All iPads iPadOS Really Needs Its "Mac OS X" Release

[philipma1957]

I would like to have two usb-c ports and a usb stick sold by apple to plug in and boot mac os. with ios as standard boot.

Waiting for new ipads to drop I may upgrade from the mini I got in 2021 the five or the six.

I have a samsung 8 tablet which is good but I use the mini more often.

 

[jinnyman]

Late to join the party, but I wish to add my bits as the owner of 12.9 iPad Pro with M2 & 2TB of storage.

Obviously I expected to do more than just contents viewing. The belows are the list of my frustrations....

1. Multi-tasking is bad
It seems Apple is concentrating on making Stage Manager "look good", but functionally horrible.

2. File system.
Sometimes, I want to use iPad as a field back-up tool, moving and storing tens of gigs of photos raws as files, not import to lightroom/photo etc. But whenever I try to move large size of files, it somehow crashes all the times.

I've tried many different hubs, card readers, etc, but not reliable enough.

Atleast make it stable.

3. Streamline UI
All gestures, UI changes, Setting menu changes are now plain complicated. Apple is known for its best UI, so fix it.

4. better external display support
with better resolution support, multiple scale / resolution

 

[bcortens]

Late to join the party, but I wish to add my bits as the owner of 12.9 iPad Pro with M2 & 2TB of storage.

Obviously I expected to do more than just contents viewing. The belows are the list of my frustrations....

1. Multi-tasking is bad
It seems Apple is concentrating on making Stage Manager "look good", but functionally horrible.

I think it even looks bad, open 5+ safari windows in fullscreen, open the app switcher and try and get to the bottom ones.

2. File system.
Sometimes, I want to use iPad as a field back-up tool, moving and storing tens of gigs of photos raws as files, not import to lightroom/photo etc. But whenever I try to move large size of files, it somehow crashes all the times.

I've tried many different hubs, card readers, etc, but not reliable enough.

Atleast make it stable.

YES!
I have had so many app crashes from iCloud file system bugs trying to sync the file underneath the app it isn't even funny.

3. Streamline UI
All gestures, UI changes, Setting menu changes are now plain complicated. Apple is known for its best UI, so fix it.

I feel like they changed/got rid of some of the multitasking gestures.

4. better external display support
with better resolution support, multiple scale / resolution

I also want this to work in split view + slide over mode

 

[Yebubbleman]

Alright, for the sake of argument, let's assume that this would-be Mac OS X moment for iPadOS on higher-end iPads would entail something like the following:

Standard iPad - No changes to how iPadOS currently functions
iPad mini - No changes to how iPadOS currently functions

iPad Pro - Same kinds of apps can run; the UI is tweaked to make windowed apps less awkward and more natural; the ability to multi-task and utilize RAM becomes more akin to macOS than it is to current iPadOS and iOS; the OS is still app-centric, but the file system (and Files app along with it) are updated to give more access to the actual file tree than you otherwise have in either iOS and iPadOS. You have iPad-optimized versions of utilities like Terminal and Disk Utility. More versatile dock. You also have whatever is needed for Xcode to be an option. You add Target Display Mode on top of the same multi-display support you have already. iPad Pros could be used as AirPlay destinations just like Macs are. Add multi-user support (it exists in managed environments; why not in personal ones too?) Not looking for the iPad Pro or Air to run macOS. Just for it to go beyond being a larger iPhone at the end of the day.

iPad Air - Same as iPad Pro (give or take with some limitations [i.e. on the 64GB model if Apple insists on continuing to sell one]).

 

[dalestrauss]

I gave up after about 5-6 pages of comments - in the 2021 words of Monica Chin

Put macOS on the iPad, you cowards​

Seriously, we are now up to M3 with 16gb ram and 2tb ssd, just give us MacOS as an alternative operating system (say $500-1,000 upgrade fee - even make it a one way only option) and DROP the option for app developers to not let MacOS run their iPadOS app. Problem solved, and for those iPaddy purists they don't have to partake of the upgrade program and spoil their experience.

 

[bcortens]

I gave up after about 5-6 pages of comments - in the 2021 words of Monica Chin

Put macOS on the iPad, you cowards​

Seriously, we are now up to M3 with 16gb ram and 2tb ssd, just give us MacOS as an alternative operating system (say $500-1,000 upgrade fee - even make it a one way only option) and DROP the option for app developers to not let MacOS run their iPadOS app. Problem solved, and for those iPaddy purists they don't have to partake of the upgrade program and spoil their experience.

Refusal to engage with arguments can likewise be responded with the simple "No"

 

[FeliApple]

I gave up after about 5-6 pages of comments - in the 2021 words of Monica Chin

Put macOS on the iPad, you cowards​

Seriously, we are now up to M3 with 16gb ram and 2tb ssd, just give us MacOS as an alternative operating system (say $500-1,000 upgrade fee - even make it a one way only option) and DROP the option for app developers to not let MacOS run their iPadOS app. Problem solved, and for those iPaddy purists they don't have to partake of the upgrade program and spoil their experience.

No.

 

[Yebubbleman]

I gave up after about 5-6 pages of comments - in the 2021 words of Monica Chin

Put macOS on the iPad, you cowards​

Seriously, we are now up to M3 with 16gb ram and 2tb ssd, just give us MacOS as an alternative operating system (say $500-1,000 upgrade fee - even make it a one way only option) and DROP the option for app developers to not let MacOS run their iPadOS app. Problem solved, and for those iPaddy purists they don't have to partake of the upgrade program and spoil their experience.

I don't want macOS on the iPad.

I want a more capable iPadOS for the iPad Pro and iPad Air.

 

[bscheffel]

My top 10 wishlist for iPadOS

1. Ability to side load whatever app I wanted
2. A real desktop class browser (NOT webkit) or at least ability to "download linked file AS..." capability
3. The ability to manage music library (add songs to my library, edit tags, etc.)
4. Turn hypervisor back on and allow Parallels to bring virtualization to iPad
5. Ability to designate iCloud folder as "make available offline". Right now you download and Cloud file and next week it is back to being only in iCloud
6. Better multitasking and window support
7. Real file system support and app like Finder
8. Support for multiple user accounts
9. Feature parity between Apple Mac/iPad apps
10. Stop nagging me to sign up for Apple Music every time I have to update the OS. No wonder you are in the DOJ's crosshairs.

 

[prospervic]

“iPadOS Really Needs Its "Mac OS X" Release”
No it doesn’t. What’s really needed is for people who want this to stop being cheap and just by a MacBook. With Walmart now selling M1 MacBook Airs for $699 and the 5th-gen iPad Air available on Amazon for as low as $449, it’s totally affordable to own both devices.
No kludgy OS adaptation required.

 

[Chancha]

“iPadOS Really Needs Its "Mac OS X" Release”
No it doesn’t. What’s really needed is for people who want this to stop being cheap and just by a MacBook. With Walmart now selling M1 MacBook Airs for $699 and the 5th-gen iPad Air available on Amazon for as low as $449, it’s totally affordable to own both devices.
No kludgy OS adaptation required.

I am not sure if OP was being intentionally vague or not.
But I take his point being, the iPadOS needs the same kind of transformational treatment that happened for Macs, when going from OS 9 to OS X. This fundamentally changed and built how the future Macs interface with the user for the better. So his point is that the current iPadOS is akin to when OS 9 felt just a rehash of OS 8/7/6 and so on, just Xerox UI on steroids, with an ancient kernel as well. OS X with its BSD kernel along with the modern (at the time) UI/UX laid the groundwork of what we mostly see nowadays.

 

[FeliApple]

“iPadOS Really Needs Its "Mac OS X" Release”
No it doesn’t. What’s really needed is for people who want this to stop being cheap and just by a MacBook. With Walmart now selling M1 MacBook Airs for $699 and the 5th-gen iPad Air available on Amazon for as low as $449, it’s totally affordable to own both devices.
No kludgy OS adaptation required.

Yeah, it’s a solution that is so simple and so easy to achieve that the extreme minority’s insistence is hilarious: sell the iPad, buy a Mac. Easy. But don’t obliterate the iPad due to the wishes of an extreme minority please, thank you.

If you need another device? Buy another Mac.

 

[bcortens]

“iPadOS Really Needs Its "Mac OS X" Release”
No it doesn’t. What’s really needed is for people who want this to stop being cheap and just by a MacBook. With Walmart now selling M1 MacBook Airs for $699 and the 5th-gen iPad Air available on Amazon for as low as $449, it’s totally affordable to own both devices.
No kludgy OS adaptation required.

I think there are two categories of people.
1. People who just want macOS on their iPads, these people are just wrong, that would be a terrible user experience.
2. People who are frustrated by some of the limitations of iPadOS

I think people in camp 2 have a lot of legitimate points, I especially think the way Apple designed the system to handle file operations on iPadOS to be a problem. It isn’t so much that I can’t access the full file system, that I don’t care about, what I care about is the fact that trying to work on large files frequently leads to freezes as a result of iCloud doing some upload nonsense in the background. The fact that they designed the system to be cloud first is a bug not a feature. The system desperately needs a rethink.

 

[Digitalguy]

I think there are two categories of people.
1. People who just want macOS on their iPads, these people are just wrong, that would be a terrible user experience.
2. People who are frustrated by some of the limitations of iPadOS

I think people in camp 2 have a lot of legitimate points, I especially think the way Apple designed the system to handle file operations on iPadOS to be a problem. It isn’t so much that I can’t access the full file system, that I don’t care about, what I care about is the fact that trying to work on large files frequently leads to freezes as a result of iCloud doing some upload nonsense in the background. The fact that they designed the system to be cloud first is a bug not a feature. The system desperately needs a rethink.

I think that a lot of people complaining are in a category that blurs the line between 1 and 2, or does not fit well either.
This is the category that I call "I want to bring only one device with me" or even "I want to have only one device other than my phone". And get a Mac is not an acceptable answer.

As that can mean:
I want the convenience of a tablet without a keyboard, the possibility to draw or takes handwritten notes, I want the convenience cellular, but at the same time the ability to use the desktop apps I need, generally for work.
That's where having just a Mac or just an iPad, even one with a better OS does not work and will never work, as those desktop apps are never coming to the iPad, some aren't even coming to the Mac, but on Mac you can use Parallels to run them resonably well.

These people need to bring a Mac and an iPad or get something like a surface pro, the only type of device that can do it all (but with all the X86 drawbacks, which might disappear with the new X Elite chips, but that's assuming these people are ok with Windows instead of MacOS)

People in the second category are people who do not need desktop apps and are only bothered by the app centric and cloud centric nature of the OS (and similar phone-like OS caracteristics)

 

[eltoslightfoot]

I think that a lot of people complaining are in a category that blurs the line between 1 and 2, or does not fit well either.
This is the category that I call "I want to bring only one device with me" or even "I want to have only one device other than my phone". And get a Mac is not an acceptable answer.

As that can mean:
I want the convenience of a tablet without a keyboard, the possibility to draw or takes handwritten notes, I want the convenience cellular, but at the same time the ability to use the desktop apps I need, generally for work.
That's where having just a Mac or just an iPad, even one with a better OS does not work and will never work, as those desktop apps are never coming to the iPad, some aren't even coming to the Mac, but on Mac you can use Parallels to run them resonably well.

These people need to bring a Mac and an iPad or get something like a surface pro, the only type of device that can do it all (but with all the X86 drawbacks, which might disappear with the new X Elite chips, but that's assuming these people are ok with Windows instead of MacOS)

People in the second category are people who do not need desktop apps and are only bothered by the app centric and cloud centric nature of the OS (and similar phone-like OS caracteristics)

This is generally the way that I feel as I type this from my Surface Pro 9. The problem is there really isn't a good all-in-one device that is a fantastic tablet and a fantastic laptop. I want something that allows me to take notes, mark up PDFs, consume media, read ebooks. But I also want something that can run an entire adult OS with real file explorer/finder, window management, and full APIs available for developers.

So, I finally gave up on the iPad. Now if Apple had the stones to ignore the weird mob here that seems to really care what others would to with this proposed iPad Pro/Ultra that has Mac OS on it, and release an iPad with Mac? I would have to consider it, but I don't think it will happen. They are happy with everyone buying and lugging around two devices.

I have a business trip coming up. With my SP9, I can remote into work (even with a smartcard requirement), play games (TFT nothing extreme), watch anything, and just throw it in my bag and go....

 

[prospervic]

I especially think the way Apple designed the system to handle file operations on iPadOS to be a problem. It isn’t so much that I can’t access the full file system, that I don’t care about, what I care about is the fact that trying to work on large files frequently leads to freezes as a result of iCloud doing some upload nonsense in the background. The fact that they designed the system to be cloud first is a bug not a feature. The system desperately needs a rethink.

This is a real annoyance, one that is less so with larger storage capacity iPads, which make it less necessary for iPadOS to be updating files to the cloud. To totally prevent this, I copy files over to Local Storage and work on them there.

As for the file system, it’s really frustrating that I don’t have access to my music files the way I do on Mac. Why shouldn’t I be able to change the metadata on my music tracks?

Even so, I prefer iPad to run its simple and lightweight OS. I don’t mind reaching for my MacBook to do the heavyweight, crunchy stuff.

 

[FeliApple]

...Now if Apple had the stones to ignore the weird mob here...

The weird mob is the vast majority of iPad users...

 

[eltoslightfoot]

This is a real annoyance, one that is less so with larger storage capacity iPads, which make it less necessary for iPadOS to be updating files to the cloud. To totally prevent this, I copy files over to Local Storage and work on them there.

As for the file system, it’s really frustrating that I don’t have access to my music files the way I do on Mac. Why shouldn’t I be able to change the metadata on my music tracks?

Even so, I prefer iPad to run its simple and lightweight OS. I don’t mind reaching for my MacBook to do the heavyweight, crunchy stuff.

What about the file actions you mentioned is a "heavyweight, crunchy stuff?" See that's what I mean. No one is talking about using this theoretical device to solve large data structures or look for new medicines. We are talking about reading email, simple photoshop, basic stuff one would use a Macbook Air for. I don't see any of that as "heavyweight, crunchy stuff" anyway.

 

[eltoslightfoot]

The weird mob is the vast majority of iPad users...

I know. It doesn't change the fact that if they made this option, the "vast majority" would see literally zero impact.

 

[FeliApple]

...what I care about is the fact that trying to work on large files frequently leads to freezes as a result of iCloud doing some upload nonsense in the background. The fact that they designed the system to be cloud first is a bug not a feature. The system desperately needs a rethink.

Finally! Some valid criticism! Yeah, iCloud is frequently troublesome, and troubleshooting this can be very difficult. Improving this would be amazing.

 

[eltoslightfoot]

Finally! Some valid criticism! Yeah, iCloud is frequently troublesome, and troubleshooting this can be very difficult. Improving this would be amazing.

If only there were an operating system that had solved all of these problems decades ago....

 

[FeliApple]

I know. It doesn't change the fact that if they made this option, the "vast majority" would see literally zero impact.

Apple likely wouldn’t allow choice. I doubt this would be the case, if it were up to the extreme minority, they’d just shoehorn MacOS, and iPad users be damned instead of... well... just buying a Mac.

 

[FeliApple]

If only there were an operating system that had solved all of these problems decades ago....

Solving iCloud issues != obliterating the iPad.

 

[eltoslightfoot]

Solving iCloud issues != obliterating the iPad.

How is offering an additional option an "obliteration?"

 

[FeliApple]

How is offering an additional option an "obliteration?"

Like I said, I doubt Apple would offer a choice. They’d likely screw iPadOS up in such a way that the base iPad users would... have no iPad anymore.

No thanks. Buy a Mac.