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Comment by Fauntleroy | Hacker News Reader

It's sad to see so much effort put into reviews like this when it's obvious Apple keeps iPadOS kneecapped on purpose to prevent cannibalization of MacBook sales. All of the author's hopes and dreams are naught when Apple simply doesn't want to fix any of the issues pointed out.

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> Apple keeps iPadOS kneecapped on purpose to prevent cannibalization of MacBook sales

[Citation needed]

I don't buy this argument. And I also don't buy that iPadOS is "kneecapped". They're different operating systems for different uses. I'd hate for macOS to gain touch support, since it would ruin it for mouse and keyboard usage, just as happened to Windows, Gnome, and other desktop UIs.

>[Citation needed]

The basic kindergarten math that having your customers need to buy an iPad plus a MacBook to have their needs covered, instead of just an iPad with more power-user features or just a MacBook with a touchscreen, equals more profits for them.

Do you really need a citation that Apple would much rather make more money rather than less?

iPad Pro 1TB is the cheapest model with 16GB RAM for virtualization. With a Macbook-lookalike Magic Keyboard, it costs about two MacBook Airs or MacBook Air + iPad Air. If it ran MacOS VMs, it would be revenue neutral for Apple hardware, without forcing customers onto Qualcomm Nuvia devices to get a professional developer Terminal on a portable, instant-on, AI device.

But do you know what's even better for Apple's bottom line?

Users buying an 1TB iPad Pro with keyboard, AND, a MacBook Pro to do the things the iPad can't do even though it has the same CPU.

Cha-ching!

Here's a citation: Apple still refuses allowing multiple profiles on iPad.

Except in education settings.

And that too with some gymnastics, and not through a straightforward option in settings.

So it is possible. They just disable for the average consumer.

To compel families to more iPads.

I agree iPadOS is not the OS for those changes. What I'd really like is to run macOS on the iPad.

macOS and the ecosystem of applications was never designed to support touch input.

It wouldn't be able to distinguish between a Close or Minimise action on every single titlebar.

Fortunately, since Apple obviously controls macOS, they can fix that.

It's very easy to connect a keyboard and pointing device to the iPad.

And you would what disable the touch screen.

It makes no sense.

I don't have an irresistible urge to smear my fingers on the iPad screen just because it's emitting light.

In general as a hacker I'm skeptical when people are trying to draw distinctions between systems when there is little apparent technical merit to the distinction. I tend to believe in adaptability & flexibility, tend to believe in soft systems and the drive or quest to be more. The arguments that devices must in some zero sumanmer stay one thing or else seems concocted.

Windows with touch support looks like normal windows. It just means I can tap and pinch instead of using a mouse (really nice for google map or just to move around in a creative app). macOS doesn’t have to change drastically to work well with touch support

(This is a response both to you and the GP)

Can you really look at the Final Cut Pro example given in the article and say, yes, this is the smooth user experience that Apple is aiming for?

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