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Comment by gedy | Hacker News Reader

Talking off the cuff, it feels to me like Apple is trying/tried to hail back to the early days of the Mac where there is no hierarchical file system and "files" concept is minimized in favor of apps that correspond 1:1 with a file to edit or view.

I'd say past 40 years proves this model is not what people want, but they are so persistent about not doing a normal file-focused UI that it feels intentional. Like some directive from Steve before he passed.

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I love the iPod as a physical object, but it always hurt not being able to just put files on it. (Not to even mention the "you have to sync and wipe your entire iPod library" situation.)

I ended up putting Rockbox on my iPod Classic, which makes it be what it actually is: an MP3 player! (Alas the UI is not as pleasant, and battery life is worse...)

Similarly I've been so confused about files on my iPhone, whereas on Android I never had any confusion (except on some newer versions where there's both a Documents folder and a Documents "smart view" which are indistinguishable except when you realize nothing makes any sense and you ended up in the screen that's trying to give you an Apple-like files experience for some reason, and then you navigate back to the actual file system and are actually able to find your files...)

I actually disagree, I think the success of the iPhone has proven Apple correct that people don't want to deal with "files." Personally I despise it, but as iPhones have become nearly ubiquitous in the US, I can't help but feel the sting of being in a minority group that actually wants a general purpose computer rather than an "appliance"

You can't really evoke revealed preference here; there's a lot of incentive for platform builders to lean away from general-purpose use and towards appliance-ification, and there's no real option on the market for consumers to flock to if they want a capable general-purpose pocket computer.

Yeah that's fair. Man, I hope that changes though. I would buy the hell out of a general purpose pocket computer.

Sure, there's android. Android has a file browser.

A dumbed down file browser.

Just like iOS!

I'm curious how Android isn't that? What's missing that would classify most Android phones as general-purpose computers?

iPhones are definitely not nearly ubiquitous.

I hope you are correct, but I'm skeptical. May I ask what demographic? Among the youth, nearly 90% or more have iPhones, seemingly regardless of socioeconomics situations.

Definitely not "regardless of socioeconomics situations". I don't know which bubble you are living in.

I think phones are a something different. Agreed you mostly consume on them and less need for "files". It's a phone appliance.

But WTH is an iPad for with the larger screen and all that power? Watching videos or maybe some games I guess?

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