I think doing knowledge-worker things on an Android-alike, let alone an iOS-alike, would be _awful_. My workflow sometimes involves "have the pdf of the research paper with the equations in it over here, matlab open over here, emacs with some C++ code integrating with matlab in it open over here, and a terminal open over here to build the C++, all arranged so I can see each and every thing (actually emacs and the terminal are transparent so I can see the research paper through them)". I break into a cold sweat thinking about trying to do something like this on iOS, and this is far from the worst case scenario - I do scientific computing, so most of the applications involved, apart from matlab, are pretty integrated into the OS (e.g. compiler, terminal, general dev tools). But what if I were a mechanical engineer, and I have Pro-E/Katiya/AutoCAD, whatever piece of crap windows application I use to program a CNC mill, and whatever other piece or crap windows application (LabView if I'm lucky) I use to integrate with the fucking DAQ, and, of course, Microsoft Excel and Powerpoint?
Being able to see and copy/paste between multiple windows simultaneously is crucial. "Mobile" OSes just _seem_ more user friendly because people only try to use them to do dipshit pseudo-productive tasks. Engineering on one would be awful.
Paper doesnt have copy and paste, still there doesnt seem to be any shortage of mind bending work that people do with paper. In the absence of copy and paste your workflow would probably look a bit different - possible read things one by one in sequential order and form a complete working model before opening the editor to actually write code. Depending on what you are doing this might/might not be a good thing.
Paper has a desk, which allows me to look at several pieces of it at the same time.
When doing derivations on a legal pad, I often get angry flipping between pages and wind up ripping out of all of the pages of work and arranging them on a table so that I can look at them all at the same time. If I'm working from a book, I'll xerox the pages I want so I don't have to flip back and forth.
Android/iOS lack this important characteristic of paper, but traditional desktop OSes emulate it pretty well.
I have to see equations in a pdf and code in an editor at the same time. This is non-negotiable. If I worked at a company using some iOS-alike on their desktop workstation where there was only one app on the screen at a time I would be killing a whole lot of trees printing out papers so I could look at them while I code.
I think doing knowledge-worker things on an Android-alike, let alone an iOS-alike, would be _awful_. My workflow sometimes involves "have the pdf of the research paper with the equations in it over here, matlab open over here, emacs with some C++ code integrating with matlab in it open over here, and a terminal open over here to build the C++, all arranged so I can see each and every thing (actually emacs and the terminal are transparent so I can see the research paper through them)". I break into a cold sweat thinking about trying to do something like this on iOS, and this is far from the worst case scenario - I do scientific computing, so most of the applications involved, apart from matlab, are pretty integrated into the OS (e.g. compiler, terminal, general dev tools). But what if I were a mechanical engineer, and I have Pro-E/Katiya/AutoCAD, whatever piece of crap windows application I use to program a CNC mill, and whatever other piece or crap windows application (LabView if I'm lucky) I use to integrate with the fucking DAQ, and, of course, Microsoft Excel and Powerpoint?
Being able to see and copy/paste between multiple windows simultaneously is crucial. "Mobile" OSes just _seem_ more user friendly because people only try to use them to do dipshit pseudo-productive tasks. Engineering on one would be awful.