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Given the decline of the desktop software market, I'm not sure a radical redesign makes sense for Apple. Looking at Apple's lineup, what's driving sales seems t

Given the decline of the desktop software market, I'm not sure a radical redesign makes sense for Apple. Looking at Apple's lineup, what's driving sales seems to be the end user market, and it's not clear to me Apple wants to be in the Pro market anymore. In any case, the Pro market is about delivering workhorses for running (Adobe et al) software, so a radical redesign will probably result in Adobe et al stopping to produce Mac OS software alltogether. The maturity of the desktop software "market" is also evident in Linux. Ubuntu has recently choosen the venerable X.org rather than wayland for its LTS release over compatibility and stability concerns. I'd say that's a reasonable choice; after all, you're using Linux for apps that have been in the making for over 20 years, such as Inkscape, Krita, Gimp, Blender, etc. I'm also not sure what Docker and sandboxing brings to the table (except for developers). Desktop workflows are organized around open file formats and clipboard cut/paste. So I agree future Apple products will focus on iOS. There's simply so much more money to be made there.

_bxg1 8y ago
Developers have to have an OS to work from, no matter how much end-user usage shifts to mobile. Otherwise there would be no apps for those other platforms. Apple may well get out of the developer game, which seems like a dumb idea given their market share, but I'm neither a finance expert nor an Apple executive, so maybe that's just how the numbers play out. Microsoft is making a decent-sized push in this space lately, with the Linux subsystem, Visual Studio Code, etc. So I would guess they'll end up taking Apple's market share, which is a bit of a shame as far as I'm concerned.
- pjmlp 8y ago
  Microsoft learned, thanks to OS X, that most developers don't really want a UNIX, they are more than happy with a POSIX compatible layer for bash, awk, perl, C.... I bet if they had kept the original POSIX personality and improved it throughout the years, many devs would have not looked elsewhere.

_bxg1 8y ago

Developers have to have an OS to work from, no matter how much end-user usage shifts to mobile. Otherwise there would be no apps for those other platforms. Apple may well get out of the developer game, which seems like a dumb idea given their market share, but I'm neither a finance expert nor an Apple executive, so maybe that's just how the numbers play out. Microsoft is making a decent-sized push in this space lately, with the Linux subsystem, Visual Studio Code, etc. So I would guess they'll end up taking Apple's market share, which is a bit of a shame as far as I'm concerned.

pjmlp 8y ago
Microsoft learned, thanks to OS X, that most developers don't really want a UNIX, they are more than happy with a POSIX compatible layer for bash, awk, perl, C.... I bet if they had kept the original POSIX personality and improved it throughout the years, many devs would have not looked elsewhere.