back to article Help the Macless: Apple’s iPadOS is a huge update that will enable more people to do without a Mac... or a PC

Apple announced iPadOS at its WWDC event in San Jose, giving the tablet its own dedicated operating system for the first time. This is playing with words to some extent (it is iOS 13), but there is no denying the huge range of new features, with over 250 listed on Apple's preview page, some of which are key to making the iPad …

  1. John Robson Silver badge

    iPadOS?

    So how many of these features won't apply to the phone range?

    1. Tigra 07

      Re: iPadOS?

      It kills me how Google is doing nothing with tablets, but putting slightly better hardware in them every few years, while Apple is actually (and this is hard to believe) innovating in this area. If Google was doing things like this i'd update my crappy, laggy, light bleeding, old Nexus 9.

      1. mark l 2 Silver badge

        Re: iPadOS?

        I think Google would like everyone to buy a Android phone and a Chromebook or Chrome tablet instead of an Android tablet. So they reluctantly allow Android on tablets but don't push out many updated features for it for fear of taking sales away from their ChromeOS devices.

      2. Graham Dawson Silver badge

        Re: iPadOS?

        Most of the features being touted as "innovation" here have been in android for at least 5 years.

        1. Ian Joyner Bronze badge

          Re: iPadOS?

          "Most of the features being touted as "innovation" here have been in android for at least 5 years."

          Like what? Much of the time, Apple puts in a feature after spending a lot of time getting it right. Others just do a cheap copy (some system called Windows comes to mind).

          In other cases Apple seemingly comes up with a feature in the others. But the others have rushed it to market. Apple again spends the time to do it right.

        2. Jove Bronze badge

          Re: iPadOS?

          Perhaps they do have the features already, but the Apple implementations tend to be far better.

          Google is also lacking in trust.

      3. Dave 126 Silver badge

        Re: iPadOS?

        Not only Google, but 3rd party Devs never had that much incentive to develop for Android tablets.

        Past reports here on the Reg suggested that iPads initially outsold Android tablets by a large margin, and in addition iOS users spent more on apps. Of the Android tablets sold, many were cheap n cheerful, bought chiefly to give to kids to watch videos on. Also, developing for iPads meant catering to a narrower range of hardware and OS versions. In short, a developer wanting to make money was more likely to focus on iPads.

        In recent times, it's only Samsung who have tried to make a premium Android tablet (lovely OLED screen) but it costs near as damn it the same as an iPad Pro. Nice hardware, but as you limited in tablet apps (though it does the Dex trick of giving you a mouse and keyboard desktop if you want it)

        1. ChrisElvidge

          Re: iPadOS?

          I've got an old 10" NOOK HD+ that I updated to Android Nougat (search: android on nook hd+). Works really well, full HD screen.

          A reasonably cheap option.

          1. Jove Bronze badge

            Re: iPadOS?

            The problem I have always had with Android Tablets that as soon as the next release comes out, the device becomes sluggish. On top of that, Android features have become a real pain in the arse.

      4. Mr Benny

        Re: iPadOS?

        Can I save files and access the filesystem on iOS? No. Android: Yes.

        Can I have unlimited multiple overlapping windows (like a desktop) open on iOS? No: Android? Yes

        Android wins. iOS is just a toy for media consumption, nothing more.

        1. Dave 126 Silver badge

          Re: iPadOS?

          And yet full featured Photoshop is on iPad and not Android. Ditto many other content creation applications, especially those for music production and live performance.

          For sure, multiple windows and file access might be handy for some office tasks, but that's kind of what a laptop is for.

          Tool for the job, yeah?

          1. Mr Benny

            Re: iPadOS?

            Not talking about office tasks. I download media onto android to watch later and sometimes I have youtube running in one window, a web page open in another, email in a 3rd etc etc and I can place them where I want, not have to put up with a 1980s Windows 1.0 style tiling that Apple fools its gullible fanboys into thinking is somehow cutting edge GUI design. Its so pathetic its laughable.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: iPadOS?

              Well, it's a good job you found a device that suits your needs then isn't it? Unless someone is forcing you to buy and use a "1980s style" iPad then why do you even care what iPad users do? Let other people buy what they want to buy and be happy with your choice instead of so butthurt. "Its so pathetic its laughable."

            2. Dave 126 Silver badge

              Re: iPadOS?

              Just because the iPad holds a different place in a workflow to a laptop does not mean it isn't a useful content creation tool.

        2. Ian Joyner Bronze badge

          Re: iPadOS?

          "Can I save files and access the filesystem on iOS? No. Android: Yes."

          That comment shows you don't understand the paradigm. Users should not have to think in terms of files and 'having to disk'. That just exposes the computer memory hierarchy.

          Google and Android are thinking in terms of traditional operation of a computer. Apple are innovating in this area. No need to save your work – it's just there.

          "Android wins. iOS is just a toy for media consumption, nothing more."

          That comment shows you are only thinking in terms of what *you* understand about computing. It is a rather silly statement.

          1. Jove Bronze badge

            Re: iPadOS?

            "Can I save files and access the filesystem on iOS? No"

            In recent versions of iOS the user can save to the local storage, sync as necessary and have access to the files they need.

      5. JonL722

        Re: iPadOS?

        It kills me too. I have recently got a Chromebook for my son and it is amazing, both as a table (runs Android apps) and as a desktop with a proper browser, mouse support, and a filesystem. Google should make more noise about them.

    2. Robert Carnegie Silver badge

      iOS = iPadOS - Pad, I suppose?

      Information about iOS 13 is here on Register and from Apple:

      https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/06/03/apple_wwdc_macpro_itunes/

      https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/06/apple-previews-ios-13/

      Anything cool in the "iPadOS" article that isn't mentioned in these places, evidently isn't coming to iPhones. Or perhaps wasn't exciting enough to mention. Window management and external disc drives may be the principal iPad differentiators, I think. Oh, and size.

      I want to know where support is for devices that won't take iOS 13 or iPadOS 13 - in my case an iPhone 6. Do they stop updating iOS 12 and leave in place the GuyFawxx bug discovered next November where someone sends you a special text from Android and your Apple-thing catches fire and explodes... oh, well; I've had it about a year by fall (second hand store) and I did carefully buy the cheapest that actually could take iOS 12. Walking past the older, unsupported models as they popped and crackled...

      1. Jove Bronze badge

        Re: iOS = iPadOS - Pad, I suppose?

        The iPhone 6 was first released in 2014 so it has been getting patched since then as far as I am aware.

        If you have an Android device you are lucking if you get patches after the first year of ownership.

  2. DontFeedTheTrolls
    Gimp

    We've seen it all before

    "while Apple is actually (and this is hard to believe) innovating in this area"

    I'm not sure I'd say Apple (or Google) are actually innovating. What Apple are doing is taking many of the third party options already out there, or features from other OSs, and integrating them into the core OS, making a much better proposition for corporate or business users. Some would say "about fucking time"

    As for truly new or innovative features, not sure there is anything

    1. Dave 126 Silver badge

      Re: We've seen it all before

      I don't care about innovation, it does nothing for my actual user experience. Refinement, on the other hand, is valuable.

      One feature that until now has required 3rd party software is the ability to use an iPad as a Mac's secondary monitor and graphics tablet. Leading up to the announcement of the first iPad, I was assuming that Apple would have this feature in from the outset. It is the kind of thing that they - controlling the hardware and OSs - would have an easier time implementing than say Dell or Microsoft.

      1. Mr Benny

        Re: We've seen it all before

        Unless your primary monitor is quite small I can't see how using an iPad as a secondary is a particularly ergonimically sound experience.

        1. Dorobuta

          Re: We've seen it all before

          I would think that using the iPad as a secondary display opens up the use of a stylus (apple pencil) as a pointing device for the Mac. This may not be initially available, but I could see this as a natural growth of this capability. I also see it as something useful.

          But that's me, as always, your mileage may vary.

          1. katrinab Silver badge

            Re: We've seen it all before

            It is available now on the beta release

    2. Tigra 07

      Re: We've seen it all before

      This may be the longest Apple has gone without "revolutionary" new features...

    3. Jove Bronze badge

      Re: We've seen it all before

      I have greater trust in Apple devices than have had in any of the Android devices I have owned or managed. The features mentioned in the article may not ground-breaking but they will still be welcome.

  3. Sunrise Omen
    FAIL

    Still no multi user/account support though

    I still can't understand why this isn't a feature on an iPad.

    How many people have a house or family iPad - as in, one that everyone uses and shares? But they still don't allow multiple accounts to access the iPad. So if you don't want your family accessing your various accounts you need to sign out of everything every single time you use the iPad, rather than just signing out of your iPad account and leaving the device for someone else to use.

    If they want these things to be a viable alternative to laptops, surely they need to incorporate one the most basic ways of accessing a laptop?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Still no multi user/account support though

      It is odd that they added multiple account support to Apple TV but not the iPad. They did add properly enforced separately between business and personal usage on phones/tablets though, which is more important for targeting the business market which most of these other changes in "iPadOS" do.

      If laptops didn't support multiple users they'd be perfectly fine for business, it isn't like you share your laptop with the guy in the next cubicle.

      Maybe they'll tackle more personal usage features next year.

    2. Robert Carnegie Silver badge

      Re: Still no multi user/account support though

      Is this "user enrolment" a possible workaround for the single-user limitation?

    3. grumbler

      Re: Still no multi user/account support though

      You're buying it wrong.

      You're supposed to purchase one for every member of the family - and where's the incentive for that if Apple enable multi user/account support.

    4. mistersaxon

      Re: Still no multi user/account support though

      Enterprise management has you covered here with a variety of options on the way but principally the option to create basically an entire second storage area with everything independent on the device for BYOD management. There is a news item on this very site, posted yesterday in fact.

      Re: mouse support - Jump desktop (RDP client) has had support for the Swiftpoint GT built in for some time, but you can't use your (rather expensive) mouse elsewhere in iOS. Maybe that's about to change? Let's hope so.

  4. Ken 16 Silver badge
    Windows

    I picked up a Lenovo MiiX 320 (yes horrible name) about a month back

    It's got a decent magnetically attached keyboard, a high resolution screen and I put a 128GB high speed SD in, total cost with a nice case, under £140. It runs Windows 10 and as many applications as I'd care to put on something with a small screen and keyboard. I can't have more than one open at a time or too many browser tabs but again it's for meetings and airports. I don't understand the Apple premium.

    1. MiguelC Silver badge

      Re: I picked up a Lenovo MiiX 320 (yes horrible name) about a month back

      Please do tell us where did you manage to buy all that for under 140£, as the most basic version (2GB RAM / 32 GB storage - who would want to run Windows 10 on that?) is currently selling for 218£ at Amazon... Did someone paid you 80£ to please take their SD card?

      1. Steven Raith

        Re: I picked up a Lenovo MiiX 320 (yes horrible name) about a month back

        To be fair, it might have been used - refurbed ones can be found for under a ton if you sniff aboot - but clarification on that might have helped a bit...

      2. Ken 16 Silver badge
        Headmaster

        Re: I picked up a Lenovo MiiX 320 (yes horrible name) about a month back

        eBay for £110 + delivery and a tenner for the case, under twenty for the card. I was about to contradict you on the Amazon price but checked first and you're right - there were some on offer new for £155 at the time I was looking. I don't claim it to be the perfect solution but I've had a work issued Surface before and neither was that, the Miix can at least be used on my lap. It doesn't charge from USB-C so I bought a USB to 3.5mm barrel cable to let me travel without the charger.

        My particular requirement is something that has a keyboard for when I remote access my work desktop AND converts to a tablet that I don't have to put away for takeoff and landing when watching Netflix and similar but I quite like it for general (limited) use with Vivaldi brower and WPS Office installed on the SD.

        iPads do seem better built and have a better infrastructure but I'd only us one (or a Surface) if they're company issued and insured.

    2. Waseem Alkurdi

      Re: I picked up a Lenovo MiiX 320 (yes horrible name) about a month back

      Great laptop/convertible, but it's got an Atom. Not particularly future-proof, and while it might work today, it won't do after a couple years. The iPad has a faster CPU (Apple claims laptop performance on some chip or the other it had released, can't find the reference, but this claims that it is equivalent to a recent MacBook Pro, however, take with a grain of salt.

      And the internal storage card is an eMMC. Shock-proof, unlike a HDD, but only slightly faster than a hard disk.

      For the same price (if used), you could've bought one with an i5 and a real SSD. A used Surface possibly.

      1. Ken 16 Silver badge

        Re: I picked up a Lenovo MiiX 320 (yes horrible name) about a month back

        For the money I don't expect future proofing, I'll buy a replacement in a few years - and the iPad isn't guaranteed to run the software Apple issue in 2021 either. Used Surfaces for the same price are very hard used ex corporate and I doubt the battery life left.

    3. ifekas

      Lenovo MiiX 320

      We bought 20 or so Lenovo MIIX 320s for basic tasks, but our experience with them has not been as positive. We went for the model with 4GB of RAM, and the devices have been mostly reliable; but the feedback has been that the touch screen has not really been useful and the battery life not great; many complained that the keyboard was poor, particularly the placement of the right shift key. I think many of the criticisms are related to Windows 10 on a tablet and not this particular model.

      For the next batch of cheap devices we just went for the Lenovo 11e laptop, which although looking quite old fashioned (like laptops were in the early 2000s!) seem very well built have gone down a lot better - I think they were designed for schools.

      1. Ken 16 Silver badge

        Re: Lenovo MiiX 320

        I generally agree, touchscreen laptops are of limited use and I hate leaving fingerprints on my display anyway so only used when I need to put away laptops but can keep tablets. The battery life is good enough for me, a full work day when travelling. I don't like the positioning of the numeric keys (the 1 is over the W not the Q) but I didn't like the layout of the Chromebook I used before that or the Surface with Touchcover either - I can adapt. I did consider a refurbed 11e Chromebook instead of this.

  5. macjules
    Coat

    Augmented reality developers get a ton of new features in ARKit 3, Apple's AR framework.

    Such as an AR keyboard that actually works ..

  6. tiggity Silver badge

    Colour me unimpressed

    I have an old android device plugged into TV that I use to stream some stuff (have a non smart TV). This supports external storage, I use a mouse and keyboard with it & it communicates to device on my system over the network to stream stuff (talks to a PC and a PVR). I have been using this setup for ages, so don't regard the Apple news as new & exciting, just very belated catchup

  7. Whitter
    Meh

    Privacy concerns?

    "A neat touch is what Apple calls "Attention awareness". Voice control is only active when you are looking at the screen, as detected by the front camera."

    So the camera is always on, rather than the mic?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Privacy concerns?

      yes, so that russian spies can watch you.

  8. Nematode

    Having slowed down all devices with 11, they realised they'd screwed up and made 12 faster, so hey, yeah, let's kill off all this not-really-very-old-at-all hardware asap, with 13.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Er, no..

      Copied from the Performance section of https://www.apple.com/ipados/ipados-preview/

      "iPad has always been fast and responsive. But with iPadOS, you’ll notice that everything moves a little faster."

      "iPadOS is even faster than iOS 12. For example, Face ID now unlocks up to 30 percent faster."

      "Apps launch up to 2X faster than before and are smaller in download size."

      1. Waseem Alkurdi

        Re: Er, no..

        iPad has always been fast and responsive.

        My iPad 3 begs to differ. One iOS update has managed to completely b0tch up a device that was completely usable one iOS update before that. And the excuse that it's underspecced don't cut it; iOS 7 was a major update and it took that, while iOS 8 was a minor update in comparison.

      2. Robert Carnegie Silver badge

        Re: Er, no..

        I think Nematode is referring to the generation of I-things that won't be allowed to install iOS 13 - when the time comes, which isn't quite yet. I don't know, and I am asking, if those older devices like my iPhone 6 are now, meaning then, "old-person things" (OK for me) or "unpatched-vulnerability chew toy" (less satisfactory). Mine knows my credit card number...

        1. Waseem Alkurdi
          Thumb Up

          Re: Er, no..

          I know, but I've been referring to Apple's marketing-lie generalization, "iPad has always been fast and responsive."

          Nope, it has not always been fast and responsive, Apple. It starts life as being fast, but when you decide that I should upgrade, you'd slow it down to unusability.

          About your question, Apple devices which are killed off by iOS updates, like your iPhone 6, are definitely going to become unpatched-vulnerability-chewthings. I'm currently advising all friends and family who have an iPhone 5s and 6 to sell their devices before the devices lose their resale value, and the prices are already dropping since the Apple announcement.

          Take for example the iPhone 5 and iPad 4, which were killed at iOS 10.3.3. Lots of iOS vulnerabilities were discovered since then (for example, the various text-message crashes). No update has been issued for either device since then.

          This is a major argument against iPhones, because Apple uses the lack of security updates to force you to upgrade.

        2. Jove Bronze badge

          Re: Er, no..

          Yep; always trade up just as you do with a car or a house.

  9. Daniel von Asmuth
    Gimp

    What the hack is iPadOS?

    Apperently it's not some Unix flavour, as those have good multi-tasking and multi-user support. A rehash of Jobs's MultiFinder, perhaps?

    1. JonL722

      Re: What the hack is iPadOS?

      The sad thing is that it is based on BSD (Unix) but they have messed with the kernel resulting in deficient multitasking for "improved user experience".

  10. This post has been deleted by its author

    1. Robert Carnegie Silver badge

      Just speculating, but I should think that if a blind or visually impaired person wants to use voice control then it can be set "always on" in accessibility. Or... they can look at the screen, they just can't see it when they do that.

  11. Willy Wonka

    the what of an IPad ?

    from the article: "... the safety, convenience and low maintenance of an iPad ..."

    Where can I find these three euphemisms explained in full ... other than in Cupertino press-releases ?

  12. JonL722

    I am an iPad Pro user. I have had no choice because it is a work thing. I have to carry a Windows laptop at the same time because the iPad sucks at laptop stuff, and I am afraid this update will not change things at all.

    I, like so many others, have found that it is rubbish at being a proper laptop because it does not have a proper filesystem, no mouse support, no options for a desktop browser, and it shockingly bad at multitasking. I paid attention to all the changes that iPadOS brings, but I must say that I am not impressed. The above stuff are NOT nice-to-haves, and they are not amazing technological achievements. They are MINIMUM stuff any laptop should have. Apple makes a song and dance about innovating and bringing us some of these things to the iPad, and they expect us to stand up, applaud, and go out and pay $1,200!!! Although this seems to be a change in the right direction, for me it is a total miss.

    PS - I just bought my son a Chromebook for $200. It runs Android apps, has a fully fledged Chrome browser, supports a mouse, has a proper filesystem, and has a reliable multitasking environment. My brother bought a Razor laptop for his photo/video editing tasks for $900. So why would anyone buy an iPad Pro is beyond me.

    1. Ian Joyner Bronze badge

      1 hrJonL722

      "I, like so many others, have found that it is rubbish at being a proper laptop"

      Because you are trying to use it like you have been trained (and brainwashed) to use a computer. Users should not have to think about filesystems and such manual tasks.

      "supports a mouse, has a proper filesystem, and has a reliable multitasking environment"

      Again, you are thinking in terms of what you expect a computer to be. Like in the past when Apple killed the 5 1/4" floppy and used the superior 3 1/2" hard-case disk - outcry "Mac isn't a real computer". Then Apple killed the floppy altogether - oh you can't have a computer without a floppy.

      Again Apple has shown it is innovating, far beyond what most people's indoctrination in how to use a traditional computer.

  13. Ian Joyner Bronze badge

    Mouse?

    Apple get this right. They have one good way to do things using touch. Some users cannot use touch, so as a concession, mouse facilities are provided.

    Note with the Windows pad the keyboard includes a trackpad. Um, for what purpose? Just for sales. Innocent customer comes into store – iPad, no trackpad, Windows tablet - "ooh, trackpad, it has more". Case of more is less.

    Apple spends time getting things right and useful.

  14. mistergoodbytes1

    It's always nice to discover you're ahead of the curve. I was using Bluetooth when Bluetooth wasn't cool, and now I see that I've acquired many of the goodies in this new touted Apple device.

    I am apparently of the tech underclass. To wit, I cannot justify dropping $600 on a minimalist ipad. I did find a powerful (Acer Iconia) tablet ($160), 64 GB SD card (Walmart, $20) and folio keyboard (eBay, $20). The tablet has 2(!) micro USBs which means that a keyboard can stay plugged in while charging, Bluetooth, 5gHz wifi, and enough power and speed to stream Netflix. But, I also made a link to the local library, from which I can borrow an ebook, and have it sent to the same tablet as I just borrowed it on.

    Pro and con-wise some things do come to mind..

    Google spies on me rather than Apple,

    China spies on me as well as the NSA,

    I have not yet managed to get root on the Iconia, and I will twinge if I brick the sucker trying same,

    I have pushed the Iconia, and I can access most of the same information on this (yes, I'm posting on it) as I can with a desktop,

    Because it has 2 USBs and I can charge as I type, as the battery ages, I expect I will be able to use this as a mini laptop and thus extend the device life by a couple of years (I will get my money's worth from it)

    When I get an ebook, I can flip it and read the book,

    I can have Samba access and Google Drive access (and deal with Google bitching that I violated community standards (of my own non-public GD) by trying to use GD to upload a rooting APK, like that stopped me)

    Samba access unfettered comes from an Android app called ES File Explorer, which, as geeks know, DEFINTITELY phones home to China

    The cat thinks the slightly padded folio makes a good claw sharpener and pillow, and needed to be discouraged from same

    Yes, I can use it as a productivity device in the sense that I can access all of my day to day online resources from it,

    A few years ago I did an analysis and concluded that I had built the mid-grade Mac (plus extras) for $1,000-$1,500 less than the comparable Mac actual. But I was my own tech support. I was the middle ground between all of this geek ridden setup and Apple class functionality....and to tell the truth, I wouldn't have it any other way. The same rule applies with pushing a mobile device to the limit.

    No, it's not my desktop. And since my desktop is a Linux box, that's saying a lot. But I never intended it to be. Yes, I guess that there are some apps for the Mac better written than the Android version, fine.

    It is all relative, and I like what I have accomplished.

    1. Ian Joyner Bronze badge

      mistergoodbytes1

      "Google spies on me rather than Apple"

      Apple does not spy on its users. At least not like Google does, and not with the same intent. (But from the rest of your post, you seem to prove that.)

      "It is all relative, and I like what I have accomplished."

      That is good. As someone who teaches computer skills now, I'm interested in getting students to do things and understand how computers work ... underneath.

      But they are doing so, so that others won't have to. There has always been the 'home kit' assembly people who have computers as a hobby. That is how Home Brew Computer Club worked, but Jobs and Wozniak found they had a hit with people who did not want to solder together their own components. Yes, Linux and Raspberry (and others) allow people to do it themselves – and that's great.

      But most people don't want to and should not need to.

      It is like C system programmers insisting that C is used everywhere (maybe disguised as C++) – that is system programmers fundamentally admitting they have failed at their job of providing abstractions that don't need 'drilling' through.

      Although MacOS has the same Unix underpinnings as Linux, most Mac users know nothing about Unix, yet Android users seem to know about Linux (says me staring at a Terminal bash shell with a bunch of gobbledegook from fighting with MacPorts).

      It seems most of the criticism of Apple comes from not understanding this paradigm.

      1. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

        The Long Game March ......

        Apple does not spy on its users. At least not like Google does, and not with the same intent. .... Ian Joyner

        Do Apple users spy on Google*, Ian Joyner, to discover what they are not hosting and providing to the masses, because it can be easily classified highly sensitive and deeply disruptive, and thus would need to be secretly controlled ...... as best as may be possible in these new times and virtual spaces of today?

        And as awkward and dangerous as such an unknown and secrets can so easily be .... one may have to accept, and sooner rather than later allows one to progress significantly faster and further ahead of any and all support/competition/opposition ...... their command is well beyond any traditional established Control Orders/Star Chambers/Elite Executive Officers.

        * And all other search engine powered/empowering browsers too, whenever the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth be informed.

        1. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

          Re: The Long Game March ......

          And whereas before, conflicts and wars may have all been about securing or denying vital strategic physical resources, ...How Oil Defeated the Nazis ..... future victories are all about applying greater intelligence solutions to established past problems, with ignorance and arrogance, hubris and delusion the common enemy to be roundly defeated and comprehensively deflated.

          It is why there always was that certifiable madness to try and control the flow of information and intelligence with the vain exercise of firewalls and desperately ineffective targeted purges after the arrival of the facts, and which result in failed fascist police state operations .... which reveal themselves as simply explained here ....... You’re Under Arrest: How the Police State Muzzles Our Right to Speak Truth to Power

          Once future secrets are out in the wild and open, there's no way they can safely and securely be put away into hiding and cold storage again, with one thinking to believe they will remain unknown to all but a privileged few.

          What think you be the Leading Current Vital Asset for Capture and Distribution?

        2. Ian Joyner Bronze badge

          Re: The Long Game March ......

          amanfromMars 1 - what planet (drugs) are you on. I can't make any sense of your comment.

          1. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

            Re: The Long Game March ...... RTFM [it is very costly to miss out on steps shared carefully]

            amanfromMars 1 - what planet (drugs) are you on. I can't make any sense of your comment. ....... Ian Joyner

            Here's a piece of an almighty jigsaw you are missing/discovering, freely shared here, IJ.

            That's at least 5G just doing ITs Sublime Internet Networking Thing. And most probably something else even greater, enabling an able and adept progression into alien lands/future plans being surely servered and Registered online for reception and comment from everywhere ..... and to here.

            Think of the Node as an AI Lode Register for Immaculate Dream Traders. And that's at least 6G and beyond taken care of with Almighty Open Channels BroadBandCasting Future Decisions from New Novel Stock Options with NEUKlearer HyperRadioProACTive IT Support Facilities with Stay Healthy Stay Stealthy Virtual Utilities Practically Guaranteeing Certain Success ....... with All Missions Accomplished and Ready for Inclusion in Executive Review with Exclusive Previews of Future Plans Live and Enacted, and just as were Ordered and Expected to Perform.

            There's a Helluva Lot Going On Out There in Intelligence Spaces, El Regers. However, if things go too quickly too far ahead, be assured there's always been an easy trail left for others to follow and exalt to lead back to a Place of Understanding for ..... another Bite at the Apple/Go on the Game/Spin of the Wheel. :-)

            Thus no one is left behind ...... Semper Fi.

            And a DARPA/IARPA Program with Easter Eggs would be a Post Modern Western Concoction of an Ancient Eastern Confection Servered by Leaders to All Invited to Follow with Almighty Instructions that Lead.

            1. Cliff Thorburn

              Re: The Long Game March ...... RTFM [it is very costly to miss out on steps shared carefully]

              Well it looks like great game players this time around may do nothing better than take giant leaps of faith and just go along with the almighty rocky ride.

              “It is not enough that we do our best, often we must do what is necessary”

              Sir Winston Churchill

              Wise words, undoubtedly walked by enlightened souls from yesteryear.

          2. Ken 16 Silver badge

            Re: The Long Game March ......

            Have you read their other posts first, to set a baseline?

  15. PeterM42

    Not only,.....

    ........does Android have most of these features, but it has a "back" button as well. My partner and I tried an iPad, but it drove us bonkers, so switched back to Android. Cheaper as well.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Selecting, Cut and Pasting of Text/Graphics still looked iffy during WWDC demo

    My biggest bugbear with iOS has always been the inability to easily select text easily, then cut and paste. Often the screen scrolls/zooms as you try to select the text, or it selects whole paragraphs when trying to select a line or a subset of a line of text.

    From the demo on the WWDC keynote, it didn't look like things were yet perfected, it still looked iffy, it certainly wasn't fluid. The guy was having trouble carrying out the demo.

  17. OffBeatMammal

    what a tentative mouse...

    I wanted a bold, adventurous mouse support... dare I say "brave" in Apple parlance. What I got was a timid fieldmouse that hides behind menu settings and isn't fully developed. When I am using my iPad to write a document I use a keyboard, and having to 'gorilla arm' to the screen (something Mac users laugh at Windows for) to move the cursor (with much blind stabbing around to position it accurately) is really frustrating ... having properly implemented mouse support not just 'fake finger emulation' would be a really useful feature (and those complaining about it ... if you don't want to use the damn feature no-one is forcing you, you can still tap away all you like) and would also make apps like Remote Desktop or AnyDesk even more useful because I'd actually be able to use a real mouse on the remote system...

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