With the iPad Pro now using the same core M1 hardware as MacBooks and iMacs, the shortcomings of iPadOS are standing out in sharp relief. Monica Chin states it bluntly: Put macOS on the iPad, you cowards.
We're moving toward a weird point in the evolution of these two devices where the MacBook can do everything the iPad can do (but it doesn't have the touchscreen hardware to take advantage of all of it), while the iPad can still only do iPad things (even though features of macOS would take good advantage of its touchscreen capability). It seems like a point where Apple's goals of "creating a seamless ecosystem" and "selling you many different products" are starting to butt heads.
So putting macOS apps on the iPad seems like a natural next step in Apple's process. And from a consumer perspective, I think it could only be a good thing.
Thing is, iPadOS isn't just about touch-based metaphors and performance on iPad's historically weaker harware. It's faster and simpler, unladen by the demands of backwards compatibility or similar technical debts, and those are valuable qualities in their own right. Back in the dismal days of OS X Lion, I wanted iPadOS (then iOS) on my MacBook!
Rather than throwing in everything and the macOS kitchen sink, then, perhaps iPadOS just needs a serious overhaul: more natural mousing; replacing the weird multitasking with something more comprehensible and versatile; allowing system administration, dev stacks and servers and the like; and ditching the every-app-in-its-own-sandbox security model that makes file management and professional workflows a nightmare. It might sound like a lot, but to Apple, surely these are choices and policies, not insurmountable challenges.
