Andy Baird

A member of the Philip Greenspun's Homepage community since May 6, 2011

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May 6, 2011, on the iPad and other tablets (Kindle, Android, Samsung Galaxy, Motorola Xoom, et al.):
Speaking of novices, you wrote, "They don't understanding the multiple applications that are available or the hiearchical file system or why they have to 'save' a document they've been working on." You're right... but two out of three of those problems don't arise with the iPad. With iOS--the iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad operating system--Apple made the hierarchical file system invisible to users. That can present problems for knowledgable users like us who were brought up on HFS. But the iPad wasn't built for geeks. Hiding the file system eliminates the "Where did I put it?" confusion that bedevils so many novice users. If your app can work with a file, it can see the file. And with iOS, there is never any need to save a document. Whatever you do is preserved until you erase or change it. No iOS application has a "Save" command. It's just not something you ever have to think about. I wish all computers worked that way. The choices that Apple made in iOS can be limiting for "power us...