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ARM based Mac... ipadOS look or macOS look?
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I'd hope a macOS look, as it is a Mac.
Also, @AidenShaw , what makes you so sure it will be DOA? For years before the switch to Intel, Mac users lived without Bootcamp and I personally don't think that the change in architecture will mean that there will be no third-party apps. I'll again point to the pre-Intel days where many large developers created versions of their apps for the Mac OS despite the difference in architectures. I also don't think that Apple would lock out developers from making apps for the system because it would be in their best interest to have a good amount of software support for their system, which is even more crucial given that users cannot dual boot macOS and Windows/Linux now.
But this is all just my opinion and speculation
Also, @AidenShaw , what makes you so sure it will be DOA? For years before the switch to Intel, Mac users lived without Bootcamp and I personally don't think that the change in architecture will mean that there will be no third-party apps. I'll again point to the pre-Intel days where many large developers created versions of their apps for the Mac OS despite the difference in architectures. I also don't think that Apple would lock out developers from making apps for the system because it would be in their best interest to have a good amount of software support for their system, which is even more crucial given that users cannot dual boot macOS and Windows/Linux now.
But this is all just my opinion and speculation
Closer to Mac in UI (it is likely to be a traditional mouse/keyboard computing form factor) unless Apple does a screeching U turn on touchscreen laptops. Not to say it couldn't also be very different - OS X was made from the ground up for the Intel transition, this could well be 'macOS 11', rather than just macOS 10.16, a largely new OS, sharing a lot more iOS code, but with more Mac OS X features, and the traditional UI on top.
It would make sense if they did that, given that iOS and OS X are very similar in terms of some of ther respective codebases.
There's no technical reason why Mac OS on ARM should look, feel or work any different to Mac OS on x86. Its 2020 and if an end-user needs to know what CPU their machine is using then someone is holding it wrong.
Any change, any further iPadOS-esque lock down or restriction is purely a marketing decision for Apple.
Apple seem to have a successful and separate product line with the iPad Pro targetted at the "2 in 1"/MS Surface market, so it doesn't make much sense to turn the Mac into, basically, a big iPad with a keyboard when they already make a big iPad with a keyboard.
...on the other hand, if Apple did want to turn the Mac into a big iPad with a keyboard, they could do that tomorrow without switching to ARM.
OS X was made from the ground up (starting with NeXTStep in 1989 initially running on a 68030, later SPARC, PA-RISC and Intel) as an implementation of not only Unix - an OS founded on source-code level compatibility that is pathologically hardware independent. OS X also allowed Apple to easily spin off a mobile-optimised version for ARM (iOS). Anyway, OS X development started with the purchase of NeXT in 1996 and, at the time, had to be ported to PPC, so while the potential for moving Macs to x86 (or, at the time, SPARC, Alpha, or even ARM) may well have been a selling point, the actual Mac Intel transition was still a long way off... The priority then was that Copeland - the planned successor to MacOS - was an epic fail and Classic MacOS was long past its sell-by date.
Well, Bootcamp as we know it would be over - although Bootcamp for ARM Windows would be technically possible. Third party apps, though... huge swathes of them will just need the developers to tick the 'ARM' box in XCode, re-compile and test, many of the likely problems will have already been fixed by the 64 bit transition, while tearing out any x86-specific optimisation and replacing it with calls to OS X frameworks is progress, since it means they will be able to use future hardware acceleration features that Apple may include on their custom processors.
Apple have done this twice before at times when it was far more likely to run across lovingly hand-crafted assembly language or hard-coded AltiVec/MMX instructions in source code. They've spent the last several years promoting hardware-independent code via their app store guidelines which will help.
Some of the big pro Apps with their huge ecosystems of fourth-party plugins may take a while to get ported - but if Apple have any sense they'll get that ball rolling months before they actually release ARM-based macs, let alone start discontinuing the Intel versions of higher-end Macs (I don't see them dropping the Mac Pro next year unless its a flop).
That's freaky..
Since a company has more strong/realiable stance toward its own products and, while it works, it could use a better touchup, on other "suported" platfoms like Bootcamp,, it wouldn't surprise me if they got rid of BC in the near future sometime after they switch to ARM.
It sounds like a perfect time too. And would fit right in to "when they introuded Boocamp after they transitioned to Intel chips in 2006"
There are soo many ways to do visualization now-days, and with performance ramping up in VMWare/other products, boot times outpace Bootcamp anyway.
Hell, even my standard PC box 2008 is faster than Bootcamp booting on an SSD. and we're talking 2008 >> and 2013
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Steve did say just as the classic MacOS lasted Apple about 20 years, the UNIX based Aqua interface would last about 20 years. Well, it’s been 20 years.
I expect the answer to your question be “yes”. I can see a convergence of features from both iOS and MacOS into a single OS platform for their Macs. I think the aqua interface is done for, maybe a situation could come up for the first year it uses Aqua for a less drastic transition, but a “One more thing” comes up where they preview an entirely new GUI.
I expect the answer to your question be “yes”. I can see a convergence of features from both iOS and MacOS into a single OS platform for their Macs. I think the aqua interface is done for, maybe a situation could come up for the first year it uses Aqua for a less drastic transition, but a “One more thing” comes up where they preview an entirely new GUI.
Even if we do see ARM-based Macs in 2021, there's no guarantee that every new Mac model will be ARM (will there be an ARM that can replace the Xeons in the new Mac Pros??). And even if they went 100% ARM by 2022, they'll still have to crank-out Intel-compatible versions of the OS for another 6 years or so to support legacy hardware.
So... Will they make a dramatic change in the appearance of the OS? That'll be purely a marketing decision. I wouldn't bet money in either direction on that question, but I suspect that as long as they're selling iPad and Mac as separate product lines, they'll maintain some differentiation. Basically, there is a difference between features/apps that support Apple's ecosystem/services business (iCloud-based features, media products), and those apps and functions that are closer to free-standing. There needs to be high levels of functional duplication/similarity in ecosystem/services-based features and apps, but the look of the two OSes can continue to march to somewhat different drummers.
Functionality? I don't see them dramatically simplifying things, either in the UI or under the hood. There are users that demand that functionality, so why would they alienate the people who are willing pay much more per Mac than they would pay for an iPad?
I seriously doubt they would bother to move to ARM if they were planning to cripple Mac as a platform within 5 to 10 years. Their goal with ARM ought to be to reinvigorate Mac - custom silicon with capabilities not shared by Intel, with features and improvements rolling out on Apple's schedule, in configurations matched to Apple's requirements. If they don't do a better Mac, then why bother at all?
So... Will they make a dramatic change in the appearance of the OS? That'll be purely a marketing decision. I wouldn't bet money in either direction on that question, but I suspect that as long as they're selling iPad and Mac as separate product lines, they'll maintain some differentiation. Basically, there is a difference between features/apps that support Apple's ecosystem/services business (iCloud-based features, media products), and those apps and functions that are closer to free-standing. There needs to be high levels of functional duplication/similarity in ecosystem/services-based features and apps, but the look of the two OSes can continue to march to somewhat different drummers.
Functionality? I don't see them dramatically simplifying things, either in the UI or under the hood. There are users that demand that functionality, so why would they alienate the people who are willing pay much more per Mac than they would pay for an iPad?
I seriously doubt they would bother to move to ARM if they were planning to cripple Mac as a platform within 5 to 10 years. Their goal with ARM ought to be to reinvigorate Mac - custom silicon with capabilities not shared by Intel, with features and improvements rolling out on Apple's schedule, in configurations matched to Apple's requirements. If they don't do a better Mac, then why bother at all?
That would be an awful reason to change it. If someone comes up with a brilliant new user interface paradigm that isn't just form-over-function then fine - but have the better idea first, then decide to junk the old UI.
iOS is justifiably different because of the very different demands of a touch-only handheld interface with limited screen size.
I'm not saying that's the reason they are going to change it man. Of course not. But it is true that traditional MacOS and Windows GUIs haven't largely changed in over 20-25 years, and with the emergence of a lot of different factors - mainly ARM Processors allowing for new class of devices that wasn't possible before, and the emergence of touchscreens and reasonable pen inputs, there is something big brewing for both Apple and Microsoft.
It'll start out that way, but then slowly ramp up, just like any other protect, feature do-hicky Apple does..
New features come to newer products only (first), then scale back to older if its software based.. otherwise if its hardware included then your kinda restricted till the new iteration comes out.
Not many Mac's now-a-days you can buy brand new that doesn't have a Touchbar.