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In the future.....
If you read my past posts on the ipad you'll glean that I have some forward vision in technology. Apple is a great company and I'm grateful for having discovered it 25 years ago. And after having read a fabulous tome on innovation, I now understand why it's often as slow as it is.
I am close to owning my first tablet and have, as usual, avoided the first run as they are not up to my standard for functionality.
I HAVE READ all this thread thus far and in defense of those that wish they could run Office on their machines, I feel for you.

The fundamental shift that Apple made with the ipad, is lack of interoperability.
The design of a device platform open to 3rd Party Apps is NOT an excuse for lack of OS interoperability BETWEEN similarly branded devices.

I want to construct in MS Office ( a nearly universal interoperable business software suite ) on my laptop, transfer key files to my tablet, jet off to a meeting and make small modifications to docs on the plane or in airport, polish my Powerpoint presentation and run the presentation at the podium of my ipad, without having to install a plethora of 3rdparty apps.

This is what separates the toy world from the tool world. INTEROPERABILITY

Further, as you may also glean. I am on a crusade to make the 'tablet' the nexus of mobile computing. It should be the fulcrum around which all other personal and professional electronic devices revolve. The current tablets are glorified ebook playback/thin clients and at a premium price. Oh sorry. I left out gaming.

I laughed when I saw the first keyboard for the ipad "Hah Hah, they're trying to reinvent the laptop... and badly" I quipped. Indeed. The ideal mobile computing device is a 7"-9" screen tablet that interfaces with an thin keyboard so that haptic feedback is a possibility for people like me that hate zero feedback touchscreens. Hinged screen laptops that do not allow separation of the keyboard will be gone in 5 years.

Tablets are evolving. The big questions is: "Can Apple tablets evolve fast enough?"
 
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My original iPad is no longer in daily use, but that probably has more to do with me getting an iPhone 4s than it does with the iPad becoming obsolete. Granted, it's also growing long in the tooth for me and it's no longer able to handle some of the apps I'd like to run and some of the ones I used to run are starting to run slower.

It's still useful though. It works for me as an emergency laptop in case I need to do some quick emergency work when I can't get to my work computer. My iPhone 4s is just too small to actually do anything other than email on. If I've gotta log into a server, I at least need an iPad so I can see what I'm doing over a SSH terminal.

The iPad is also really awesome at the gym. I load all of my RSS feeds onto my iPad and read while I'm running on a treadmill at the gym. I can get the text blown up to a big enough size that I can read while running even without my glasses.

I'd like to trade it in for a better model, which I will eventually, but no way is it useless. If you get one for the right reasons, and not just because it's cool and shiny, it won't get old.
 
In the future.....
If you read my past posts on the ipad you'll glean that I have some forward vision in technology. Apple is a great company and I'm grateful for having discovered it 25 years ago. And after having read a fabulous tome on innovation, I now understand why it's often as slow as it is.
I am close to owning my first tablet and have, as usual, avoided the first run as they are not up to my standard for functionality.
I HAVE READ all this thread thus far and in defense of those that wish they could run Office on their machines, I feel for you.

The fundamental shift that Apple made with the ipad, is lack of interoperability.
The design of a device platform open to 3rd Party Apps is NOT an excuse for lack of OS interoperability BETWEEN similarly branded devices.

I want to construct in MS Office ( a nearly universal interoperable business software suite ) on my laptop, transfer key files to my tablet, jet off to a meeting and make small modifications to docs on the plane or in airport, polish my Powerpoint presentation and run the presentation at the podium of my ipad, without having to install a plethora of 3rdparty apps.

This is what separates the toy world from the tool world. INTEROPERABILITY

Further, as you may also glean. I am on a crusade to make the 'tablet' the nexus of mobile computing. It should be the fulcrum around which all other personal and professional electronic devices revolve. The current tablets are glorified ebook playback/thin clients and at a premium price. Oh sorry. I left out gaming.

I laughed when I saw the first keyboard for the ipad "Hah Hah, they're trying to reinvent the laptop... and badly" I quipped. Indeed. The ideal mobile computing device is a 7"-9" screen tablet that interfaces with an thin keyboard so that haptic feedback is a possibility for people like me that hate zero feedback touchscreens. Hinged screen laptops that do not allow separation of the keyboard will be gone in 5 years.

Tablets are evolving. The big questions is: "Can Apple tablets evolve fast enough?"


Like I said, you use ONE app and you can get the functionality of which you speak: CloudOn. Of course, you can't use it on the airplane because it needs online access, but in the airport you could get WiFi or 3G access.

Apple won't keep pace because Microsoft is already set to fill the niche with the Surface Pro. I'm looking forward to what that thing can do. The ultra thin cover/keyboard looks sweet and I was skeptical of the pop out stand until I saw a reviewer state that the edge has a rubber-like coating that helped keep the tablet upright on his lap.
 
i dont understand people why they don't have use for a ipad or even gathering dust it has so many useful things about it Iam sure people could find a use for its just they don't want to i think it brillant just to find some where the maps functions nice big screen to know where you are going.

This is what most people do on there computers
Examples

* Check email
* Surf the Web
* Find Places you are Looking for on Google Earth
* Listen to Music
* Watch Youtube Clips
* Facebook
* Twitter
* Google Circle
* Look & Edit photos
* Play Games

Iam sure someone can tick two things or even more things i have listed
If you cannot tick any of things why do you have a internet connection and
why do you have a computer in the first place

The Ipad can do all them things i have listed and more
 
i dont understand people why they don't have use for a ipad or even gathering dust it has so many useful things about it ......

* Check email
* Surf the Web
* Find Places you are Looking for on Google Earth
* Listen to Music
* Watch Youtube Clips
* Facebook
* Twitter
* Google Circle
* Look & Edit photos
* Play Games

Iam sure someone can tick two things or even more things i have listed
If you cannot tick any of things why do you have a internet connection and
why do you have a computer in the first place

The Ipad can do all them things i have listed and more

I used to spend 2-3 hours/day on my iPad 3 doing those things on your list. However, after I purchased a Nexus 7, my iPad has been powered off for days (this post is the first time I used it in a week). Having both, I realized the iPad is too heavy and large. In addition, the sound is not as good as the Nexus 7. I find myself spending even more time listening to my music collection since I got the N7.

In my option, the iPad is the wrong form factor. I use a highly-portable, 7" tablet for light computer needs and media consumption. I would like a 13-15 inch, thin and light, full-laptop capability, pad/mouse/touch input device to replace my desktop and laptop. The MicroSoft Surface Pro appears to be what I am looking for.
 
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I like many others have stated use my iPad daily. I browse the forums with it relaxing in bed. I also use it for other news feed apps such as machash etc. play games ,browse the web, etc etc. Its easier to lay back and relax with my iPad rather then using my macbook pro. Which I also still use daily.
 
Nope! breaks one of my FIRMEST requirements and is a no go!

The Iron Rule - Thou shalt not expose oneself or ones data to potential invasion of privacy and manipulation by outside influences through submission of one's data to a nebulous third party entity such as - 'THE CLOUD'. To me, the 'Cloud' is where big companies and big brother romp freely and with impunity. I've been 'on the inside' so I know. I'm not a quack in this.

So now, can you share a NON-Cloud based solution to interoperability offline?
 
(VFC)

There is nothing wrong with using any other device and that your preferences we all like different things nothing wrong with using them they are all as good as each other none of them are any better then each other they just designed and programmed in a different way well if you enjoy that product more then use it

me personally i don't like android phones but that my preferences i prefer iPhone. There is good points and bad points about every product you buy not matter what you purchase

Example

iphones you don't get virus on them where you would more likey to get one on a andriod phone

Andriod phone you can make you data storage better with several mirco sd cards which it makes it more versatile then a iphone where in a iphone you cannot be so verstalie with swapping cards

The list can go on for ages and for ever there both the same :):)
 
The fundamental shift that Apple made with the ipad, is lack of interoperability.
The design of a device platform open to 3rd Party Apps is NOT an excuse for lack of OS interoperability BETWEEN similarly branded devices.

I want to construct in MS Office ( a nearly universal interoperable business software suite ) on my laptop, transfer key files to my tablet, jet off to a meeting and make small modifications to docs on the plane or in airport, polish my Powerpoint presentation and run the presentation at the podium of my ipad, without having to install a plethora of 3rdparty apps.

This is what separates the toy world from the tool world. INTEROPERABILITY
By that definition, non-interoperability between newer and older versions of MS Office makes one of them a toy. And that's just on a single OS platform, where there are always issues going backwards and forwards from the software version that created the original document.

You can do the same for all the interop issues between MS Office versions on different platforms: only one's a real tool, all the others are toys.

Ditto for interop issues with browsers and the various versions of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Clearly, only one is a tool and all the rest are toys. But which one get promoted to "tool"? It can't be simple popularity, otherwise nothing would ever change (IE6 anyone?).

The real question isn't whether the iPad can evolve fast enough, it's whether software and data-formats can evolve fast enough to maintain any semblance of interop, or whether it's as difficult a goal to achieve as last world peace.
 
I use my iPad hours everyday. I read the newspaper, email, blogs and watch videos daily. For work I create presentations, take notes with the iPad. I've found the camera useful for documenting work in progress. The camera is plenty good enough for this purpose and it is really handy having the pictures with you and available.

I don't use MS Office so I don't have much to say about that. When I get spread sheets or docs from people who do I can process them well enough for my purposes using Numbers or Pages.
 
Nope! breaks one of my FIRMEST requirements and is a no go!

The Iron Rule - Thou shalt not expose oneself or ones data to potential invasion of privacy and manipulation by outside influences through submission of one's data to a nebulous third party entity such as - 'THE CLOUD'. To me, the 'Cloud' is where big companies and big brother romp freely and with impunity. I've been 'on the inside' so I know. I'm not a quack in this.

So now, can you share a NON-Cloud based solution to interoperability offline?

...yes, as I said like two posts ago, Microsoft will be releasing Office for iOS I about two months around when they release the Microsoft Surface Pro.
 
what happen to krazy bill? no replies on your own thread?!



it just all depends on how you like to do things..

I prefer to take my ipad to meetings and take notes on it with a keyboard, or stylus.. The battery life on it is far superior than my macbook, i have lte where on my macbook i rely on someone else's wifi..

i run a noble dialer at work, i can access the entire desktop application on my ipad..
much more productive to just quickly adjust SQls or change the algorithm for pacing/lines etc with my ipad. Much easier than having to open a laptop up and sit down and do it.

or say im at a meeting elsewhere/lunch etc.. and one of the guys who works under me is having issues with the dialer i can easily use my ipad to fix it, yes i can use my laptop but id have to rely on there being wifi around.
 
I use my iPad every single day. Everyone I know except one person uses theirs on a pretty much everyday basis too. Just depends who you are and how you like to do things I guess.

I also use my iPhone and rMBP everyday, and never at any point believed that an iPad would replace either of them. Though I find that when on holidays and my MBA died from a (tiny!) beer spillage, my iPad effectively worked as a backup device.
 
Nope, I write a few thousand words per day on my iPad sans external keyboard and without Office. Heavy lifting editing is done on my desktop but I don't buy the idea that the iPad is purely for media consumption and games. There are plenty of case studies out there of people, like me, who can get legitimate work done on the iPad often with just the on-screen keyboard. Not for everyone but it's certainly not impossible like some make it out to be. Honestly, I've yet to even watch a movie on it.

I wasn't sure if the iPad was for me or not but now I can't imagine being without the thing.

I'm with you, My ipads are not just for consuming media. I write emails, reports, proposals, oh and this crap that I am writing now. I edit pictures and have edited and played music with my ipad. I sometimes use the bluetooth keyboard but 90% of the time, it is just me and my ipad, sans external keyboard. The only reason I still have a laptop at all is because that is where i keep my backup to my ipad, as well as my itunes library. And one minor other thing...warcraft. As soon as warcraft becomes compatible with ios, I might even become desktop free ( at home ). Some people may find their ipad lacking and collecting dust, but I am not one of them, I live in a house with two people, and we have 3 ipads in use pretty constantly.
 
Yep. My iPad rarely gets used. I used it heavily for the first few weeks but as I got busier with work it really fell by the wayside. Its in my bag that I take everyday to work but I always end up pulling out my MBP to do work or use my iPhone to check the news, weather, or send a quick message. Sad really. It just has no place in my workflow no matter how hard I try.

I think it just really boils down to what you do. Being in architecture I need programs that just aren't available on the iPad. I send lots of emails after reviewing drawings or sending out changes and whatnot and having another device to bounce around on just doesn't make sense. I can see how it would be a useful device in many other fields though.
 
I use my iPad everyday as well. If at bare minimum I use it to stream Pandora while at work.
 
I have a PC at work, so I don't need Microsoft Office on my iPad. For most of my uses, the screen is way to small for Excel anyway.

I still use it on a daily basis. I must be as strong as Hercules because I find it light and portable. The form factor is the main reason I use it instead of a laptop a lot of the time.
 
Work/home I use mine daily

Couple weks ago when my iPad 2 was stolen not only was I depressed, but I also realised how much I use it. I just got my New iPad and i use it for work, for home for school, when you go to school online it makes carrying books and notes soooo much easier.
 
I have my iPad2 for locations like garden, bath tube and "other" locations I don't want to mention while my iPad3 is my daily companion at work. So both get used regular. Why the heck I have two ? Just wanted a retina :D
 
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