A Multi-Touch iPhone OS Layer On Top of Mac OS X?

[addicted44]

Have you guys even read the article? This isn't going to be a required thing. It's supposed to be a simpler interface FOR THOSE WHO WISH TO USE IT.

You obviously haven't been on the internet for too long...

Its a standing rule that if there is anything on the internet that you dislike, even if it affects you in no single way, or you can live your life like it never existed with no problems at all, you must still raise a huge hue and cry about it.

If you don't, you aren't living up to your duties as an internet citizen.

 

[localoid]

I'd have to strongly disagree.

The generation of people that don't know how to use computers is dwindling, why would we need to create simplified operating systems to cater to them? Standard operating systems are really not that complicated in the first place. Any novice user is going to feel lost if they've never used a computer before, young or old. It's just a skill that must be learned, and it's no more difficult than any of the other basic skills a person learns throughout their life.

Perhaps one day soon society will decide that learning to read is too much of a bother. Instead, we'll have devices that reads everything aloud for us. When we drive a digital voice will say "Sign ahead says: 65 MPH" and so on.

And best of all, this would mean we wouldn't ever have be bothered again by anything negative or bad, because our wonderful reading devices will provide "all the information that's fit to read" and nothing more. What a brave new world it will be!

 

[O and A]

This is why i'm certain that OS XI whenever its annoucned will be built from gournd up with touch in mind. as well as support current interfaces.

Perhaps 2011 or 2012. But I'm certain this will be the case. Its fairly obvious.

 

[CIA]

I'd have to strongly disagree.

The generation of people that don't know how to use computers is dwindling, why would we need to create simplified operating systems to cater to them? Standard operating systems are really not that complicated in the first place. Any novice user is going to feel lost if they've never used a computer before, young or old. It's just a skill that must be learned, and it's no more difficult than any of the other basic skills a person learns throughout their life.

Because novice users have money to spend. I'm certainly not a novice, and I love to hack the hell outta my stuff, but for my day to day computing outside of the fun stuff, simple works just fine. A child can use an iPhone with no real instruction, try that with a laptop. My point is there will always be what we the readers of this forum use, the "old" style computer, but more and more the simple devices that do what we need quickly will prevail. And people will buy them, and Apple will be happy because they make double the margin on a iPad then they do on a Macbook.

 

[RT2020]

Despite the fact that not everyone can learn to play the guitar, we still make guitars for those who can. And for those who can't, they make Guitar Hero so those folks can pretend to play a guitar.

But I get the impression some would argue that we should stop making (real) guitars altogether...? Because doing so would somehow help those who can't learn to play guitar?

Well said!

My grandmother can comfortably write emails and surf the internet using my laptop. This same laptop that I am currently using to easily create a 3D model of a building from floor plans and elevation drawings.

I hope Apple (Steve Jobs) with all their commendable focus and innovation, understands this. This is the first time I can recall where I feel like there is some sort of regression happening.

 

[rikers_mailbox]

Dashboard

Seems to me that Dashboard was always designed with multitouch in mind. it's a simple interface, and dashboard apps should be easily portable to iPhone OS, and vice-versa. Dashboard is also one answer to multitasking on the iPad... invoke Dashboard from w/in apps to perform simple tasks.

 

[Xtremehkr]

I don't want to touch my screen. I have enough trouble keeping it clean already.

I like those Bamboo type devices which give a space for finger manipulation. You can use your hand as a mouse, or use a stylus to write with. It's very versatile.

I don't even sit close enough to the screen to reach it. The bigger the iMac gets the further back I have to move it so that I can place more content in my range of focus.

 

[jglavin]

What is with all the conspiracy theories ? I love the idea of a dashboard where I can run iphone apps. It most certainly adds value to Mac OS. Now, those people who love their iphone but haven't bought a mac would have yet another reason to consider it.

Also, there are other companies that sell computers, perhaps you have heard of them. The "closed" app-store system will never replace any of that.

 

[hkim1983]

My experience is that there is very few people under the age of 30 right now who is this clueless about desktop computing. For those that are, its not a complexity thing, but more likely a lack of access due to financial constraints, etc.

Can't figure out multi-tasking? That's a bit extreme. If people can figure out how to drive a car at 60 miles per hour, navigate, and obey traffic rules, I have a very hard time imagining they cannot operate something as intuitive as OSX.

You are clearly overestimating the abilities of the "average" person. From MY experiences, the vast majority of people on the road should have their licenses stripped and be banned from automobile operation for LIFE.

I fit into your demographic of "under 30", and I can tell you that I know more than a few peers who are technologically incompetent. This does not make them inferior, they simply don't need that level of knowledge and experience to function within their niche, and choose not to do so. There's also the subset of people who developed skills to a certain point, and then stopped, or even regressed, because it was no longer necessary or because of a change in priorities.

 

[RT2020]

You obviously haven't been on the internet for too long...

Its a standing rule that if there is anything on the internet that you dislike, even if it affects you in no single way, or you can live your life like it never existed with no problems at all, you must still raise a huge hue and cry about it.

If you don't, you aren't living up to your duties as an internet citizen.

Forum: a place, meeting, or medium where ideas and views on a particular issue can be exchanged. (Looked it up on Dictionary.app)

This is a fascinating topic about a company that I am fascinated with...but I wouldn't be here if it was the Praise Apple Forum

 

[blackcrayon]

It doesn't seem like implementing this type of "layer" would be *too* hard, as that's basically how the iPhone and iPad simulators in the SDK work. Imagine them just running optionally at full screen. Obviously iPhone apps already compile and run (for the most part) in a "sandbox" on top of OS X. It would just need the hardware to control it with touch and support for any direct Mac hardware that isn't already in the simulator.

 

[NT1440]

I don't want to touch my screen. I have enough trouble keeping it clean already.

I like those Bamboo type devices which give a space for finger manipulation. You can use your hand as a mouse, or use a stylus to write with. It's very versatile.

I don't even sit close enough to the screen to reach it. The bigger the iMac gets the further back I have to move it so that I can place more content in my range of focus.

Here's the cool thing about it....you won't HAVE to use it!

 

[Mcgargle]

Perhaps one day soon society will decide that learning to read is too much of a bother.

Appallingly bad analogy. A better one would be to imagine a world in which, before you can read, you must first learn to use a book. Imagine a world where books are complex things, maybe with cogs that automatically turn the pages and built-in lanterns to illuminate the words, but they only work if you keep the fuel reservoir topped off and wind the mainspring just so while applying the right amount of pressure on the leaves to keep the gearbox from stripping, and if you can't be bothered to take the time to get in there and manually lubricate all your books' mechanisms once a season, well, then your books will seize up on you and it'll be because you're clearly just too dumb to read.

Eventually someone will come along and say, "Gosh, fellas. Maybe you shouldn't have to have years of experience and a specialized set of tools just to read a book." And inevitably there will be those who bemoan the loss of "choice" because they no longer have to carve their own book gears by hand from blocks of solid brass, and who long for the days when they could lose hours in intense and often heated debates over whether 15- or 20-weight oil was the better choice for keeping their book spines squeak-free.

 

[Krizoitz]

Sounds kinda like At Ease: The Next Generation

 

[SteveSparks]

Forum: a place, meeting, or medium where ideas and views on a particular issue can be exchanged. (Looked it up on Dictionary.app)

This is a fascinating topic about a company that I am fascinated with...but I wouldn't be here if it was the Praise Apple Forum

+1...

 

[CIA]

You are clearly overestimating the abilities of the "average" person. From MY experiences, the vast majority of people on the road should have their licenses stripped and be banned from automobile operation for LIFE.

I fit into your demographic of "under 30", and I can tell you that I know more than a few peers who are technologically incompetent. This does not make them inferior, they simply don't need that level of knowledge and experience to function within their niche, and choose not to do so. There's also the subset of people who developed skills to a certain point, and then stopped, or even regressed, because it was no longer necessary or because of a change in priorities.

Exactly. Just because someone is competent enough to use a computer doesn't mean they want to deal with a computer. People are acting like this dumbed down OS is an attack on the normal OS's like OSX. They can co-exist just fine. Normal OS for work, Simple OS for just getting sh*t done.

 

[FightTheFuture]

My experience is that there is very few people under the age of 30 right now who is this clueless about desktop computing. For those that are, its not a complexity thing, but more likely a lack of access due to financial constraints, etc.

i disagree, i know several Gen Y'ers who don't know how to do anything with a computer past facebook - and there's nothing wrong with that. most computers are overkill for the majority who have them, this is why netbooks are doing so well.

 

[appleguy123]

wait os x supports multitouch at all? Where was I when this happened?!?!?

It's 3 finger swipes and zooming in on the trackpad.

 

[trip1ex]

Look at the parental controls. They have a simplified finder and you can also eliminate access to whatever programs you don't want the user to use.


Wouldn't be much different than that.

I totally agree there's a big market for a much simpler computer that does the key tasks many use their computer for.

Basically the iPad is that device. And as app phones get more powerful they could take over that role as well.

 

[Amnak]

It's foolish to think Apple has stopped inovating OSX just because you can't see the diffrence. Wasn't the hole under-the-hood changed when SL came out?

 

[twoodcc]

i could see apple doing this. but i hope they come up with something better instead though

 

[localoid]

Appallingly bad analogy. A better one would be to imagine a world in which, before you can read, you must first learn to use a book. Imagine a world where books are complex things, maybe with cogs that automatically turn the pages and built-in lanterns to illuminate the words, but they only work if you keep the fuel reservoir topped off and wind the mainspring just so while applying the right amount of pressure on the leaves to keep the gearbox from stripping, and if you can't be bothered to take the time to get in there and manually lubricate all your books' mechanisms once a season, well, then your books will seize up on you and it'll be because you're clearly just too dumb to read.

Eventually someone will come along and say, "Gosh, fellas. Maybe you shouldn't have to have years of experience and a specialized set of tools just to read a book." And inevitably there will be those who bemoan the loss of "choice" because they no longer have to carve their own book gears by hand from blocks of solid brass, and who long for the days when they could lose hours in intense and often heated debates over whether 15- or 20-weight oil was the better choice for keeping their book spines squeak-free.

You should try reading a little Huxley, otherwise you're missing the major plot points of my post regarding these "exciting new paradigms" built upon concepts such as "less is more" and "lack of control is power".

Consequences occur when you attempt to simplify things. Take the concept of newspeak for example, "the only language in the world whose vocabulary gets smaller every year".

 

[alexbates]

This is a very interesting idea...

Multi-touch support with the current OS X is not such a great idea. For example, I am running SL on a Atom Netbook modded with a Touch Panel (not Multi-touch). It runs decently, but getting the mouse to point in the right spot can sometimes be a difficult task. The Dashboard truly runs great with the touch interface, even using a finger instead of a pen. But it is not even possible to get Frontrow working with a touch panel, that could just be me and my drivers though...

What there really needs to be is a redesigned OS made for Touch based input. It needs to function almost between OS X and the iPhone OS. What I mean is it needs to be designed like the iPhone OS, but with many more features like a Finder (file storage; selecting multiple icons at a time on the springboard), multi-tasking, and more icon space on the dock.

What I would love to see Apple make more than anything is an iPad with a 13" Multi-touch display, a 1.2GHz low-heat ARM processor, 1GB RAM, and an awesome new OS designed just for it that doesn't require a very fast CPU.

 

[Xfujinon]

Appallingly bad analogy. A better one would be to imagine a world in which, before you can read, you must first learn to use a book. Imagine a world where books are complex things, maybe with cogs that automatically turn the pages and built-in lanterns to illuminate the words, but they only work if you keep the fuel reservoir topped off and wind the mainspring just so while applying the right amount of pressure on the leaves to keep the gearbox from stripping, and if you can't be bothered to take the time to get in there and manually lubricate all your books' mechanisms once a season, well, then your books will seize up on you and it'll be because you're clearly just too dumb to read.

Eventually someone will come along and say, "Gosh, fellas. Maybe you shouldn't have to have years of experience and a specialized set of tools just to read a book." And inevitably there will be those who bemoan the loss of "choice" because they no longer have to carve their own book gears by hand from blocks of solid brass, and who long for the days when they could lose hours in intense and often heated debates over whether 15- or 20-weight oil was the better choice for keeping their book spines squeak-free.

I am not trying to suck up, but after reading both of your last posts, McGargle, I suddenly feel like everything I've been trying to say for five years was just said so much better by you.

Thanks. really, this pretty much hits the nail on the head.

I would LOVE for my computer to be largely transparent and ubiquitous. 99% of the things I do on it are simply exaggerated complex dances to keep the simple things I do running smoothly. I don't care about network protocols, gigabytes, drivers, RAM, clock speed, frontside buses, or petaflops.

I want the damn thing to just work.

Yes, there will always be people who do mess with those things (gigabytes, fttp stuff, etc.), but that is not most of us. We're grateful to you folks for doing it, and for making our lives better. But let's push the envelope to its logical conclusion; ditch the complexity for complexity's sake and find the beauty and power in simplicity.

 

[libertyforall]

Sounds like a good idea. BUT, to date, Apple has not added the FULL Apple TV interface and features to Front Row, which always makes me wonder why. This should be standard.