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The Mac Platform Decline

milen.me

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Re: The Mac Platform Decline

#101

Post by mahyarm »

scotu wrote: post #60
shripadk wrote: post #53

> From where I'm standing, Apple are redefining (shrinking) their target audience for the Mac platform. If you feel left out by the latest updates and the neglect on the desktop, it's simple as Apple deciding not to serve your segment's needs. I know that it can feel quite personal to Mac devotees, like me, but it's simply business and strategy. How does this work? Can someone please explain to me how Apple can negle…

> How does this work? Can someone please explain to me how Apple can neglect macOS if all iOS/watchOS/tvOS app development needs to happen on macOS? precisely because you are forced to use macos to access the lucrative ios market, they can get away with a lesser experience for developers. (Note that I'm not saying this is what is happening, just saying how that would work; although I often feel like they are indeed l…

For iOS devs, you don't need that much RAM fortunately, since xcode takes about ~2-4GB ram itself for large projects. But the tooling is not great and it's annoying to run CI systems with them. iOS dev is definitely geared towards small team projects.

Re: The Mac Platform Decline

#102

Post by threeseed »

matwood wrote: post #68
simonbarker87 wrote: post #5

I agree that the mac platform seems to have been neglected but Tim Cook isn't stupid, he knows that without developers the iPad isn't going to grow how he wants so I don't think this is the end of the Mac. I think Tim Cook has ignored the Mac in favour of his favourite projects but in the meantime Schiller and Federighi have been making sure the Mac is in his periphery and fighting for resources. I've chosen to view…

> I've chosen to view this update as the start of the uptick where we go back to regular updates (perhaps with a longer period than historically) and more exciting things to come. I want to think this, but after years they release a TouchBar and I still can't get 32GB of ram. /sigh I think that people get too caught up in wanting revolutionary changes. Many would have been much happier with new MBPs being released re…

Intel is responsible for the lack of RAM not Apple.

Re: The Mac Platform Decline

#103

Post by pritambaral »

zigzigzag wrote: post #57
Chyzwar wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Linux is already superior for developers. You servers all running Linux, all dev tools are first released in Linux, everything just work with most hardware. For professional like video editing, photography, CADs, audio etc Windows is better when you can buy better hardware for the same price as Mac. There is no reason to by Mac when most hardware is terribly outdated and you don't know when next upgrade will happen.

If that's true why do I see so many developers using Macs? Desktop Linux is a mess and always has been. The problem is structural. The people making it don't have any profit motive to make it better. They're all either volunteers having fun or subsidised by server products.

> The people making it don't have any profit motive to make it better

While I won't disagree if you claim Desktop Linux wasn't nearly at the level of polish as OS X Snow Leopard was, I think you've got a completely wrong diagnosis here.

Both because there can be motives other than super-high salaries and because quite a lot of them do actually have financial motives to make it better.

And having seen how the development goes on behind the scenes for KDE, I would disagree outright that the developers of KDE lack seriousness or dedication.

On the other hand, Windows Metro was made by people with profit motives.

Re: The Mac Platform Decline

#104

Post by grzm »

trurl wrote: post #85
eknkc wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not arguing, just curious. What type of work are you in?

I am building a next generation database system.

Sounds interesting! What system are you currently using? What limitations are you running into? What do you envision the system running on in production?

Re: The Mac Platform Decline

#105

Post by matt4077 »

jeffehobbs wrote: post #73

This recent round of updates made me consider what I need from a "work" machine. For me, it comes down to three items: * Can I code on this machine? This means at minimum three tasks: write, deploy and test code. This also connotes a lot of things, including but not limited to access to a non-unobfucated file system. * Can I view all file formats easily and successfully? This includes formats like XML and json which…

Nothing has changed here. You're just defining "work" differently than Apple. You're looking at programmers, they're looking at the whole. Programmers always needed access at a lower level. Others rarely did. 95%+ of the world's digital output can or at least could be done on an iPad with a keyboard. If anything the number is rising. I no longer need access to an (installed) office suite. A web browser will do.

So in some way you can consider yourself an extreme power user, but please don't walk around telling doctors and lawyers and journalists that what they do isn't "work", because it doesn't involve a compiler and JSON.

Re: The Mac Platform Decline

#106

Post by [deleted] »

eknkc wrote: post #84
Chyzwar wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Linux is already superior for developers. You servers all running Linux, all dev tools are first released in Linux, everything just work with most hardware. For professional like video editing, photography, CADs, audio etc Windows is better when you can buy better hardware for the same price as Mac. There is no reason to by Mac when most hardware is terribly outdated and you don't know when next upgrade will happen.

I'm doing web dev on macOS. Tried to plan how I'd work on Linux desktop if I ditched Mac and it doesn't look that bright actually. - I basically can't stand the usability linux desktop environments. But this is subjective. - Our designers use a lot of mac software. I sometimes need to work with Sketch, Photoshop etc. Even if it's in read only fashion. - Our team lives in Slack. Turns out these is no decent slack app…

[deleted]

Re: The Mac Platform Decline

#107

Post by zepto »

jasonjei wrote: post #77
zepto wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I keep seeing people say things about how the Mac is sidelining serious developers and content producers, but I haven't seen any actual argument as to why this is so. Can you explain?

TouchBar killed the tactile ESC key. People using vim or BootCamp and/or Linux, Windows, VMware, or Photoshop are in for a more difficult ride. So instead of having access to ESC/Func keys, we can type emoji or use Apple Pay. The hardware on all Macs are updated on a very infrequent basis as mentioned in the article. GPUs sold with machines today are often the same as ones sold years ago. Apple killed their external…

This seems weird.

Sure you can argue about the tactile nature of the escape key being important, but the soft versions are still available.

The hardware update statement is simply not true of all Macs. The iMac has been regularly kept up to date. It is true of the MacBook Pro, but they have just released a new design, and we can expect them to incrementally improve it as they have done in the past after a new design is released.

Who cares about Apple not selling an external monitor when they are readily available from other vendors?

Re: The Mac Platform Decline

#108

Post by mahyarm »

WaltPurvis wrote: post #95
mafro wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think "easy" is the way to describe that endeavour. Ever tried a hackintosh?

>> Ever tried a hackintosh? Yes, I've been running a hackintosh for several years now. It works flawlessly. What point are you trying to make?

Years ago it wasn't working perfectly :D

Re: The Mac Platform Decline

#109

Post by walterbell »

bane wrote: post #87
monkmartinez wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with the iPad Pro is that it is still an iPad. Look at the metrics of iPad sales[1], down 15% or so. There is no compelling reason to upgrade iPads on a year over year basis for most people that have them. Everyone else bought a Kindle or Asus or here for $100 and called it a day. [1] https://techcrunch.com/2016/07/26/iphone-ipad-and-mac-sales-...

This seems to speak to a larger problem for Apple of identifying their "Pro" markets and going after them. The iPad Pro seems to do a reasonable job targeting visual artists in the hardware, but the software isn't there yet. Notionally speaking, what would a Pro work environment look like using tablets? I'd argue that Pro software tends to be hard to use and complicated -- but highly efficient in that domain, and thi…

There's another problem with the iOS ecosystem: it is very difficult for app developers to make money: no trials, no way to reach customers, poor discovery, and other well documented challenges. This does not bode well for the future of Pro-grade software on iOS, in contrast to macOS.

http://www.cultofmac.com/451594/we-made-our-app-free-and-tha...

Re: The Mac Platform Decline

#110

Post by threeseed »

jasonjei wrote: post #52

I see a lot of parallels of Tim Cook's Apple to John Sculley's Apple. Tim Cook's, like John Sculley's, is focused on immediate short-term bottom line improvements rather than long-term investments. John Sculley kept staying the course, and Tim Cook is doing much of the same. If anything, the most recent iteration of MBP is sidelining serious developers and content producers. So yes, Apple's bottom line is growing. Lo…

This makes no sense.

The Apple Watch is absolutely a long term play. Right now it's a fraction of what they want it to be ie. the saviour of the health care industry. And given the regulatory requirements of playing in this space you need to play the long game.

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