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Apple's been like this forever, it's only gotten much worse since the late 2000's and the launch of the iTunes App store. Even in the old days, when Mac Classic

Apple's been like this forever, it's only gotten much worse since the late 2000's and the launch of the iTunes App store. Even in the old days, when Mac Classic existed, Apple would change its mind about stuff for developers all the time. Anyone remember OpenDoc and how that was gonna change the world? Apple's favorite thing to do is tell developers it's got the next big thing (Newton), next big language (remember Swift?), or the next big tool (AR). They hand this out to devs, devs eat it up, and like 1 or 2 years later, they either spring said thing like a trap no one can escape from, or they just give up on it and act like it never happened and move on, leaving developers with useless new skills.

xenospn 7y ago
Where did Swift go? it's still front and center.
- VonGuard 7y ago
  It's still here, but people were so excited about it when it came out, and some folks actually thought it'd be usable on other platforms. Here were are years later and it's just a niche language for iPhones. Everyone who was excited about it seems to have stopped being excited because it's 100% Apple only. Like all their stuff. I mean, is there anything better than a completely closed source programming language?
  - Avi0n 7y ago
    Swift is not closed source, it’s open source on GitHub. In addition, Swift currently runs on both macOS and Linux. There is a pull request open that introduces Windows support which I believe will be released with the next point version of Swift.
  - Grustaf 7y ago
    Are you serious? There is an entire industry around swift, countless blogs, podcasts, books and websites. Interest is growing steadily and people are more excited than ever. It’s open source and has a very engaged community around it’s development, anyone can propose changes to it. And of course it’s not 100% apple only, apple themselves have invested a lot in swift on linux, and others are working on swift for windows and webassembly. You couldn’t be more wrong actually.
Grustaf 7y ago
I’ve replied to your baseless statements about swift already below, and as to AR: nobody knows what will come of it but apple most definitely haven’t abandoned it. They keep increasing their investments into ARKit and even added a Lidar to the ipad last week.
npunt 7y ago
If we're going to mine ancient history, lets put up a disclaimer that any company that exists for a 40+ years and is trying to invent new things is going to change their mind about stuff. If they didn't, they probably wouldn't be very good at inventing things. There's context to consider with Apple in the 90s, which was weeks from bankruptcy. Here's SJ's rather famous response at WWDC 97 to why OpenDoc was killed, and a little later on he describes his opinion of Newton [1]. Hard to disagree with the sentiments. Killing OpenDoc and Newton was a way to keep the company alive and prepare for the next big thing. 4 years later, out pops the iPod. 10 years later, the iPhone. [1] https://youtu.be/yQ16_YxLbB8?t=3025 https://youtu.be/yQ16_YxLbB8?t=3025

xenospn 7y ago

Where did Swift go? it's still front and center.

VonGuard 7y ago
It's still here, but people were so excited about it when it came out, and some folks actually thought it'd be usable on other platforms. Here were are years later and it's just a niche language for iPhones. Everyone who was excited about it seems to have stopped being excited because it's 100% Apple only. Like all their stuff. I mean, is there anything better than a completely closed source programming language?
- Avi0n 7y ago
  Swift is not closed source, it’s open source on GitHub. In addition, Swift currently runs on both macOS and Linux. There is a pull request open that introduces Windows support which I believe will be released with the next point version of Swift.
- Grustaf 7y ago
  Are you serious? There is an entire industry around swift, countless blogs, podcasts, books and websites. Interest is growing steadily and people are more excited than ever. It’s open source and has a very engaged community around it’s development, anyone can propose changes to it. And of course it’s not 100% apple only, apple themselves have invested a lot in swift on linux, and others are working on swift for windows and webassembly. You couldn’t be more wrong actually.

Grustaf 7y ago

I’ve replied to your baseless statements about swift already below, and as to AR: nobody knows what will come of it but apple most definitely haven’t abandoned it. They keep increasing their investments into ARKit and even added a Lidar to the ipad last week.

npunt 7y ago

If we're going to mine ancient history, lets put up a disclaimer that any company that exists for a 40+ years and is trying to invent new things is going to change their mind about stuff. If they didn't, they probably wouldn't be very good at inventing things. There's context to consider with Apple in the 90s, which was weeks from bankruptcy. Here's SJ's rather famous response at WWDC 97 to why OpenDoc was killed, and a little later on he describes his opinion of Newton [1]. Hard to disagree with the sentiments. Killing OpenDoc and Newton was a way to keep the company alive and prepare for the next big thing. 4 years later, out pops the iPod. 10 years later, the iPhone. [1] https://youtu.be/yQ16_YxLbB8?t=3025 https://youtu.be/yQ16_YxLbB8?t=3025