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This really just reveals a narrowness of experience, if you don't mind me saying. Desktop PCs are where real engineering work gets done. CAD, FEA, CFD, simulati

by exergy 9y ago

This really just reveals a narrowness of experience, if you don't mind me saying. Desktop PCs are where real engineering work gets done. CAD, FEA, CFD, simulations etc, they arent going to be running on middling mobile CPUs anytime soon.

p1esk 9y ago
If you need "real engineering work" done, why use middling desktop PCs? Why not move to server farms in the cloud?
- photojosh 9y ago
  Big screens. I have my circuit board designs up on a 28" 4K screen. Latency. Not all engineering tasks are based on static data. Tools. Few easily allow you to farm out your simulations. Many tools have decades of development in them. You could in theory develop them for tablets, but there's not been a good business case for that.
orbitur 9y ago
I think your comment reveals a narrowness of perspective on how much things can change. I didn't claim you can do that kind of work on an iPad now. You will be able to do that kind of work on something running iOS (or its successor) in 5 years.
- exergy 9y ago
  I would take that bet. Mechanical, civil, aeronautical engineering, these fields are notoriously slow at adopting the latest and greatest technology. A lot of our code is still written in Fortran, and C++ libraries might as well be considered state-of-the-art. Further, when you're doing a lot of work on code, you are also multitasking like nobody's business. I have three screens, one for code, another for documentation or something, and a third for my browser (for example). iOS specifically will need massively more multitasking capabilities, a proper filesystem, the actual ports of software like CATIA/ANSYS, USB ports etc. to even become part of the conversation. Not to mention the fact that I just don't see why an ipad would be useful in this context. I'm not constantly moving between offices, or from my home to office, as I do advanced simulations. My workstation stays plugged in, and so the ipad doesn't solve any existing problems for me. As a final note, these fields are involved in most things that you and I use on a day to day basis, so it would also not be right to call them an outdated niche that can be neglected (not that you are calling them that).
deleted 9y ago
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by exergy 9y ago

p1esk 9y ago

If you need "real engineering work" done, why use middling desktop PCs? Why not move to server farms in the cloud?

photojosh 9y ago
Big screens. I have my circuit board designs up on a 28" 4K screen. Latency. Not all engineering tasks are based on static data. Tools. Few easily allow you to farm out your simulations. Many tools have decades of development in them. You could in theory develop them for tablets, but there's not been a good business case for that.

orbitur 9y ago

I think your comment reveals a narrowness of perspective on how much things can change. I didn't claim you can do that kind of work on an iPad now. You will be able to do that kind of work on something running iOS (or its successor) in 5 years.

exergy 9y ago
I would take that bet. Mechanical, civil, aeronautical engineering, these fields are notoriously slow at adopting the latest and greatest technology. A lot of our code is still written in Fortran, and C++ libraries might as well be considered state-of-the-art. Further, when you're doing a lot of work on code, you are also multitasking like nobody's business. I have three screens, one for code, another for documentation or something, and a third for my browser (for example). iOS specifically will need massively more multitasking capabilities, a proper filesystem, the actual ports of software like CATIA/ANSYS, USB ports etc. to even become part of the conversation. Not to mention the fact that I just don't see why an ipad would be useful in this context. I'm not constantly moving between offices, or from my home to office, as I do advanced simulations. My workstation stays plugged in, and so the ipad doesn't solve any existing problems for me. As a final note, these fields are involved in most things that you and I use on a day to day basis, so it would also not be right to call them an outdated niche that can be neglected (not that you are calling them that).

deleted 9y ago

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