4 ms·

The iPad clearly isn't for your use cases. The vast majority of people only want to browse, look at photos, read emails and occasionally write some text. For th

by ricw 11y ago

The iPad clearly isn't for your use cases. The vast majority of people only want to browse, look at photos, read emails and occasionally write some text. For them it's a cheap ($280 for the cheapest iPad) and easy solution.

cballard 11y ago
Even those tasks are irritating on an iPad - outside of the limited multitasking, viewing multiple things at once is impossible. I can't look at an email and reference a website linked in it. I can't look at a few websites while composing an email. Comparing multiple travel booking sites side-by-side? Nope. If I try switching back and forth, the iPad has probably unloaded one of the tabs in the meantime due to memory pressure - why can't their state be archived to disk and loaded from that, at least? It's interesting because for a very long time Apple said "maximizing is usually a waste of space" with the zoom button's behavior.
- metafunctor 11y ago
  Modern iPads have something called “Split View”, where you can have two apps open and active at the same time. Only two, though, but it mostly solves this problem.
  - ant6n 11y ago
    Seems cumbersome. And do you get that on that 280$ version?
  - cballard 11y ago
    That is the "limited multitasking". You're limited to two, your ability to view information is arbitrarily limited by the application displaying that information. Want to view two emails side-by-side? Use two emails apps, I guess.
- morgante 11y ago
  This is anecdotal, but my mother has an iPad and she vastly prefers using it to the computer for everything from email to images to web browsing. I bought her a brand new iMac and it's basically been unused.
drzaiusapelord 11y ago
This isn't remotely true and rhetoric like this is why the linux desktop failed. Yes, people want to browse and look at photos and that's 80% of their use, but you're not covering that other 20% and that other 20% is mandatory. Playing a PC only game, using a PC only productivity suite, continue to use their beloved software, use real software suites not dumbed down mobile equivalents, etc. Taking away a PC and giving someone a locked down tablet is fairly ridiculous. That'll be just as successful as the "Linux Mandrake replaces Windows XP" rhetoric older geeks remember. You guys were wrong then and wrong today.
- FD3SA 11y ago
  Linux would have killed every other OS a long time ago if it had put its principles aside. Open source kernel, with proprietary, for-profit userland like Android on top to make money and afford proper engineers. Ubuntu is pretty amazing for an OS developed by hobbyists and non-profits, but is of course a disaster compared to OSX or Android which have had countless billions spent on constantly improving them.

by ricw 11y ago

cballard 11y ago

Even those tasks are irritating on an iPad - outside of the limited multitasking, viewing multiple things at once is impossible. I can't look at an email and reference a website linked in it. I can't look at a few websites while composing an email. Comparing multiple travel booking sites side-by-side? Nope. If I try switching back and forth, the iPad has probably unloaded one of the tabs in the meantime due to memory pressure - why can't their state be archived to disk and loaded from that, at least? It's interesting because for a very long time Apple said "maximizing is usually a waste of space" with the zoom button's behavior.

metafunctor 11y ago
Modern iPads have something called “Split View”, where you can have two apps open and active at the same time. Only two, though, but it mostly solves this problem.
- ant6n 11y ago
  Seems cumbersome. And do you get that on that 280$ version?
- cballard 11y ago
  That is the "limited multitasking". You're limited to two, your ability to view information is arbitrarily limited by the application displaying that information. Want to view two emails side-by-side? Use two emails apps, I guess.
morgante 11y ago
This is anecdotal, but my mother has an iPad and she vastly prefers using it to the computer for everything from email to images to web browsing. I bought her a brand new iMac and it's basically been unused.

drzaiusapelord 11y ago

This isn't remotely true and rhetoric like this is why the linux desktop failed. Yes, people want to browse and look at photos and that's 80% of their use, but you're not covering that other 20% and that other 20% is mandatory. Playing a PC only game, using a PC only productivity suite, continue to use their beloved software, use real software suites not dumbed down mobile equivalents, etc. Taking away a PC and giving someone a locked down tablet is fairly ridiculous. That'll be just as successful as the "Linux Mandrake replaces Windows XP" rhetoric older geeks remember. You guys were wrong then and wrong today.

FD3SA 11y ago
Linux would have killed every other OS a long time ago if it had put its principles aside. Open source kernel, with proprietary, for-profit userland like Android on top to make money and afford proper engineers. Ubuntu is pretty amazing for an OS developed by hobbyists and non-profits, but is of course a disaster compared to OSX or Android which have had countless billions spent on constantly improving them.