Just like they did with the mk86->ppc transition, just like they did with the ppc->x86 transition.
> I hope they don't also continue to lock down macos
Let's not confuse moving Macs to ARM processors with turning Macs into iOS devices. Apple has always treated the OS families differently and will continue to do so because they know more than anybody that they meet different needs.
Will they, though? Because Catalina seems like a giant step in the wrong direction if you’re thinking they’re acknowledging the developer - or even power user - need. Seems to me they’ve doubled down on the iOS approach to macOS.
I don't necessarily see it as trying to create a single OS for both desktop and mobile.
I, in fact, find the catalyst apps on macOS still needing work. And I’m talking the Apple ones: Music, News
Sure, the industry ended up following them on a lot of this, but that should be as much a cause for concern as the rest of it. An awful lot of the pro audio / video work that happens on high end Apple hardware could absolutely happen on a machine where the only software comes in via an app store.
sure, but all that functionality remained externally - just not as part of the laptop. locking down the laptop is fundamentally different.
I think what they did was they changed what it looks like to be a pro user. The average user gets a sleak experience while a "pro" user is going to have a docking station.
I actually like that they transitioned to the docking station approach. It means two things:
1. I have a lighter macbook pro for work travel 2. At my desk, one single cable: charges the computer; connects two additional monitors, ethernet, keyboard, mouse, sd card reader, high speed storage, and a scanner. I much prefer that one single cable vs the bundle of cables I used to have to plug/unplug each time I wanted to take or return my computer.
macOS is for everything, including Dev. They need that for the ecosystem. Look at the new Mac Pro ffs.
Can’t most apps just recompile to support new chip? We don’t need fat binaries right?
10 years from now, we'll probably be having the same argument, and people will be pointing to the latest release of macOS and complaining that surely this one means the end is nigh.
Remember how they turned their backs on the creative people that kept them alive for over a decade when everybody else had switched to windows? Similar story, similar ending.
I wouldn't be surprised if they just do that. Ship the lower end laptops with ARM and either an extended iOS or a constrained MacOS.
> Apple has always treated the OS families differently and will continue to do so because they know more than anybody that they meet different needs.
But the different needs part only really applies for the high end Mac Books and from apples POV might no longer be a think if you can develop Swift/Objective-C and similar on iOS.