“I could probably devote every one of my columns to the silly comments tech and financial pundits make not just about Apple, but other companies and products,” Gene Steinberg writes for The Tech Night Owl. “Every time I think a sense of sanity is returned, there’s not another example of someone who has gone off the deep end.”
“Take a commentator who works for a certain financial publication that will go unnamed. The topic under discussion is OS X Mavericks, and it’s clear that the writer in question isn’t impressed,” Steinberg writes. “All right, everyone is entitled to their opinions, but in this case a small wish list is presented, three ways, as it were, to improve OS X.”
Steinberg writes, “the financial pundit in question believes that OS X needs to ‘merge’ with iOS. Why? Because that represents what Microsoft tried to do with Windows 8. Only thing: Windows 8 is regarded as a failure, a gigantic misstep from Microsoft. Apple CEO Tim Cook says that the PC and mobile platforms work differently, and require different operating systems. He’s explained why on a number of occasions. You can take him at his word, and Apple’s approach has been quite successful, or go with Microsoft, which hasn’t worked. Which would you choose?”
Read more in the full article here.
Related articles:
Windows 8 continues to flop hard – June 3, 2013
Microsoft offers no apology for Windows 8, promises better with Windows Blue (Screen of Death) – May 7, 2013
Windows 8ista: Microsoft admits failure – May 7, 2013
Microsoft partners say Windows 8 caused ‘millions of customers’ to switch to Apple – April 18, 2013
Stick a fork in Microsoft’s Windows, it’s done – April 17, 2013
Apple Macintosh owns 45% of PC market profits – April 16, 2013
Steve Jobs’ revenge – April 12, 2013
Microsoft’s stock takes beating after putrid Windows PC shipment reports – April 11, 2013
Apple Macintosh on the rise as Windows PC market plummets – April 11, 2013
Gartner: PC Market posts 11.2 percent decline in Q113; Apple Mac sales up 7.4 percent in U.S. – April 10, 2013
More good news for Apple: Microsoft previews Windows 8 (with video) – June 1, 2011
OS X and iOS are already pretty much the same, at least as far as the underlying core systems are concerned. What’s different is the UI but the kernel and many of the core APIs are the same.
=:~)
Chas. On what basis do you make this claim?
Are you a software engineer at Apple inc?
Are you responsible for the development of OSX and iOS?
What is the underlying core system for a:- Mac pro? Mac air? iMac, iPad, iPhone and iPod?
Is the core Kernel & API for an iPhone the same as that of a Mac pro or an iPod?
Your argument as is presented is likening a Leopard to a domestic cat.
Just because they are cats, kill and eat their prey, have whiskers, fur, fangs and retractable claws is not to say that they are exactly the same on the inside despite their size difference!
Crabapple you are an idiot
the end
@Troll Slayer
Thanks SO much for your insightful contribution. Wow! I thought Crabapple had a point, but you have shown me the error of my ways.
Your precise articulation of your thinking illuminates the issues like a veritable ray of wisdom. I’m sure everyone has been persuaded by your devastating logic.
& what does your name suggest you are?
A LARPer lost in his/her own fantasy?
The above comment was for the pleasure of the Troll Slayer.
Thanks Seamus, I am only now too well aware of how devastated I am of the Trolls Logic! 🙂
Dude… buy a clue, Seamus thinks you are an idiot as well, he was just making a satirical comment that calling you a clueless idiot is like proclaiming that water is wet.
i.e. you just thanked someone for insulting you, though perhaps that is “your cup of tea”
Very wrong, Tessellator.
I don’t understand enough about the tech to know either way. When I said I thought Crabapple had a point, I meant it. Maybe he was mistaken, and, then, me too. Maybe his remark is way off base or very good. I don’t know.
Correct or incorrect doesn’t matter for my point, at the moment. I was only being sarcastic at Troll Slayer, for his personal insult completely empty of any actual factual contradiction.
What does add usefully to the page is a post with CONTENT, like Shock Me, just below. Gratuitous insults like Troll Slayer’s are a complete waste of space – as well as being an utterly unnecessary dose of negativity in our day.
I never insult someone just because I disagree with them or because they’ve stated something that I think is incorrect. I’ll just reply with what I think and why. But if someone merely wants to fling shit, I’ll bounce it back at them. My hope (perhaps naive and overly optimistic) is that maybe, just maybe, in a far off sunny future, that such jerks realize they don’t like being insulted, so maybe other people don’t, so maybe they should cut it out.
Of course, for some sociopaths who post on MDN, that will never happen. But social disapproval is powerful, even if it has no effect on the sociopath. It has made me feel a lot better to see others disapprove of a few blazingly negative individuals in this neighborhood. It helps, I’m sure, with new visitors to see that a certain few negative ranters do not have the approval of the vast majority of readers here.
He’s likely basing this claim on public statements by Apple that iOS shares the same code base as Mac OSX below the Springboard level. That is to say BSD Unix, Core Animation, Core Image, file system etc.
The major differences are user facing Springboard (Launcher), and the stripping out of fonts and printer drivers (huge storage consumers).
iOS and OS X kernels are based on Darwin OS and use a number of common frameworks.
As Chas pointed out, the main difference is the UI with iOS using Cocoa Touch. That name gives a clue as to why iOS and OS X should note be merged, ie, ‘touch’.
Even if Apple’s MacBooks and / or Desktops gain touch screens in the future, it will be as a suplimental interface so would still not require an OS derived and optimised for touch interface being the primary UI.
Only fools suggest that a single OS should support both computers and mobile devices! Oops, sorry Microsoft!
He’s basing it on Apple’s own words.
Also, Leopards do not have retractable claws. They’re the only cats that don’t. That’s one reason they can run so quickly.
Psssssssst, ANALysts, on a good day, are called PUNDITS. The only difference in them is the spelling even though the stuff spewing out of their fingers/mouths still smells like the stuff I clean up daily after Reese, my Golden Retriever. Some things will never change!!
Apple is the worst at backwards compatibility and Windows has always done a better job. Sorry, fanbois.
Why do I need to buy new software or a new computer every 18 months or so?
Apple greedy profit? Possibly, but I don’t care for their current business model.
Billions of IDLE cash in the bank, so give us a BREAK Apple. You have more than enough money and start acting like you care for all users at all income levels.
Throwing older Apple fans to the curb limiting upgrade capability at the shortest cycle in the history of Apple computers neglects legacy users.
Just bought the latest loaded iMac and CS6 Adobe software. Will carry me for years and I don’t NEED an upgrade for Apple or Adobe, for the rest of my life.
Sheesh!!!! Nobody even needs to shoot this down. Your last paragraph directly contradicts your own complaint!
How so?
I’m set for my future.
And when I’m in a nostalgic mood I may turn on my SE and play with MacDraw or WordPerfect on later models in my collection just for grins. 🙂
I hope you have a long life because for your wish to come true, you would be asking for a short life indeed.
Your argument make zero sense. Fact…I bought my last iMac in spring 2008. It has upgraded to every OS X upgrade to date and will upgrade to Mavericks as well. I’m never owned a PC that lasted longer than 5 years, nor maintained it’s performance over that period of time. I went back to Apple for this reason, quality.
When Apple forces a incompatibility with older hardware, it is for very good and strategic reasons. This is consistent with their desire to maintain the VERY best computing experience. Look at how they stopped supporting bug and performance dog Flash for HTML5 standards. They were called crazy for that move and now HTML5 is considered the standard of choice. I ceased caring about backward compatibility with Windows once my PCs started lagging (15 minute boot times) b/c of the endless stream of patches issued to “fix and patch” my OS.
My conclusion = I trust Apple’s vision and guidance on when to break with backward compatibility. The MS way resulted in a much inferior experience.
Fingers crossed your iMac from 2008 will be able to run Maverick’s.
My main point is why can’t almighty Apple with all that cash in the bank figure out a way to simply do it better than Windows for a longer period of time?
Run more than one OS in different SPACES with associated older software. Radical thought, granted.
BTW, my software still works seamlessly on my PowerMac 8500/180. Not able to upgrade the OS or the web browser to name a few, but the appropriate software for the time works just fine to this day.
The quality BUILD of Apple computers is amazing.
Eh? If ever there was a more appropriate user name than ‘Contrarian’. Can’t even maintain your own argument through the course of one post. Forgotten your meds?
Yeah, misspelled ‘Contrarian’, thanks.
“Can’t even maintain your own argument through the course of one post.”
How so?
I have bought the latest and greatest iMac and Adobe CS6 suite to carry me over until I take a dirt nap.
You have a problem with that?
“Forgotten your meds?”
I take a multi-vitamin everyday. That’s it.
this is the funniest comment for a while
My Mac Pro years old and I upgraded it to Mt. Lion
And you comment “Billions of IDLE cash in the bank, so give us a BREAK Apple. You have more than enough money and start acting like you care for all users at all income levels.”
Msft used to charge $100 for Win Home Edtion, the pro versions were hundreds of dollars. Mt Lion which can be used by pros is only $19.
lol. Maybe your comments should be pointed elsewhere? apple is knocking software prices down.
iOS upgrades are free and many older phones can use them, many 6 month old androids won’t even get the latest OS upgrades.
Glad I took time out of my day to amuse you.
Hopefully, you can upgrade to Maverick’s.
Your right about Microsoft charging more and Apple charging much less for OS upgrades.
But you neglected to note the frequency and the backward compatibility longevity of both platforms to offer a fair comparison. Also neglected to mention all the software upgrades that cost big bucks.
Agree, Android upgrade cycles are pathetic and in some cases non-existent. But that’s not what we are talking about.
A) Microsoft is a software company, relying primarily on hardware makers like HP or Dell to make the hardware that runs their OS. So “backwards” compatibility is not entirely in their control. Wondering how old of a machine will support Win8 though.
B) Just because 42% of Windows users are using XP (Released in Oct. 2001 —11+yrs. ago) or Vista (release 6+ years ago in Nov. 2006), and another 44% use the almost 4-yr-old Windows 7 does not necessarily mean that Windows is backward compatible. It more means that MS is incapable of creating a stable and desirable new version that would appeal even to their most stalwart holdouts in more than a decade.
Although a bit sharp, main points well taken.
I have been on record voicing some of the same concerns. Yes, Apple makes the best puter stuff on on the planet.
But they need to a better job of backward compatibility working on older computers in their almost annual OSX upgrade cycle. Not to forget acknowledging some measure of economic concern for users upgrading numerous software programs.
Probably pie in the sky thinking, as we have seen with Adobe software pitiful CS upgrades.
Still, it is a common concern for IT mangers and users I know, for whatever it’s worth.
Mac and Windows have different priorities when it comes to backwards compatibility. It’s very extensive in Windows – you can often do things like play old Windows and DOS games from like 20 years ago without a problem. But keeping all this compatibility for old technology in latest products comes at a cost – it’s heavy baggage. It obstructs progress of newer, better technology. Apple tends to support systems and give free software updates for about about 3-5 years, then they move on to newer, better stuff. That’s deliberate, not to screw over consumers, but so each of their products are the best at their time of time. And just because Apple stops supporting a 5 year old machine doesn’t make it suddenly useless – it’s at least as useful as it was 5 years ago, when it was the best tech Apple could produce, more useful because because of all the software updates it received during it’s prime. You don’t have to buy the newest gadget at that point – but if you do, the newer gadget will be significantly, in part because it was held back by needing to support much older technology.
Good points.
My wish is Apple supported backwards compatibly longer than 3 years. With all their technological wizards they could accomplish easily. 5-10 years would help consumers, but then they would not sell as many new devices and the same with software companies.
Like I said, Apple stuff doesn’t suddenly become useless after Apple stops supporting it. I have a 1st gen iPod shuffle from 2005 that I listen to nearly every day. I know someone who still uses a iPhone 3G from 2008. I would still be running Leopard on my eMac from 2004 if I didn’t have to sell it to save space (I still miss that big old round white box.)
No, like many of us we dont drink the apple koolaid and are pissed off at many things apple. Things like cutting off iOS support once a device is 2 years old. Not updating iOS 5 with fixes for ipad1 users so safari stops crashing on web pages including apple website! Thing like ipad backups being corrupted for no good reason and not being able to restore because of that.
Like iOS being slow and laggy even after a wipe and resync.
They do so much half asses it’s not funny
I could go on and on…
Post from another person, avatar: IVID
Basic tenets (above) of what I don’t like is the shortened lifespan of upgrades and the need to buy new software and hardware too often for comfort if you want to be up to date.
Sure, the devices still work after Apple maroons you on Old Device Island. Safari does not.
That sounds rough. I’ve heard that most Apple 1.0 products actually suck – there’s usually at least one big flaw can’t be fixed until the next version. Whenever Apple releases something totally new, I’ll at least wait for the second iteration. I’m glad I waited for the iPad 2.
Have you tried alternative browsers on the iPad? Atomic Web is good. It might not fix your problem, because I think it shares most of the same backend as Safari, but it’s worth a shot. If that fails – I would seriously look into Jailbreaking the iPad. That way you can new software on it not supported by Apple. Another option is try to sell it on Craigslist and use the money to go towards a newer iPad. I think even the iPad 2 would be huge improvement – it’s already confirmed to support iOS 7. The iPad 1 was unusual in having support dropped for it so soon (probably because it has so little RAM).
I don’t drink koolaid, by the way. I despise corporate flavored sugar water, matter of fact. The best computer technology usually comes from Apple, but they aren’t perfect, and plenty of great technology also comes from other sources.
Thoughtful suggestions, thanks.
I usually wait for second gen releases, as well.
Made an exception and bought the first iPhone on Day One. It worked great until Apps and Apple iOS were no longer upgradable and bought the 4S. Hence my beef, wishing for longer upgrade cycles.
Oh well, not going to happen.
Pure, comic gold.
I hate the acronym LOL, but in this case it applies.
Hum.