Steve Jobs answers my email: lockdown of Mac OS X into the Mac App Store won't happen

[Bernard SG]

Not that it will stop all the hysterical speculations, but I thought it was worth to share in this forum.

Edit: I initially posted a snapshot but, after a second thought, I removed it.

 

[GoCubsGo]

It won't stop the speculations but then again Steveo also said he'd never release a netbook.

 

[Bernard SG]

It won't stop the speculations but then again Steveo also said he'd never release a netbook.

Hah! The debate about the 11.6" MBA being a netbook is not closed .

 

[maflynn]

Steve also said that iPhone doesn't need multitasking, and that OSX isn't gettnig an app store.

Just my two cents but what if apple was going to lock down OSX in 10.7 or subsequent upgrades. Do you think Jobs would actually tell any of us that would be the case? I don't think so.

 

[Bernard SG]

Steve also said that iPhone doesn't need multitasking, and that OSX isn't gettnig an app store.

Just my two cents but what if apple was going to lock down OSX in 10.7 or subsequent upgrades. Do you think Jobs would actually tell any of us that would be the case? I don't think so.

I think if it was his intention, then he wouldn't have replied at all.

 

[Heilage]

Steve also said that iPhone doesn't need multitasking, and that OSX isn't gettnig an app store.

Just my two cents but what if apple was going to lock down OSX in 10.7 or subsequent upgrades. Do you think Jobs would actually tell any of us that would be the case? I don't think so.

I think at lot of people (me included) would leave stop using Apple's products if that happened. That is crossing a line.

I hope it doesn't happen.

 

[jaw04005]

I bet it will never happen for actual Macs. However, I fully expect more iPad-like devices out of Apple too.

I think they'll do an iPad/appliance-like re-interpretation of the desktop computer at some point.

 

[ouimetnick]

Why remove proof? Put the screenshot up or it didn't happen.

 

[maflynn]

I think if it was his intention, then he wouldn't have replied at all.

I think you're incorrect with that assumption. Prior history shows Jobs stating one thnig that suits apple's needs/business decisions and when those change, he sings a totally different tune

 

[kernkraft]

Stevo does this all the time. 'Won't happen', 'Not a chance', etc. But what he means is that it won't happen until he's alive. So don't give up all hope, it can happen sooner than you think.

 

[R94N]

Stevo does this all the time. 'Won't happen', 'Not a chance', etc. But what he means is that it won't happen until he's alive. So don't give up all hope, it can happen sooner than you think.

Don't you mean until he's dead?


Schmidt says weird stuff that's supposed to be funny, Ballmer throws chairs at people and Steve often goes back on his word. That's what I heard on TNT

 

[maflynn]

Schmidt says weird stuff that's supposed to be funny,

Schmidt is just scary and creepy at the same time.

 

[Melrose]

Steve also said that iPhone doesn't need multitasking, and that OSX isn't gettnig an app store.

Thtere were two parts that email - if that's the what you're referring to - and he chose to say "no" to one part of it. To my knowledge he never explicitly said there wouldn't be an OS X App Store.

If Apple ever does lock down the desktop, I'll go somewhere else. I like the closed system now, but locking it down like that? Nope.

It won't stop the speculations but then again Steveo also said he'd never release a netbook.

Apple doesn't make a netbook. Netbooks are categorized as small-screened, cheap, bare-bones notebooks. The Air doesn't fit that category, any more than a small BMW is called a "cheap" car because it's small.

 

[*LTD*]

It won't stop the speculations but then again Steveo also said he'd never release a netbook.

If the new Air is a netbook, it's certainly unlike any other netbook out there.

 

[maflynn]

If the new Air is a netbook, it's certainly unlike any other netbook out there.

Not quite, Asus, toshiba, and sony have similar offerings, and in some cases specifications that exceed the MBA.

 

[eawmp1]

Apple doesn't make a netbook. Netbooks are categorized as small-screened, cheap, bare-bones notebooks. The Air doesn't fit that category, any more than a small BMW is called a "cheap" car because it's small.

This:

“We don’t know how to build a sub-$500 computer that is not a piece of junk,” Jobs said during an Apple earning call in 2008.

In his definition the $999 MacBook Air is not a netbook.

 

[maflynn]

True, there's never been an inexpensive apple product, so instead we get a 999 dollar netbook from apple

 

[Melrose]

True, there's never been an inexpensive apple product, so instead we get a 999 dollar netbook from apple

Again, I'd disagree. By screen size alone you can classify it as a netbook, but by components and price - what really typifies netbooks - it's in a different class.

 

[macquariumguy]

I believe him. The lockdown will be in OS XI.

 

[Bernard SG]

I believe him. The lockdown will be in OS XI.

My question was "Will it ever happen?", to which his response was "Nope."

 

[bigjnyc]

It won't stop the speculations but then again Steveo also said he'd never release a netbook.

He hasn't

 

[macquariumguy]

My question was "Will it ever happen?", to which his response was "Nope."

Disambiguation needed.

 

[orbital~debris]

I bet it will never happen for actual Macs. However, I fully expect more iPad-like devices out of Apple too.

I think they'll do an iPad/appliance-like re-interpretation of the desktop computer at some point.

i agree… although it will probably be a little while perhaps until it comes to fruition.

The comments made at the October Apple Special Event about it being difficult to hold up your arms/hands for long periods (given as justification of why they didn't make the laptop/notebook computer screen multitouch if i recall correctly) got me thinking - this would be even more true for a desktop computer, especially something like the 27" iMac. How could they bring multitouch to the desktop computer/displays? Well to begin with, a transitory device like those pictured in the patents for a swing-down arm, allowing the screen to adopt different positions. But i think the eventual move could be to a Mac 'console' type of device that you would install in your home in the same fashion as a traditional desk or table. Maybe not quite as large, but a partial wraparound construction with a slightly angled display that would be good for touch and interaction as well as viewing. (Think of computer interfaces as depicted in the Star Wars prequels, or Star Trek.)

Is this how anyone else sees a potential future evolution of the Mac?

 

[maflynn]

I bet it will never happen for actual Macs. However, I fully expect more iPad-like devices out of Apple too.

You mean like an iPad

Why create an iPad-like device when they have an iPad

I think they'll do an iPad/appliance-like re-interpretation of the desktop computer at some point.

Apple is moving to increase the revenue streams and if they means locking down OSX much like its iToys they will.

Apple has taken more of Job's attributes so much so like Jobs, apple has turned into a control freak wanting to control every aspect, so I do expect OSX to be more locked down as time goes on.

 

[*LTD*]

Apple has taken more of Job's attributes so much so like Jobs, apple has turned into a control freak wanting to control every aspect,

This is an asset. It's part of what has made Apple so successful. I'm not sure why you're trying to spin it into something negative. Sorry Apple doesn't function the way you want them to. Why don't you head over to Cupertino, beat on their doors and tell them how wrong they are to be so controlling. Then Steve will show up at the door and say "Thanks for dropping by for our $20 billion quarter, maflynn. Want an iPhone? We sold 14.1 million of them last quarter. Don't worry, it doesn't have Flash."

Consumers WANT Apple to function the way they're functioning. They're buying more of everything Apple makes every quarter, even during a recession (talk about seeing value!) The only people that seem to be bellyaching about it are the geek contingent on MacRumors and other little Apple fansites. Every time you tech gurus open your mouths and make a declaration about Apple, Apple turns around and proves you wrong the next quarter. Why is that? You do realize that the continual arguing of your point against facts to the contrary makes you look insane, right? You understand how to "build" a hackytosh and play with it to make it run, but you have absolutely no understanding of the market and complain ad infinitum about how Steve Jobs likes to control things. Has it ever entered your head that that might be the *precise reason* Apple is so successful and so well-differentiated from the also rans?