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Conceptually, any such application is just an internet-connected filesystem driver with (presumably) a local cache in front. So there's no technical reason it c

Conceptually, any such application is just an internet-connected filesystem driver with (presumably) a local cache in front. So there's no technical reason it couldn't be pluggable, just Apple being Apple as usual.

coldtea 10y ago
>Conceptually, any such application is just an internet-connected filesystem driver with (presumably) a local cache in front. If we oversimplify to death, yes. In the real world, it's an application created on a deadline, to work on a specific backend and take advantage of its features, and to serve as a basis for future development (and to work across OS X, iOS, etc). Some of the stuff also includes tight integration with the filesystem and/or kernel -- which would be a gaping security hole to pass to third parties to play with. >So there's no technical reason it couldn't be pluggable, just Apple being Apple as usual. It's a for profit company being a for profit company as usual. No proprietary OS maker develops such a flagship feature as an interchangeable pluggable infrastructure to hand to competitors (Google Drive, MS equivalent, etc). Not only it makes no sense from a competitive point of view, it would limit them technologically too, as they would need to specify entry points and APIs that they then can't change.
- Nullabillity 10y ago
  > as they would need to specify entry points and APIs that they then can't change. Presumably they could add new extensions as they go, and disable functionality that depends on them if they're not available. This stuff isn't exactly rocket science.
  - coldtea 10y ago
    They could, but apps would break (especially ones whose devs are not quick to update or have abandoned), third party devs will complain on changes, etc. They wouldn't be able to iterate as they like, or make it depend on stuff only deep integration can provide. And what would they get in instead? The ability to have the storage be powered by a third party cloud service because some folks might not trust or wont adopt iCloud? If anything, they want folks to have reasons to adopt iCloud, not commoditize it.

coldtea 10y ago

>Conceptually, any such application is just an internet-connected filesystem driver with (presumably) a local cache in front. If we oversimplify to death, yes. In the real world, it's an application created on a deadline, to work on a specific backend and take advantage of its features, and to serve as a basis for future development (and to work across OS X, iOS, etc). Some of the stuff also includes tight integration with the filesystem and/or kernel -- which would be a gaping security hole to pass to third parties to play with. >So there's no technical reason it couldn't be pluggable, just Apple being Apple as usual. It's a for profit company being a for profit company as usual. No proprietary OS maker develops such a flagship feature as an interchangeable pluggable infrastructure to hand to competitors (Google Drive, MS equivalent, etc). Not only it makes no sense from a competitive point of view, it would limit them technologically too, as they would need to specify entry points and APIs that they then can't change.

Nullabillity 10y ago
> as they would need to specify entry points and APIs that they then can't change. Presumably they could add new extensions as they go, and disable functionality that depends on them if they're not available. This stuff isn't exactly rocket science.
- coldtea 10y ago
  They could, but apps would break (especially ones whose devs are not quick to update or have abandoned), third party devs will complain on changes, etc. They wouldn't be able to iterate as they like, or make it depend on stuff only deep integration can provide. And what would they get in instead? The ability to have the storage be powered by a third party cloud service because some folks might not trust or wont adopt iCloud? If anything, they want folks to have reasons to adopt iCloud, not commoditize it.