The Verge: macOS is becoming legacy software

[tubeexperience]

Everything that Apple did, and didn’t do, with its Mac lineup this year tells me the company would rather be selling more iPads and iPhones. The departures from the 2016 MacBook Pro — MagSafe charger, USB and memory card slots, and a keyboard with more than 0.55mm of travel — are all things the iPad lacks. The improvements to the same machine — thinner, lighter, all-metal chassis, a display with wider color gamut, and a sliver of a touchscreen called the Touch Bar — are all things the iPad has. If it’s not perfectly obvious, Apple’s efforts with its new Macs are to wean its old users off their desktop and laptop habits and familiarize them with the new world of touchscreen PCs. What that means for macOS is that it’s fast turning into legacy software: an afterthought on its way to becoming abandonware.

This may all sound very dramatic, but yesterday’s report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, someone with impeccable connections within Apple’s ranks, agrees with my assessment:

In another sign that the company has prioritized the iPhone, Apple re-organized its software engineering department so there's no longer a dedicated Mac operating system team. There is now just one team, and most of the engineers are iOS first, giving the people working on the iPhone and iPad more power.

The internal rearrangement of priorities for Apple is very much evident in the changes the company has made in recent years. Final Cut Pro X was a simplification of Apple’s video-editing software that drove many pros away. The professionally inclined Aperture photo editor app has also been replaced by the more universal and simplified Photos. Siri made its way from iOS to macOS, and has been followed by Touch ID and a catalog of touch controls in the Touch Bar. The only other big user-facing alteration to macOS in recent times has been Apple’s Continuity, which is designed specifically to make Macs better at communicating and collaborating with iOS devices. Continuity is like the Mac’s W1 wireless chip for headphones: a spoke connecting the peripheral device to the iOS-based hub.

http://www.theverge.com/2016/12/21/14037686/apple-macbook-macos-focus-mobile-features-ios

 

[Macalway]

Slow news week

 

[Apple_Robert]

I think a lot of people are overreacting to the changes with the Macs. I also think too many people want things to stay the same. And many of these same people like to throw out the "if Steve was still here..." card.

The computer market has been evolving to the same kind of thing (over the last several years) that the Verge and many others are complaining about. it is just that Apple has been taking a slower path towards the same (or very similar) goal.

If one doesn't like the direction Apple is headed, one can take their business elsewhere. No need to ruminate over days past. No need for dramatics filled with hyperbole.

 

[jackoatmon]

baaaaahahahahahaha

the verge is patently the most idiotic of all tech publications

they even make wired look like they have half a brain

 

[xmonkey]

Vlad wrote this? How surprising.

 

[jackoatmon]

that dude is a walking donkey anus

an ass' a$$hole

the verge . com is legacy software

 

[cube]

Yes, Mac is legacy. Switching is very hard.

 

[skids929]

Who is The Verge?

 

[David58117]

Wasn't the big thing about the surface studio that it added pen support?

...isn't that kind of also inline the with idea that desktop software is converging with mobile software..?