May be they will use ext4.
I had the same thought.
If ZFS is a no go, why not new generations of ext?
Apple might be able to improve HFS, or write a new one... but a somewhat more universal, less proprietary, but still GOOD file system seems like a better option than continuing this closed-file-system p!$$!ng match.
Network storage, distributed systems, and users who use multiple machines, sometimes across platforms... it makes more and more sense for next-gen performance to be readable and writeable by other operating systems, even if the OS itself 'requires' or prefers a specific file system to be resident on...
If nobody can seem to get new file systems right... maybe they should pool resources, and develop an industry standard file system framework, perhaps based on advances in neuro-science or something... Use biology as an inspiration as well as mathematics, to design a way to sort, move, and manage recorded digital data at a high rate of speed with high accuracy, and robustness.
Maybe there is a case to be made for a standard set for that, rather than multiple pools of R&D trying to struggle away at it, and not making much progress. Maybe collaboration and less emphasis on protecting that particular proprietary technology would be good on this one topic.
The OS can be specific or proprietary on top of that, if companies wish. There is still plenty of "this is mine, that is yours" to go around otherwise.
