13 ms·

Apple iPad Gets Split-Screen Multitasking in iOS 9

193 points by zhuxuefeng1994 11y ago

zyxley 11y ago
Note that as of the moment, this will only be available on the iPad Air 2.
- zippergz 11y ago
  Probably because of memory limitations; I would be surprised to see it ever come to older devices because they were already pretty memory-constrained.
  - markque 11y ago
    The only reason to do this is increase the sales of the latest iPad, there is no technical reason. Again apple treats it's customers like shit
    - JadeNB 11y ago
      This seems like a bold claim to throw out without substantiation. It is undeniable that older devices are more resource-limited, and do run the latest OS faster. Sure, Apple probably is trying to push sales of new devices (which is their right—they have no obligation to retrofit the latest-and-greatest features to old devices); but to say that's the only reason seems rather strong.
      - markque 11y ago
        I should have said, I meant the fact that the iPad Air won't get it. It's almost the same device, fair enough older iPads won't receive it.
        abhorrence 11y ago
        The Air 2 has twice as much ram as the Air, and memory has long been the constraining factor on the iPad.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - frik 11y ago
    Afaik, all iOS devices except the Air2 have 1GB RAM (or less - e.g. iPad2 and iPadMini1 have 512MB). So only Air2 can run two full apps side by side, makes sense.
- JohnTHaller 11y ago
  Only the iPad Air 2 has 2GB of RAM. Every other iOS device only has 1GB, which is a severe restriction to true multi-tasking. iPhones only have 1GB of RAM as well, so they couldn't do it even if they wanted to. It's a bit surprising as it limits future functionality. Comparably priced Android phones have 2GB to 4GB of RAM currently and comparably priced Android tablets have had 2GB of RAM for a couple years. Granted, Android OS seems a bit more hungry for tasty RAMs than iOS does.
  - digi_owl 11y ago
    Android is more ram hungry because it has a different policy on process lifecycle management. If you hit home on iOS the app you are currently using is expected to pack up and be ready to get evicted from RAM. If you do the same on Android the app will stay in RAM until there is a capacity crunch. Then the GC will go round waking up the oldest processes and ask them to free up pages. And if that is still not enough, start shutting them down. This sadly result in slowdowns as the GC churns.
SwellJoe 11y ago
I've always thought tiling window managers were the future (as they're just flat out superior to windowing systems for many, many workflows). I just didn't know it would be Apple that would make it popular. But, maybe tiling will become the de facto UI for everything in the next few years. I'd like that.
- vezzy-fnord 11y ago
  A tiling WM still likely uses a "windowing system" (a display server like Quartz in this case, I think?) underneath, though some like rio do overlap. It's also funny to note how tiling is the future, given that it was already the past. Tiling was how some of the earliest GUIs were done because it's the simplest compared to stacking and particularly compositing. Windows 1.0 was tiling, IIRC.
- Cantremeber 11y ago
  A vague tiling like functionality has been available in Windows since 7. In 10 it looks they're finally expanding this to have more options then just halves, something I've been doing with a third party program for awhile now (it has halves, thirds, and quarters). This is not a true tiling WM but I've personally found their use a bit limited as there are times when it makes sense to have multiple windows overlapping, at least in my own work.
- digi_owl 11y ago
  It is funny then that the original Xerox GUI would default to tiling, but allow the user to move the windows around as floating ones afterwards. Even Windows 1.0 was tiling. Floating only came with 2.0.
- petecox 11y ago
  I've been wanting an excuse to learn Haskell, XMonad could be the reason. :)
- jug 11y ago
  It makes sense especially in light of widescreen displays. We have much more horizontal space today than we did when modern windowing systems were innovated.
Yhippa 11y ago
This is a feature I love on my Windows 8 tablets. Glad to see iOS will be getting this.
- Maarten88 11y ago
  Now of they would also copy the virtual keyboard from Windows. I hate the iPad keyboard, it's really sluggish and it has no arrow keys.
  - bhauer 11y ago
    It's astonishing how many virtual keyboards omit the arrow keys. I was delighted to see them on the Windows 8 virtual keyboard.
    - Synaesthesia 11y ago
      iOS 9 will let you use the keyboard on iPad as a trackpad area to position the cursor. Quite clever.
- sahaskatta 11y ago
  I've loved the snapping apps to sides of a screen on my Surface for the past few years, however does anyone know whether the full-screen snapping is still around in Windows 10? It seems like Microsoft may have removed it in favor of a simply snapping apps within the desktop.
  - asyncwords 11y ago
    It looks like full-screen snapping is used when the machine is in "Tablet mode", which you can turn on and off in the Windows 10 action center.
  - Someone1234 11y ago
    Windows 10 has two "modes." Tablet mode, which is very similar to 8.1, and desktop mode which is a mash up between 8.1 bits and Windows 7 bits (e.g. apps in windows, no full screen Start Screen, etc). So in answer to your question: If you're in tablet mode then it will still offer that in Windows 10.
Someone1234 11y ago
It is nice to see Apple has finally started taking notice of the competition (larger phones, multi-tasking, alternative keyboards/swipe, etc). It seems like Apple stalled in terms of progression there for a few years, maybe after Jobs everyone was too scared to make any significant changes to the golden goose. I will say I haven't seen too much "innovation" from Apple in recent years. Progression, yes, but innovation no. Apple used to lead the field, and now they're just another "me too" device seller. The Apple Watch in particular is highly disappointing compared to what existed before it (e.g. Moto 360), but for what they lack in innovation they have more than made up for with advertising dollars and celebrity endorsements.
- amyjess 11y ago
  It really feels like, with both iOS 8 and iOS 9, that Apple is scrambling to play catch-up and focusing more on copying Android's killer features than on differentiating themselves. In the past, however, they've focused on differentiating themselves while also poo-poohing any features their competition has but they don't, saying you don't need that feature anyway. I'm glad Apple's gotten away from the sour grapes mentality, but I hope this puts an end to the false claim that Android owes its success to copying Apple's innovations.
  - JadeNB 11y ago
    > It really feels like, with both iOS 8 and iOS 9, that Apple is scrambling to play catch-up and focusing more on copying Android's killer features than on differentiating themselves. Isn't this a good thing? If Android has a good feature, I am happy if it comes to iOS, just as I am happy when good iOS features (e.g., ask for permission on first use, rather than on install) come to Android. I would be significantly less satisfied with an NIH mentality on either system.
    - amyjess 11y ago
      I agree. I'm just pointing out that it's a huge change in Apple's product planning from what came before, and I think it should be noted. (and by "before", I pretty much mean "under Jobs")
AppleInvents 11y ago
"Apple invents Windows 8."
devindotcom 11y ago
One of the few features from Windows 8 I was hoping Apple and others would adopt. 8 really did have some interesting innovations in the 'productive tablet' world, it was just... well, we all know what it was. Think they'll bring in a "charms" thing for quick actions, maybe from the left side?
fpgaminer 11y ago
I remember watching a video awhile back that noted how Steve Jobs, being keen on eastern religions, brought Zen principals into his surrounding environment. In that particular case, they showed how his home was very spartan, eliciting an expression of focus and elimination of distractions from the task at hand. The point they were making was that this showed through his products. On the iPad, you can only do one thing at a time. You have to focus on that one thing, and are not able to be bothered by distractions such as other windows/programs. Of course, having multiple apps open on the earlier iPads would have been quite challenging anyway, so this was either a happy coincidence or an excuse/interpretation made after the fact. But the idea was cool none the less. It made me think about how distracting and unfocused work on a normal desktop can feel like compared to an iPad. The downside, of course, is that while this inability to have multiple things open side-by-side is fine for casual usage and entertainment, it makes a lot of tasks related to creation and work quite difficult. So it will be a relief to finally have this feature on iOS. It certainly was a pain point. But that concept of focusing on a single task without distractions is still something worth remembering.
- Untit1ed 11y ago
  It's an interesting contrast to OSX, which most people I know use by keeping a stack of odd-sized windows on screen such that at least a bit of each is always visible.
  - devindotcom 11y ago
    That's my way too. A single click is always simpler than navigating a task switching interface, so I just have "big window" on left, "mid size window" peeking out at its right edge, and then "little window" - usually textedit - poking through in back. It's like a little sideways pyramid. I can also alt-tab through them super easy. Never found much use for Expose or Mission Control, i consider having to use them an organizational fail state for my process.
    - sergiotapia 11y ago
      Do yourself a huge favor and check out SpectacleApp. It's Windows image resizing brought to Mac OSX and it's really neat. 100% free and open source too with sensible defaults unlikes it's competitors.
founderling 11y ago
One reason that I do not use my iPad as a productivity device is that I do not understand the security model. I would need a terminal app with ssh capabilies. But how do I know if the maker of the app is sending my SSH credentials to his server or something? Does apple check that? Is the process how apple prevents this documented somewhere? At the moment, I only use software that is in the debian repos. At least I understand the security model of debian to some degree. And it is open and verifiable to everybody. I wonder why the Linux distros are so slow to adapt to tablets.
- amyjess 11y ago
  > I wonder why the Linux distros are so slow to adapt to tablets. Tight hardware integration. Most tablets have locked-down bootloaders that make it difficult to replace the default OS. You've also pretty much got to start over when it comes to drivers. Linux used to have terrible driver support back in the day -- I remember carefully choosing motherboards and laptops because I wanted a Linux-compatible chipset -- those days are over on the desktop (except for a few esoteric peripherals), but it's going to hit hard on mobile. Imagine booting your tablet onto Linux but not being able to use the GPS or some other piece of connectivity. And then, you've got to take all your established GUI code and throw it in the trash and start over. Nothing from the desktop world is going to be usable in a touch environment. The big desktop environments all have heritage going back to the late '90s. You can still see some KDE 1 and GNOME 1 layouts used in their modern KDE Applications and GNOME 3 descendants, and the stuff that was replaced was replaced one app at a time. Throwing everything out and starting over is harder than it looks. But, still, we've got some attempts at this. Look at Ubuntu Touch, Sailfish, and Plasma Active, for example. In the past, we had Maemo 5, which was amazing, and it was everything I wanted in a touch-based Linux distro, but the only company that had pockets deep enough to fund its development turned away from the platform, and the closest thing it has to a successor (Sailfish) has been a disappointment. Also, even that required the distro developer be an established hardware manufacturer: Maemo 5 couldn't have worked if it was just an OS that could only be installed on third-party devices.
  - gtk40 11y ago
    I'm running Ubuntu on my Windows tablet (Acer Iconia W700) now, typing from it in fact. Interestingly enough, I had no driver issues (everything as far as I can tell worked perfectly with a fresh Ubuntu install), but I've had more software issues with touch support. I thought Ubuntu was supposed to be better with that, and while multitouch gestures seem to work with Unity, there are very few places where they are implemented.
higherpurpose 11y ago
Google's, but especially Sundar Pichai's, stubborness to make Android more PC-like to the detriment of Chrome OS meant that Apple gets to do multi-windows natively before Android - which should've had it at least two or three years ago. Sure, Android M is likely to get multi-windows as well when they announce the final version (maybe), but we've still moved from Android getting some features two or three years before iOS, to Android and iOS launching very similar features about the same time. This is a big problem for Google because Apple can release the new OS with the new features to 50% of its users within a week and to 85% of its users within a year. It takes a certain version of Android to do that at least 3 years. If Google can't release its major Android features years before iOS anymore, then it needs to make upgrading Android devices by itself an even bigger priority, rather than leaving it to others.
- founderling 11y ago
  Why do Android users update slowly? I have a few Android devices and I think they pop up with a message from time to time "new os version ready to install". But I am not sure. That shows how much I care :-) But I guess it is that way and then why would anybody not update?
  - nacs 11y ago
    Because most can't. My Android tablet still doesn't officially have anything beyond Android version 2.3 and I had to root/jailbreak and install Cyanogen to upgrade to the 4.X releases.
  - ryan-c 11y ago
    Most Android users can't update. Their device gets updates for maybe 12-18 months, then nothing. They have to replace the device to update it after that.
  - untog 11y ago
    Why do Android users update slowly? Because Telcos and/or device manufacturers hold the keys to updates - and don't bother to release them.
  - 11y ago
walterbell 11y ago
If Apple introduces a larger iPad Pro with multitasking, this will shine more (blue) light on human eyes and create a need for platform-wide color temperature adjustment in iOS. At present, this is only available in a few apps. On desktops, it is available via fl.ux.
- spython 11y ago
  f.lux is available on jailbroken ios devices.
  - walterbell 11y ago
    Anyone who uses iPad at night would benefit from blue light control in iOS. This is a larger group of people than those who are willing and able to jailbreak their iPad.
- walterbell 11y ago
  Parent comment was upvoted three times in the last two hours, each followed soon thereafter by a matching downvote. Someone(s) out there likes blue light :) They should read http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/12/no-ipads-in-bed/383981/ http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/12/no-ipads-i... "When subjects read on the iPad as compared to the paper books ... people reported feeling less sleepy at night and less alert the following morning ... empirically, they also took longer to fall asleep on the iPad nights and spent less time in the REM phase of sleep. And the blood tests showed that on average, the brain's melatonin secretion on those nights was delayed by an hour and a half."
- angkec 11y ago
  Why is this comment downvoted? Flux is the thing that I misses the most on my iPad. Moving from my Mac to my iPad at night is a painful experience due to the sudden influx of blue lights.
adeptus 11y ago
Congratulations, Windows 3.0 level achieved!
nkoren 11y ago
Great feature. I used to love doing this with my Amiga.
- ytdht 11y ago
  it is pretty crazy how computers are going backwards lately
mark_l_watson 11y ago
I will wait until this ships, but I don't think that I will like it more than quickly switching apps with a sideways swipe. For example: I write a lot on my iPad, keeping a text editor open to a markdown file and a PDF open in an adjacent app. I sometimes quickly swipe back and forth when making edits. I recently bought a keyboard cover for my iPad, which I don't often use, but an iPad Air with a keyboard cover overlaps some laptop use cases, and the split screen might be useful.
- walterbell 11y ago
  Which iOS tools do you use to generate PDFs from Markdown?
  - mark_l_watson 11y ago
    leanpub web service, reads manus rope from dropbox and put generated pdc, kindle, and I book files back into dropbox.
udev 11y ago
I wonder if this will lead to wider screen formats long term.
- freehunter 11y ago
  I really hope not. I have a Thinkpad Tablet 2 with a wide screen and it's nice to watching movies or having apps running side by side but it's awful to try to hold one-handed. It's far too long.
acd 11y ago
BSD 4.4 was released 1994 it has multitasking which the Darwin kernel in OS X and also ios are based upon. Talking about 1994, NT also has had preemptive multi tasking since 1993. Multics the father of UNIX had multi tasking in 1965.
- csixty4 11y ago
  I know the headline is talking about something different, but I always think something along the same lines when someone talks about iOS multitasking. Does the kernel have a Process Control Block? Is there interrupt-driven preemption? Well, then it's a multitasking OS in the technical sense. But using the term "multitasking" to mean two applications on screen at the same time goes back to the Amiga days, maybe even earlier. I've just accepted it at this point.
BinaryIdiot 11y ago
If only they allowed the iPhone 6 Plus to do some of these neat iPad features. Surely some of them would work at least in landscape mode.
- codezero 11y ago
  Nobody has really implemented landscape mode in their apps on iPhone 6 plus. I expect the same will be true for this feature.
  - wingerlang 11y ago
    Well if the iPhone6+ is in landscape, it would fit two "portrait" mode apps side by side.
    - codezero 11y ago
      That's not quite what I meant. iOS 8 with the launch of iPhone 6 Plus promised to allow developers to make their portrait mode apps also run in landscape mode on the larger device. No developers actually made use of this feature, so it's pointless.
      - wingerlang 11y ago
        Oh, do you know where I can read about that? Never heard about it before.
        codezero 11y ago
        Nothing solid but this is a start: http://thenewsprint.co/2014/12/17/the-state-of-the-iphone-6-plus-landscape-screen/ http://thenewsprint.co/2014/12/17/the-state-of-the-iphone-6-...
        wingerlang 11y ago
        It seems developers still have to implement a specific controller/something for that. I thought you mean something different where it would all be somewhat automatic.
listic 11y ago
I was expecting an OS X-toting, keyboard-wielding Surface 3-like iPad Pro instead. Now when Apple squeezed multitasking into a regular one, I am not so sure whether to expect the iPad Pro. Maybe in autumn, with/instead of the supposed iPad update? I wouldn't rule out the secret homebrew CPU that could replace the x86 Core M.
- tjl 11y ago
  If there's going to be an iPad Pro, they'll announce it at an iPad event like they've done in the past.
  - jowiar 11y ago
    All the features they announced (including force touch trackpad) seemed to indicate "iPad pro is coming". At this point, I'd say better-than-even money that they will announce it to coincide with the actual release of the OS.
dwarman 11y ago
Many years ago - 2010 to be precise - I installed Desktop for iPad by Aqua Eagle. I don't think it ever got updated. It is still installed, still works on iOS 7.1.2, but is no longer in the store nor, interestingly, does it show up in my list of installed Apps. It implements split screen multitasking, albeit with their own versions of each App. I never use it.
rebootthesystem 11y ago
Not going to make any difference. The plain fact is that iOS sucks for any real work and the OSX UI is a disaster that came out of not wanted to let go of an idea that worked OK on a little 9 inch Mac screen. The second assertion is the easiest to prove. Setup a Mac to drive a wall of six or nine HD or better 65 inch monitors and see how quicly you end up at the doctor with carpal tunnel and intense shoulder and arm pain. Not so with most Linux platforms, Windows and even going back to Irix and Solaris. On he iOS front, well, it's mostly good for games, browsing and very simple tasks (like credit card scanners). Anything beyond that where there's far more user involvement the whole touch thing falls apart very quickly. Try entering a few thousand transactions into an accounting program, maintaining a large codebase or working with a non-trivial Excel file. It's a great "fun and games" interface, but that's about it. Apple Watch. Dead as a doornail. I am getting the feeling that Apple is noe entering into the downward slope that ultimately happens once all the smoke and bullshit clears out. Context: We develop for all platforms and have been using Macs since the Original 9 inch CRT models.
- rebootthesystem 11y ago
  The thing about down-votes is that they don't change reality one bit. They might provide the voter immediate satisfaction but the truth of the matter isn't modified in any way. Let's see how this Apple thing plays out over the next few years. I run into more and more people every day that are sick and tired of their i-device and I have yet to hear anyone at all say they have any interest whatsoever on the Apple watch. So, down-vote or not, whether you agree with me or not is immaterial at this stage. The only thing that matters is whether or not my opinion today will hold true a few years from now. I think it will. And, of course, I could be wrong. That's the way it goes.
  - zimpenfish 11y ago
    Thing is, people have been saying "Let's see how this Apple thing plays out over the next few years" since 2007 and they keep growing. "I have yet to hear anyone at all say they have any interest whatsoever on the Apple watch" A million pre-orders on day one would suggest you might not be representitive here. The watch definitely interests me - smart notifications on the Garmin 920XT have convinced me of the utility.

193 points by zhuxuefeng1994 11y ago

zyxley 11y ago

Note that as of the moment, this will only be available on the iPad Air 2.

zippergz 11y ago
Probably because of memory limitations; I would be surprised to see it ever come to older devices because they were already pretty memory-constrained.
- markque 11y ago
  The only reason to do this is increase the sales of the latest iPad, there is no technical reason. Again apple treats it's customers like shit
  - JadeNB 11y ago
    This seems like a bold claim to throw out without substantiation. It is undeniable that older devices are more resource-limited, and do run the latest OS faster. Sure, Apple probably is trying to push sales of new devices (which is their right—they have no obligation to retrofit the latest-and-greatest features to old devices); but to say that's the only reason seems rather strong.
    - markque 11y ago
      I should have said, I meant the fact that the iPad Air won't get it. It's almost the same device, fair enough older iPads won't receive it.
      - abhorrence 11y ago
        The Air 2 has twice as much ram as the Air, and memory has long been the constraining factor on the iPad.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- frik 11y ago
  Afaik, all iOS devices except the Air2 have 1GB RAM (or less - e.g. iPad2 and iPadMini1 have 512MB). So only Air2 can run two full apps side by side, makes sense.
JohnTHaller 11y ago
Only the iPad Air 2 has 2GB of RAM. Every other iOS device only has 1GB, which is a severe restriction to true multi-tasking. iPhones only have 1GB of RAM as well, so they couldn't do it even if they wanted to. It's a bit surprising as it limits future functionality. Comparably priced Android phones have 2GB to 4GB of RAM currently and comparably priced Android tablets have had 2GB of RAM for a couple years. Granted, Android OS seems a bit more hungry for tasty RAMs than iOS does.
- digi_owl 11y ago
  Android is more ram hungry because it has a different policy on process lifecycle management. If you hit home on iOS the app you are currently using is expected to pack up and be ready to get evicted from RAM. If you do the same on Android the app will stay in RAM until there is a capacity crunch. Then the GC will go round waking up the oldest processes and ask them to free up pages. And if that is still not enough, start shutting them down. This sadly result in slowdowns as the GC churns.

SwellJoe 11y ago

I've always thought tiling window managers were the future (as they're just flat out superior to windowing systems for many, many workflows). I just didn't know it would be Apple that would make it popular. But, maybe tiling will become the de facto UI for everything in the next few years. I'd like that.

vezzy-fnord 11y ago
A tiling WM still likely uses a "windowing system" (a display server like Quartz in this case, I think?) underneath, though some like rio do overlap. It's also funny to note how tiling is the future, given that it was already the past. Tiling was how some of the earliest GUIs were done because it's the simplest compared to stacking and particularly compositing. Windows 1.0 was tiling, IIRC.
Cantremeber 11y ago
A vague tiling like functionality has been available in Windows since 7. In 10 it looks they're finally expanding this to have more options then just halves, something I've been doing with a third party program for awhile now (it has halves, thirds, and quarters). This is not a true tiling WM but I've personally found their use a bit limited as there are times when it makes sense to have multiple windows overlapping, at least in my own work.
digi_owl 11y ago
It is funny then that the original Xerox GUI would default to tiling, but allow the user to move the windows around as floating ones afterwards. Even Windows 1.0 was tiling. Floating only came with 2.0.
petecox 11y ago
I've been wanting an excuse to learn Haskell, XMonad could be the reason. :)
jug 11y ago
It makes sense especially in light of widescreen displays. We have much more horizontal space today than we did when modern windowing systems were innovated.

Yhippa 11y ago

This is a feature I love on my Windows 8 tablets. Glad to see iOS will be getting this.

Maarten88 11y ago
Now of they would also copy the virtual keyboard from Windows. I hate the iPad keyboard, it's really sluggish and it has no arrow keys.
- bhauer 11y ago
  It's astonishing how many virtual keyboards omit the arrow keys. I was delighted to see them on the Windows 8 virtual keyboard.
  - Synaesthesia 11y ago
    iOS 9 will let you use the keyboard on iPad as a trackpad area to position the cursor. Quite clever.
sahaskatta 11y ago
I've loved the snapping apps to sides of a screen on my Surface for the past few years, however does anyone know whether the full-screen snapping is still around in Windows 10? It seems like Microsoft may have removed it in favor of a simply snapping apps within the desktop.
- asyncwords 11y ago
  It looks like full-screen snapping is used when the machine is in "Tablet mode", which you can turn on and off in the Windows 10 action center.
- Someone1234 11y ago
  Windows 10 has two "modes." Tablet mode, which is very similar to 8.1, and desktop mode which is a mash up between 8.1 bits and Windows 7 bits (e.g. apps in windows, no full screen Start Screen, etc). So in answer to your question: If you're in tablet mode then it will still offer that in Windows 10.

Someone1234 11y ago

It is nice to see Apple has finally started taking notice of the competition (larger phones, multi-tasking, alternative keyboards/swipe, etc). It seems like Apple stalled in terms of progression there for a few years, maybe after Jobs everyone was too scared to make any significant changes to the golden goose. I will say I haven't seen too much "innovation" from Apple in recent years. Progression, yes, but innovation no. Apple used to lead the field, and now they're just another "me too" device seller. The Apple Watch in particular is highly disappointing compared to what existed before it (e.g. Moto 360), but for what they lack in innovation they have more than made up for with advertising dollars and celebrity endorsements.

amyjess 11y ago
It really feels like, with both iOS 8 and iOS 9, that Apple is scrambling to play catch-up and focusing more on copying Android's killer features than on differentiating themselves. In the past, however, they've focused on differentiating themselves while also poo-poohing any features their competition has but they don't, saying you don't need that feature anyway. I'm glad Apple's gotten away from the sour grapes mentality, but I hope this puts an end to the false claim that Android owes its success to copying Apple's innovations.
- JadeNB 11y ago
  > It really feels like, with both iOS 8 and iOS 9, that Apple is scrambling to play catch-up and focusing more on copying Android's killer features than on differentiating themselves. Isn't this a good thing? If Android has a good feature, I am happy if it comes to iOS, just as I am happy when good iOS features (e.g., ask for permission on first use, rather than on install) come to Android. I would be significantly less satisfied with an NIH mentality on either system.
  - amyjess 11y ago
    I agree. I'm just pointing out that it's a huge change in Apple's product planning from what came before, and I think it should be noted. (and by "before", I pretty much mean "under Jobs")

AppleInvents 11y ago

"Apple invents Windows 8."

devindotcom 11y ago

One of the few features from Windows 8 I was hoping Apple and others would adopt. 8 really did have some interesting innovations in the 'productive tablet' world, it was just... well, we all know what it was. Think they'll bring in a "charms" thing for quick actions, maybe from the left side?

fpgaminer 11y ago

I remember watching a video awhile back that noted how Steve Jobs, being keen on eastern religions, brought Zen principals into his surrounding environment. In that particular case, they showed how his home was very spartan, eliciting an expression of focus and elimination of distractions from the task at hand. The point they were making was that this showed through his products. On the iPad, you can only do one thing at a time. You have to focus on that one thing, and are not able to be bothered by distractions such as other windows/programs. Of course, having multiple apps open on the earlier iPads would have been quite challenging anyway, so this was either a happy coincidence or an excuse/interpretation made after the fact. But the idea was cool none the less. It made me think about how distracting and unfocused work on a normal desktop can feel like compared to an iPad. The downside, of course, is that while this inability to have multiple things open side-by-side is fine for casual usage and entertainment, it makes a lot of tasks related to creation and work quite difficult. So it will be a relief to finally have this feature on iOS. It certainly was a pain point. But that concept of focusing on a single task without distractions is still something worth remembering.

Untit1ed 11y ago
It's an interesting contrast to OSX, which most people I know use by keeping a stack of odd-sized windows on screen such that at least a bit of each is always visible.
- devindotcom 11y ago
  That's my way too. A single click is always simpler than navigating a task switching interface, so I just have "big window" on left, "mid size window" peeking out at its right edge, and then "little window" - usually textedit - poking through in back. It's like a little sideways pyramid. I can also alt-tab through them super easy. Never found much use for Expose or Mission Control, i consider having to use them an organizational fail state for my process.
  - sergiotapia 11y ago
    Do yourself a huge favor and check out SpectacleApp. It's Windows image resizing brought to Mac OSX and it's really neat. 100% free and open source too with sensible defaults unlikes it's competitors.

founderling 11y ago

One reason that I do not use my iPad as a productivity device is that I do not understand the security model. I would need a terminal app with ssh capabilies. But how do I know if the maker of the app is sending my SSH credentials to his server or something? Does apple check that? Is the process how apple prevents this documented somewhere? At the moment, I only use software that is in the debian repos. At least I understand the security model of debian to some degree. And it is open and verifiable to everybody. I wonder why the Linux distros are so slow to adapt to tablets.

amyjess 11y ago
> I wonder why the Linux distros are so slow to adapt to tablets. Tight hardware integration. Most tablets have locked-down bootloaders that make it difficult to replace the default OS. You've also pretty much got to start over when it comes to drivers. Linux used to have terrible driver support back in the day -- I remember carefully choosing motherboards and laptops because I wanted a Linux-compatible chipset -- those days are over on the desktop (except for a few esoteric peripherals), but it's going to hit hard on mobile. Imagine booting your tablet onto Linux but not being able to use the GPS or some other piece of connectivity. And then, you've got to take all your established GUI code and throw it in the trash and start over. Nothing from the desktop world is going to be usable in a touch environment. The big desktop environments all have heritage going back to the late '90s. You can still see some KDE 1 and GNOME 1 layouts used in their modern KDE Applications and GNOME 3 descendants, and the stuff that was replaced was replaced one app at a time. Throwing everything out and starting over is harder than it looks. But, still, we've got some attempts at this. Look at Ubuntu Touch, Sailfish, and Plasma Active, for example. In the past, we had Maemo 5, which was amazing, and it was everything I wanted in a touch-based Linux distro, but the only company that had pockets deep enough to fund its development turned away from the platform, and the closest thing it has to a successor (Sailfish) has been a disappointment. Also, even that required the distro developer be an established hardware manufacturer: Maemo 5 couldn't have worked if it was just an OS that could only be installed on third-party devices.
- gtk40 11y ago
  I'm running Ubuntu on my Windows tablet (Acer Iconia W700) now, typing from it in fact. Interestingly enough, I had no driver issues (everything as far as I can tell worked perfectly with a fresh Ubuntu install), but I've had more software issues with touch support. I thought Ubuntu was supposed to be better with that, and while multitouch gestures seem to work with Unity, there are very few places where they are implemented.

higherpurpose 11y ago

Google's, but especially Sundar Pichai's, stubborness to make Android more PC-like to the detriment of Chrome OS meant that Apple gets to do multi-windows natively before Android - which should've had it at least two or three years ago. Sure, Android M is likely to get multi-windows as well when they announce the final version (maybe), but we've still moved from Android getting some features two or three years before iOS, to Android and iOS launching very similar features about the same time. This is a big problem for Google because Apple can release the new OS with the new features to 50% of its users within a week and to 85% of its users within a year. It takes a certain version of Android to do that at least 3 years. If Google can't release its major Android features years before iOS anymore, then it needs to make upgrading Android devices by itself an even bigger priority, rather than leaving it to others.

founderling 11y ago
Why do Android users update slowly? I have a few Android devices and I think they pop up with a message from time to time "new os version ready to install". But I am not sure. That shows how much I care :-) But I guess it is that way and then why would anybody not update?
- nacs 11y ago
  Because most can't. My Android tablet still doesn't officially have anything beyond Android version 2.3 and I had to root/jailbreak and install Cyanogen to upgrade to the 4.X releases.
- ryan-c 11y ago
  Most Android users can't update. Their device gets updates for maybe 12-18 months, then nothing. They have to replace the device to update it after that.
- untog 11y ago
  Why do Android users update slowly? Because Telcos and/or device manufacturers hold the keys to updates - and don't bother to release them.
- 11y ago

walterbell 11y ago

If Apple introduces a larger iPad Pro with multitasking, this will shine more (blue) light on human eyes and create a need for platform-wide color temperature adjustment in iOS. At present, this is only available in a few apps. On desktops, it is available via fl.ux.

spython 11y ago
f.lux is available on jailbroken ios devices.
- walterbell 11y ago
  Anyone who uses iPad at night would benefit from blue light control in iOS. This is a larger group of people than those who are willing and able to jailbreak their iPad.
walterbell 11y ago
Parent comment was upvoted three times in the last two hours, each followed soon thereafter by a matching downvote. Someone(s) out there likes blue light :) They should read http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/12/no-ipads-in-bed/383981/ http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/12/no-ipads-i... "When subjects read on the iPad as compared to the paper books ... people reported feeling less sleepy at night and less alert the following morning ... empirically, they also took longer to fall asleep on the iPad nights and spent less time in the REM phase of sleep. And the blood tests showed that on average, the brain's melatonin secretion on those nights was delayed by an hour and a half."
angkec 11y ago
Why is this comment downvoted? Flux is the thing that I misses the most on my iPad. Moving from my Mac to my iPad at night is a painful experience due to the sudden influx of blue lights.

adeptus 11y ago

Congratulations, Windows 3.0 level achieved!

nkoren 11y ago

Great feature. I used to love doing this with my Amiga.

ytdht 11y ago
it is pretty crazy how computers are going backwards lately

mark_l_watson 11y ago

I will wait until this ships, but I don't think that I will like it more than quickly switching apps with a sideways swipe. For example: I write a lot on my iPad, keeping a text editor open to a markdown file and a PDF open in an adjacent app. I sometimes quickly swipe back and forth when making edits. I recently bought a keyboard cover for my iPad, which I don't often use, but an iPad Air with a keyboard cover overlaps some laptop use cases, and the split screen might be useful.

walterbell 11y ago
Which iOS tools do you use to generate PDFs from Markdown?
- mark_l_watson 11y ago
  leanpub web service, reads manus rope from dropbox and put generated pdc, kindle, and I book files back into dropbox.

udev 11y ago

I wonder if this will lead to wider screen formats long term.

freehunter 11y ago
I really hope not. I have a Thinkpad Tablet 2 with a wide screen and it's nice to watching movies or having apps running side by side but it's awful to try to hold one-handed. It's far too long.

acd 11y ago

BSD 4.4 was released 1994 it has multitasking which the Darwin kernel in OS X and also ios are based upon. Talking about 1994, NT also has had preemptive multi tasking since 1993. Multics the father of UNIX had multi tasking in 1965.

csixty4 11y ago
I know the headline is talking about something different, but I always think something along the same lines when someone talks about iOS multitasking. Does the kernel have a Process Control Block? Is there interrupt-driven preemption? Well, then it's a multitasking OS in the technical sense. But using the term "multitasking" to mean two applications on screen at the same time goes back to the Amiga days, maybe even earlier. I've just accepted it at this point.

BinaryIdiot 11y ago

If only they allowed the iPhone 6 Plus to do some of these neat iPad features. Surely some of them would work at least in landscape mode.

codezero 11y ago
Nobody has really implemented landscape mode in their apps on iPhone 6 plus. I expect the same will be true for this feature.
- wingerlang 11y ago
  Well if the iPhone6+ is in landscape, it would fit two "portrait" mode apps side by side.
  - codezero 11y ago
    That's not quite what I meant. iOS 8 with the launch of iPhone 6 Plus promised to allow developers to make their portrait mode apps also run in landscape mode on the larger device. No developers actually made use of this feature, so it's pointless.
    - wingerlang 11y ago
      Oh, do you know where I can read about that? Never heard about it before.
      - codezero 11y ago
        Nothing solid but this is a start: http://thenewsprint.co/2014/12/17/the-state-of-the-iphone-6-plus-landscape-screen/ http://thenewsprint.co/2014/12/17/the-state-of-the-iphone-6-...
        wingerlang 11y ago
        It seems developers still have to implement a specific controller/something for that. I thought you mean something different where it would all be somewhat automatic.

listic 11y ago

I was expecting an OS X-toting, keyboard-wielding Surface 3-like iPad Pro instead. Now when Apple squeezed multitasking into a regular one, I am not so sure whether to expect the iPad Pro. Maybe in autumn, with/instead of the supposed iPad update? I wouldn't rule out the secret homebrew CPU that could replace the x86 Core M.

tjl 11y ago
If there's going to be an iPad Pro, they'll announce it at an iPad event like they've done in the past.
- jowiar 11y ago
  All the features they announced (including force touch trackpad) seemed to indicate "iPad pro is coming". At this point, I'd say better-than-even money that they will announce it to coincide with the actual release of the OS.

dwarman 11y ago

Many years ago - 2010 to be precise - I installed Desktop for iPad by Aqua Eagle. I don't think it ever got updated. It is still installed, still works on iOS 7.1.2, but is no longer in the store nor, interestingly, does it show up in my list of installed Apps. It implements split screen multitasking, albeit with their own versions of each App. I never use it.

rebootthesystem 11y ago

Not going to make any difference. The plain fact is that iOS sucks for any real work and the OSX UI is a disaster that came out of not wanted to let go of an idea that worked OK on a little 9 inch Mac screen. The second assertion is the easiest to prove. Setup a Mac to drive a wall of six or nine HD or better 65 inch monitors and see how quicly you end up at the doctor with carpal tunnel and intense shoulder and arm pain. Not so with most Linux platforms, Windows and even going back to Irix and Solaris. On he iOS front, well, it's mostly good for games, browsing and very simple tasks (like credit card scanners). Anything beyond that where there's far more user involvement the whole touch thing falls apart very quickly. Try entering a few thousand transactions into an accounting program, maintaining a large codebase or working with a non-trivial Excel file. It's a great "fun and games" interface, but that's about it. Apple Watch. Dead as a doornail. I am getting the feeling that Apple is noe entering into the downward slope that ultimately happens once all the smoke and bullshit clears out. Context: We develop for all platforms and have been using Macs since the Original 9 inch CRT models.

rebootthesystem 11y ago
The thing about down-votes is that they don't change reality one bit. They might provide the voter immediate satisfaction but the truth of the matter isn't modified in any way. Let's see how this Apple thing plays out over the next few years. I run into more and more people every day that are sick and tired of their i-device and I have yet to hear anyone at all say they have any interest whatsoever on the Apple watch. So, down-vote or not, whether you agree with me or not is immaterial at this stage. The only thing that matters is whether or not my opinion today will hold true a few years from now. I think it will. And, of course, I could be wrong. That's the way it goes.
- zimpenfish 11y ago
  Thing is, people have been saying "Let's see how this Apple thing plays out over the next few years" since 2007 and they keep growing. "I have yet to hear anyone at all say they have any interest whatsoever on the Apple watch" A million pre-orders on day one would suggest you might not be representitive here. The watch definitely interests me - smart notifications on the Garmin 920XT have convinced me of the utility.