> A professional in any field will ultimately want to customize their tool or make their own tools
I suspect you’re a programmer. This is not the perspective or reality of most professional users. Most professional apps are not, themselves, customizable. Most professional users do not make their own tools, or want to. If you’re a programmer, you’ll understand this, because that’s why you’re employed: they want you to do it.
Sorry to be pedantic, but I feel that the distinction is important, that seems more like a UX than a programming job. Too often, UX, UI, coding, documentation, etc. are thrown together, viewed as tasks that can be handled by the same people interchangeably and it rarely yields great results, in part because programmers often start out with expectations that can differ from the vast majority of users.
Also, "most" and "any" aren't all too helpful in this discussion (not directed at anyone in particular, these can be read in comments throughout this thread) because there are going to be countless examples in either direction, but from my limited experience, I have seen professionals in various spaces, some which very much prefer a default workflow and others that heavily customize. I know talented professional programmers doing great work in the out-of-the-box setup of VSCode combined with GitHub Desktop, etc. but also have seen graphic designers, video editors, and even people focused purely on writing text that have created immensely impressive workflows, stringing macros together and relying heavily on templates and their preferred folder structures. Even on iPad OS, people can have their custom-tailored workflow regarding file placement, syncing with cloud storage, etc., just in a restricted manner and for what it's worth, I sometimes prefer using Alight Motion for certain video editing tasks on my smartphone over grabbing my laptop.
I have seen and feel strongly that any professional from any field can have a customized workflow and can benefit from the ability to customize their toolset, even those outside programming, but I also feel equally strongly that sane defaults must remain and the "iPad way of doing things", as much as I in my ancient mid-twenties will never fully adapt to it, must remain for people who prefer and thrief in that environment.
It has nothing to do with programming, I know mechanics who complain about car models where the manuals costs massive amounts of money if they are even allowed to get it at all and it takes weeks to order them. This should be a familiar story in every field. Do artists not have ateliers full of custom brushes, things they found work for them and they customized? Not to mention that artists these days are Maya, Autodesk and Photoshop users. Is that pen really powerful enough? Because a pen is really close to a mouse pointer anyway, so why even stick to an ipad then, you can simple buy a pen and board for the desktop computer. This is not about whether I am a programmer or not, this is about why some praise and use Apple devices for professionals even though they are not the best choice.
> A professional in any field will ultimately want to customize their tool or make their own tools and that is not possible with ipads or even really software on iPads.
I was responding to this main point.
Every professional drawing app, on the iPad, allows you to make your own brushes. There's no limitation there. That's just a fundamental requirement of a drawing app. They're not customizing the workflow or tool/apps itself, which is what I thought you were referring to.
> make their own tools
This requires programming, does it not? Do you have some examples?
> why some praise and use Apple devices for professionals even though they are not the best choice.
Especially for drawing, I think it would be best to ask the professionals why they chose a ~1lb iPad in their backpack with a pixel perfect stylus, over a desktop computer and mouse. The answers might surprise you.
Sure, which most professionals don't use. If you think the average professional can program, or use scripting engines, it's because you're a HN user, and probably a programmer, not an average professional, and less likely one that uses an iPad.
But, there's nothing technically stopping an app developer from implementing any of this, including desktop level apps. Compute, keyboard/mouse, and stylus is ready. I think the minuscule market that would serve is what's stopping them.
I suspect you’re a programmer. This is not the perspective or reality of most professional users. Most professional apps are not, themselves, customizable. Most professional users do not make their own tools, or want to. If you’re a programmer, you’ll understand this, because that’s why you’re employed: they want you to do it.