You've just resigned yourself to living in the past then, as did so many of the old MacOS users when OS X was first released.
The "iPadification process" is all part of the big picture, because like it or not, the future of computing is about users working with both full-blown computer systems and portable devices like the iPad or a smartphone, and expecting an increasing level of integration between them. (Thanks, Mountain Lion, for finally unifying the Tasks and Notes so they're actually useful for me! If I'm at my Mac and want to type up a quick grocery list, I can do it and know that it's going to appear on my iPhone in my coat pocket that I'll take to the store with me. That's the type of functionality we expect these days.)
Yeah right. Ask that guy from Microsoft that got fired over Windows 8's "pad interface" how much he believes in that future now.
The iPad is a FAD. The thing is just as bulky as newer notebooks, but without all the power and full blown software to work with and no keyboard blows (unless you can't type in which case you probably don't care). I can see adding touchscreen capability to notebooks and even desktops at some point, but the idea that a touch interface could possibly replace the keyboard/mouse for everyone is utter absurdity.
MAYBE some day a voice control interface will replace everyday type appliance computer functions in conjunction with a touch interface, but that day isn't coming any time soon, IMO. I've seen dictation software sold for over a decade and it just plain SUCKS. I rented a Ford Fusion when I was on vacation and it had Microsoft's voice interface and it SUCKED. (E.g. I say, "Play Pink Floyd" and it says, 'The phone book function is not available in this mode' ... WTF!?!) I've seen Siri screw up plenty too and it's doing the number crunching on much better hardware. A true replacement voice system has to be >99.9% reliable to even hope to replace such systems and it's not going to happen this decade and probably not in my lifetime. Clearly, for 'some', iOS type devices are useful, but to those of us that truly like using full blown computers, it's no replacement at all.
And that's where Apple and Microsoft are going wrong. Yes, they have strong sales from non-computer types for newer/simpler/easier interfaces, but that's not where their core computer market is or where it's going or where it's EVER going to go. Maybe that's only 1/5 or even 1/10 of their "appliance" market, but it's still a large market and trying to make appliance operating systems work there is a big mistake, particularly if it's meant to replace rather than just supplement the traditional interfaces.
Personally, I have more of a problem with Windows8 than Mountain Lion. OSX is still there and Launch Pad is just an OPTION right now. Fine. I have no issues with options. Windows8, however, just tries to force you to use a touch pad interface with a traditional mouse/keyboard setup and it's just not as intuitive as the start menu system, particularly when it has to keep switching between that and the desktop. Frankly, I've never understood why companies like Apple just plain
hate giving the user some configuration options for how they define their GUI interface. I know Steve Jobs was a control freak and an ego-maniac, so perhaps that explains it in the past, but I'm hoping the future isn't going to be so controlling. Time will tell, but then I never expected Microsoft (traditionally much more accommodating to options and maintaining backwards compatibility) to take such a giant leap with Windows8 (although now it appears they regret it).
