Hacker News Reader

Comment by echelon | Hacker News Reader

I'm scratching my head as to why they mentioned "iPad" as well.

Android is already a Linux tablet OS. It's like they ignored the elephant in the room. Ubuntu also runs on tablets. (edit: this is based in Ubuntu!)

Besides that point, Apple is pretty much the opposite of free computing. It's a gross comparison.

Edit: Looking at their Reddit timeline, it appears as though they've made a lot of progress in a few short months, so I applaud that. I just wish people would stop trying to copy Apple at everything. It's a turn off.

View on HN

They're copying the iPad because it's the only tablet that doesn't suck and sells in any meaningful numbers.

Isn’t the Surface line selling ok?

I can’t stand them, but those that have them seem to love them.

Windows tablets, aka laptops with detachable keyboards, are also doing pretty well.

Android keeps having problems because Google is unable to drive the ecosystem to actually care, what a surprise.

That’s almost in spite of Tablet Windows though.

That is to be expected.

There are plenty of countries where iPads are out of reach for regular consumer, and Android Tablets are in practice phones with bigger screens, given how little the ecosystem cares about them, so that leaves Windows devices as only choice for consumers.

> Android Tablets are in practice phones with bigger screens

How do iPads differ?

iPad apps are made for the iPad with the form factor in mind. There is almost no tablet ecosystem on Android.

What are people doing with their tablets that a iPad is a meaningful benefit?

I could read my shitter news on any device with a screen, as well as control my smart home.

Could you also easily clone Dropbox’s functionality with a server and rsync? :)

Well, I could probably do my work on a Raspberry Pi, yet here I am with a MacBook. Ease of use. Aesthetics. Speed.

Desktop replacement for pen based workflows, like drawing, designing diagrams, architecture sketches, UI mockups,...

When coupled with keyboard, office like workflows, coupled with the pen to do the drawings instead of trying to use the mouse as pencil since many users have done during the last couple of decades.

Programming on the go with environments like Playgrounds, Pythonista, Continuous, Shaderific.

My ipad is my primary non-work computer.

> Besides that point, Apple is pretty much the opposite of free computing. It's a gross comparison.

Isn't that what they said? They stated that one of the reasons to create a new OS is that Apple is a closed platform. You can't blame them to go further than that in a marketing video, it's not like they're posting anonymous comments on an internet forum.

> turn off

Speaking as a hacker or a consumer?

“Apple's domination of the global tablet market continued in the third quarter of 2020, according to market research firm Canalys, with iPad shipments seeing an estimated 47% year-over-year growth rate thanks to coronavirus trends.”

The market is speaking, and consumers don’t care about what the OS is. They never have, and never will.

https://appleinsider.com/articles/20/11/12/apple-extends-mas...

On the contrary, people care very much about the OS and they want iOS.

They are also quite happy using devices with Windows, ChromeOS, WebOS and Android.

Just not pure GNU/Linux or BSDs (other than those packaged by Apple and Sony).

The reply that's missing for you is that the UI is clearly (to an iPadOS user) heavily inspired by that of the iPad - they are making that the selling point:

> iPadOS-like UI and UX

And WRT your other comments, you're probably not the target for this. I run dozens of Linux machines for work stuff but everything in my personal ecosystem is Apple because I don't find config fun. Different horses for different courses.

I wouldn’t have even bothered to click the link if they hadn’t used the word ipad.

Comparing to a $GOOG tablet would raise privacy questions pretty quickly, I think

This isn't an A vs B thing to me, it's just that comparing to an ipad says something to a lot of users, and quickly. If this project succeeds, it will give some alternatives to closed-ecosystem things, to new/other people (with a cheaper cost to them). So the reservations about Apple are actually reasons to support this project, in that way. Thoughts?

The iPad is the only device I own that's not running Linux. It is so damn good for the price, the UI is so smooth, so well designed, there is just so much polish. I bought the 128GB version with a pencil for 350€ used.

I am longing for a Linux alternative, but any Android tablets of similarly high quality are just so much more expensive, and actual Linux is still far away in terms of usability.

What I want is an iPad, but with Linux. I'm sure I'm not the only one, and Jingling knows that.

What's elephant for you is a fly for most others. My grandmother is afraid of things like Ubuntu.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com