I guess though then the iPad Pro would have no case on it and very few people use their devices like this with no case. Perhaps there’s a method to keeping them separate, and I don’t just mean buying both devices but I mean philosophically perhaps if you need a Mac laptop then just get one.
If you think it's just that simple, you don't know how this stuff actually works. MacOS and iPadOS are two different operating systems. Windows came out with a version that did that sort of switching around of user interfaces, and it was universally panned. By trying to be all things to all people, they created a mess that didn't work well for anyone. The reason the Mac and iPad are separate is because they function differently. Is there overlap? Sure. But that doesn't mean they're the same house with different color drapes.
Comments
And the history of the operating systems that Apple produces is one of divergence, not convergence. From OS X, to iOS, iPad Os, watchOS and tvOS.
I almost wonder if Apple is (or should be) thankful for the conspiracy theorists contemplating an unholy merger of the Mac UI and iPad UI into a single mish-mash UI. That 'fake news' is a nice distraction from the more desirable form of "merger" you describe, in which the two UI paradigms remain distinct, but coexist in the same device.
Alternatively, perhaps Apple does plan to create exactly the device you describe, and they are just putting all the pieces in place such that the mode switch from Mac UI to iPad UI is as seamless and painless as possible. If that's their plan, then we certainly seem to be getting very close, now that the hardware specs of an iPad Pro and Mac laptop are almost identical.
What is funny is I used this slide several days ago, the butthurts told me I didn’t know what I was talking about, and then...Jos says the same thing in this interview. Heh.
IF Apple does not take this path, the ONLY reason would be shareholder's interest - i.e. sell 2 devices to customers to increase revenue instead of selling 1 device which is capable of performing both the functions (tablet & laptop) equally well. If that is the decision that Apple takes, then that would be a bad move on the part of Apple. We will have to wait and see which way they go.
No, it's not a "perfectly valid expectation." Apple designs their hardware and operating systems concurrently as single units. They don't create generic hardware to run whatever you want to put on it. This is why their devices work as well as they do. Slapping MacOS into an iPad because some guy on a message board insists that it ought to work ok is ridiculous. It's not about greedily selling two devices instead of one. It's about not selling mismatched devices that undermine their entire business model just because some small segment of the market can't get past their fantasy narrative of "what Apple should do."
2. I don't "defend Apple at ANY COST," whatever that actually means. For instance, I'm still irritated at Apple for getting out of the WiFi router business. In the context of their interest in expanding the HomeKit market, it doesn't make sense to me that they would cede the networking heart of all that to other companies. I'm still using AirPort routers, but unless they reverse course (and they probably won't), I'll eventually have to go with some other brand.
I guess I do waste more time than I should trying to explain to people here that it doesn't make sense to expect a highly successful company to do things that go against their fundamental business model in order to replicate other companies' products that even those companies' own customers don't seem to like that much.
But he didn't suggest one UX to do it all....