I think we’ll all have to wait and see. The impact of the Mac 40 years ago, was not as a more powerful PC, but the then new visual approach and using a mouse changed the way people related to the computer and what our expectations are and changed the whole landscape: how people worked and what they could even think of doing.
I see the vision pro similarly. It’s not primarily about being more productive in the sense of doing what you are already doing faster or more efficiently, but the possibility of doing things we don’t even realise we are not doing yet and approaching things differently, so being able to solve problems that are very difficult or unclear now.
And people are not computers. The sense of awe and excitement, emotional responses, becoming immersed in flow, how work makes us feel as well as think all matter a lot in creating and developing things.
I don’t know what the Vision Pro will change, or how, but I am pretty sure it will and that’s exciting.
What attracted me to the first Mac 40 years ago is that it did make me much more productive. It was the difference between ugly MS-DOS text with arcane formatting commands on the PC, with WYSIWYG with menus and a mouse on the Mac. I did a thesis prospectus in 1984 on an IBM PC; 90% of my time was spent figuring out the formatting commands to make it do what I wanted. From day one with the original Mac, 90% of my time was productive.
I don’t think the VisionPro will be that huge of a difference. To me, comparing the original Mac to the PC is comparing apples and oranges. It’s more like the change from an iPad to a virtual iPad.
I’ll withhold my judgment about whether I’m excited about the Vision Pro until I see what it will change or how or if it turns out to be, or if it’s more of an excellent media toy.
That has been an important factor on how I imagine my use cases, and why I see it more as an entertainment device then a work device. There just isn’t much online about who will enable their apps or won’t. I am hoping that while all the big corporations are saying no, that the smaller developers will be more willing to enable it.
I love the idea of sitting in my my big comfy chair with my little mechanical keyboad and a trackpad and updating my Obsidian notes or organizing DEVONThink, but I don’t know if either of them will support it, or if I will want to mess with the AVP when I could already easily do that stuff on my MBP.
It seems to me, at this point, that most people who buy it will be enthralled with it like a new toy. Eventually, it will be laid aside. At least, that is what will happen if I bought it (not that I would).
I’m getting a lot of original iPhone vibes when I hear people talking about Vision Pro. It doesn’t do this or that, it’s a toy not a serious thing, it’s too expensive, etc.
Whether or not you think this first iteration checks all the boxes, I do believe that this could be the future of computing. At the current price point, it won’t have the reach that iPhone had, but I do think this could be the start of something special. I am giddy with excitement.
All that is to say I can’t wait for my delivery on Feb 2!
That is entirely possible. If so, I think that future device may be something we can put in a pocket when it is not in use. Meanwhile it will be interesting to see how the VP evolves.
You’re likely to get a more respectful response on the Obsidian Forum. People will almost certainly disagree with you, which is fair, but the Forum tends to be much less savage than Reddit. It tends to be more carefully moderated, and visitors can like your post but they can’t downvote it.
The most cogent point you’ll hear against supporting the Vision Pro will likely be that it’s a small dev team, and that at this stage it doesn’t make sense to put resources into developing something that will be used only by a vanishingly small percentage of their cross-platform user base.
People in the Reddit thread were saying it’s a small dev team, etc., but all they have to do is enable the iPad app. If something turns out to be broken somehow, it’s not worth the effort to fix it, but otherwise it seems like an easy thing.
My God, I sincerely hope not. I don’t even want to imagine working in an office full of people walking around talking to themselves while wearing a headset. Talk about social separation and destruction. To me, a very scary view of a possible future. Kind of reminds me of simulated world depicted in The Matrix.
I suggest then that you address that in your post. It will likely go better if you show you’ve thought through the possible negatives and can counter them or suggest workarounds.
I would imagine you would not be in an office if this became a thing, you would attend meetings virtually.
The attractive part to me is have a gigantic desktop that wraps around me. Instead of the calendar app taking up screen space it would be off to my side, so I could take a quick look at by just turning my head. Or have a YouTube video playing to the side where I could look over at it like it was a TV I had on in the background.
It might be too fussy to work like that, I will let you know in a couple of weeks.
One media write up I saw the guy couldn’t get the light seal right so they just pressed on without it being sealed. I am really worried things like that will be an issue. Every time I use it am I am going to have to fight with the seal to get it right?
I guess they don’t want the headaches that will result if their apps don’t work well on Vision Pro. They really have nothing to gain and could lose some customer good will.
We will learn. We will make it work. And what maybe will not work in the long run will go away. I am confident about that. Devices like the Vision Pro and their OS have to be optimized and improved in order to be accepted in the long run. I see the Vision Pro as being the first device of its kind entering a “mass” market. We will see what eventually happens. The only thing I am sure about is that nobody is sure about this. Neither the yay-sayers nor the nay-sayers. I am confident that this will sort itself out. There will be articles about the Vision Pro being a flop and there will be articles about it being a success. And I do not care for any of them. What this actually really means for “computing” is something we will see in one or two years at the earliest.
Real mass market adoption will only happen when there will be a spatial computing device that is more affordable and when everybody will have found something to be useful for a device like that. I for sure see use cases, especially if follow-up products like real “Apple Glasses” (and not clunky headsets) may materialize some day in the future:
extending your Mac’s screen (especially with Macbooks) for everybody
construction work
surgeons
And what not. With the Vision Pro as of “today”, extending your Mac’s screen already is something that apparently is working well. And all the “productivity” talk aside, sometimes stuff is being bought and used because it is fun. Even a 1.0 device.
Regarding the dystopian future of a Matrix-like environment: I think that we will learn how to use new tech in a healthy way. And if products will prove themselves as being not good for us we will get rid of them. Apple seems to be aware of the social issues of VR and AR which may be one of the reasons why they keep avoiding those terms - and even in this 1.0 product Apple is trying with VisionOS to avoid the social separation that could arise when using it wrong.
I am confident about that. Devices like the Vision Pro and their OS have to be optimized and improved in order to be accepted in the long run. I see the Vision Pro as being the first device of its kind entering a “mass” market. We will see what eventually happens. The only thing I am sure about is that nobody is sure about this. Neither the yay-sayers nor the nay-sayers. I am confident that this will sort itself out. There will be articles about the Vision Pro being a flop and there will be articles about it being a success. And I do not care for any of them. What this actually really means for “computing” is something we will see in one or two years at the earliest.