This article is wrong…for now.
The keyboard/mouse tool-set is a powerful interface for the computer, more adaptable than clunky fingers. I don’t have a tablet (beyond phone) for the simple reason that my main purpose to use a computer is data entry. I don’t mean just entering data into a database, but all data. Writing here, coding, modifying a shell script somewhere, it’s data entry. I would hazard a guess that a large percentage of MS users share similar traits.
What’s the default “virtual” interface for data entry into a tablet? An error prone and clunky screen keyboard.
Just go to Amazon pick a tablet, any tablet. Look at the “frequently bought” lines. If it doesn’t have a keyboard, it’ll have a Bluetooth interface that supports a keyboard. And people buy them.
If the tablet manufacturers want their products to go beyond the ‘check email and surf web’ use then they need a better interface than two thumbs and an index finger. For now, the keyboard is the best of the bunch.
Agreed Lance, keyboard and mouse still essential for doing real work.
The author of the article strikes me as a complete idiot.
My rule of thumb is this…
Tablets or other non keyboard computers are for consuming. Computers with keyboards are for creating.
We are becoming a world of only consumers rather than creators. That is why this kind of the article is written (I assume on a keyboard)
If the tablet manufacturers want their products to go beyond the ‘check email and surf web’ use […]
They don’t, because that’s where the money is. Apple figured out long ago that selling gewgaws to consumers and tapping into the revenue stream of fart noise apps and Candy Crush Saga in-app purchases would make them a lot richer than selling LOB apps to professionals.
Besides that, this is really just QWERTY vs. DVORAK all over again. I can’t play FPSes with a gamepad because I learned on a keyboard and mouse. Twenty-something kids that learned on gamepads can hold their own against old-school K&M gamers. People who are used to keyboards like keyboards; people who have learned how to use a tablet efficiently don’t need them, and that latter group is getting bigger and bigger all the time.
Never mind the fact that I know easily half a dozen people that don’t even use touch on their mobile devices; they’ve moved on to voice control.
just another a$$hole trying to tell me what I want!!!
Exactly – ipad for checking mail and surfing. Great to take on vacation.
“For now, the keyboard is the best of the bunch.”
Amen to that. For Texts I will try using voice. Twitter w/own vernacular dpndnt on 140 chrctrs demands keyboard w/out spellchckr.
When I need to express an idea literally, a keyboard, dictionary, thesaurus, and sometimes wiki’, with all the relevant punctuation is mandatory.
As an aside I have noticed sacrificing punctuation for tweets can be very confusing and ambiguous. I submit the majority of flair-ups on Facebook can be credited to non-use or misuse of punctuation.
For the most part I use an Apple MacBook pro with an Apple Thunderbolt monitor … wireless keyboard and mouse. I use an iPad for reading, general web surfing, buying stuff and some Email. If I could only have one thing, It would be the desk set up … but fortunately, we also have access to these other very cool hardware items that make things convenient and and even fun.
Then there is the iPhone … I use that mainly for a phone …. some messaging and a occasional picture ….
Microsoft products and the PC are obsolete relics of the past. Never ending fixing, problems, crashes, blue screens … ever growing system files that continually slow down the machine until it’s a waiting game for stuff to work. I suffered for 20 years with PC and windows … that is a layer on top of the ancient DOS.
Apple is Unix … that is a serious operating system.
Okay that’s my rant …. I hate Shaw too.
I worked IT for a number of years. I refuse to work on a laptop without a mouse. Unless I wanted to spend 3 hours doing something that would normally take 5 minutes.
Strongly agree Lance. Almost impossible to write even a comment to SDA on a tablet, it takes twice as long as a keyboard/mouse PC and if you want to copy/paste, forget it.
Kids get all wound up about newfangled tech, but some things are very difficult to actually improve on. Keyboard/mouse is one of those things.
There -are- some things that tablets are better for, anything that involves interacting with pictures and video for one. Try Angry Birds on a PC sometime, its not much fun.
Computers are just tools. We now have a wide variety, so select the right one for your task.
There is always some idiot screaming: I only drive nails – This is the best hammer – So anyone who has a screwdriver is crazy.
Just smile and ignore the special little snowflake.
No question that a keyboard and mouse are superior to touchscreen. Heck, I still use an old fashioned external keyboard and wireless mouse for both my home and work laptops.
Touch screen is great for mobility and play, but sucks for productivity.
Agree strongly, Lance. I couldn’t possibly do what I do with a tablet.
They will take my keyboard from me when they pry it from my cold dead fingers. Also my CLI.
— Bad News
Typing this on an IBM Model M keyboard that was manufactured in the eighties and still going strong. And next to it is a trackball I could take five-pin bowling.
Apple iPad? You don’t even own your own filesystem, you have to move files/programs on and off via the iTunes interface. No direct access to the filesystem for you!
Toys for illiterate monkeys.
I saw this announcement today:
Microsoft Announces Universal Foldable Keyboard
Bluetooth connects to a variety of devices.
Wow…
I use my MacBook pros and quadcore desktop Mac Pro for serious work.
But with an iPhone and iPad I am waaaaaaaaay more productive overall.
Email, shopping, research, etc on a iPad and or iPhone is soooo convenient. .
Yes, I can type faster on a keyboard and there is no substitute for a mouse and apps like adobe creative suite on an iPad.
But Just this morning I dictated prolly a few hundred words of a biz plan onto iPhone notes using Siri.
Great way to make use of time while getting dressed after a shower.
Then emailed notes to my laptop to place into document with minor edits.
Very productive indeed…
And I know lots of other very productive people who would never part with their smart devices either…
(Dictated but not read…)
The common misconception is that people, in possession of any given technology, actually use that technology for the purposes the device was designed for. Or that for that matter, even know a phone can actually be used for phoning people … or you can use a computer to do work.
What practical purpose can anyone claim a selfie satisfies? … or texting your BFF that you got new shoes?
The shallow end of the gene pool rules.
Well, whatever works. At work I have an IMac, which I use with a tailed mouse. I have a wireless mouse, but can’t be bothered firing it up. At home? Four Mac laptops of different vintages, of which in a given day I’ll probably use two. The MacBook Air is my favorite (who NEEDS a tablet when one has a MacBook Air?), for reading and for most of my developmental work (LaTex, Python, C, lately fortran 2003). I usually work in a big ol’ rocking chair – better for circulation than a desk.
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that no one mentions handwriting input. I’ve used Windows Tablet-based tablet machines for many years and find that using a stylus to write is almost as fast and much more convenient than a keyboard. Handwriting recognition is extremely good and flexible. MS OneNote on a Surface Pro is one of the best productivity tools available for real work.