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The niche market of "software developer" is in an interesting position if you include developers who create the apps that Apple needs to sell phones. Clearly "i

The niche market of "software developer" is in an interesting position if you include developers who create the apps that Apple needs to sell phones. Clearly "iOS app developer" is only a subset of "software developer" but I think there is only so far down the "consumer tech toy" road they can go without doing longer term damage to their ecosystem

mywittyname 9y ago
I would think that non-iOS software developers are still a big money maker for Apple. It seems like half of professional developers use Macbooks.
- mediocrejoker 9y ago
  Even though I am a non-iOSdeveloper who likes using a macbook, I can see how it would make sense for Apple to push out a small group of power users if their requirements conflict with features that enhance the experience for the majority of their users, for example something like sandboxing the entire OS away from the user. This would (ostensibly) be good for security and would only be a dealbreaker for a small minority. As long as iOS developers aren't impacted, I'm not sure what the incentive is for Apple to allow that kind of access.
namelost 9y ago
They could make a Linux distro, a "yellow box" for Linux. I know it sounds totally ridiculous, but if Apple really doesn't want to make computers for software engineers, it doesn't stop them making an OS for software engineers.
- phs318u 9y ago
  :-) Apple did just this, twenty years ago. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MkLinux https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MkLinux http://www.mklinux.org http://www.mklinux.org Interestingly, they claim to have incorporated some of the technology from MkLinux into OSX, according to this page: https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/Darwin/Conceptual/KernelProgramming/Architecture/Architecture.html https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/Da... Make of that what you will.
Baeocystin 9y ago
...and they passed that point years ago, to boot.

mywittyname 9y ago

I would think that non-iOS software developers are still a big money maker for Apple. It seems like half of professional developers use Macbooks.

mediocrejoker 9y ago
Even though I am a non-iOSdeveloper who likes using a macbook, I can see how it would make sense for Apple to push out a small group of power users if their requirements conflict with features that enhance the experience for the majority of their users, for example something like sandboxing the entire OS away from the user. This would (ostensibly) be good for security and would only be a dealbreaker for a small minority. As long as iOS developers aren't impacted, I'm not sure what the incentive is for Apple to allow that kind of access.

namelost 9y ago

They could make a Linux distro, a "yellow box" for Linux. I know it sounds totally ridiculous, but if Apple really doesn't want to make computers for software engineers, it doesn't stop them making an OS for software engineers.

phs318u 9y ago
:-) Apple did just this, twenty years ago. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MkLinux https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MkLinux http://www.mklinux.org http://www.mklinux.org Interestingly, they claim to have incorporated some of the technology from MkLinux into OSX, according to this page: https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/Darwin/Conceptual/KernelProgramming/Architecture/Architecture.html https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/Da... Make of that what you will.

Baeocystin 9y ago

...and they passed that point years ago, to boot.