4 ms·
I see a lot of Surface Pro in the iPad[1]. That isn't a bad thing, it is great to have two design studios trying to out do each other. If you agree that these d
by ChuckMcM 7y ago
I see a lot of Surface Pro in the iPad[1]. That isn't a bad thing, it is great to have two design studios trying to out do each other. If you agree that these devices should work better on ARM chips rather than x86 chips, then the iPad has an advantage with an already ARM based ecosystem. Of course the Surface R/T tried that too, and stumbled. But I wonder if Apple saw that as a hint of where Microsoft might go.
I find it particularly interesting that at both companies these are the products that have a license to kill sacred cows[2]. The Surface R/T was "Windows on NOT Intel", the iPad has "stylus improved UI". Both of these were antithetic to Gates and Jobs way of thinking.
Both products (and I've got several different generations of both) feel to me like the "post PC" product. An application focused, battery operated, network aware device. I am a bit surprised that Surface hasn't embraced cellular connectivity as strongly as the iPad has, that is a key feature of "on the go" computing.[3]
[1] And chuckled when the new ones had the pen attach with magnets.
[2] The colloquialism, "that is a sacred cow." meaning a feature or rule that cannot be broken.
[3] Yeah, I know the 'tether it to your phone' mantra, I get that a lot, but it simpler (lower friction) to have it built in.
- mktmkr 7y agoI strongly prefer tethering to network awareness. Every computer I've had with a WWAN card has thought it would be terribly clever if all the sockets get reset every time the air interface flaps. It's network aware! Tethering is far superior because your laptop never learns that the mobile link was down for a moment.
- mepian 7y agoI don't know how "Windows on NOT Intel" was antithetic to Gates way of thinking when Windows NT was running on most major RISC platforms while they were still relevant: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_NT#Supported_platforms https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_NT#Supported_platforms
- ChuckMcM 7y agoThat is a good point.
- taneq 7y agoRe. [3], there’s often a significant cost to maintaining a separate data plan for each device. I was recently quoted $15/mo to connect an $18/mo iPad. That’s a lot to pay for the privilege of not turning your wifi hotspot on.
- scarface74 7y agoYes it is a lot - T-Mobile charges $20 a month for an iPad data plan. I do it anyway. It’s convenient not to have to burn battery on your primary device and while T-mobile offers unlimited 512kbps tethering, for $20 a month getting unlimited high speed tethering for us (my wife has a cellular iPad also) even though rarely used, is worth it. Also, the iPad is an excellent hot spot. They’ve done benchmarks showing the iPad can work as a hotspot for up to 36 hours.
- wodenokoto 7y agoThis trope about jobs needs to die. He made fun of the idea of putting a color screen on the iPod and a year or so later presented the iPod color. Of course apple was gonna put a stylus on the iPad, with or without Jobs. Apple might be content with asking users to buy third party hardware to draw on Mac, but they aren’t stupid enough to say you need to buy a Citrix to draw on your iPad.
- macintux 7y agoIt needs to die for a more important reason: Jobs was specifically referring to devices which required a stylus because fingers wouldn’t work as well on their resistive touchscreens.
- mcintyre1994 7y agoI’m not sure you actually mean Citrix for that example, but I actually have a mouse somewhere for iPad from when I was working for Citrix and they built an iPad mouse that works with virtualised apps. I think Apple are even adding official mouse support to iPad OS now too.
- wodenokoto 7y agoCintiq, by Wacom. Looked it up and I have been calling those screens the wrong company name for years.