@matt using touch to tap big targets or scroll through lists only makes sense on computers with terrible trackpads, where people will often attach a mouse. It’s objectively terrible, but people are messed up.
I can understand the muscle memory, if you’re using a tablet in some docked mode (I don’t suffer from this at all, my laptop screen is a no-touch zone, punishable by death). But I guess my mind is formed differently. I’ve been using computers for a long time, before touch devices.
@matt you did notice that the apple marketing picture is showing a person using the trackpad, not the screen. It doesn’t conflict with Jobs’ vertical screen hypothesis.
@stevenodb You’re asking me to reject my actual experience using this product, though. Are you saying that people like me who use an iPad in a Magic Keyboard never touch the screen?
@matt also, I’m using the Apple Pencil, on my iPad in a cafe, because I just hate touching the screen too much, and some tap targets on iPadOS are arguably too small already.
@matt Apple only adds things if it changes the product in a delightful way. A touch based macOS computer is never going to be delightful, it’s a compromise to cater to the nerds. It’s never gonna happen. The macOS developer community will never on-mass change their apps to be more touch friendly, it’s just too mature of an ecosystem.
@stevenodb The Apple community is close to 100% in adopting Apple silicon, and Apple’s modern development SDKs are built around making apps automatically work on iPads and Mac (Catalyst, SwiftUI). I just don’t think this is so shocking to think about.
Again, in coming from this from the perspective of getting told for years that cursors were a terrible idea on iPads and now people are happy it’s there 😅
@stevenodb Maybe it’ll never happen and macOS will be the only operating system to not do touch, but I think that’s not a good thing for macOS in the long run.
@matt And I was implying the exact opposite. Forcing such a sea change to an old and creaky ecosystem will do more harm than good.
You might be right that it might turn away new customers and limit Mac’s potential market.
Apple could just add a touch screen and call it finished. But that’s not today’s Apple MO.
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