MacOS, OS X, and now... macOS

[will9]

Just shooting the breeze here, hopefully this is the right place to do it!

Perhaps you've seen it, but I wouldn't blame you if you missed it.
Apple seems to have moved onwards and upwards from Mac OS X to... macOS. Apparently the lowercase m is important. Reason why I say I wouldn't blame you if you missed it is because as far I can tell, its effectively a maintenance update with Siri included.

If indeed the version number has been removed or silently upped to v11, then I would say this marks the official (long drawn out) ending of Apple's interest in desktop OS innovation. The reason I say this is because the major change between MacOS9 and Mac OS X was obviously quite remarkable... But now with iDevices being the priority of Apple and what I would consider the "dumbification" of creative applications on the desktop platform, it seems that the ~15 year hype toward OS 11 is put to an end - the rename seems to have defused any notion that there will be another remarkable change on the release of OS 11.

Hey, this is all hearsay - so I hope I am wrong!

Of course, it would be unfair for me not to mention that OS X has been refined and improved continually over the years and some might even say if its not broke don't fix it... But (and perhaps I am echoing my thoughts when I bought my first mac in 2006) I was in the hopeful camp that Apple would do something as wild as they did with OS X all over again, particularly with modern macs being intel based, it would have been great to shake things up and do another radical change to the OS... Not to compatibility, but to the appearance.

Having said all that, playing around with OS 9 recently, I have to say the high contrast and what I'd consider its "utilitarian" look has sort of come full circle... I understand that OS9 offers theming - if only someone out there would want to take the time to modernise its look simply by removing the pseudo 3d bevels and-the-like, I think it could make a great impression with a flat-look...

It's all really superficial of me to talk about the appearance of an OS - the reality is that its supposed to get out of the way and be as unobtrusive as possible... But I have to say, GUIs and operating systems in general are something I find interesting and is what made me see if the grass was greener on the other side when I bought a mac in the first place...

Thoughts?

[GaryN]

I think we're finally getting to the point where it's become obvious to the masses that most of them don't need or want an actual computer - at least not a computer as we consider one to be. When the majority of folks are using their devices to compile shopping lists and trade cat videos, Apple is quite naturally leaning toward and somewhat prioritizing their wants and needs. They are, after all, the reason Apple is worth more than most nation states!

Folks have had desktops in the den and dragged laptops around for years while never using them for anything at all that actually utilized their true capabilities only because there were no alternatives. With the ubiquity of phones and tablets to take care of the masses now, they're no longer subsidizing the smaller "real computer user" market, so things are changing. Remember when Scully and Company had like, a dozen different desktops on the market simultaneously? Compare that to the current offerings.

So will "serious" hardware go away? Of course not. There are plenty of pro, student, scientific etc. markets that will buy them. But they will be subsidized by the iOS market and therefore look and smell more like it. Most of the new "features" in the new OS are just cross-platform tweaks. The new filesystem destined to replace HFS+ will seamlessly (hopefully) trade data across platforms and keep it encrypted as much as you like as well. Gee, I wonder why that is?

I wouldn't worry about the "end of desktop OS innovation" though. There will always be new innovations that will make their way to the desktop as long as there are actual users. And there will continue to be users like us who choose to maintain so-called obsolete systems because they do exactly what we need them to do in a cost-effective way. I think the "dumbification" of software you're referring to is a plateau we've reached where many basic things we wanted have now been developed. In recording, we went so far "into the box" we realized it had become unnatural and now we're backing out a little, returning to analog summing and such, using actual hardware with actual knobs and stuff. How many new ways do you need to actually record music? It's good to stop and take a breath now and then. In the end, it's the music, not the tech that matters.

BTW, my primary vehicle is currently a 1998 Volvo V90. Its relative technology is very much akin to that in my MDD. It won't park itself, but it is absolutely the most efficient vehicle I've found for my needs. Comfortable and quiet, it hauls my bass or guitar amps and PA gear without a complaint like a van or SUV and still fits in my garage. I do much of the maintenance myself and I have NO car payment.  (Four air bags too!)

[DieHard]

When the majority of folks are using their devices to compile shopping lists and trade cat videos, Apple is quite naturally leaning toward and somewhat prioritizing their wants and needs. They are, after all, the reason Apple is worth more than most nation states!

Well, that is a very good point, but there is a new CORE belief system by Apple, MicroSoft, Adobe, and the rest of them.  You guys are kind of missing the major point... let me explain...

OK, first of all, this is just an opinion, but there are many facts to backup my theory.  Please remember I have been dealing with computer services on a retail level since 1985. Today's Diehard Quote...

The days of desktop computing for the masses are numbered for the simple fact that more money can be made thru subscription services; give everyone a "dumb terminal" access to the web, and CLOUD services that include their storage, subscription apps, and additional subscription content  

So the only desktop units left, will eventually be $4500 Mac Pro trash cans for the rocket scientists (soon we will have gone full circle and Personal computers will only be for math/science industries).  The masses, even writers, will have tablets, phones, and a dumb terminal and pay monthly to use a word processor.

I laugh when my iphone bugs me that I have not backed-up my critical data to the clould... if I do it... it won't fit... so, hence an icloud upgrade and now a "free" service becomes a paid monthly service!

They cringe at every mac that avoids ewaste, because that will be one less user hooked on techno-cloud "crack" and thus 1 less month subscriber... why sell something once, when you can bill and collect money every month and sell the user their own data for a price... it's like printing free money all day long

So, unfortunately, even our forum will get shut down eventually when they do the math. and we will have to chat on a secret VPN and trade hardware, and keep the old "free" hardware going... the old "junk" that has transmits NO GPS data, free apps, free OS, and free personal safe storage... hmmm... loving your classic mac ?

Soon any Computers that can work "off-the-grid" will become valuable... so don't throw out your old stuff just yet

[GaryN]

Ahhh… the "cloud". What a dumb name that is. Of course, you're totally correct there. There's $$ to be made when you can rent stuff and never actually turn it over to your customer.

The cloud is a conflation of multiple aims and motives, though. The insane pursuit of total cross-platform usability is enabled by the "cloud" as long as you can keep your users convinced their stuff is somehow safe forever and available always so they never have to actually hold onto it.

So you say, what happened to your iTunes library? Ooops…

Another is the "Adobe principle". You've finally burned everybody out with repeated, incredibly expensive updates / new versions that only contain one or two actual new features but force the user base to buy the entire package(s) over and over again. You've discovered that they won't cooperate anymore, so you simply stop selling software completely and just rent it. That way, everybody keeps giving you money plus you don't have to deal with all of those bootlegs floating around.

Hmmm… Note to self: If the "cloud" is really here to stay, the smart money is buying Comcast stock.

Lastly, I don't see a day when the math adds up to actually shutting the forum down, sending all of us scurrying into the shadows like PPC cyber-cockroaches. Not when Tim can just buy up the whole thing with spare change from the Apple offices couch cushions and turn it into a cloud-based subscription service…

[will9]

So is anyone here relying on the Cloud? I dont want to be all tin foil hat but having my credit card details leaked from the Sony/Playstation Network hack gave me enough alarm to keep hosting anything online to a minimum... That isnt speculation either, my card was actually used for a few transactions until the bank caught it and closed it...

[DieHard]

Diehard...

So, unfortunately, even our forum will get shut down eventually when they do the math. and we will have to chat on a secret VPN and trade hardware, and keep the old "free" hardware going... the old "junk" that has transmits NO GPS data, free apps, free OS, and free personal safe storage... hmmm... loving your classic mac ?

GaryN...

Lastly, I don't see a day when the math adds up to actually shutting the forum down, sending all of us scurrying into the shadows like PPC cyber-cockroaches. Not when Tim can just buy up the whole thing with spare change from the Apple offices couch cushions and turn it into a cloud-based subscription service…

OK, LOL... I was getting a little overly dramatic here, but I bet the our children (or grandkids) will see a day when a self running, "off-the-web" desktop computer is a novilty; CDs/DVDs will be ancient stuff (like floppies now) and loading stuff directly into a computer will be seen as "Tech" mastery; the average user will only know how to click the web-based shiny button labeled "Get App"

[GaryN]

having my credit card details leaked from the Sony/Playstation Network hack gave me enough alarm to keep hosting anything online to a minimum...

It's a seductive, tempting idea to hand over your personal responsibilities to the big guys in the sky. It feels good - like going back to your childhood when Mommy and Daddy took care of everything and there was nothing to worry about. There's a glaring flaw in that premise however…as soon as everybody hands over all that stuff to one entity, that entity becomes the target. If there's one constant in the universe that's been proven over and over, it's no matter how hard they try, no matter how smart they think they are, the target will get hacked. maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow…but eventually it will get hacked. Hackers are incredibly creative and utterly relentless.

There's an old story that somebody once asked John Dillinger why he robbed banks. He answered simply… "Because that's where the money is!"

[Protools5LEGuy]