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Apple has locked me in the same cage Microsoft's built for Windows 10 users

theregister.com

201–210 of 369 posts

Re: Apple has locked me in the same cage Microsoft's built for Windows 10 users

#201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Even though it's not designed to" It is designed to, though. That's the thing. The line is arbitrarily drawn at not getting CLI/root access to your iPad. His point is that over the years, Apple has blurred that line a lot. You can use keyboards and mice. You can do all your daily computing on an iPad - email, spreadsheets, YouTube, whatever. But it's still locked down, for whatever reason, despite being a perfectly…

He says in the article that "But even if I could somehow get macOS running on my iPad Pro, would that resolve this tension? I don't think so. A tablet lacks a keyboard and trackpad and even if I buy models designed for the iPad, tablets are all about push, poke, and drag." So in the end, even if he could get CLI/Root access to his iPad it wouldn't matter anyway because of their perceived quality of the iPad accessory…

This topic comes up a lot when Apple release a device with the “pro” label.

So sure it contains an M2, but it’s also a fanless device that combines its entire componentry, including the screen, into a package that is just a few mm thick. On top of that it also has a much smaller battery.

That kind of heat envelope makes it suitable for burst work, but poor for enduring workloads. Unlike the Mac it’s not going to allow limitless multitasking while exporting video and other processor heavy tasks. This hardware limitation is recognised in the types of software that the device runs competently.

So I partly blame Apple’s marketing, but I also think caveat emptor - why would the buyer assume that all of these other Mac shapes and sizes exist if they can actually all be squeezed into a 5mm thick enclosure.

Re: Apple has locked me in the same cage Microsoft's built for Windows 10 users

#202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except in this metaphor, the "ebike" has en engine as powerful as a new "landcruiser", and attachment points that could allow quickly/easily adding extra seating or cargo capacity. That such a thing seems absurd illustrates how poorly the metaphor fits. The only reason that "iPads are just unserious computing devices for real work" is because Apple chooses to limit them. I have a laptop which I only rarely use as a l…

It's really a fundamental design limitation of iOS/iPadOS (same thing, let's face it). It's ground-up a super efficient, wonderful media consumption platform. It's really good for media consumption, like so much so it's kind of a problem . So I think the metaphor still fits, in that sure the ebike has a crazy engine but the tires don't have the contact patch to make the engine nearly as useful. The problem is the UI…

Pretty much nailed it. Touchscreen devices are not for creating; they're for taking what you're given. They require big fat buttons for big fat fingers, which you poke like a trained pigeon to get your food pellet.

Re: Apple has locked me in the same cage Microsoft's built for Windows 10 users

#203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They’re both called Pro (iPad Pro and MacBook Pro) but thermals, RAM, etc are different. I think it’s fair to say an iPad Pro and a MacBook Air should be capable of similar-ish things, and that iPadOS could have way more “power” features. Eg a terminal app to start with. But I’m not sure iPad Pros can really replace MacBook Pros.

But they could absolutely replace 2005 or even 2015 MacBook Pros in terms of hardware capability.

Or even 2024. Nobody is disputing the hardware.

Just software. Kinda odd, given how much more interest there is in iOS app development than in Mac OS app development; but it is what it is.

Re: Apple has locked me in the same cage Microsoft's built for Windows 10 users

#204
post #177
post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I needed a machine just to sketch some UIs in figma. I was going to get a Chromebook but my wife insisted on the iPad. I thought it could sure handle that use case, I quickly checked there was a figma app. I was expecting some quirks. A day later I returned it. Turns out that figma app for iPad can only "view" designs, not create them! I feel like there's a very narrow market for iPads. I'm surprised they still sell.

They sell like hot breads for kids in school.

Who immediately

1. Turn them into toys 2. Break them 3. Lose them

Gargantuan waste of money that does nothing to advance education.

Re: Apple has locked me in the same cage Microsoft's built for Windows 10 users

#205
post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Probably 95% of people who own computers do not need root access and should not have it, possibly ever But they should be able to take it to someone else who can use root access to fix it The idea that a person should not have any access to be an admin of a physical device that they own is ridiculous They might not need it, they might not ever use it, but they should absolutely be able to if a situation calls for i…

The concept of "admin" is not a black and white concept, it's a spectrum. Every iPad user is an "admin" of their device. Apple isn't stopping you from "administering" it. There are limitations to the device but every device has limitations somewhere. On that spectrum, the iPad is a much less limited device from a software and hardware standpoint than a lot of other devices, such as game consoles, point of sale termin…

ChromeOS allows you launch a Linux terminal app which runs a shell inside a VM. There are no "entitlement" limitations to what you can do in it, while the base system remains isolated. For example you can launch a MacOS vm with qemu.

Re: Apple has locked me in the same cage Microsoft's built for Windows 10 users

#206
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would ignoring the ipad not have solved OP's problem? They could have just replaced their old macbook with a new macbook. Not that there's anything wrong with trying something new, IMO. But if you do so without doing any research, and it turns out to not be what you expected, there's nothing to complain about. Hopefully OP just returned the ipad and got a macbook upon realizing their mistake. You seem to be sugge…

All of the limitations of the iPad are coming for your macbook, too. Already, it's difficult (not yet impossible) to install software outside the confines of Apple's app store. Already it's difficult (not yet impossible) to develop software for a mac without paying Apple for the privilege of "signing" your code.

> All of the limitations of the iPad are coming for your macbook, too.

No offence but people have been saying that since about a month after the iPad launched and yet.

> Already, it's difficult (not yet impossible) to install software outside the confines of Apple's app store.

What's difficult? You download the DMG, open it, drag the app to Applications, job done. Or you install Homebrew if you're mostly after CLI tools. Or compile it yourself if you're happy going that route. (I use all 3 on a regular basis.)

> Already it's difficult (not yet impossible) to develop software for a mac

No, that bit is easy.

> without paying Apple for the privilege of "signing" your code.

That bit can be problematic, yeah. But you can ship unsigned apps and people can install them just fine.

(AFAICT you also have to pay if you want to sign your apps on Windows. It's the cost of providing the infrastructure, I suppose.)

Re: Apple has locked me in the same cage Microsoft's built for Windows 10 users

#207

"My decade-old and very well-travelled Toyota Land Cruiser finally died, and I hoped my new-ish ebike could replace it." How that article sounds. I don't care how fancy they make them, iPads are just unserious computing devices for real work.

Exactly. The author is “using it wrong”. The iPad is an appliance much like the phone is. Get a MacBook Air and call it a day. The article is clickbait at best because everyone knows iPadOS is not as open as macOS.

Absolutely. The entire "article" insults the reader by expecting him to believe such a stupid premise, or makes the author look stupid. Nobody who wants to do stuff at the command line would seriously buy a TABLET, especially not one from Apple.

Pfff, downvoted by the author, twice, no doubt...

Re: Apple has locked me in the same cage Microsoft's built for Windows 10 users

#208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. The author is “using it wrong”. The iPad is an appliance much like the phone is. Get a MacBook Air and call it a day. The article is clickbait at best because everyone knows iPadOS is not as open as macOS.

> The article is clickbait at best To be fair, "theregister" is a big hint that you're going to be opening unsubstantiated clickbait 50% of the time (rising to 90% if it's relating to Apple.) (Also Pesce has been banging the "ipads should be computers" drum for a while - e.g. https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/23/apples_got_a_good_thi... )

Such a dumb drum. iPads are inherently unsuited to the tasks for which we pull out a computer: work requiring precision, rapid text input, or I/O.

Re: Apple has locked me in the same cage Microsoft's built for Windows 10 users

#209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Man. I thought you were joking, then I read the article. Yeah, I will never spend so much on an iPad. It's not even the same OS. I don't know why anyone would think an ebike compares to a Land Cruiser.

I dunno why anybody thinks a computer with a 10 core CPU, 10 core GPU, 16GB of RAM and a TB or two of storage is "an e-bike". None of the machines I do the work that pays my salary exceed those specs. Apart from the 16GB of RAM none of my work machines meet any of the other specs. If Apple would let me plug a couple of HDMI screens and a keyboard and mouse into a iPad, and let me run macOS (or even Linux) on it, it'd…

Why don't you just get a MacBook Air then? Or a Mini?

Re: Apple has locked me in the same cage Microsoft's built for Windows 10 users

#210

"My decade-old and very well-travelled Toyota Land Cruiser finally died, and I hoped my new-ish ebike could replace it." How that article sounds. I don't care how fancy they make them, iPads are just unserious computing devices for real work.

I see them more than laptops among actual people out in the world doing real work. Phones, too. [edit] non-office-workers, I mean.

What is this "real work?"
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