Chromebook deployment...

[Geoff Canyon]

I didn't mean to imply that Apple's (future, potential) effort would ape
Microsoft's work. I just listed MS's effort because it's a concrete example
of the issues I see.

The rest of your post seems to be implying that your version of a hybrid OS
would largely resemble iOS, but with some extensions included to support
trackpads. I still question the viability of such a thing, but it would at
least not suffer from some of the glaring (to me, obviously, since at least
millions of people seem perfectly happy with their Surfaces running Win10)
usability failures -- like Excel, which (last time I checked, which was
pre-Win10) had many interface elements that were 90% unusable without a
trackpad (or stylus).

So if Apple releases a touch-sensitive laptop that flips over to become a
tablet, runs something fairly close to iOS, but with the ability to run
something like LiveCode on it, I'd definitely consider it.

Which makes me curious: LiveCode notwithstanding, are there iOS app
equivalents for most categories at this point? Audacity, Balsamiq,
Photoshop, Jira, etc., etc.?

gc

On Fri, Oct 30, 2015 at 6:33 PM, Richard Gaskin <ambassador at fourthworld.com>
wrote:

> Geoff Canyon wrote:
>
> > On Fri, Oct 30, 2015 at 1:07 AM, Richard Gaskin wrote:
> >
> >> I just wish Apple would hurry up and announce the merger of OS X and
> >> iOS....
> >>
> >
> > Puttin' on my holy war pants... I hope they never do this. I've seen
> > what Windows 10 looks like on a tablet, and (to my eye) it's a
> > usability mess.
>
> When did Apple ever implement something in the way Microsoft does?
>
> Apple's desktop OS has always been distinguished from Microsoft's, their
> mobile OS is very different from Microsoft's; there's no reason to believe
> a convergence design would become the one area where Apple feels the need
> to start emulating Microsoft.
>
>
> > Touch and trackpad/mouse are too far apart to share a UI.
>
> They are very different, yet consider the capabilities of the iPad and the
> popularity of docking keyboards for them.  Apple even makes one themselves
> now.
>
> By docking a keyboard you get half your screen back and a much better
> typing experience.  At the point the device ergonomics are already like a
> laptop, with one serious downside: the "gorilla arm" Steve Jobs discussed
> as a problem with using touch screens with laptops.
>
> Touch is great for convenience, but pointers are great for precision.
> Neither is best in all circumstances; both are excellent for their own
> respective tasks.
>
> Why not put a trackpad on the docking keyboard, and have the best of both?
>
> Just as the Outbound predated the first Mac portable, someone's already
> shipping a docking keyboard for the iPad that has a trackpad:
> <
> http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/02/crux-loaded-case-almost-turns-your-ipad-into-a-laptop-for-250/
> >
>
> The alternative to an OS design that can gracefully adapt to different
> input modes is a requirement to carry both an iPad and a Macbook, one for
> convenience tasks and the other for when you're doing any serious work like
> typing or graphics - or risk "gorilla arm" with a docking keyboard that has
> no trackpad.
>
> Anyone who believes Apple is unable to produce a great convergence design
> underestimates them, and overlooks a long and distinguished history of
> excellence where others look clumsy.
>
> --
>  Richard Gaskin
>  Fourth World Systems
>  Software Design and Development for the Desktop, Mobile, and the Web
>  ____________________________________________________________________
>  Ambassador at FourthWorld.com                http://www.FourthWorld.com
>
>
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