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Using a Tablet As Your Primary Computer
harrymcc writes "Three months ago, I started using an iPad 2 (with a Zagg keyboard) as my primary computing device--the one I blog on, write articles for TIME magazine on, and use to prepare photos and other illustrations that go with my writing. I now use it about 80 percent of the time; my trusty MacBook Air has become a secondary machine."
Congratulations.
Curiosity was framed; ignorance killed the cat. -- Author unknown
I'm sorry, this isn't a story. This is a blog entry, and a short one at that.
Sent from my CR-48
My primary mobile development machine is now my iPad2. Using svn hooks and an apple bluetooth keyboard I've managed to quite effectively work remotely.
SSH is required from time to time, but frankly it's quite seldom once I got all the svn hooks set up correctly
Personal Computers aren't a jack of all trades and a master of none. They are a master of freedom and convertibility, the ability to do whatever you want. Enjoy your tablet, I'm not sure I could.
To offset political mods, replace Flamebait with Insightful.
Get off me with that stuff, it makes computers expensive by throwing the market! :0)
Windows 8 on x86 seems like it'll be the first thing to run well as a tablet / personal computer. Too bad they aren't allowing "native" desktop applications for ARM.
I think this news story was supposed to be a tweet
How the heck could you describe this as "News for Nerds, Stuff that matters"? So you can do simple text entry on a tablet with a keyboard. "Man uses tablet as intended by designers"..WOW! ASTOUNDING! THE WORLD NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT THIS!!!!
Now, if you were doing Linux Kernel programming on the darned thing...
Meh.
So it's like an expensive netbook, but you can only run programs approved by Apple?
What's the point?
No surprise considering his "primary computer" was a macbook to begin with. No real computing was likely done.
The Official Site of 1337 Pwnage
I've tried pretty much the same thing using an Asus Transformer TF101. It has been less than a success.
Basically the tablet is great for email, which fortunately I write a lot of, but rubbish for office productivity. Word processing, spreadsheets and presentations are all difficult to create and edit with the installed Polaris Office. The original article above mentions Hootsuite. I use Hootsuite for managing my social networks. On an Android tablet, the experience is less than stellar. The Hootsuite app is clearly built for a mobile phone. In a web browser though, Hootsuite is brilliant. Sadly, web browsers on an Android tablet are largely crap at dealing with Javascript. And I've tried pretty much all of them. I need at least 4 (standard Google Android browser, Opera, Dolphin HD and Firefox Beta) to ensure that I will be able to load and interact with all websites I come across. Google Docs also fails in a web browser, and the app is once again mobile phone focussed.
The battery life of the Transformer is brilliant, especially with the dockable keyboard, which makes writing anything of length bearable.
A while ago I installed Ubuntu 11.10 as a dual boot operating system. I now use this OS much, much more on the Transformer. It's not perfect and a few things don't work, such as the mini-HDMI out, but when it comes to browsing and office productivity, I find this much more useful.
Brought to you by the author of such childrens' classics as "Some Kittens can Fly!" and "All Dogs go to Hell."
You could also do all your work on an old windows 95 computer, probably better than you can on the iPad and for 1/10th of the price (or get a free one from a dumpster). Why aren't you trying that? Oh! because doing things the hardway is only cool if you are doing it on a "hip" device.
From the blog post:
"I read Walt Mossberg’s review of four portable Bluetooth keyboards for the iPad 2 at All Things D and was intrigued–especially by the ZaggFolio, which cleverly builds a truly notebook-like keyboard into an attractive case. So I bought one. The ZaggFolio changed the way I use my iPad, and that changed my life."
I don't know about the rest of you, but I find notebooks relatively unproductive, largely because of the lousy keyboards. (Well, that and the limited display, and the lousy mouse-equivalents, but largely because of the lousy keyboards).
The only way I can do real work, without significant degradation in performance, is to plug it into a docking station with real monitors (at least two), and a real keyboard and mouse. I'm sure it'd be the same with a tablet. Equip it with a full keyboard, mouse, and a couple of large monitors, and it'd be fine.
When cryptography is outlawed, bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir cevinpl.
He makes good points about battery life and built in AT&T connectivity but then come these questionable statements ...
Then ...
This sounds more like the key success factors of the Kindle -- battery life, connectivity and single purpose optimization. But Kindle's "experimental" browser and PDF reader are primitive and useless. Maybe the iPad is all he needs. Lets invite him back in six months for an update.
Meanwhile some of us have real work to do which we need our PC's for.
But as tablets become able to do "real work", fewer people will demand PCs. Some previous articles posted to Slashdot predict the "death of the PC", and pretty much only people who make apps for a living will have PCs. Where's the economy of scale in a PC industry dedicated to supporting only tablet app developers?
(Not taking into account Linux / Windows Tablets)
Writing a thesis, a scientific book or a novel with a tablet ? Really ?
Doing serious stuff that requires Excel / Mathematica / various number crunching tools with online / embedded apps ?
Developing a serious application ? A web site ? With online tools and IDEs ? Really ?
Come on, tablets are great and everything, but don't have (yet) powerful enough offline tools and the RAM / power required for
very serious stuff. Not mentioning the fact that the screen might be a tad small for development. Don't even start me on virtual
keyboards.
Now, if you add RAM, a real monitor, a keyboard and a mouse, with good enough offline tools, maybe.
But that ain't a tablet anymore, it's a PC.
all compilation and testing is done on the server as a pre-commit hook.
So how do you get development work done while away from a Wi-Fi signal? That's precisely why I carry a netbook: so that I can get development work done while commuting on a bus.
The thing I don't like about the Zagg keyboards is that they are just a tad too small. I understand that they are trying to fit the form factor of the iPad for creating a nice looking and natural feeling case. So I use the Zagg when I am on the go, but use a standard apple wireless keyboard when I am at my desk. I can't say I have completely switched over to the iPad for productivity apps, though, I prefer a much larger screen for my workspace.
Johnkoerner.com
I don't see what he's gaining here. With that awful looking keyboard setup, surely all he's managed to put together is a poor netbook? Surely you get a decent netbook with a larger screen, better battery life and have the freedom of not being on an apple device for the same money?
Maybe he just needed to accessorize his hipster glasses properly.
When youd add a physical keyboard to it, it's just not a tablet any more, functionally. It's either a two-piece notepad, or if the keyboard is attached, even with just a cover, it's a notepad period.
The form factor changes. I expect tablets to be just one piece. A salient feature of a tablet is the LACK of a keyboard.
But if he was saying that adapting his tablet for everyday uses onle required adding a keyboard, well, doh. This is news for nerds? Not for a few years.
By TFA measure, my X41t is a tablet. Oh, sure, it needs a stylus and comes with a keyboard, and most of the logic is in the 'keyboard part', but it's touch sensitive (just the touch of the stylus, I know), has an onscreen keyboard etc. and folds over so it's just screen. and the stylus.
In today's world, it isn't what most people think they mean by 'tablet'. Adding a keyboard muddies this even more.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
Why do you find that surprising?
If someone is passing you on the right, you are an asshole for driving in the wrong lane.
I think a lot of computer users could get away using a table + keyboard for a computer. Tablets can do some activities really well due to the nature of the low computational power needed. For instance writing a blog, updating Facebook, going on MSN, listening to music and even watching videos all require low computational levels. When you do work that that requires a ton of computational power such as Matlab, Maple, Circuit simulation, Video Editing and such activities then a tablet just wont keep up.
It will be fun to see in 5 years just where tablet technology will be, Maybe in 5 years there will be tablets powerful enough to run really high demand computational software.
My girlfriend uses a phone as her primary computer.
How's life without Flash support? It means no web video. No thanks.
And it wasn't pretty Somebody points out that a tablet can only be a good primary computer if one's primary work is non-computer intensive, like an editor with a light workload; use-iPad-for-everything people get defensive about the technical rigor of their work, and computational significance of their needs; comments section gets shut down due to hurt feelings.
your thin skin doesn't make me a troll
I would not say it is "good" for Apple or any other corporation to dictate what software may or may not be used on someone's personal computer. It flies in the face of the personal computer revolution, and basically undermines all the things that made PCs a great thing for the world. The fact that people have to hack their iPads just to get the same level of control they have over their PCs is a problem, regardless of functionality.
Palm trees and 8
Some of the benefits come from battery life - an iPad is ARM based but unlike ARM netbooks has a huge base of applications. Some other benefits seem to come from the lack of 'computer admin' and the full-screen model.
One big downside of an iPad would be the lack of a shared filesystem, particularly when using multiple apps to make use of a larger app such as PhotoShop. This is unlikely to change, which is why people end up using Dropbox as a shared filesystem, though not every app supports it.
A Geek could never use a tablet as his primary computer. i.e. you're not a Geek like me and your posts don't belong here. I wonder who put this through.
Other than that, he states "This hasn’t been one of those experiments-for-the-sake-of-experimentation in which someone temporarily forsakes a PC for another device in order to write about the experience". Of course not. He had to justify his purchase (to himself, I suppose). Why else would he devote a blog post to "Hey look! I can write and take pictures with an iPad!"
He could just as easily written about blogging/taking pictures and emailing them to himself on a phone - because he bought an external keyboard.
Just some background, I am an Oracle DBA who is oncall every second week. I used to carry around my laptop, power cable and iphone while I was on call. I managed to get my hands on an iPad and used it for light reading, email, etc. I tried to use it while on call but it was too painful. SSH on the thing is nice if your in a bind, but you don't want to be using it for an extended period of time. Just think about trying to use vi, yikes.
Anyways, I picked up a Zaggmate keyboard for it. I now carry it primarily while I am on call, much easier to tote around than my 17" laptop. Has a better battery life and 3g built in. I don't have to worry about draining my phone at the same time as my laptop.
However, if I am traveling I take both the laptop and ipad. While the ipad is good for short periods of work, it is still painful for long periods. And its also not suited for alot of tasks, which you don't realize until you actually try to do them.
So I would agree to a point that 80% of work can be done on an iPad but its that other 20% that kills you. I could also walk to work but that would take an extra 2 hours each way than using my car.
The macbook air is light, small, easy to carry around. I am not sure why you would use an iPad over it. I've heard quite a few people say the opposite as the guy in the article. Once they bought air's they barely used their ipads. Once you factor in the cost of the keyboard, ipad, your almost at an air anyways.
"Thanks to the remote control I have the attention span of a gerbil."
Good for you. Who cares? Why is something like this even getting posted here? Its not news, its not even a question. Its just some tool apple fan boy post that belongs on something like his twit or Facebook.
It's not astroturfing, it's trolling. We all come in to poo-poo the stupid article and it drives up ad revenue.
Sorry but I'm forced to think this, with the increasing number of clearly troll articles that are making it through these days.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
That being said, someone might actually be able to use an asus transformer or transformer prime given their awesome keyboard docks (and things like basic file system access, etc)
I would love to see someone actually try to use a tablet (of any kind) with NO EXTERNAL KEYBOARD.. that would be amusing
A man writing a blog writes a blog entry about how he writes his blog and gets his blog entry posted on other blogs.
Is this the publishing equivalent of the CDO?
This is nothing but a hipster who does nothing more than type and crop photos going on about how they can use a keyboard and mouse attached to a tablet. Well no shit. You could probably pull off the same with a smart phone and a magnifying glass.
This is a self-serving slashvertisement troll. No one cares what rag you write for or that you're an iFanboy. I don't know why this "story" doesn't have the appropriate tags.
Arstechnica wrote a very similar and pointless "story" not long ago. And the editors of that site got really, really nasty when people called them out on the pointlessness of the article.
It really was kind of surprising for an author who claims to be writing for Time magazine.
His work is writing, he's using it primarily for writing, and much of the article is about the keyboard, which is the part that makes it useful for writing. What part of this in any way "kind of surprising"?
Now that decent keyboards exist for the iPad, I've been thinking about switching to an iPad for my main portable myself-- despite all the people expressing disdain here, I can't see any downside. Smaller and lighter, thus easier to carry everywhere, and longer battery life-- seems an obvious choice.
http://www.geoffreylandis.com
After a lot of grief from a bargain Android tablet, I went ahead and bought a refurb iPad 1st gen earlier this year. In fact, I sold my Sony Viao laptop in order to purchase the iPad. I still have a Windows desktop at work and a Mac Mini at home. I haven't regretted the iPad purchase for a moment. I use it much more frequently than the Mac Mini.
Getting a keyboard is pretty important if you want to do large amounts of writing on an iPad. There are lots of alternatives out there. I bought a refurb Apple keyboard dock, which has the look and feel of the desktop keyboards (not as small and cramped as some of the integrated cases), but limits you to portrait mode. The Apple wireless bluetooth keyboard is another good choice, having a similar look and feel. I tried an integrated bluetooth case, but the keyboard was too cramped, and they were limited to landscape mode (I understand some of the newer cases can swivel).
I also think a good stylus is pretty important, and there's only one I could possibly recommend: Stylus-R-Us. I tried two rubber tipped stylus before splurging on this one.
My 3 year old MacBook Pro has proven to be too heavy to be EASILY portable (portable, but dissuasively so) and it suffers a bit with some of my gaming on the side (i don't even dare try starcraft 2 on the poor overworked and now slightly damaged thing.) Still, I have some photoshop and flash work to do; I do a lot of python, perl, php and jquery work, etc... those probably would be fine on even the current generation of tablet. But yeah... I'm trying to run the macbook into the ground (as I want to abuse as few near-slave-labor foxconn workers as possible) so that hopefully in another year or two, the tablets will be up to all the tasks I want. Further, I'd rather that I didn't have to have it AND a phone. Quite frankly, if not for all these online and offline forms requiring a phone number, I wouldn't even have that... I ~never~ use the damn thing other than for such legacy issues.
Thanks for the link to Ubuntu!
I think the master point he made was that it's actually the OS he likes. Or rather the lack of an OS to deal with. No real responsibilities to manage. Just a pure application interface. He also liked the long battery life.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
I have a few work related MS apps that I have to run, plus I need the power of a laptop for Photoshop. I carry it in a (with the laptop) 50 pound tool bag I sling over my shoulder anyway.
I personally wouldn't want my primary computer to be linked into a single "app store" where I am forced to buy everything I need.
Not to mention- I need a real desktop- to do my work, and to do the things I do for fun.
But sure, if all I ever did was browse the internet and play angry birds- I guess I could get by with a tablet as my primary computer.
Thank goodness my life isn't that empty.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
You were editing a lot less data in those days and your processor didn't have to deal with the overhead of an interface built in flash. Lightroom is nice and powerful, but it is absurdly slow on my i5/8GB ram laptop for things like browsing thumbnails of my 5000 or so images. My 486 with 8MB of ram wasn't much slower at browsing pages of thumbnails.
So this guy is using his iPad to blog about how he uses his iPad to blog...
If you can do everything on a table that you were doing on a Macbook Air, then just maybe you didn't really need a full blown computer in the first place. One sees these stories/comments all the time, about how people are replacing their computer with an iPad. However, by the time you figure the price of the device plus the cost of the added keyboard, it seems more like they are trying to justifying paying a lot of money for not a lot of computing power.
When making these decisions,it should be based on what will the iPad allow me to do that I can't already? With the blogger this article is about, portability isn't an issue, a Macbook Air is easier to carry around than an iPad and a keyboard. Assuming he also has an iPhone or other smart phone, there doesn't seem to be an advantage of the iPad there, either.
If one believes that the netbook market is dead, buying an iPad plus keyboard to mimic a netbook doesn't seem the brightest move. If the netbook market isn't dead, then spending $700+ to mimic a $250 netbook doesn't seem to smart, either.
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2011/09/doable-or-not-my-experience-with-working-for-ars-on-the-ipad.ars
"Working on a tablet made it more difficult to constantly monitor everything that happens in a day, but there was a tradeoff: it was significantly easier to be productive when actually writing. In fact, I produced slightly more the day I worked on the iPad than on a normal day, and I didn't miss any significant news—work-related or otherwise. I did feel as if I was somewhat disconnected from the world compared to my usual setup, but I wasn't—I just couldn't see everything at the same time, all the time.
Instead, I had to make conscious decisions to switch over to IM and respond to several people at once, or go to IRC to see what the rest of the staff was up to, or go back to Writing Kit to dedicate another hour to uninterrupted writing. It's a different mental process for a typical computer user, but it worked out a bit better than fine if personal productivity was the metric."
...While the ipad is good for short periods of work, it is still painful for long periods. And its also not suited for alot of tasks, which you don't realize until you actually try to do them.
Since you don't tell me which tasks are the "alot" of tasks that it's not suited for, this is a completely useless post.
So I would agree to a point that 80% of work can be done on an iPad but its that other 20% that kills you.
And that 20% is?????????????
I don't run Mathematica at home; I don't play World of Warcraft; if youtube died tomorrow I wouldn't notice; and I used Photoshop a couple of times and it was ok but I don't have it on my laptop. What "20%" of my use of a computer am I going to have problems with if I switch to an iPad+keyboard for my portable?
The macbook air is light, small, easy to carry around. I am not sure why you would use an iPad over it.
Well, maybe because it weighs half as much and has three times the battery lifetime?
I don't own an iPad, but I'd be interested in knowing specifically what the problems are. I have to say, with all the people here saying how bad iPads are yet not a single one actually mentioning even one specific thing that's bad about them, I'm really questioning whether there is any downside at all, other than the lack of ability to run computational-heavy applications like Mathematica which somebody or other mentioned.
http://www.geoffreylandis.com
How's life without Flash support? It means no web video.
In my opinion, that's a feature, not a bug.
http://www.geoffreylandis.com
I will never do anything like this.
harrymcc writes for TIME MAGAZINE! I bet he writes e-mails to his girlfriend on his iPad also.
Meanwhile some of us have real work to do which we need our PC's for.
But as tablets become able to do "real work", fewer people will demand PCs.
And how do tables *become* better? Is there a full software development environment that is iOS- or Android-based?
"Good news, everyone!"
Netbook: $300.
iPad: $500. iPad keyboard: $50. Cellular data connection at $60 per month for 36 months: $2,160.
I just saved over $2,400 by switching to a netbook.
Looks like a netbook to me bro, since your needs are so narrow an iPad with a keyboard (netbook) are all you really need.
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
If Captain Kirk could do it, so can you! You need to be using Siri a lot more, and call it "Computer..."
But, I don't see how I could develop on a tablet. Too much depends on a thicker OS than iOS/Android.
Now that connectivity have caught up with that
Not yet, as far as I can see. Last time I checked Verizon Wireless five minutes ago, prices for cellular Internet service in the United States were still so high that half a year's bill would buy me a netbook.
I like that you're somehow getting free internet on the netbook though, that's cool.
Yeah, it's called using the home network or restaurant networks that are already paid for. Or are you talking about replacing home broadband with mobile broadband? I sometimes watch enough video at home that I'd hit the 5 GB/mo cap.
You're also getting reduced screen space on the netbook
As are you on the iPad 2.
a smaller less useful keyboard
Does the Bluetooth keyboard that you carry with your iPad 2 have a number pad?
How is his expensive thing better than my cheap thing?
If your tablet alone removes any need for you to use a full blown computer or notebook. You never needed a Computer in the first place! It's really that simple. Its much like the typist can use anything that types even a old mechanical typewriter from the 1940s
...you're an idiot. Pure and simple.
Every single time a new technology becomes popular. (laptop, smartphone, tablet), there's always a group of morons who go "OH MY GOD I'LL BE ABLE TO USE JUST THIS FOR EVERYTHING!"
But you know? If it works for you, great. But don't go parading around that everyone needs to be doing it because it can do everything. Because it can't, and never will be able to.
Not to mention for the price of most tablets on the market, I can build a computer that makes your device look like a child's toy.
On a more personal note, I don't see how this is better than a laptop. You're forced to carry a damn keyboard around, to me that's several times more annoying that carrying a laptop around, which has one built in.
You can use VMware View to access a virtual desktop from your tablet (or even phone in a pinch).
Good job, asshole. Now you can feel avant-garde by doing things on a tablet you could have been doing on a fucking kid's learning toy before. And instead of minding your own fucking business we, the people who are doing real work on fucking real metal, have to endure your mental wank job because your hippie ass can't sit still without telling the world that you pooped your pants again.
Those tablet/smartphone wankers can lick my balls while I type on a REAL laptop like man's intended to.
This story was one sided on how he did things so I decided to write what I can do with Android tablet.
I have a 7" Sylvania tablet (paid 99$) Android version 2.2. I use it as a Picture frame, cookbook, e-books, web browsing, HDMI to my TV, some games, Facebook, twitter, tv remote (fios app) , controls my x10 light controls (x10 active home pro android app) , RDP into my servers, to on them all from my couch. It is a very flexible widget device. A one shot deal type thing that can't do heavy lifting that my programming job requires. I connected a keyboard and mouse to it and I can blog and reply to email easier/faster than the onscreen keyboards if I want to.
People need to understand that these devices finally have evolved to the point of the ultimate small scale multipurpose devices, Apple pulled it off first but they are not the only players in the field. Especially since the author only compared Apple to PC vs. iPad. He really needs to get a hold of an Android tablet for a well rounded comparison. Maybe he will in the future. I myself am waiting for Win 8, although I'll wait a year before i get one to let the 1st release problems get worked out.
Also, "tablet" and "wall-mounted HDTV and a bluetooth keyboard and mouse" are not mutually exhaustive.
Fixed that for you.
Interesting read about a software developer who swapped his MacBook for an iPad and Linode:
http://yieldthought.com/post/12239282034/swapped-my-macbook-for-an-ipad
Buy 3 netbooks that are nearly full-featured
or
1 iPad that requires multiple of $100 accessories to be useful?
That logic works only for someone in a "creative" field. In my world, I'd only buy 1 netbook for $250 and be done.
I say this as an owner of a 10" tablet w/keyboard, netbook, 15" laptop, 4.5" tablet device w/ BT keyboard and multiple desktop/servers.
The netbook is by fair the most productive item for portable writing and travel. BY FAR.
I love the power of my 15" laptop, but it isn't appropriate when flying. It is heavier than I'd like. The tablet is too limited as a computing device to be useful for anything beyond reading web pages or ebooks. I'd love to have the netbook capabilities in the tablet form factor. After I wipe Android and load Debian, perhaps my thoughts on this will change?
OTOH, if I hadn't tried
LOL - IPAD2 as a primary computer. I'd die!
I go completely the other way running a decent CPU with twin 30" 2560x1600 screens. I bought them for all my staff too. My productivity would drop by 80% if I tried to work off of an IPAD. I think samzenpus must have a lot less to accomplish in a day than I do. If my company tried to run on IPADS I'd be out of business by Christmas.
First, because they find the tablet operating system easier to learn and easier to keep free of fake antivirus and rootkits than Windows.
I don't have such issues in Linux.
Second, because laptops can't "do what [some people] want" because the author of a tablet application has the privilege not to make a Windows version.
And if the author of an application chooses not to port it to iOS?
Chase's check deposit application is available only for iOS through the App Store or for Android through Android Market, not for Windows and not for GNU/Linux.
Thanks for the tip; I won't be banking with Chase.
First, because they find the tablet operating system easier to learn and easier to keep free of fake antivirus and rootkits than Windows.
I don't have such issues in Linux.
But I do have issues with application availability in Linux.
And if the author of an application chooses not to port it to iOS?
More popular iOS games remain unported to Linux than popular Linux games remain unported to iOS.
"I've bought a shit "computer" (basically an oversized phone that can't make calls) with no keyboard, no expansion options, locked to a single software store, and whose screen isn't even able to stand up. Then I bought a separate keyboard, I propped my shit computer against some books so I could look at the screen in a more normal position, and now I rarely use my other (large, overpriced, underpowered) shit computer."
Meanwhile, anyone with a brain got a real laptop (i.e., a Macbook Pro, a Thinkpad, etc.) or a truly portable netbook (ex., Eee PC) and has a life.
Sure, a tablet or mobile phone is useless for those of us that actually do non-trivial things with the computer (video editing, Photoshop, finite element analysis, coding, even heavy MS Excel work), but for that cousin you have that only uses it for uploading photos to Facebook and emailing?
I can almost see such a person getting by fine with a modern smartphone (one of the more powerful dual-core ones), with an MHL output allowing it to be hooked up to a monitor when at home, and a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. Heavy storage is done in the cloud; you pay for data through your mobile provider (or if this isn't enough, get a home cable connection and WiFi). Polaris Office is fine for the one word-processing task such a person does per week (making birthday invitations or Please Don't Steal Food From The Fridge signs).
We're only a few years away from this being a common use case, I think.
Karma: pi (Mostly due to circular reasoning in posts).
My 13 year old daughter got an iDevice for her birthday (an iPod Touch -- seems like an iPhone without the sim card to me).
She's had a great time buying idiotic wallpaper "apps" (branded / licensed from her favorite TV shows), and silly games like Angry Birds, etc.
Also getting Email and wasting time on facebook (and of course buying a playing music).
This prompted the Dad speech: "when I was your age, we had C-64's. They plugged into the TV and you could write your OWN games".
Her eyes lit up. "I want to do that" she said. ... she had a couple of amusing ideas for angry birds knock offs.
Of course, starting from 0 might take a while to get there.
It started me thinking. The C-64 could suck you into programming real easy. Because with a few one liners you could change the screen color, make some noises, etc etc. It peeled back the curtain a little, and let you see how the thing you just bought worked, and how you could make it do neat things, and it didn't take a lot of effort to get there.
How in the hell could I even start my daughter down this path today?
I guess we'd have to download the Apple developer tools, XCode, get some sort of iDevice development license, and ... damn I don't know I guess some sort of iPhone simulator or something to run on the computer to act like it was an actual iDevice (since there's no way in hell you're getting your code onto one outside of the app store).
If she managed to entertain some enthusiasm through that ridiculous process, then her eyes would glass over as I began to explain how compiling works, header files, etc, etc, etc.
The greatest thing about computers is that they are creativity machines. You can use them to make just about anything. But these iDevice walled gardens are bullshit mini-televisions or game consoles. You can't DO anything other than consume, or produce approved content: pictures, emails, blog posts, maybe audio.
I'm disappointed by that. They could be so much more, for a new generation.
obviously not a compuer programmer otherwise he could not do everything on a tablet, well even 80% of his job
Only 'flamers' flame!
https://designsfromscratch.wordpress.com/tag/ipad-2/ - scroll down and you'll see several blog posts about using the iPad 2 as a main device.
This isn't new, at all. You're obviously late for the train!
Except that preparing photos and other illustrations that go with your writing barely qualify for "computing".
Florida motorist uses his motorcycle 80% of the time over his car.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
Go for it, dude. And then don't wonder why Apple's app-store terms-of-service somehow force all your text editors to block anything subversive (such as anything critical of Apple.)
Welcome to your walled garden [sic]. More like a prison.
Not because he is that insightful. Seriously...
I don't understand the comparison - how is a cellular data connection any more essential to the ipad than the netbook?
A netbook lets me run any application I want while offline, regardless of whether or not the manufacturer of the netbook has approved the application. In order to run any application that Apple has not approved on an iPad, I would need to run the application on a remote server and then install SSH or VNC to use it.
In my analysis, I was considering a home Internet connection as a given. Or were you recommending canceling wired Internet in one's home in favor of wireless broadband on one's tablet? If so, prepare to hit U.S. cellular carriers' data caps. Hard.
Obviously you have the greatest porn collection... EVER!
-- I ignore anonymous replies to my comments and postings.
For the record, I have never purchased an apple product with my own money. My iphone and ipad was provided by work. As for the ipad, a senior manager didn't want his so I was the lucky recipient and about the only non-manager in our group to have one.
All employee's have laptops instead of desktops now. That was a company initiative years ago and you really don't have a choice in the matter.
Geoffrey.Landis:
"What "20%" of my use of a computer am I going to have problems with if I switch to an iPad+keyboard for my portable?"
That 20% is going to be different for most people and depends on how you use a computer day to day. For me its bouncing between ssh sessions, most of our enterprise applications (which I support) won't work on an iPad. I find its great for short duration tasks such as an app server crashing, logging in to take a quick look, restart it, etc. Its great for bringing to meetings to look stuff up quick, meeting materials, etc. I brought it while on vacation last summer and had to login to work for a couple of hours. I could get the job done but it was much more time consuming to do on an ipad.
"Well, maybe because it weighs half as much and has three times the battery lifetime?"
Once you factor in a Zaggmate keyboard, they are pretty close in weight. I haven't used either an ipad or a air until they were drained to do a valid comparison of battery life.
serviscope_minor:
"To be fair, a decent 13" laptop with a spare house brick would be easier to tote around than the average 17" laptop."
For sure, I had a Lenovo X200 with an extra battery. Loved it but unfortunately it wasn't fast enough and they replaced it with a T61.
To the Anonymous Coward's:
"Because he his a fucking hipster apple faggot thats why"
As I said, for the record, I have never purchased an apple product. I'm lucky enough to have work provide me with some nice toys. Other than the iPhone, I am not sure I would spend my own money on it. I get the sense your the jealous type who can't afford apple stuff.
"There are so many subnotebooks with ~1kg weights and built-in Ethernet, 3G and even DVD drives. The Air hype is just fanboy self-fellatio."
I'm sure there are.. Just as i'm sure management is just waiting for me to research it and provide them a recommendation. For one, thats not my job, its someone elses. For the uneducated, like yourself, there is much more than picking a piece of hardware and asking management to buy it for you. There are such a thing called support costs.
"Thanks to the remote control I have the attention span of a gerbil."
So I have my laptop at work, and I work. Then I drive home and I have the same laptop, where I close Outlook and fire up StarCraft 2. I don't understand how you play StarCraft 2 or Skyrim for that matter on your iPad or Macbook Air. Go get yourself a Sony Vaio Z and for a similar price as the 16gig 3g iPad with keyboard, and the 256 gig 13inch Air, you get a lighter, faster, in between battery life laptop that with an extension battery will match the iPad on battery life. One day I want to end up in a conference with someone using an iPad while managing a keyboard to type, while I sit next to them playing Civilization V.
1) discussion of computing needs and uses of most people. Slashdotters are outliers and seem little able to put themselves at others' keyboards.
2) sciecnce or computing education for most people. Slashdotters are outliers whose ideas are like the professor who thinks she knows how to teach becuause she knows how would have liked to be taught.
3) any discussion of design as being distinct from looks. Yammering on about how apple products are just stylish eye candy is like saying people use xEmacs instead of vi because of how it looks, rather than how it works. Slashdotters don't care, or even realise they notice, when software or hardware are badly designed because they can easily see a workaround to make it work how they want.
How did this make the Front Page? I mean, seriously. Who cares?
John V. Karavitis If you read the authorized biography on Steve Jobs that came out at the time of his death, you'll know that the idea of a tablet computer was suggested way back in the late 60s/early 70s (@ Xerox PARC? I don't recall the details). However, like the mouse, no one did anything to commercialize the idea. Can you imagine our world with the first "personal PC" being a tablet instead of a clunky piece of junk that we got with Apple I? Sure, it wouldn't have been as flashy, or portable, as what we have today, but I suspect that it would have taken off like wildfire, and thus forced technological improvements FAST. The deal with tablets isn't that they are the wave of the future - they are simply the wave of the "now". Watch for the next step to be computers being integrated into everything - clothing, furniture, whatever. The big thing with tablets is the apps that people download and use. And what are apps? Simple programs that do one thing very well. Want a bio-monitor? We'll add one to your t-shirt. Want a GPS system? We can tattoo one into the back of your hand. And so on. The tablet is the current way-station, and the "cloud" is the current fad. The future is the complete integration of computing technology into our bodies and our possessions. (Maybe Steve Jobs also forsaw this, as he was scribbling his notes for Apple engineers to mull over after his death???)
Using a Tablet As Your Primary Office Appliance.
FTFY. Report back when you do actual computing on your iPad -- like writing code or crunching scientific data.
Free Manning, jail Obama.
...so long as there aren't any serious IDEs that run on Android/iOS.
They've monetized the eschaton!
It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
a simple case of someone force-fucking technology just to say they used an Apple product in another way. This would be no different than waste management people coming up with an app that sort of kind of but not really, works to control all of the pumps and valves at their facility, but not really kind of sort of. But hey, as long as people can continue to say they use Apple products for various things even if they're half-assed attempts, it gives Apple free marketing which is what the world needs right now.
Have you tried the virtual trackpad on VMWare View on either Android or iOS? IMHO, its as good as a any laptops trackpad or pointing device. I personally still need a real (bluetooth) keyboard as I find using the virtual keyboard a real PITA to use...
Please read my reply to uglyduckling's comment.
apple slashvertisement which is masquerading as a completely tenuous article.
You could also make webapps. There's enough you can do with HTML5, Javascript, CSS. It's a way to get started,
These days I often just carry my iPhone with a BT keyboard instead of a laptop. Yes, it's a pain to use for some things and others are just impossible. But it's easy to carry, many things you can't do in a reasonable way with an app can be done via web apps or on a server via SSH and for the odd job now and then the pain is tolerable.
Replacing a laptop with an iPad? If you add a keyboard and don't do other things than to write, maybe. Even then, editing is a pain. You can't even adjust the key-repeat rate and scrolling is painfully slow. Selecting text is a pain. Positioning the cursor is a nightmare. There is a reason texts written with an iPad are often so bad. You have to avoid going back and editing your stuff as much as possible.
Everything else: There are apps to do the most basic things in a very cumbersome way, but WORK usually requires some flexibility and, well, speed. Everything you do with an iPad is slow and cumbersome, not only because the hardware is slow (compared to any "real" computer) but also because switching between apps is slow, getting things from one app to another is slow, there is no way to script or automate things... The iPad is just no platform for work. Not for work you usually use a computer for anyway.
The major reason the iPad is such a success is the fact that is it fun to use. If what you're after is getting things done as quickly and efficient as possible all the fun in the world drives you mad after eight hours worth of it. I'd rather use a 80x24 text console running nothing but a shell and Emacs to get things done and I would probably get ten times as many things done.
I am a linux/firewall admin, i have tried to use an iPad for this but its just a pain. What it is good for, and i mean really good is as stated in posts before.. media. I use it for watching youtube, checking /. and playing silly games and it is very good
for this.
I have searched an article like this for admins but there is none because
its a pain to use it for anything else than browsing or watching videos.
tablet OSs are NOT simpler to learn. They just have less features.
You appear to misunderstand the mindset of people who want to remain willfully computer illiterate, such as my grandmother. They don't want more features. They find themselves lost when the start menu changes shape, or moves to the top of the screen instead of the bottom, or when the application list and log out/shut down functions are separated into separate buttons, or even when someone hides the bookmarks sidebar in Firefox. And they don't want to poke around for fear of accidentally rearranging things from how they remember it, which to them breaks the operating environment.
People have not switched to console gaming for the reason you give.
Would you like me to dig up examples of past Slashdot comments that demonstrate that this not true?
you can run emulators
And get ROMs where, legally?
But can I hook my JTAG to it?
Given that things have gone off the scales within the boundaries of computing, is there now a tablet that will do everything a normal desktopor laptop would do?
I haven't researched, but if anyone has answers, much obliged. Tablets, to my mind, aren't the way forward...
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. ~~ Hunter S. Thompson
This "article" is a short, pointless blog post by no one of importance suggesting that his miniscule computing needs are met by an iPad. There's no reason to care what he thinks (he's not anyone who has shown his opinion deserves any weight), his opinion is unsupported by any evidence (one data point DOES NOT make a line), and the article was full of typos and grammatical errors before someone pointed them out to him - and this was pointed out AFTER some imbecile decided that this article was worthy of being on /., so the article was approved while it was a disastrous mess.
So I'm done now. Good bye, /., it was nice knowing you. I'll stick with Ars from now on.
Can you put it into a number of bytes?
I don't have a ballpark figure for how heavy a remote X, VNC, or RDP connection is. I've never had a chance to try the VNC-on-a-tablet workaround before because so far, a netbook running Ubuntu has satisfied my needs at a lower price.
Tablets are nice for certain kinds of things, and for others they're not-so-great.
I agree. But if far more members of the general public do "certain kinds of things" (viewing things other people have created and sending 140-character messages to friends) than "others" (medium duty creation), then companies that make netbooks won't find a lot of profit in making and selling netbooks anymore, and it'll become a lot harder for people who want a netbook to get one at prices anywhere near today's.
Which is yet another cable to trip over until someone figures out to make wireless 1080p video affordable.
There can certainly be a world with a fraction of the numbers of PCs in it, even if not a single developer ever gives up their PC.
Such a world would take away the economies of scale of the PC market, which would in turn discourage people from becoming developers.
How do you get free Internet on a Netbook you can't get on an iPad?
By waiting until I get home, where an Internet connection with a much higher monthly cap is already assumed paid for, to use the Internet. An iPad running VNC needs a continuous connection; a netbook running an unapproved app locally needs only an intermittent connection.
where people use computers for work, and not just dicking around, it remains to be seen whether the tablet will catch on
As for Raenex, you may want to point out that the GPL only applies to works derieved from GPLed software.
Raenex's argument is that the work "Entire Contents of Ubuntu on a CD" is technically a "work based on the Program".
Including the Linux version of Adobe Acrobat in a Linux distro does not violate the GPL because Adobe Acrobat was not (I presume) based on GPLed software.
It doesn't matter. The distribution as a whole is either a derivative work or collective work or both of the GPL software and thus technically a "work based on the Program".
I would say that unless your bits were derived from GPLed code, there is no issue.
The distribution as a whole is derived from GPL code. GPLv2 makes no attempt to clarify what "mere aggregation" means, and Raenex refuses to discuss GPLv3's clarification of "aggregate" because he takes issue with the form of my apology for not being able to convince him of my interpretation of "work based on the Program" under GPLv2.
Basically the GPL says that you can do anything with the code except distribute binaries based on altered GPLed code without making the altered source code itself available.
Bundling non-free works on a medium that is distributed to the public makes the distribution as a whole "based on altered GPLed code" because it is technically a "work based on the Program".
Why argue with someone who views the FSF's interpretation of the GPL as bizarre?
For two reasons: 1. Because he might be right at first glance, working for Oracle, and planning to use this interpretation against Red Hat and Google in court. 2. Because Kufat, who also posted in the thread, asked me on EFnet #nesdev to correct Raenex.
What program? Can the distro as a whole be considered a single program?
"Program" refers to any work distributed under the GNU General Public License. Raenex argues that the distribution as a whole is a "work based on the Program".
How is Adobe Acrobat altered GPL code?
Raenex appears to argue that the wording of GPLv2 treats "collective" or "aggregate" works carelessly. The GPLv2 code in the distribution is altered by having Adobe Reader appended to it in the file system. Raenex refuses to discuss whether GPLv3 fixes this on grounds that I have failed to predict the exact form of an apology acceptable to Raenex.
"This is because they are all separate programs." -- FSF
This appears to have become FSF's intent, but the GPLv2's careless wording means that programs are not truly "separate" if distributed on the same medium. GPLv2 was written back in the day when a program would rarely be distributed to another person on the same medium as a program from another publisher: FSF's GNU tapes had mostly FSF's software on them, not the mixture of GPLv2 software and non-free software seen in some popular Linux distributions or on every Android-powered phone.
Also, would an attorney characterize an organization's interpretation of its own license as bizarre?
Raenex appears to argue that it doesn't matter what the author says, just what the words literally mean. Such characterization is related to what Roland Barthes called "death of the author" in a 1967 essay.
Raenex has to convince a judge.
I (somewhat sarcastically) pointed out that this interpretation, if correct, could make someone a wad of dough if used in court, yet for some reason, no one had bet money on this legal theory. Raenex accused me of trolling and demanded an apology.
Has Oracle actually launched a suit
I have no insider information about Oracle. The name-drop was more of a joke: "Shut up, Raenex. Don't give Oracle any ideas."
Can it run Crysis? Didnt think so
I used my ipad as the only computing device I take with me on travel.
What I've found:
1. it lacks storage - I used it to copy pictures from my DSLR, but I have too little storage to do that on an extended trip
2. It cannot write to external hard drive - due to lack of storage I thoght, hey, I'll take also a 500GB 2.5" hard drive. But then I found that even if I can connect it using a powered hub, I have no way to transfer pictures from the camera, through the ipad to the drive.
3. It cannot download flip-ultra movies (should be possible with a powered hub)
4. It is hard to print. Had to send a pdf to myself, open it in the hotel lobby's computer and print from there
Other than that, it works like charm. I did email, facebook (which sucks on the ipad big time), watched movied, listened to music, GPSed around, watched pictures from the DSLR, skyped long distance to cell and land lines. It is pretty perfect. If the storage angle improved, it would have been perfect.