The most used operating system in the world is Android at 43.72%, followed by Windows 27.43%, iOS 17.82%, and macOS 5.86%.
In mid-2023, it was estimated that almost 96 percent of the global digital population used a mobile device to connect to the Internet. Currently over 60% of internet traffic comes from mobile devices. More than fifteen percent of US internet users are smartphone only. And in 2019 it was predicted that around 75% of the world will only use a smartphone to access the internet by 2025. - I think that may be a stretch, but I found it interesting
What’s a computer? IMO the answer is "that depends . . . "
This is a logical fallacy, appeal/argument to authority.
Your ‘computing classes’ are arbitrary. Are hammers and spanners different ‘classes’ of tools? Is a screw driver more similar to a hammer or a spanner? None of it really matters. There’s no platonic computer.
All that matters is whether or not you’ve chosen the appropriate tool for the work you want to do. Comparisons between the tools aren’t really meaningful. Are you hammering nails or tightening nuts? Do you spend your life in complex Logic Pro projects or Office 365 documents?
True story: my grandfather was an engineer in the Desert Rats deployed to Egypt. He did not use spanners. He tightened nuts with a hammer — he fixed pretty much every mechanical issue with his old Ford Cortina with a hammer (it’s actually not that uncommon a practice amongst guys who fixed tanks in fairly extreme conditions). He made it work, it was a habit he developed out of necessity.
It does not make hammers a spanner replacement. It doesn’t make it the best choice for all mechanics.
Edit: Remember that the context of that computer comparison was a girl doing her homework. There was nothing at all to suggest that the iPad was comparable in every way to a Mac.
Your ‘computing classes’ are arbitrary. Are hammers and spanners different ‘classes’ of tools? Is a screw driver more similar to a hammer or a spanner?
Of course there are different classes of tools: power tools and hand tools, percussive tools and cutting tools, multipurpose tools and specialized tools, mechanical and electronic tools, etc.
And of course you should choose the right tool for the job, at least for doing the job as you wish to do it. We may not always agree on what that right tool is, but that’s okay.
I don’t understand what your point is in any of this.
I’ll speak to this as it relates to my original post to start this thread as well as several others I’ve made on my blog. My frustrations stem from the many occasions I’ve listened to popular podcaster pundits spout misinformation because they were uninformed about features of the device. “The iPad can’t do this! Why not!? The iPad should be able to do this! It’s ridiculous that the iPad can’t do this!” They go through this whole thing expressing their frustration that they can’t use the iPad “to do basic stuff” because feature A is missing.
And I’m listening and thinking (or more likely talking back to no one that can hear me): Ah, hey, ACTUALLY, it can do that.
It’s that simple. If you’re a pundit and you’re going to make statements as a part of your paid job, maybe make some effort to know the subject you’re commenting on? I don’t feel that’s too high a bar.
A recent example, Gruber recently made a big show of calling the iPad a “baby computer” because it couldn’t do some task. Funny thing, he was wrong. And in a follow-up attempt to be clever with another insult he was wrong again. And often, these guys are just over the top in going out of their way to be insulting to a device. It just seems so weird.
I don’t think it was fair of me to say “I’m not sure why iPad enthusiasts are so thin skinned…” I’m pretty sure I do understand how you feel about it.
When I used Linux as my main OS for a few years, I got sick of tech pundits and others saying outdated things like it’s hard to use, it’s only for programmers and sysadmins, you have to become a command line expert to use it, etc. They’d say it wasn’t useful for things I was actually doing with it.
I guess that gives me some perspective. When people say untrue about macOS and Apple gear (it’s overrated, only suckers and people with weak egos looking for status symbols pay the Apple tax, you can’t do blah, blah, blah even though I know you can and I do it myself, etc.) I often don’t care enough to bother refuting them.
By comparison, the criticisms of iPads, even the ones that are untrue or off base, seem pretty tame to me at this point, though I guess it probably stings more when it comes from people who follow Apple closely and like their other products.
Btw, I’m grateful to Gruber for inventing markdown, but I disagree with him a lot.
But really , don’t create a straw man called “The Pundits” and then make generalizations. If there are specific examples give the specific examples. Otherwise you come off as just another iPad apologist.
Yeah, desktop Linux has come a long way. It’s to the point where once it’s installed, the average user can definitely use the major distros.
Because for them, and for a rather large number of average users, it is. All that’s required for something to be a “laptop replacement” is to be able to do the things you would otherwise need a laptop for. For most people, I would argue a phone doesn’t really get them there. But a tablet of some sort definitely can.
Except that’s not the ad Apple produced. Apple’s ad showed a kid in school doing all of their school work, communicating with friends, using the touch interface and Pencil to do cool things, etc. And at the end when the mom asks the kid what they’re doing on their computer, the kid asks, “what’s a computer?”
That summarizes the position of the iPad very well. It does a ton of stuff that the average person would typically use a laptop/desktop (or in the education market, a Chromebook) to do, and does quite a bit of stuff that you could never do on the desktop/laptop - such that many people might not ever need a traditional “computer.”
Sure, it’s not a laptop. We all agree on that. But it’s not just a big phone either. I think we agree on that too. The key is that what it is doesn’t really matter. Whether it’s more like a laptop, more like a phone, or more like a ham sandwich - as long as people understand their options and buy according to their needs/wants, it doesn’t matter.
I don’t consider it a straw man as I’m making the statement based on quite a few examples from a variety of pundits. You’re welcome to read through my blog. I think I’ve got at least 5+ posts about pundits and their various statements. And those are just a handful of the ones I’ve noticed and bothered to make a post about. Only so much time in a day and I’m only willing to spend a certain amount of time on this stuff.
I get that, but if someone is going to say that it’s “faulty to hold the iPad to the laptop replacement standard” then they probably shouldn’t claim it’s a laptop replacement in the first place.
And if someone decides to make that claim anyway, they probably shouldn’t be surprised when others point out that a laptop can do quite a few things that an iPad can’t.
We’re getting into semantics, but I think a tablet is better described as an alternative device rather than a drop in replacement for a laptop. It’s only a replacement for people who don’t need the full capabilities of a laptop.
