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Most of them. Which ones don't?

Well, if you get them from the Mac App Store, then no trials. Which is why I only use the Mac App Store for free stuff.

Are there returns/refunds available for MS Office, Adobe Photoshop & Lightroom - major apps I use a lot? PaintShop Pro, VideoStudio, TurboTax, Rosetta Stone, ...? And to quote Amazon's s/w return policy -

"Games and software downloads are not returnable or refundable after purchase."
 
Are there returns/refunds available for MS Office, Adobe Photoshop & Lightroom - major apps I use a lot? PaintShop Pro, VideoStudio, TurboTax, Rosetta Stone, ...? And to quote Amazon's s/w return policy -

"Games and software downloads are not returnable or refundable after purchase."

Well, I knew there was a reason why I don't buy those software! :p

Seriously speaking, those are major software where you can get plenty of publisted reviews and feedback from other users to evaluate if they fit your needs. I'm thinking more about apps from smaller devs that could benefit from charging a bit more but can't because people wouldn't give them a chance if the price is too high.

BTW, TurboTax seems to have a free-try some features before you pay thing going on.
https://turbotax.intuit.com/personal-taxes/online/

Microsoft Office I also think has a trial version. Or used to, at one point. Not sure what they are doing these days.
 
Well, I knew there was a reason why I don't buy those software! :p

Seriously speaking, those are major software where you can get plenty of publisted reviews and feedback from other users to evaluate if they fit your needs. I'm thinking more about apps from smaller devs that could benefit from charging a bit more but can't because people wouldn't give them a chance if the price is too high.

BTW, TurboTax seems to have a free-try some features before you pay thing going on.
https://turbotax.intuit.com/personal-taxes/online/

Microsoft Office I also think has a trial version. Or used to, at one point. Not sure what they are doing these days.

I agree on the smaller devs - give them an opportunity to get their product moving. So instead of an across-the-board return policy there could be a seller-optional policy where a dev can offer a money-back guarantee through the app store. Big players won't go for it but a lot of smaller ones probably would.
 
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Are there returns/refunds available for MS Office, Adobe Photoshop & Lightroom - major apps I use a lot? PaintShop Pro, VideoStudio, TurboTax, Rosetta Stone, ...? And to quote Amazon's s/w return policy -

"Games and software downloads are not returnable or refundable after purchase."

Office trial is available by signing up for an Office 365 Trial
Photoshop and Lightroom (and all other Adobe software) trials are available by signing up for a creative cloud trial

To be honest, I can't remember the last time I didn't see a trial for desktop software (apart from that sold through the Mac App Store)
 
Yeah, Air 2 and Galaxy Note 4 here (and a 2013 Nexus 7 I don't use too much).
Anything wrong with it or you just don't have any interest in Android tablets? I had a 2012 Nexus 7 years ago and I eventually just gave it away because it became so crappy.
 
Anything wrong with it or you just don't have any interest in Android tablets? I had a 2012 Nexus 7 years ago and I eventually just gave it away because it became so crappy.

Nothing at all wrong with it - I just prefer the Air 2 for it's size. I actually also have the 2012 Nexus 7 and the 2013 was a significant improvement. I also have an Asus TF700T Transformer Pad Infinity 10.1" tablet w/keyboard that I have rooted and installed a custom ROM on. While the screen is beautiful, has expandable memory, a USB port in the keyboard (and a 2nd battery in the keyboard, and supports a mouse and external storage, they used inferior - slow - memory chips so that even with a custom ROM its performance comes nowhere near the Air 2. I still do like many aspects of Android and I'll always have a mixed bag of Android and iOS devices. (I also have a 1st generation Amazon Fire that I rarely turn on).
 
Same here. Android phone and iOS tablet is the perfect combination, IMO.

Agreed. I've come to the same conclusion myself. My only gripe with Android is the battery life - mostly due to Google play services. My Maru OS beta came in last night though, so I'm planning on flashing my N5 over the weekend :)
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work with iOS so well. majority may not throw down 200-300.

I had this conversation with my wife a few days ago. She stumbled across one of Omni's apps (OmniFocus I think) and balked at the price tag. I tried explaining it was their stab at a professional grade app for the professional market and took a lot of convincing their was even a market for this. Her reasoning is the iPad is a consumption/accessory device and real work should be done on desktops.

She's been an iPad user since the iPad 2 came out and it's her primary device and I imagine she's fairly representational of the majority of the user base. I suspect this problem won't go away until Apple treats the iPad Pro as a professional class device and provides features that professionals use.

I think the trouble for Apple is they are losing mindshare and credibility in the professional space. I, and I suspect many people, cannot trust a platform that's controlled by a secretive company that doesn't provide a roadmap, can fundamentally change and gimp applications from one version to the next. They don't listen to their developers - i.e. the people who have built their ecosystem - and they are pushing a computing paradigm that for many the novelty has fast worn off.

So while a small percentage of use try to wrangle these devices into tools with which to work, Apple will continue to cater for the 99% of users who just want to surf, message and poke jewels and lollies
 
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Nothing at all wrong with it - I just prefer the Air 2 for it's size. I actually also have the 2012 Nexus 7 and the 2013 was a significant improvement. I also have an Asus TF700T Transformer Pad Infinity 10.1" tablet w/keyboard that I have rooted and installed a custom ROM on. While the screen is beautiful, has expandable memory, a USB port in the keyboard (and a 2nd battery in the keyboard, and supports a mouse and external storage, they used inferior - slow - memory chips so that even with a custom ROM its performance comes nowhere near the Air 2. I still do like many aspects of Android and I'll always have a mixed bag of Android and iOS devices. (I also have a 1st generation Amazon Fire that I rarely turn on).
I would love to see another Transformer type Android tablet, but with maxed out specs and a trackpad built in.
 
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I would love to see another Transformer type Android tablet, but with maxed out specs and a trackpad built in.

The TF700T could have really been a killer - Asus was oh, so very close but blew it with the poor memory (and their service sucks). The clamshell keyboard has a trackpad but not the s/w keyboard.
 
Agreed. I've come to the same conclusion myself. My only gripe with Android is the battery life - mostly due to Google play services. My Maru OS beta came in last night though, so I'm planning on flashing my N5 over the weekend :)
[doublepost=1457046011][/doublepost]

I had this conversation with my wife a few days ago. She stumbled across one of Omni's apps (OmniFocus I think) and balked at the price tag. I tried explaining it was their stab at a professional grade app for the professional market and took a lot of convincing their was even a market for this. Her reasoning is the iPad is a consumption/accessory device and real work should be done on desktops.

She's been an iPad user since the iPad 2 came out and it's her primary device and I imagine she's fairly representational of the majority of the user base. I suspect this problem won't go away until Apple treats the iPad Pro as a professional class device and provides features that professionals use.

I think the trouble for Apple is they are losing mindshare and credibility in the professional space. I, and I suspect many people, cannot trust a platform that's controlled by a secretive company that doesn't provide a roadmap, can fundamentally change and gimp applications from one version to the next. They don't listen to their developers - i.e. the people who have built their ecosystem - and they are pushing a computing paradigm that for many the novelty has fast worn off.

So while a small percentage of use try to wrangle these devices into tools with which to work, Apple will continue to cater for the 99% of users who just want to surf, message and poke jewels and lollies


Yep. I'd like it to be more than consumption. ball is in apple's court though. Lots of free apps could come over if they opened up the iOS. I'd be happy with CLI access for starters. Quite a few apps I run are CLI based. free and open source.

I'd also love to install full blown test servers and server applications for away from the MBP use. Nice test server Linux based to hammer out stuff. I just pay for the parallels is all on my MBP, rest free. I'd have no issues doing the same on an ipad.

these tend to need to see file structure. You need to see file structure as well. ARM architecture (its not like some have proposed a simple recompile in no time at and done) can be an issue but not one that can't be overcome. Some stuff out their still codes for sparc. Wondered why, hit the oracle site and said damn...they still make these. thought it died when Sun bought out many moons ago. I was wrong, and happy to be so tbh. Sparc has its allure for some things to me. If sparc still coded for...I am sure if opened up someone would say well lets have an ARM version of this too.

best solution I have is to run a cloud server I ssh into away from MBP. they get my 120 a year (low budget plan, gets me enough). iOS unlocked, stuff now local to device...if not free someone could have this money in part or whole. If only apple would you know...loosen the hell up with the iOS.
 
Ipad air 2 introduced split screen multitasking.

Ipad pro introduced an official keyboard cover and stylus support.

But what else is needed to make ipad a full computing replacement for most people?

Personally, I think it needs at least the following two things:
1) better file system support. Icloud drive is a start, and you can manage by using dropbox etc with lots of apps. But I think it needs better support on desktops/web so you can get to your files when not on ipad, and better connections between apps. This isn't super critical as you can get by at the moment, but it isn't perfect.

2) mouse/trackpad support. Adding a keyboard case to the ipad pro is great, and ipad can also work with bluetooth keyboards. But it isn't easy to have your ipad balanced on its folded case and then having to move the cursor with your finger on the screen. Firstly it isn't that stable; and secondly you have to reach across the keyboard to do it which isn't comfortable. Having trackpad/BT mouse support, even if just for cursor movement within apps, would be a big step forward especially for office suite apps like word processing/spreadsheets etc.

Any others you can think of? Areas where maybe a small change would have a big impact and finally let you ditch that laptop you only use 10% of the time now?

Sorry but Mouse support is so 90s and touch screen already replace that. Is just like suggesting "adding a CD Or floppy disk support" where SD card already replaced that
 
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Sorry but Mouse support is so 90s and touch screen already replace that. Is just like suggesting "adding a CD Or floppy disk support"

Mouse support is not "90s" and touch will not replace it wholesale.

Mouse is still the best input method for various tasks - claiming touch will replace it for all tasks is like claiming that the screwdriver will replace the hammer purely because screws are more advanced and "better" than nails.
 
For me it would need to have a terminal and the ability to run NodeJS as well as a full-fledged IDE like Webstorm or at least a competent code editor ala Sublime Text/Atom/VSCode. That would make it good enough to allow me to do my work on it. This should not be hard to do but Apple would have to be far more lenient on what you can run on the device.

I would like to see is support for mice and trackpads. This would be extremely simple for Apple to implement and there have been Jailbreak hacks years ago that do exactly this. Using iOS with a mouse is fine, if you have a Mac you can download Xcode, run iOS Simulator and try this yourself. Using something like Apple trackpad would allow for multitouch gestures as well. Mouse/trackpad support is important because if you are using an iPad as a laptop replacement, you have a physical keyboard connected to it and touching screen all day long is a lot more tiring than just using a mouse. Mouse is also more precise for hitting any small targets like Excel cells.

External display support would be most welcome. Not just the ****** mirroring it now does but supporting an external display up to 4K which you can use instead of the main screen or in tandem with the main screen. Obviously you need the mouse support in this case to interact with things on the external screen. This might require more advanced window management than splitview in iOS 11 can do.

EDIT: ****, somebody necrobumped this old thread.
 
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Office trial is available by signing up for an Office 365 Trial
Photoshop and Lightroom (and all other Adobe software) trials are available by signing up for a creative cloud trial

To be honest, I can't remember the last time I didn't see a trial for desktop software (apart from that sold through the Mac App Store)

Office is also free to use with a student account as well. I agree that trials are something that need to be worked out better in the app store. It is hard to pull the trigger on anything costing more than $20, without at least a short trial use period.
 
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