If the iPad Pro portion of today’s keynote felt a little bit familiar to you, it might have been because Apple’s new gigantic tablet is in many way a direct copying answer to the Microsoft Surface Pro tablet that was introduced three years ago.
iPad Pro comes with many of the same bells and whistles as the Surface, including a super-compact keyboard built into the cover. We had a great laugh when Steve Ballmer unveiled the Surface back in 2012, but while I was busy panning Microsoft’s tablet, Joel Watson, a cartoonist, accurately predicted Apple was already planning to ‘invent’ the device in its own making.
Fast-forward three years and Watson’s prophetic cartoon turned out to be uncannily accurate. Sure, he predicted Tim would announce it at WWDC and it’d be called the Smart Cover Touch, but the reaction from fanboys was spot on.
Buster Hein is a freelance writer who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Twitter: @bst3r.
77 responses to “This 2012 comic predicted Apple would ‘invent’ the Surface Pro in 2015”
Pretty funny. I was hoping that there would be something special about the Pro (damn they named it Pro too) to set it apart, but there wasn’t. What a let down.
I will guide you+ to this excellent internet job opportunity… 3-5 hours of work daily… Payment at the end of every week… Bonus opportunities…Payscale of six to nine thousand dollars /a month… Only few h of free time, any kind of computer, most elementary understanding of Internet and dependable connection needed…Get more info on my disqus*page
Maybe, for you, the best is yet to come from developers. Software is what makes hardware great. For my purposes though, I think the Pro is fantastic. What did you not like about the Adobe, iMuscle, and Microsoft demonstrations?
One minor difference: the iPad Pro probably doesn’t suck. At least it worked during the demos. If you go back and watch the TinyLimp presentation, the Surface Pro did not work well for demos.
Have you actually used a Surface Pro 3 though? I have one for work (along with an iPad, so don’t call me a fanboy for either side), and it’s actually incredibly powerful and smooth. The Core i3 model, the lowest end, doesn’t hiccup at all, and even runs full-res, 3D, desktop-class games. It doesn’t suck, not even close.
Work ANY industrial site and you’ll see Surface Pro’s for remoting into workstations, file servers, mail servers, security and PLC consoles… Working at a 3 billion dollar expansion project myself and of the two dozen heavily trafficked subnets onsite, there are only 2 iPads and one of those is for graveyard shift entertainment at the guardhouse.
You can do all of those things with an iPad, but the previous generation is (understandably) comfortable with what they used to do.
Actually, anything that uses flash won’t work on an iPad. Furthermore, iOS doesn’t have access to the full fledged desktop versions of industrial software, not to mention doesn’t even comparable enterprise software.
False, you can run flash with photon (browser app) if you really want to subject your device to the battery drain king.
Actually, it does have access, I use such programs all the time by simply using VNC/RDP to control powerful systems at a distance. It’s the best model. I can get things done with systems built for bulk, speed, and heat control from a small hand-held terminal while doing tablet based tasks with the best productivity tablet on the market.
The reverse can’t be said with a bulky desktop. I.e. PC’s are the worst interface for example for building flow diagrams and vector graphics one that there is plenty of good-enough tablet based apps for 2 orders of magnitude lower price and faster/easier to use.
So once again, you need to jump through hoops to do what Windows can do natively.
Again, you can pretend your system is the best, but no one is listening to you.
You think that windows runs flash natively?
Lol
If you were capable of removing Apple’s tool from your mouth long enough to form an objective opinion, I might be able to take you seriously. As it’s is, you’re just another in a long line of pathetic shills.
How is saying the iPad pro doesn’t suck a bad thing.
Objectively, Apple has orders of magnitude more custom apps for the iPad Pro that are custom built for tablet UI/X. Ergo, it is better.
By that measure, McDonald’s makes the best hamburgers.
There are many dimensions of quality. Apple encompasses the most and it is the reason people are willing to use their devices.
“tralalalalalalala” is all you hear when other people talk, isn’t it? The fanboyism is strong in this one.
The old guard that needs windows to feel comfortable when doing productivity tasks do feel threatened by such anachronisms.
Lol wut? The old guard? I guarantee I’m younger than you and it has nothing to do with that. It has to with freedom and capabilities which iOS is lacking big time. Apple will wise up and release an iPad with OSX within 2 years. Until then, this is just another limited, overpriced, mobile device. The mental gymnastics you’re going through to try and justify your irrelevant and off base reasoning are simply astounding. Now run along.
Try me: List precisely something you want to do, and a reasonable reason why you need to do that thing.
Coding and compiling or any type of IDE, AutoCAD(autocad 360 is a joke) or virtually any engineering software, accessing and controlling the file systems, running non apple approved programs and so on.
I’m embarrassed I’ve even dignified you with a response at all because you are embarrassingly stupid and biased and/or just use your ipad like most consumers and don’t need a powerful device capable of actually utilizing all the capabilities of a computer. If you’re happy having your entire experience controlled, all the power to you. But your arguments are completely baseless and you’re trying to justify your absurd perspective with some pathetic reasoning.
Now seriously, run along. I’ve blocked and muted you because I’ve already wasted enough time talking to a complete and utter moron to waste anymore time. Go choke on an ipad you twit.
Coding on the go? With the iPad that is easy. E.g. Pythonista is a full Python 2.8 IDE and has working matplotlib/numpy modules. (As an aside, nothing on android comes close, because of the massive piracy issues, developers don’t typically get monetary value proportional to their effort. Getting matplotlib ported to obj. C required fortran conversion effort). Editorial is also great for markup.
You can also code in full Xcode mode with apps like dringend, I.e. Apps that take advantage of the Internet to remotely compile. This is especially useful when coding mobile apps, because there are so many inexpensive story-boarding apps with optimized touch UI/X’s that improve productivity.
So I would say if you are comparing coding on the go on a surface vs. an iPad, it can be done. It’s just a different way of thinking about it (many are doing it, those not familiar with PC based interfaces). As an aside, realize that the majority of the world will not grow up ever using a PC, so workflows requiring PCs are being rethought from the ground up.
Full CAD should never be done on a tablet, you need multiple monitors to do it properly to keep all the views in place.
A tablet is good for quickly looking at dimensions and adding any type of markup though, and that is possible on the iPad.
It sounds like you work in an environment with no internet, so if you need all of these high power high heat low battery life applications running on a small laptop (the surface for example), all the power to you!
Actually your argument was quantity = better.
Therefore you must believe that McDonald’s makes the best hamburgers.
See what fanyboyism does to your brain? Severe Rot.
Nice try bro. Don’t get mad, it’s just a better phone than what you have.
Yeah who wants to admin VMWare from a tablet when you can browse a web page instead? Apple fans don’t ask much which is why Beats was such a perfect fit. Style without substance… how Hollywood of you to post such.
Never even tried a Surface Pro, thinks they can talk about it. Typical Apple Loudmouth.
The real difference is that you HAD to get the keyboard and stylus/touchpad/pointing device with the Surface because Windows was still a desktop OS, and the on-screen keyboard didn’t work right all the time, particularly for ‘classic’ apps, and lots of UI elements were still WAY to small to touch with your finger, so you needed a pointing device. It was just something to shove out the door, as Microsoft was desperate to try to stem the tidal wave of iPads into homes and businesses.
Of course now, the problem is that they’ve converted everything to a touch-os, so you’ve got a bunch of stupidly-large size controls and boatloads of wasted space when you are using Windows on a desktop computer with a mouse and keyboard.
Agree
Not even remotely true, Win 10 continuum completely repairs the issue. Win 10 on a desktop is as much a desktop OS as Windows 7 or OSX, but converts happily into a touch-driven UI when/if needed. Surface Pro running Win 10 is a wonderful device.
True but it took a couple of years for microsoft to get to that point. What Apple does well is to sit on an idea and let it incubate until the time is ready and most of the bugs have been worked out. They let the other guys do all the heavy lifting then swoop in at the last moment to get all the accolades for being innovative.
Except… You still need a Macbook with this, as it still only runs iOS.
Yeah the 120%CPU bug says otherwise. Worked on lots of Macbooks including my own. Saying they are bug free when released is lunacy incarnate.
I still have my Pismo with 8.6 on it and that, while restricted in software when compared to MS, was the last time an Apple product went a year without incident. I have a G3 that requires its soldered on first memory bank replaced that I keep around to remind me of just how stupid it is being the first in line with Apple.
What’s not remotely true then? If u need Win 10 to “repair the issue”, were you not just agreeing that Win 8 was indeed a problem for tablets?
The post I was replying to said “the problem is that they’ve converted everything to a touch-os, so you’ve got a bunch of stupidly-large size controls and boatloads of wasted space when you are using Windows on a desktop computer with a mouse and keyboard”. This isn’t true in Windows 10 (or Windows 8.1) on a desktop PC. He’s not talking about Surface Pro.
Hmm I interpreted his last paragraph as referring to Win 8’s metro apps. Basically it’s just ill fit for both worlds, one part is too small for tablets and the other part is to large for desktop. But I could be misreading it
Ironically though, the first MS Office that’s fit for tablets, i.e. one that doesn’t require a keyboard and a pointing device, was for iPad, and is still the only one to date. It’s actually pretty well done too
When the Surface was released it came with Windows 8, which was not a desktop OS, for the most part. Yes, it wan x86 and included a desktop mode, was designed for tablets, and even when you did need a pointing device, at least the Surface includes that with the device instead of asking an extra $99 for it.
All you have to do is look at Apple’s share price after the Key Note, the drop in share price shows what the markets think of them just copying other vendors!
Now everyone nows apple’s an iSheep!!!
Well obviously the Surface had to have a keyboard because otherwise it wouldn’t have appealed to business customers as it would not have been a very good e-mail machine. Right?
Kind of hard to do engineering work without a keyboard….just sayin’
LOL, is that what engineers use? A Surface tablet running Windows?
Actually yes. Flight engineers for Delta, Lufthansa and Austria air are ordering them in mass. .
Just shows the importance of timing.
This is spot on. I’m waiting on the surface pro4 and if it’s too expensive I’ll get a midrange pro 3. At least it’s a true pc..
Even the low-range Pro 3 is a true PC – the i3 in it doesn’t hiccup at all no matter what you throw at it, even gaming. x86 power in a package just as portable as the iPad Pro, gotta love it.
A true PC that will overheat your fertility.
Lol, wow. You really are a hardcore fanboy.
Move along people, nothing to see here. Just another mindless sheep incapable of rational thought without being told what to buy by Tim Cook.
Lololol
LOL! The iPad Pro is a hideously overpriced toy that does nothing to deserving of being compared with a Surface Pro 3.
Bingo. My guess is that within a generation or two, it will be released with full OS X. That’s the only way this device could be called “Pro”. Had my hopes up when it was announced, but this is definitely one of the most disappointing announcements I’ve ever heard from Apple.
I don’t even see how the iPad pro can compared to the SP? I mean, the thing has a crippled OS, no USB ports and no way to output to a larger display. The fact that you have to buy the pen as well is a bit of a kick in the nuts as well. Talk about milking the customer.
The iPad pro is a joke for the sole reason that an enterprise user cannot access the file system. Organization goes out the windows which then makes it next to impossible for another person to access and work on the same files. iOS is still very much a toy OS and it’s a real embarrassment that Apple didn’t rework OSX to work on touch. I can totally though in two generation see OSX working on the iPad Pro v3 and making the original owners cry.
It’s a joke because it’s just a big big big iPod touch.
False.
With iOS you can use apps like Transit and GoodReader to access any external file system. Taking advantage of the document picker extension, you can for example use microsoft office apps to remotely work on files connected through the transit webdav interface that are immediately saved (and the files aren’t stored on the iOS device).
The things you are against were true a couple years ago, but not now. Don’t you keep up with technology?
Yes, yes keep illustrating all your work arounds with additional apps.
I’ll just plug this 2.5 TB usb3 hard drive into my surface P3 and be browsing the contents in about 2 seconds, using actual strong file system tools.
iOS is a freaking toy. A walled garden. Thinking inside apple’s box.
I started computing on a PDP-11 time share account. I’m not going to suffer jumping through hoops to just to get access to a freaking file system. It is obvious it was designed for people needing training wheels.
For that matter I think I’ll emulate that old PDP-11. Hell I can run Run Virtual Box on the surface and presto, I have OSX. Yawn.
It’s funny how iSheep try to argue that if you do, X, Y, Z, and then light a hoop on fire, train a lion to jump through that hoop and then play four instruments at the same time while riding a unicycle to follow that lion jumping through the fiery hoop, that’s the same thing as what Windows can do out the of box, therefore iOS is better.
You mention USB 3 like it is a good thing. You know I can do exactly what you mentioned except I don’t have to plug in anything. There are many wireless NAS hard drives that you can connect to and access relative information.
You do realize that 802.11 AC is over 10 times faster than USB 3 don’t you? 802.11 ac fits into intel’s version of a wireless future, because the future is wireless, you are just (understandably) more comfortable with the way things used to be.
It sounds like you have been around the block, so you must realize the need for trade-off between security and accessibility. Your use case is niche, you must understand that. But even those of us with other niche cases are finding more convenient ways of getting the job done under a more secure operating system architecture.
‘more secure operating system architecture’ cute. Let me know when you’re migrating to VMS. I may still have the 3.0 binders around here somewhere, and some DECtape.
We obviously live in two different realities. I frequently deal with industrial or production customers with 20 y.o. hardware, and places that allow NO radiative transmission of data.
You live in a sphere where everyone has 5 minute old sexy-technology, so they don’t mind throwing 10,000 lbs worth of computational solutions at something that could be solved by 2 feet of conductor.
At some point may you realize that managing and playing in the tech/froth/churn is not necessarily making operations easier. Although if you are a contractor, you can of course make a living in it.
Use getconsole / airconsole to turn those DB9/RS232/Ethernet ports into wireless connection nodes for you to ssh into to get things done.
Of course if you are squeezing out the return on old capital investments I don’t blame you for using windows. I’m just hoping to point out that many work flows are arising that don’t need these old systems and also pointing out that computer science had made progress in the last 20 years that can be leveraged if we aren’t forced to keep compatibility with old systems. This is what apple is doing.
So you need to install a gambit of software that may not be compatible with the host system to do what OSX and Windows can do out of the box without any problems?
Tell me, how does an iPad suppose to access proprietary systems with proprietary filetypes with software that doesn’t exist on iOS?
Those with a security know how know that installing sandboxed file structures is the best way to secure your data.
The iPad can access any data using any data transfer protocol. Are you asking how can the iPad open such data files where no app exists? It’s true if you are using old PC based software approaches to getting things done, the world isn’t going to wait around and is instead inventing the next best thing to get it done.
Ok, I’m starting to think you’re actually either a troll, or a just a parody of Apple fanboyism because no one can be this legitimately stupid.
If I’m wrong, I just feel sorry for you.
Fanboyism of anything with rot you mind.
Okay Mr. Lion Taming, Fire Hoop Jumping Unicyclist. Keep pretending that your world is better. No one takes you seriously, especially enterprise.
I would laugh, but since every F500 company has deployed iOS and the iPhone/iPad account for over 70% of mobile deploys, I’ll just sit over here.
You can simultaneously output to an Apple TV with zero lag. (is that what you mean by use an external display).
Also, it doesn’t have a fan, so it won’t overheat and feel uncomfortable. Also it has way more custom useful apps for workflow.
USB ports are not needed, they sell USB/Lightning dongles now for easily transferring data between PCs/iOS devices. (or were you wanting to plug in your fax machine to the iPad?)
So great, every single developer at work is going to need an Apple TV to now so they can work on their 30″ displays? Wow, great solution. I say that because I work in some dev shops that all use SP3s and they dock to work and move to boardrooms and throw their screens upon the projector without the need for middle man devices.
So yeah, the product they are comparing it to is 1y 2m old – so yeah, the fanless design is better but we will see what the SP4 has so we can compare modern products instead of going up against a product that is over a year old (in the tech industry, that is quite a significant gap). Then again, I don’t mind a fan if it means it doesn’t take several seconds for a spreadsheet to recalculate a formula (see iPad spreadsheet performance).
USB ports… Okay, tell me where you find these magical USB drives that can connect to your computer. Use the cloud you say? Oh okay, sure, I have an unlimited data and so does my business. Who cares when I’m in a remote location and I have no internet. As for fax machines, you seem to be more up to date on them than I am because i haven’t used one in over 10 years and I guess they USB connections now. Good for you. Based on what I can see from your writing, it doesn’t fit your use case, then it’s wrong. If you can’t think of a reason to plug in a USB device into your laptop/tablet, then I don’t think anyone can convince you that one is necessary. Yeah, sure – someday we won’t need them but for now, I think they are pretty important. I think Apple focused more on aesthetics than functionality and for their clientele, that is important but for people who like to get work done and who don’t like clicking a screen and dragging their finger across to highlight something they need to copy/paste, there are plenty of machines out there for us.
Enjoy your blown up version of Candy Crush.
Niiiice.
LOL @ your blog/review. Apple stock has been steady falling even after announcing their trendy $100 Pencil?? Man their products are aimed at the idiot with deep empty pockets filled with stupidity credit cards.
People appreciate their world class AARCH64/ARMv8 64 bit implementation for fast/secure encryption and elliptic curve calculations. There is a reason the nexus 6 was slower than the nexus 5 and there is a reason there still isn’t a phone with something that works as accurately as touchID (even the S6/edge/+ isn’t nearly as accurate based on android user reviews).
The surface overheats because it uses x86 which was built for PCs with massive heat sinks. Mobile devices don’t have that luxury. It’s a thermodynamics problem, and Apple wins because they are the master integrators.
Once you outsource integration, you fail in the mobile space. Fun to see thermodynamics on Apple’s side, because the laws are hard to beat otherwise.
Yeah my Surface Pro 3 bounces off the max heat dissipation limit of its i5 and throttles if I’m running Guildwars 2. Big deal, just turn down the detail some.
Guess what, 2 years ago, a main line x86 couldn’t even dream about being in tablets because the thermal dissipation was still up in the 30 watt region. And now?
Apple sucks at integration. You know who is better? Intel. Intel, who got so scared of ARM they did their homework and came up with x86 processors with sub 5 watt TDPs. My Surface 3 Pro has a fan. The generation more advanced Surface 3, doesn’t even need that. Not quite as much performance but- Hey I’m running Manga Studio and World of Tanks and the full version of Itunes. on my Surface 3. Wow.
It is called advancement.
Apple only cares about padding their wallets with keeping your mom playing CandyCrush in a closed app-store environment. That isn’t advancement. They won’t release a tablet with a full desktop OS because they don’t care about a full desktop OS -it won’t make money. Anything to keep their skimming cut they take off App sales.
Needless to say, technologically speaking, iOS is a dead end, built to deliver the most performance in a vaguely multi-tasking point and grunt environment, when processing power vs battery life was at a premium. It still is a dead end, Apple could release an actual x86 MacOS tablet- in fact we were all kind of hoping for one, but nope. Just lip service and rushing the iPadPro out the door…
I knew they were done caring about computing when they killed the X server. It’s all just shiny toys from here on out.
The next generation of users knows that they can offload intensive tasks to systems more capable for the job at hand.
The surface tries to be a PC and a tablet and does both poorly.
On whose assumption? Yours?
Seems to be a great PC. Not quite capable of sustained workstation class performance, but quite effective. desktop expanded to 3 monitors, USB chain, no network dependency, for those environments where WiFi is unavailable or not used for security reasons.
Seems to be a great tablet. I can kick back, and CAD, code and art away, with my desktop OS apps. Never lacks for power.
Use cases I guess.
Actually, Apple just throttles the **** out of its devices to the point where it’s just outright lying about clock speeds. Sure the processor is rated at 2.2 ghz, but that we’ve limited to 800 mhz because that’s what our thermal solution is rated for.
Anyone who follows custom big.Little implementations of AArch64 knows that that is the opposite of what is true. Samsung’s devices throttle within minutes whereas apple devices do not. Check the throttling of the latest iTouch. It is amazing, in that, it is non-existent.
In three years it will be “We present the iPad Pro X! Now running OSX!” And the fanbois will be like: “You invented that!” :)