Instead of proper multitasking, virtualization and external monitor support, we just gain new and iPad-only gestures to learn and memorize. The iPads, especially iPad Pros, have become an increasingly complicated method of computing. I thought their emphasis was on making computing more accessible/approachable to everyone.
Holds it back from what?
> Instead of proper multitasking, virtualization and external monitor support,
Why not use a laptop if you want these?
> we just gain new and iPad-only gestures to learn and memorize.
That’s the opposite of what they just announced. The new features can be accessed through visual UI elements which addresses people’s chief complaint about iOS multitasking.
> The iPads, especially iPad Pros, have become an increasingly complicated method of computing.
Less complicated than if they just added all the features of a desktop computer.
When I'm not at my desktop computer, I don't see why I shouldn't be able to write an run code on my iPad. For instance, Wolfram already has a working Mathematica kernel on iPadOS and iOS, but because of Apple's rigid restrictions on running code on i-devices, they've only publicly released their CDF player and Wolfram Cloud apps, rather than a full on version of Mathematica. There's no reason for this other than Apple's restrictions.
Because of Apple's restrictions on this, I own both a Macbook Pro and an iPad but this feels artificial and unnecessary. As time goes on, I'm feeling more and more alienated by Apple and likely once my current devices reach the end of their lives, they'll be replaced by something from outside of Apple's ecosystem.
The problem is iPadOS drastically fails at simple tasks all the time - I wanted to print a shipping label the other day that I got in an email - sounds simple? Not on iPad! Tap print, see the AirPrint printer, tap print, and I get a 100% fill UPS label. I could download an app like Pages, drop in the image, setup the formatting then print. But it was literally easier to just open my mac, change one option and press print.
It looks like iOS 15 finally adds print options, but how could this have taken 15 years to have printer options…
I really love using my iPad for whatever I can. But the random missing features and “iPad simplicity” frustrations are incredibly annoying.
Obviously, digital documents of the future will have graphs and data that can be manipulated while standing and sharing, and it could be done now if Apple would flip a few bits and remove some restrictions.
It is an exciting future for communication and information exchange, and I’m sure this will happen as people catch up to how great of a user experience that would be (versus sitting and reading documents and manipulating plots on a desktop or laptop) - especially in a noisy environment where standing and movement are necessary.
I'm actually glad the iPad keeps it simple, as every time I try to code or use the files app on my Chromebook, its extremely irritating.
Especially now that the new M1 iPads have so much ram, background tasks won't get frozen nearly as often so that alone will improve the multitasking experience, let alone the new stuff they're adding in iPadOS 15.
Honestly though, I'm fine with it not being a perfect experience, as long as I can actually do it if I need to do it. But I guess apple is saving me from myself by forcing me out of their ecosystem.
Without it the entire App Store review model falls apart as anyone could submit an app that does X and then in reality does Y. And due to the way Objective-C works there are no static analysis tools that can work upfront to fix this.
So they have a choice between losing customers like you and keeping the many more who prefer the way the iOS app ecosystem works.
For safety purposes, presumably code executing apps could just be sandboxed and only interact with the file system in very limited ways and be pretty safe.
On the other hand, the App store is a revenue generating behemoth due to their internal monopoly. I think the reason Apple doesn't allow me to execute arbitrary code inside a container is that they're afraid of people circumventing their App store and distributing money makers like games and such without Apple collecting their cut of the revenue.
Code execution allows you to pretend to be a flashlight app during the app review process, pass any automated tests and then at runtime download code from the web to execute. And since this allows you to add new functionality on the fly pretty soon every app would move to this approach.
This then opens up an entirely new security vector which is hijacking/MITM servers so that you can inject your code in place of the app developer's code. Thus instantly turning that app into one giant code execution farm for Bitcoin mining, DDOS etc.
You can either have an app review process or code execution. Not both.
If Apple wanted to allow arbitrary code execution, they could have an entirely separate category of app for it that includes warning labels, and requires the developer to justify to Apple why their app requires arbitrary code execution in order to function.
If someone submitted a flashlight app that requested this capability they could just deny it. E.g. they could say that the only valid justification for allowing arbitrary code to run is for developer applications that are meant to be running user written code.
Apps in this category could be forced to pay extra to apple in order for Apple to pay for special, ongoing scrutiny for security reasons. They might even do things like require that the app publisher be well recognized and have some sort of provable, good track record of not releasing malware.
Arbitrary execution is not incompatible with review, it makes it harder.
Given that nobody has solved the problem of malware, but Apple does better than anyone else. It’s fairly obvious that making it harder would make things worse.
Having said that, I too would like to see some form of code execution on the iPad.
Being a full-fledged computer.
> Why not use a laptop if you want these?
What if I want a tablet I can dock and turn into a laptop or workstation? The M1 iPad Pro would be a perfect competitor to the likes of the Surface Pro, if the OS weren't holding it back.
Personally, I like it this way. I can understand why some others would not. For them, there are other vendors making pads that fulfill their needs.
Design and business are not absolute truth.