Listening to @gruber The Talk Show. Big fan. Great episode. Features @caseyliss. Love his app. Pay more than the required amount for it.
I say all that because I want this post to be received in the spirit I intend it.
Calling the iPad a “toy” because it isn’t your preferred platform for getting work done is a disservice to technology commentary. In a time where discourse seems relegated to ‘I’m pro this you’re pro that’ I just hate seeing thoughtful people be so flippant.
@MrNickler That’s a fair critisism, but from my perspective, it *is* a toy — I cannot get the work I need done on an iPad.
I type this to you — I shit you not — on my iPad.
@caseyliss I understand that it feels like a toy to you. I’m sure that is true for many.
I just feel like it is a narrative I hear all the time on tech podcasts. And as someone who only uses an iPad for work for ages, it is just a bummer to hear it so often without any thought, as if it is just fact.
It wasn’t fair of me to reference your comment when my frustration is more with the general discourse around the iPad.
@MrNickler I mean, this is probably not a great analogy, but it’s the best I can come up with this late at night…
For you and for me, basketball is just a silly game we play from time to time.
For NBA athletes, it’s a job. But I don’t think it’s unreasonable to describe basketball as a “silly game”, despite it being the livelihood for a select group.
To me, the iPad is a toy. To dozens of people — dozens! — it’s your livelihood. And I’m pleased you’re one of them. Wish I could be.
@MrNickler @caseyliss You’re making excuses for a platform that has baby computer limits. It’s a 14-year-old platform and you still can’t make iPad apps on an iPad.
@gruber @caseyliss I hope I don’t make any excuses for any of my tech.
I love that we live in a time when we have multiple computing devices that serve different people and needs. I especially love to see that from Apple a company that is typically one size fits all.
I am mid 40’s. I used a PC when I was young (parents choice). I used a Mac in college and beyond. I have used the iPad Pro for the last several years. I am a nerd that likes tech so I am very proficient on both devices.
@gruber @caseyliss I just prefer the iPad. I am also aware of its limitations. Those limitations haven’t prevented me from using and enjoying my iPad more than my Mac.
I would never try to convince you that an iPad is right for you. But it feels to me that the ‘technorati’ sure wants the world to think the iPad isn’t right for them to get work done.
I think it is a different device for different people to get work done. Different isn’t a pejorative to me. Baby and toy are.
@MrNickler @gruber @caseyliss He's at it again.
Just going to leave this here, written a few weeks back. I find it odd that pundits are so strangely angry at, or about, a device. It's as though they can't conceive that not everything is made for them. Just use your mac and be happy that you have a computer that works for you.
Not everything in this world is made for you. It's okay to just move on.
#iPad
https://beardystarstuff.net/2023/12/09/discussing-a-trick.html
@dennyhenke @MrNickler @gruber we are angry because the hardware has the potential to be just as useful to us as a Mac, but the software forces us to use the device with kid gloves on.
We are angry because we see the potential and want the iPad to reach it. We aren’t angry because we hate the iPad — quite the opposite — it’s because we [want to] love it.
@caseyliss @MrNickler @gruber Maybe be happy for my granny who, thanks to the iPad, spent the last years of her life connecting with old friends and family in ways she never could have with a Mac. I have a long list of people for whom the iPad is their first computer because it was and is safe.
And it's improved to the point that yes, some of us that need more powerful computers can use it too.
Still, not for everyone, not for you. That's okay.
@caseyliss @dennyhenke @MrNickler @gruber To each his/her own. There are times I feel this way about my Macs, which I love.
When I want it to have a touchscreen on my MacBook.
When I have to eject an external storage device instead of just popping it out.
It’s not that one is more grown up or restricted than the other. It’s that they are different,with both having sometimes confusing trajectories for the future complicated by the confusing messaging prior to Apple Silicon on the Macs.
@caseyliss @MrNickler @gruber Frankly I think it's damned amazing that the iPad is still simple and safe enough for people like my granny and yet, powerful enough that I regularly use apps like Affinity Publisher to layout/design annual reports, newsletters and brochures for clients. 10 years ago I would have used InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop on a Mac.
I use Textastic to set-up/manage websites, in the past I would have done it with a Mac.
@dennyhenke @MrNickler @gruber fun fact: it’s possible to have more than one thought concurrently.
I have an OG retina iPad to my grandparents forever ago. It allows us to FaceTime with them whenever we want. It has, arguably, changed their lives for the better.
I still wish the iPad wasn’t neutered.
@caseyliss @dennyhenke @MrNickler @gruber What would you give up your Mac for to do on an iPad if it wasn’t “neutered”?
@caseyliss @MrNickler @gruber It's rare that I hear pundits/podcasters ever celebrate the iPad in that way. Honestly, almost never. The focus is almost completely on what the iPad cannot do for them.
And often what they think they know is out of date. Off-the-cuff misinformation because they've simply not taken the time to actually use the iPad enough to keep up with year-to-year features. Case in point, Marco, a year ago:
@dennyhenke it looks like you really have an axe to grind. Which is fine.
But remember, I am not Marco and I am not John.
@caseyliss Lol, I do. And yes, point taken!
Most Apple/tech podcasts are casual banter meant to be entertainment, not journalism and I have to keep reminding myself of that. After years of reading tech magazines I'm still wishing for old school, fact-based journalism/discussion and that's not what the tech press is these days.
I understand the shift, I've just not accepted it. 😆
@dennyhenke I don’t think that’s fair at all.
Podcasts aren’t held to the journalistic standards of yesteryear, sure, but the implication of what you’re saying is that we are all full of shit and everything we says is for “clicks”, so to speak.
However, just because our view of the world doesn’t match yours doesn’t mean we are wrong.
(Corollary: just because iPads are toys to us doesn’t mean they are for everyone)
@caseyliss No, I simply meant what I said and it wasn't meant to be derogatory. The general vibe/tone of tech podcasts is casual banter. Many now spend significant air-time on rumor discussion which can only be speculative.
My point is that I frequently hear hosts make casual statements that are factually wrong. It's not opinion or world view when a host makes a frustrated statement about a missing iPadOS feature that is, in fact, not missing. That happens fairly regularly.
@caseyliss @dennyhenke @MrNickler @gruber Couldn‘t confirm more. The hardware ist great, although battery runtime could be better. But ipadOS lacks behind, a lot. I want to use the iPad seriously, but no change for my use cases. There are things, which simply don’t work, or I have the feeling one arm is fixed to my back. The iPad shouldn‘t be called iPad Pro, but iPad Senior, because for elderly non tech savy people, it is often the perfect computer but not for most Pros.
@gruber @MrNickler @caseyliss Saw this and just want to remind you that you can for the past couple years write and submit iPad apps to the App Store all on the iPad via Swift Playgrounds - sure it’s not the full Xcode but this is something you can do now and I’m with you Apple step on the gas to make that even better and bring more power user things to iPad
@ruebig @caseyliss @MrNickler @gruber What I find odd about iPad discussion is that there seems to be this group of Mac users that are fixated on the iPad with a strange, persistent anger.
As for the professionals that make a living commenting on tech they could say: A powerful device that works great for a lot of people who need (example use case 1, 2, 3)
But instead we get language like: baby computer, toy, iPad Senior.
See?
@dennyhenke @caseyliss If you don’t like the iPad commentary, imagine how “wrong” they continually are about Android/Windows/anything not .
iPad gets off easy! 😆
@dennyhenke @caseyliss @MrNickler @gruber In my case your analysis is correct. Team iPad anger +1 😉 I am angry because the iPad is close to my heart, and after 14 years the iPad could be so much more. Don‘t misinterpret that I hate iPad, I definitely don‘t. I am disappointed. iPhone was revolutionary, iPad could be, but didn’t fulfill my great expectations. But your mileage may vary. #iPad
