MacPad: I Created the Hybrid Mac-iPad Laptop and Tablet That Apple Won't Make

Re:MacPad: I Created the Hybrid Mac-iPad Laptop and Tablet T... by skydhash on Monday March 04, 2024 @10:20PM (#39599075)

> My thought was when a keyboard/mouse were connected it would be in macOS mode, with a normal desktop, windows, and the dock. Without these input devices, it would switch to touch mode, forcing all the apps to full screen (or now Stage Manager as an option) and forcing LaunchPad in place is the normal desktop/dock. Developers would be instructed to use larger touch-friendly UI elements for full screen mode, which would be used in the touch mode.

AKA Windows 8.

That's how you got the worst of both worlds. First thermal issues. Then a whole slew of conditional statements. And one of the things I like about desktop apps is having multiple windows because you don't have to make everything big for touch interaction.

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Re:MacPad: I Created the Hybrid Mac-iPad Laptop and Tablet T... by al_borland on Tuesday March 05, 2024 @11:11AM (#39605456)

Windows 8 seemed to force it more with the full screen start menu and all the other stuff, even when the user didn't have a touch screen.

I rarely, if ever, use full screen apps in macOS, so in the model I described, I wouldn't notice any changes (in theory). Similarly, someone who only used a touch device shouldn't see any major differences vs normal iPadOS. Though I'm sure when fulling vetting this out and looking into all the edge cases, there would likely be a lot of little issues that would need to be solved or lead to compromises.

Windows 8 went overboard and tried to force the touch idea, even when it didn't make sense... like removing the start button from Windows Server and relying on hot corners, which was hell with RDP.

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