“ Any computer that can't offer me a terminal window, root access, and the ability to type "python" to get into a REPL shell feels fake - an incomplete simulation of a real computer.”

Tell my wife that. She thinks she has a computer, and what you are saying is just a series of meaningless words. And the same is true for gazillions of users.

But does she have an iPad or a real computer?

... get a general purpose computer. It's hardly rocket surgery, now is it?

What's that? The OS? Pick the one that runs the software you need. Again, easy ... but you might have to re-think your hardware.

If you already have religion about things computer, nobody can help you but you. Enjoy your cult. When you want out, ask for help.

Don't know about "cult". I think for most people it's what they feel familiar with. Most people here will be able to work with any modern UI, even Windows 11 (sorry... could not resist). I have no clue about Mac, apart from the ones preceeded by "Big" (and those are an abomination), but I think I could work with one of them (the fruity variant, not the beefy one).

All of that conditional to your premise: Does it run the software I need?

"I think for most people it's what they feel familiar with. "

I hear what you are saying ... But try to replace it with equally functional kit and observe the reaction.

RE: "I think for most people it's what they feel familiar with"

It is, and you'd be surprised how many people go for what they are familiar with even if told otherwise..

An example. A few years ago, I was providing on site AV support for a major conference on evacuation (which was every bit as boring as it sounds), and one thing they said stuck with me. No matter how clearly you signpost the emergency exits, most people when evacuating, will try and get out the way they came in..

Unless given a vert good reason to change, a lot of people will stick with what they know.

Of course, another potential cause of reluctance to change is vendor lock in. If a user has spent a significant amount of money on apps or proprietary add ons for their device, they may be relucatant to change as they feel they will be abandoning those apps and add ons..

Developers went to Macs back in the day because the OS had a real OS and a usable GUI and the hardware was nice, but since then a lot of water has passed under the bridge. The hardware is glued down, the OS has been handcuffed with both hands behind its back and the GUI get less usable after every year... it's past time for developers to find an alternative and now there are more alternatives than there were before.

Tablets are for consuming things produced by others. If you want to produce things that require cognitive effort you need a keyboard and mouse to be productive.

Yes there are exceptions, but this holds true for most.

Consuming????

Whey you WATCH a movie, LISTEN to some audio or READ a book, you don't consume anything as the file (information) is not destroyed.

STOP THIS NONSENSE!

If it helps, you can keep telling yourself that that is what it means, consumer.

You are consuming information - audio, visual or whatever.

Welcome to the world of illiteral, illogical marketing slang.

Marketers and solicitors are forces of entropy which destroy the consistency and logical elements of human language.

Yesterday I saw something labelled "ORGANYC", spelt with a 'Y', so that the product could escape the legal requirements applying to consumer goods labelled "organic".

I've been using a 2018 11 inch ipad pro as my personal "laptop" since around then and it is still going strong. The keyboard case when it was released in 2020 was pricy but works well.

As you mention in the article iSH, aShell, BlinkShell, SecureShellfish, and Pythonista might not be quite enough but it gets the job done for me. I just want an arm-based return of the 12 inch macbook to be honest. Small computers rule and the 13 inch air is too big.

I have the big screeny Pro version for home and just ordered two Air for work - sadly a bit too old for small screens, plus it's handy for presentations as long as you stick Soundscape from Rogue Amoeba on it (far better control over audio output).

Speaking of which, I was amazed at the sound Apple manages from basically miniature speakers, if someone can explain to me what trick they use I'd be grateful because it was not really expecting that, it's .. well, weird.

I've now been using LibreOffice for a good 10 years, and the amount of time it has saved me is impossible to measure in monetary terms, but I can tell it saved me from a lot of swearing. I've been looking at the commercial versions too for a new company I may be setting up.

At my current work we have 'cloud' strategy, and that works not well. We have an in/out port utilisation of about 45-50% so plenty of bandwidth, but as my work involves multiple mailboxes it's slow as moulasses to switch and God help you if someone at Azure as much as sneezes. Add to that that I can see what Microsoft logs (everything - ask your administrator to show you MS Actions and Purview) and I cannot see a real method of preventing MS from acquiring that and the fact that MICROSOFT is the last in the authentication chain, not us (read: no need for a backdoor if you're the one issuing access tokens) and frankly, I wouldn't trust then father than Trump can walk up a ramp.

So at home there's no trace of Microsoft, and if absolutely have to it's via a sandboxed browser. And neither of Adobe, by the way.

I have a first-generation Surface Go (magically, both a laptop and a tablet) that still works perfectly, and which will become so much electronic detritus later this year because Microsoft refuses to let its own hardware run its own operating system.

I don't really understand this statement. If the device is working fine now then, barring any physical component failure, it should continue to run.

I've made this comment before on these forums - lack of support doesn't mean a thing just stops working. Admittedly, you may lose some security updates, but I think there's a balance to be struck between ongoing judicious use versus just adding to more e-waste to landfill.

Agreed, plus there are still options for keeping it supported:

1) Install a Linux distro

2) Install Windows 11 via Rufus with the hardware checks disabled.

The second option isn't completely perfect as you'll have to do an annual "feature" update from installation media as Windows Update won't grab feature updates automatically, but it does work.

On out-of-software-support devices, I:

• Repurpose the device in some way which does not involve the Internet touching it; or,

• Install* a supported operating system onto it; or,

• Strip it for for parts.

I wil not run the risk of running an unsupported OS on a device which can be touched by the Internet, but you're free to do as you like.

* I will not get into continuing battles with Microsoft or Apple to hack one of their operating systems to run on "unsupported" hardware. That path would eventually lead to tears -- for me. I don't want a hacked OS stop working after a software update from Microsoft or Apple. "Don't worry, there'll be a hack-patch Real Soon Now." isn't an acceptable answer to me.

Most of these criticisms leave out lots of details. I'm about to defend all the big companies, but if we truly think they're worthy of reproach, it is helpful to be honest in our complaints. They're guilty of a lot of things, but that doesn't make them guilty of everything.

First, in defense of Apple, your complaints against the iPad are no shell, no root, and no Python. You knew all of those things were missing when you bought it. If you don't like things where you don't get root, iOS has always been that. It would make a lot of sense if you refused to buy one and cited that as the reason. It's certainly one reason why I won't get an iPad, though I have grudgingly accepted it on an iPhone. Buying an expensive iPad and complaining that it runs the OS it always has seems a little confusing. Even without that, you've pointed out that you can, in fact, get a Python REPL and a shell, restricted though they are. For some people, that might be enough. If they are not enough for you, maybe it would have made more sense not to buy the iPad and spend that money on a computer where you can have the tools you need. If everyone thought that way, it would demonstrate what Apple needs to change to get people buying iPads. As it is now, they're going to keep making their locked down iOS environment because it seems to be fine for enough buyers, you included.

To compare this with an old Surface is not a fair comparison. Yes, Microsoft shouldn't be cutting off the hardware they are. They have no good technical reason. However, unlike Apple, you have three choices you can make freely with that Surface. You can bypass the hardware checks and install Windows 11 anyway, and it works, you can install Linux on it, with pretty good driver support, or you can install any other OS that is compatible with the processor. This is the benefit of having an open and standard architecture, and it is something that Windows machines have, Intel Macs had, ARM Macs don't really have but they are at least open, and iPads have never and will never have. It shouldn't be junk if you are willing to spend a little time on making it work, and if you can make productive use of PyTorch, you have enough skill to accomplish it. Oddly, I'm much happier to blame Microsoft for this than Apple (Microsoft at least did something bad recently to it whereas Apple didn't change anything), and yet, I'd still rather have that old Surface than the new iPad.

I guess it's in the mind of the beholder. The article's author seems to want an iPad as a more portable laptop. However, I bet that many iPad users are like me - they take an iPad as a more useable iPhone when they're travelling and don't want to lug a laptop around. From this perspective my 1st gen iPad Pro is fine.

I often connect a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W to my 13" M4 iPad Pro. The iPad is cellular, the Zero runs bookworm Lite 64bit. The iPad connection is over WiFi to the iPad hotspot with Termius or RaspController. They, with the GitHub app do most of what I need with Python etc. particularly when travelling with Magic Keyboard. The keyboard can charge the iPad, and at the same time the iPad can power the Zero.

Classism breeds corruption which produces incompetency. None of these evil corporations are capable of producing ethical products. Welcome to the collapse of civilization thanks to greed and selfishness.

Too many things are now "app" only, and it's a fucking pain in the arse.

Take - ad random - Revolut. Great idea. Goodish service. However the lack of a grown up website, and the usual determination to channel Pablo Escobar when it comes to contacting them means you are condemned* to using a teeny weeny phone to enter long screeds of prose about how their system has (again) messed up.

Wasn't HTML5 supposed to allow multipurpose websites and less need for "apps" ?

So I totally get the authors life.

It is possible to SSH into Android FWIW.

*Yes. Condemned. I'd offer a day of having to do it in lieu of a week in jail.

I've missed something??

Laptop breaks.... person buys tablet to replace laptop, despite knowing that the tablet probably isn't fit for purpose and the SAME COMPANY produces laptops that are... finds tablet isn't fit for purpose?

What have I missed?