I'll go one better and say that not only did the iPad not achieve its objective in the way the iPhone did, it made everything worse.
Microsoft saw it and panicked. They ruined Windows chasing the iPad interface. To this day Windows is worse because of it.
And Catalyst appears to be Apple's answer to cross platform development. Just make an iPad app, the most limited kind of app, and just chuck it over to the Mac. Same thing Microsoft did. Make things mobile first to the detriment of the desktop platform.
People wasted almost a decade chasing touch in ways nobody wanted. And even Apple themselves never quite made it work in the way they imaged. And the devices many of us already knew and loved, desktops, suffer to this day for it.
I can feel the downvotes coming. Do me a favor and counter point rather than just hitting disagree really hard.
you do raise quite valid points on how Apple’s obsession with touch interface has had a ripple effect on the industry over the years. Windows has been trash for a long time, you’re not wrong (and that’s not a sub, it did get significantly worse with the advent of the Surface [in spite of me making a direct comparison between Surface and iPad in my prior comment]). I think I would most strongly counter the idea that nobody wanted touch input.
touch interfaces have made computing a lot more accessible for far more people—I’m mainly thinking of older people, for whom it’s easier to say “oh, you just tap right here on the screen!”, though I’m sure there are people with certain disabilities I’m forgetting who benefit greatly from touch vs. a keyboard-and-mouse interface. the issue lies within the fact that Apple made a
really good touch interface annnnnnnd…no one was able to replicate it, in tablet form. (I think some forks of Android are fine as far as smartphones go.)
as far as Catalyst goes—yeah, that has always been a mess imo, I don’t think I’ve ever made regular use of a Catalyst app. they just do not provide an adequate desktop experience.
I don’t really know if this can all be used as an argument for the detriment of desktop platforms though, particularly macOS—as someone who uses macOS exclusively, in my opinion, it is stronger than ever with the advent of Apple Silicon. it went through some growing pains starting with Big Sur, though I feel it’s landed at a comfortable point with Sonoma. if you wanna make the argument that it’s destroyed Windows, on the other hand…go for it, I’ve always hated Windows and on the rare occasion I use a Windows computer these days (both people I live with own one) I’m like “wow, this sucks!” —but here’s the question…
is that Apple’s fault for making a good product, or Microsoft’s fault for absolutely bungling their response?
