4 ms·

+1. They're still just expensive toys. And I really, really mean that. Have I ever received an email from someone using an iPad? Nope. Not once. Has anythin

by polemic 15y ago

+1. They're still just expensive toys. And I really, really mean that. Have I ever received an email from someone using an iPad? Nope. Not once. Has anything I've looked at online in the last week been created on an iPad? Nope. Post-PC? Try post-TV.

ryannielsen 15y ago
Well, while we're throwing out anecdotal evidence, my accountant constantly uses his iPad. I've never seen him use a laptop for anything but he takes notes, sends email, and even creates and edits spreadsheets on his iPad. When you stop insisting that iPads are toys and start just using them, it's pretty incredible what you can do. Can you do everything on an iPad? No. But that doesn't mean you can't do anything. (And I bet something you've looked at online over the past week has been created on an iPad... hell, this comment has been created on an iPad.)
secoif 15y ago
Perhaps not you, or many HN readers, but for many the answers to all of those are "yes". For example, my non-tech girlfriend has had an ipad for 6 months now and the only time I've ever seen her use the computer was for word processing and creating presentations. "Office" kind of stuff. The iPad isn't designed for user like us. It's designed for casual, everyday uses: like your mom.
- toyg 15y ago
  > the only time I've ever seen her use the computer was for word processing and creating presentations. "Office" kind of stuff. i.e. for work. Laptops/PCs are for working, tablets are for playing -> little more than expensive toys, in the same way your TV was. Are tablets replacing TVs? Absofuckinglutely. Are tablets replacing work laptops? Not a chance.
  - ghshephard 15y ago
    Well, some people are using them for work: http://media.talkingpointsmemo.com/slideshow/white-house-obama-february-pictures/1-256675 http://media.talkingpointsmemo.com/slideshow/white-house-oba...
  - secoif 15y ago
    Do you call your TV a toy?
- to3m 15y ago
  I think you might mean "useRs"...
  - secoif 15y ago
    Oh god, that's funny now I look at it. Hahah.
tesseractive 15y ago
I know people who email from iPads. It's really pretty common. And I think the "expensive toy" trope is pretty passe at this point. I have an IDE (AIDE) running on my phone, and since it's a Droid 4 with a keyboard, it's really pretty usable for projects of modest size. And the debug cycle is ridiculously easy, unlike running a phone emulator on a PC. The fact that you have to jailbreak an iPad to be able to write code you can run locally seems like a defect to me, but that doesn't mean the tablet form factor is a waste of time, just that the iPad is not my particular cup of tea. And iPhoto, iMovie, and the myriad of music applications provide the opportunity to do all sorts of creative work on a lightweight device that gets fantastic battery life. I'd say that's more than enough to take it out of the toy category, and into the "very affordable PC substitute for many applications" category.
- bergie 15y ago
  I used to do small code fixes and push them back to Git with my old N900. This tablet has he capability as well, but somehow I haven't gotten into the habit. Maybe because this device is WiFi-only, so not necessarily online when I would like to clone and weak some repository...
ugh 15y ago
I write all my email on the iPad. I'm not really sure how you would know whether someone wrote you an email with an iPad or not. (This comment was written on an iPad while relaxing on a comfy chair. You can tell because I'm not using typographically correct apostrophes.)
- spicyj 15y ago
  (If you hold down on the apostrophe key, you can make curly ones.)
  - ugh 15y ago
    (I know. I do that sometimes, but usually it’s too much work for me.)
- roryokane 15y ago
  You can get typographically correct apostrophes on an iPad by holding down on the ' key on the onscreen keyboard. A palette will pop up including curly apostrophes.
senorprogrammer 15y ago
Interesting. In the last two years my mother hasn't sent an email on anything but an iPad, and my dad does it entirely via his iPhone. Perhaps they're just unusual that way.
nknight 15y ago
> Have I ever received an email from someone using an iPad? I have. My father, my mother, my aunt, my best friend, one of the most skilled software engineers/architects I know, an engineering manager I work with, several members of mailing lists I'm on... Oh, and I send email from my iPad occasionally, though I'm still more attached to my laptop than most people. I've been too busy to adapt my workflow.
dasil003 15y ago
Toys eh? Where have I heard that before? Oh yeah, pg likes to invest in things that forum trolls dismiss as toys (http://www.paulgraham.com/organic.html http://www.paulgraham.com/organic.html). You cite content as creation as a reason why we're not in a post-PC era, but I think you overestimate what most PCs are used for. What percentage of PCs are used to create online content anyway? Also, how do you know you haven't received an email from an iPad or seen a Facebook photo uploaded from an iPhone. You're extremely dismissive, but the proof will be in the numbers. Certainly post-PC is overhyped as a meme, but tablet sales growth is astronomical. If trends continue for any appreciable length of time, it will be impossible to deny that tablets are dominating every-day computing.
- polemic 15y ago
  > ..you overestimate what most PCs are used for. I'll agree that this is they key difference. I'm sure that my ideas of computers are good for - there value to society - is different to most users. Perhaps what really gets me is the idea that the tablet 'revolution' is necessary leading us to a better place. One day we might look back fondly at the 'family computer' that sat in the living room, where someone discovered a love of programming, or creating movies, or whatever. Stuff that other less 'general purpose' devices don't do. Hmm.
alevans4 15y ago
My parents, who are 70 and 66, both primarily use an iPad for computing these days. My mother's main email client is her iPad. When they went on vacation late last year, both brought their iPads along to allow them to communicate, find things, etc. It's gone way beyond expensive toy.
hindsightbias 15y ago
> Have I ever received an email from someone using an iPad? email, how... quaint.
- gtruilmopl 15y ago
  I'm curious to ask what you use instead...
  - toyg 15y ago
    He facebooks his twitter buddies.
  - cbs 15y ago
    You know, the website that's popular this week. Thats all anybody uses anymore.
maguay 15y ago
Unless you're checking email headers, you just might not know if you've received emails from people using an iPad. I send dozens of emails weekly from my iPad 1, both directly through the Mail app and through online apps like Desk.com. And this is doing real work: tech support, dev communications, and more. And TV? I think I watch video on my iPad perhaps once every couple weeks. And then its likely just a 3 min Vimeo clip. My iPad is absolutely a work device; it's in fact my full on-the-go work solution.
raganwald 15y ago
I write and edit blog posts and books on my iPad. Some of them have been front page, top ten and even #1 on Hacker News. Are you SURE you haven’t ready anything that was created on an iPad?

by polemic 15y ago

ryannielsen 15y ago

Well, while we're throwing out anecdotal evidence, my accountant constantly uses his iPad. I've never seen him use a laptop for anything but he takes notes, sends email, and even creates and edits spreadsheets on his iPad. When you stop insisting that iPads are toys and start just using them, it's pretty incredible what you can do. Can you do everything on an iPad? No. But that doesn't mean you can't do anything. (And I bet something you've looked at online over the past week has been created on an iPad... hell, this comment has been created on an iPad.)

secoif 15y ago

Perhaps not you, or many HN readers, but for many the answers to all of those are "yes". For example, my non-tech girlfriend has had an ipad for 6 months now and the only time I've ever seen her use the computer was for word processing and creating presentations. "Office" kind of stuff. The iPad isn't designed for user like us. It's designed for casual, everyday uses: like your mom.

toyg 15y ago
> the only time I've ever seen her use the computer was for word processing and creating presentations. "Office" kind of stuff. i.e. for work. Laptops/PCs are for working, tablets are for playing -> little more than expensive toys, in the same way your TV was. Are tablets replacing TVs? Absofuckinglutely. Are tablets replacing work laptops? Not a chance.
- ghshephard 15y ago
  Well, some people are using them for work: http://media.talkingpointsmemo.com/slideshow/white-house-obama-february-pictures/1-256675 http://media.talkingpointsmemo.com/slideshow/white-house-oba...
- secoif 15y ago
  Do you call your TV a toy?
to3m 15y ago
I think you might mean "useRs"...
- secoif 15y ago
  Oh god, that's funny now I look at it. Hahah.

tesseractive 15y ago

I know people who email from iPads. It's really pretty common. And I think the "expensive toy" trope is pretty passe at this point. I have an IDE (AIDE) running on my phone, and since it's a Droid 4 with a keyboard, it's really pretty usable for projects of modest size. And the debug cycle is ridiculously easy, unlike running a phone emulator on a PC. The fact that you have to jailbreak an iPad to be able to write code you can run locally seems like a defect to me, but that doesn't mean the tablet form factor is a waste of time, just that the iPad is not my particular cup of tea. And iPhoto, iMovie, and the myriad of music applications provide the opportunity to do all sorts of creative work on a lightweight device that gets fantastic battery life. I'd say that's more than enough to take it out of the toy category, and into the "very affordable PC substitute for many applications" category.

bergie 15y ago
I used to do small code fixes and push them back to Git with my old N900. This tablet has he capability as well, but somehow I haven't gotten into the habit. Maybe because this device is WiFi-only, so not necessarily online when I would like to clone and weak some repository...

ugh 15y ago

I write all my email on the iPad. I'm not really sure how you would know whether someone wrote you an email with an iPad or not. (This comment was written on an iPad while relaxing on a comfy chair. You can tell because I'm not using typographically correct apostrophes.)

spicyj 15y ago
(If you hold down on the apostrophe key, you can make curly ones.)
- ugh 15y ago
  (I know. I do that sometimes, but usually it’s too much work for me.)
roryokane 15y ago
You can get typographically correct apostrophes on an iPad by holding down on the ' key on the onscreen keyboard. A palette will pop up including curly apostrophes.

senorprogrammer 15y ago

Interesting. In the last two years my mother hasn't sent an email on anything but an iPad, and my dad does it entirely via his iPhone. Perhaps they're just unusual that way.

nknight 15y ago

> Have I ever received an email from someone using an iPad? I have. My father, my mother, my aunt, my best friend, one of the most skilled software engineers/architects I know, an engineering manager I work with, several members of mailing lists I'm on... Oh, and I send email from my iPad occasionally, though I'm still more attached to my laptop than most people. I've been too busy to adapt my workflow.

dasil003 15y ago

Toys eh? Where have I heard that before? Oh yeah, pg likes to invest in things that forum trolls dismiss as toys (http://www.paulgraham.com/organic.html http://www.paulgraham.com/organic.html). You cite content as creation as a reason why we're not in a post-PC era, but I think you overestimate what most PCs are used for. What percentage of PCs are used to create online content anyway? Also, how do you know you haven't received an email from an iPad or seen a Facebook photo uploaded from an iPhone. You're extremely dismissive, but the proof will be in the numbers. Certainly post-PC is overhyped as a meme, but tablet sales growth is astronomical. If trends continue for any appreciable length of time, it will be impossible to deny that tablets are dominating every-day computing.

polemic 15y ago
> ..you overestimate what most PCs are used for. I'll agree that this is they key difference. I'm sure that my ideas of computers are good for - there value to society - is different to most users. Perhaps what really gets me is the idea that the tablet 'revolution' is necessary leading us to a better place. One day we might look back fondly at the 'family computer' that sat in the living room, where someone discovered a love of programming, or creating movies, or whatever. Stuff that other less 'general purpose' devices don't do. Hmm.

alevans4 15y ago

My parents, who are 70 and 66, both primarily use an iPad for computing these days. My mother's main email client is her iPad. When they went on vacation late last year, both brought their iPads along to allow them to communicate, find things, etc. It's gone way beyond expensive toy.

hindsightbias 15y ago

> Have I ever received an email from someone using an iPad? email, how... quaint.

gtruilmopl 15y ago
I'm curious to ask what you use instead...
- toyg 15y ago
  He facebooks his twitter buddies.
- cbs 15y ago
  You know, the website that's popular this week. Thats all anybody uses anymore.

maguay 15y ago

Unless you're checking email headers, you just might not know if you've received emails from people using an iPad. I send dozens of emails weekly from my iPad 1, both directly through the Mail app and through online apps like Desk.com. And this is doing real work: tech support, dev communications, and more. And TV? I think I watch video on my iPad perhaps once every couple weeks. And then its likely just a 3 min Vimeo clip. My iPad is absolutely a work device; it's in fact my full on-the-go work solution.

raganwald 15y ago

I write and edit blog posts and books on my iPad. Some of them have been front page, top ten and even #1 on Hacker News. Are you SURE you haven’t ready anything that was created on an iPad?