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I wrote about why I think that's exceedingly unlikely back in April, knowing that there was a chance I'd be proven wrong just two months later (i.e., today). I

I wrote about why I think that's exceedingly unlikely back in April, knowing that there was a chance I'd be proven wrong just two months later (i.e., today). I wasn't. https://micro.coyotetracks.org/2021/04/21/the-mac-and.html https://micro.coyotetracks.org/2021/04/21/the-mac-and.html My argument from there is that Apple has been demonstrating a consistent philosophy since the start of the iPad: - Macs are general purpose computers - iPads/iPhones are application consoles, analogous to game consoles That philosophy doesn't preclude securing macOS in annoying ways, but it does preclude locking down macOS like iOS. The notion that Apple would force all Mac apps to be installed from the App Store because it would increase their revenue simply doesn't hold water, because, as I noted then, the Venn diagram of "users likely to walk over such a change" and "users likely to spend boggling amounts of money on Apple hardware" is close to a perfect circle. Even if that's only a few percent of those high-ticket users, that's literally millions of lost unit sales. Furthermore, I stand by my thoughts then that if Apple was ever going to try such a radical move, it would have been last year, with the introduction of Apple Silicon and the relatively radical redesign brought by macOS Big Sur. The flip side of this philosophy, though, is that we're probably not going to ever see iOS open the way macOS is any more than they must for technical, market, or regulatory reasons. My suspicion is that in the long run there's a new OS that will replace both macOS and iPadOS, and at that point, all bets may be off. But I don't think we're going to see that within the next few years.

caspper69 5y ago
Apple is a corporation not bound to normal individual timescales. Right now they are conditioning everyone to accept the app store model universally. If you are under a certain age, you don’t even know another concept exists unless your are tech savvy or in a tech field. These are dividends to be reaped at a later date. And the inability to secure software and hardware systems will be the ultimate justification. The great irony in all of our endeavors is that if you make all of your decisions in an effort to avoid becoming something, you just wind up taking the long way around and backing into being the thing you didn’t want to become in the first place. See Google:Evil, Apple:1984, Microsoft:The Borg, Larry Ellison:A Lawnmower And the list of individuals who became what they most despised is quite long as well.
- hallway_monitor 5y ago
  See also Canada : USA
- chipotle_coyote 5y ago
  I don't think you're actually arguing the opposite point -- I think you're worrying, with some justification, about what I suggested in my last couple of sentences ("a new OS that will replace both macOS and iPadOS, and at that point, all bets may be off"). My suspicion is that the computing industry as a whole is inching toward an everything-in-the-cloud, ubiquitous computing model, and the vast majority of users will see this shift as a net benefit, not a net negative. I'm not convinced that simply projecting what we have now forward a few years is what that will look like, though.

caspper69 5y ago

Apple is a corporation not bound to normal individual timescales. Right now they are conditioning everyone to accept the app store model universally. If you are under a certain age, you don’t even know another concept exists unless your are tech savvy or in a tech field. These are dividends to be reaped at a later date. And the inability to secure software and hardware systems will be the ultimate justification. The great irony in all of our endeavors is that if you make all of your decisions in an effort to avoid becoming something, you just wind up taking the long way around and backing into being the thing you didn’t want to become in the first place. See Google:Evil, Apple:1984, Microsoft:The Borg, Larry Ellison:A Lawnmower And the list of individuals who became what they most despised is quite long as well.

hallway_monitor 5y ago
See also Canada : USA
chipotle_coyote 5y ago
I don't think you're actually arguing the opposite point -- I think you're worrying, with some justification, about what I suggested in my last couple of sentences ("a new OS that will replace both macOS and iPadOS, and at that point, all bets may be off"). My suspicion is that the computing industry as a whole is inching toward an everything-in-the-cloud, ubiquitous computing model, and the vast majority of users will see this shift as a net benefit, not a net negative. I'm not convinced that simply projecting what we have now forward a few years is what that will look like, though.