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0 pointsalerighi4y ago0 comments

Yes, you can use an iPad to connect via remote desktop to a PC somewhere to do serious work. All other things, you can't.

Let's talk about office. Try to open a spreadsheet with macros on an iPad, of course you can't, even if Microsoft wants to implement it, that would violate the clause that an application shouldn't run third party code. A lot of companies have spreadsheets with macros to do their administration (I don't say that this is good, I only say that in the real world Excel is abused and that is a fact).

Safari doesn't have the same support of Firefox/Chrome. In my country for a couple of sites of some public administration you still need Internet Explorer! Even if the site work on Safari, they are probably not optimized for touchscreens and mostly thought to be used with a keyboard and a mouse.

And all the other applications? How about all the management software that is used in all companies?

Email clients? Too basic compared on the one for PC. Other specific applications? The one on iOS are more basic. Specific kind of software to talk to specific equipment? Doesn't exist.

Support for external USB OTG devices? Practically not existent on iOS.

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ubermonkey4y ago

The argument isn't that iOS offers everything that a traditional computer does. The argument is that, for many many people and many many use cases, it offers ENOUGH while offering significant advantages over the traditional laptop.

Macros are a corner case. Sure, I use them sometimes, but they're only present in a small minority of my overall spreadsheets. I don't need them on the iPad.

Word functions BEAUTIFULLY on the iPad. I use it ALL THE TIME. Ditto PowerPoint.

"In my country for a couple of sites of some public administration you still need Internet Explorer!"

This is not a problem with the iPad.

Complaining about the email client on the iPad is REALLY rich considering most folks use a webmail client that is even MORE limited. I use iOS mail quite often, and while it can't do everything Outlook can do, it's more than sufficient for most people, and more than sufficient for ME most of the time.

You've made more of a case for "alerighi doesn't like iOS" than you have for "iOS isn't useful for real work," in other words.

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