If AVP is for "spatial computing," then shouldn't it be treated like the Mac?

[Antoniosmalakia]

For people still wondering if VP is intended to replace Mac and iPhone, the answer is yes.

Tim Cook already told us 6 months ago. If you're still trying to argue this point, you haven't been paying attention. Is it going to happen today? Obviously not. But it's clearly Apple's goal.

"It'll do anything that your Mac or iPhone can do... and more."

Apple wants us to buy ALL of the things, not make one headset that replaces it all. That makes no business sense at all!

 

[ChromeCloud]

I know it's gonna be an unpopular take, but I think actually the Mac should be more like the iPad / Vision Pro rather than the other way around.

For the vast majority of users, installing and managing apps is a MUCH better experience on the iPad/iPhone/Vision Pro compared to the Mac.

Advantages of the iPhone/iPad/Vision Pro:

1. All the apps are available in a single store (no need to search on Google and filter through all the scams and paid advertisements).
2. Installation is a one click deal (versus download the installer, open the installer, go through all the optional and obscure settings that might potentially install crapware on your Mac along with the app you actually need).
3. Apps are completely self-contained and can be easily deleted with one click (versus apps on the Mac that sometimes even need to run an "uninstaller" to be cleanly uninstalled).
4. All the apps are automatically updated without any user intervention (versus apps on the Mac that often require to be relaunched manually).
5. Apps cannot install anything that runs silently in the background (versus apps on the Mac that can consume hundreds of megabytes of RAM just to keep their "updater" process running in the background... have you ever experienced Adobe's craptive suite?).
6. You can pay for apps with one click and manage all your subscriptions in one place. (versus having to track all your subscriptions manually on the Mac and having to deal with a different payment processor almost every single time).

Now... I understand that some people (like me) need something that's a bit more flexible because they maybe need to run a server on their machines or they need to install some obscure open source package from the command line to achieve a specific goal. But that's probably less than 1% of the users.

For that 1% of users, Apple could provide a "developer mode" that lets you install and run any software you want inside a virtualized Mac environment that is completely separate from the rest of your Mac. This way, if the software is malicious it can't access any of your data and if you need to completely wipe it away from your Mac, you can just reset/delete the virtual environment with one click.

 

[JPack]

Apple wants us to buy ALL of the things, not make one headset that replaces it all. That makes no business sense at all!

Of course it makes business sense. Vision Pro is $1,000 more expensive than a MacBook Pro M3 and iPhone 15 Pro combined. You don't really think you're smarter than Tim Cook, do you?

Apple wants people to buy the iPod forever, but just because they want doesn't make it happen.

 

[Antoniosmalakia]

Of course it makes business sense. Vision Pro is $1,000 more expensive than a MacBook Pro M3 and iPhone 15 Pro combined. You don't really think you're smarter than Tim Cook, do you?

Apple wants people to buy the iPod forever, but just because they want doesn't make it happen.

I don’t need to be “smarter” than Tim to know I won’t be buying a VR headset at any price.

The Vision Pro is going to have to run a lot more than just iPad apps and Disney + for it to be the future for a lot of people. It is gimped out of the gate by not simply supporting Mac apps.

(You need a Mac to do that! lol)

 

[AdonisSMU]

I'm on the fence here. Even as a developer who would love to get full access to all the capabilities of the hardware.

The issue is - a mac takes in only the input you give to it, directly. Via the keyboard, mouse, files you store on it, etc. The Vision Pro has a metric ton of incidental input - it literally can and has to see every thing you look at, down to specifically what you are focusing on, because the cameras and eye tracking are always on. It can see your financial records out on your desk, your family members walking around the house, your children, your pets, what products you have on the shelf. It can also listen to everything you are saying. It also has a 3d model of your face and potentially the ability to recreate your voice (assuming the iPhone feature comes over.)

Every single part of that would be abused if unleashed to third party developers.

That said, at least give us a developer mode with access to a terminal. I don't have high hopes for that given the rate at which iPadOS gets developer focused features.

I was thinking of a sandboxed approach to terminal, docker and other developer friendly features is all thats necessary to satiate most developers. This would keep the basics functioning and allow developers to develop freely without accidentally compromising the whole system.

 

[AdonisSMU]

If it were a serious computing device then yes, it would be running Mac apps, or native apps on par with Mac apps. But it's not, so it doesn't. It runs baby iPad apps, so it's not for any serious computing. It's an expensive toy.

Are you telling me Word, Excel, Zoom are gimped versions of the Mac Apps?

They do the same things as the Mac Apps but on Vision Pro can do it via additional input methods.

 

[cardfan]

Are you telling me Word, Excel, Zoom are gimped versions of the Mac Apps?

They do the same things as the Mac Apps but on Vision Pro can do it via additional input methods.

Umm. No.

 

[AlastorKatriona]

Are you telling me Word, Excel, Zoom are gimped versions of the Mac Apps?

They do the same things as the Mac Apps but on Vision Pro can do it via additional input methods.

I wouldn't consider any of those to be serious computing apps. Those are basic level apps that an iPad can run at acceptable, consumer levels. And no, none of those apps are as fully featured on vision pro (or iPad) as they are on a Mac. But hey you can see the other person's video so it must be zoom. But hey you can see your text so it must be word. Baby versions of those apps are perfectly fine for those platforms (iPad, VP) because that's all they need to be on those. But somewhere in the world, on real computers, the real versions need to exist.

 

[AlastorKatriona]

You really don't think visionOS will evolve?

iPhone OS 1 in 2007 is the same as iOS 17 today?

iPhone and iPad are exactly the same as they were when they were first launched in terms of the underlying OS that they run. In terms of the types of apps that they run. This is not changed at all. Features have changed. Abilities have changed. That isn't the kind of fundamental purpose change we're talking about here.