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Ask Slashdot: Could Android and iOS Become Popular Desktop Operating Systems?

dryriver writes: For many older people, you use Windows, macOS, or Linux on the desktop, and Android or iOS on mobile devices. Nobody is screaming for an Android desktop PC or an iOS 17.3-inch laptop computer. But what about younger generations growing up, from a very young age, glued to devices with these two mobile operating systems running on it? Will they want to use Windows, macOS, or Linux just like us old farts when they grow older, or will they want their favorite mobile operating systems running -- in a beefed up and more robust form -- on desktop and laptop computers which they use for school, college, and/or work as well? Since we are on this topic -- could Android or iOS one day become reasonably usable desktop operating systems from an architectural standpoint? And could Google and Apple already be planning for an "Android and iOS on the desktop" computing future, without telling anyone about it publicly?

2 of 193 comments (clear)

  1. Betteridge's law of headlines by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Mobile devices are based on the act of consumption, not content creation.

    Yes you can "create" tweets and meme-grade content, but the more complex something is, the more tools you'll need for it. The existence of an operating system that allows you to manage files is a core function required for fluidity between the tools. Without that you're stuck with all-in-one solutions.

    Neither iOS nor Android has that level of user-manageable file integration, by design. If that changes in the future, so be it, but for them to be dominant desktop creation platforms they'll have to change so much that they effectively become new and different systems.

    1. Re: Betteridge's law of headlines by Farmer+Tim · · Score: 5, Funny

      Actually dipshit Android has a perfectly usable filesystem with tools to match.

      Lost track of the silly names...is Dipshit Android, version 8 or 9?

      --
      Blank until /. makes another boneheaded UI decision.