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Except all of Apple's other devices are built on macOS. Apple's clear de-prioritization of macOS based on revenue numbers is so insane I can barely believe it's

Except all of Apple's other devices are built on macOS. Apple's clear de-prioritization of macOS based on revenue numbers is so insane I can barely believe it's happening. If developers, who use Macs in large numbers today, go to another platform, there's very real risk that their entire empire starts to come apart at the seams. And, this may just be me being naive, but it doesn't seem like that much work to keep macOS going, all they have to do is stop trying to turn it into iOS. They are literally doing a tremendous amount of active engineering work that drives developers away from their platforms. They are risking their entire empire because (apparently) someone at Apple has an axe to grind with macOS's Unix underpinnings. And until they start getting real consequences (developer's leaving in huge numbers), it doesn't seem like it's going to stop. The tragedy is, if they ever do reach that point, where developers are leaving in huge numbers, it'll be too late. Platforms are a momentum game, you're either going up, or you're going down. And once you're going down, you're as good as dead.

gubikmic 6y ago
100% agree! If more people understood this, I hope this narrative would gain some traction and eventually reach Apple management. To me, the idea that an OS is mostly finished is completely bananas. There's so much room for improvement and hardly any of that potential was tapped into in what's starting to feel like a decade. And if Apple had invested into a successor for Cocoa, there might be a larger gap between native apps and (Electron) web apps, leading to some lock-in. Instead most new stuff is not native and for good reasons (and I do dislike the way they don't adhere to Mac conventions, but still). I think ultimately the problem is Tim Cook. He's too attached to Apple's stock price. I think that's the one metric that he believes rates his performance. But inertia is a bitch. Like in politics, the effects might hit hard only once he's out and it could be too late to fix by then. If I think about how much this impacts the economy overall (i.e. make millions of knowledge workers a little bit less efficient) then I can only hope that I'll see more sophisticated organizational structures in my lifetime that prevent such erosion.
- indemnity 6y ago
  Tim Cook is Apple’s Ballmer, who is their Nadella?
fxtentacle 6y ago
Agree. That's probably also one reason why more and more people want to use cross-platform app frameworks instead of developing for iOS natively. That way, you can do most of the dev work on Windows and Android, and you'll only need to use Mac & XCode for compiling the iOS binary. And I'd wager that some iOS games are released without the developer ever touching XCode: https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/UnityCloudBuildiOS.html https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/UnityCloudBuildiOS.html
- saagarjha 6y ago
  Signing and submitting apps to Apple is fairly annoying to do without Xcode.
  - fxtentacle 6y ago
    Unity has a service where they do it for you.
    - saagarjha 6y ago
      Where you give them you key?
      - fxtentacle 6y ago
        Yes. The procedure is explained in the link that I posted.
        saagarjha 6y ago
        I'm not sure I'd be entirely comfortable with that, to be honest.
plmu 6y ago
I was thinking exactly this, 8 years ago. I moved from an imac + mbpro to linux only. It took longer than expected. I even intended to buy put options, but someone I trust told me otherwise and to invest in equity instead, which I did, because I know that most buy decisions are not made rationally. But it looks like the time has come now? On the other hand, I have been off by several years before. People are crazier than you think, especially when it comes to status and association with brands and self-confirmation of past decisions. They might well put up with Apples moves for a few more years.

gubikmic 6y ago

100% agree! If more people understood this, I hope this narrative would gain some traction and eventually reach Apple management. To me, the idea that an OS is mostly finished is completely bananas. There's so much room for improvement and hardly any of that potential was tapped into in what's starting to feel like a decade. And if Apple had invested into a successor for Cocoa, there might be a larger gap between native apps and (Electron) web apps, leading to some lock-in. Instead most new stuff is not native and for good reasons (and I do dislike the way they don't adhere to Mac conventions, but still). I think ultimately the problem is Tim Cook. He's too attached to Apple's stock price. I think that's the one metric that he believes rates his performance. But inertia is a bitch. Like in politics, the effects might hit hard only once he's out and it could be too late to fix by then. If I think about how much this impacts the economy overall (i.e. make millions of knowledge workers a little bit less efficient) then I can only hope that I'll see more sophisticated organizational structures in my lifetime that prevent such erosion.

indemnity 6y ago
Tim Cook is Apple’s Ballmer, who is their Nadella?

fxtentacle 6y ago

Agree. That's probably also one reason why more and more people want to use cross-platform app frameworks instead of developing for iOS natively. That way, you can do most of the dev work on Windows and Android, and you'll only need to use Mac & XCode for compiling the iOS binary. And I'd wager that some iOS games are released without the developer ever touching XCode: https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/UnityCloudBuildiOS.html https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/UnityCloudBuildiOS.html

saagarjha 6y ago
Signing and submitting apps to Apple is fairly annoying to do without Xcode.
- fxtentacle 6y ago
  Unity has a service where they do it for you.
  - saagarjha 6y ago
    Where you give them you key?
    - fxtentacle 6y ago
      Yes. The procedure is explained in the link that I posted.
      - saagarjha 6y ago
        I'm not sure I'd be entirely comfortable with that, to be honest.

plmu 6y ago

I was thinking exactly this, 8 years ago. I moved from an imac + mbpro to linux only. It took longer than expected. I even intended to buy put options, but someone I trust told me otherwise and to invest in equity instead, which I did, because I know that most buy decisions are not made rationally. But it looks like the time has come now? On the other hand, I have been off by several years before. People are crazier than you think, especially when it comes to status and association with brands and self-confirmation of past decisions. They might well put up with Apples moves for a few more years.