“I made a comment a while back, almost a joke really, that when iOS made it to version 9, that would be the end of it,” E. Werner Reschke writes for TGAAP. “Why? Because iOS 10 would become iOS X and we would then see the culmination of what Apple has been doing for since the exit of Scott Forstall, replaced with Johnny Ive’s as lead OS dude — one OS that works on both desktop and mobile devices.”
“Interestingly enough this is where Microsoft started with Windows 8, or at least tried, by making Windows an OS that worked on desktops, to Surface, to smartphones, functioning with minor differences between devices. Of course this has been an utter failure, and Microsoft is racing to Windows 10 as fast as they can,” Reschke writes. “But before dismissing this concept completely, perhaps Microsoft has only shown poor execution and not poor strategy.”
“When and how would this type of transition work may be unclear, but the why is fairly obvious,” Reschke writes. “For both Apple and their developers, it is much easier to build and support one OS than two, and moving iOS developers upstream to a desktop-level world would benefit Apple and its users immensely.”
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I think at least a single OS hybrid will emerge because I think we are headed to a world where a single mobile device will reign, connecting wirelessly and seamlessly to a variety of displays from tablet to TV. Walk into your office, set your phone down and your keyboard and 5K display are instantly available for use with the phone (or maybe iWatch someday?) as the brain.
If so, it would be the same as what Ubuntu has accomplished (same base code for tablet/phone, desktop and server OS), what Microsoft tried and failed with Windows 8 under Ballmer and now seems to have abandoned with Windows 10 under Nadella, and where Google is positioning Android and ChromeOS (which would explain former Android leader Andy Rubin exiting the company and the former head of ChromeOS, Sundar Pichai, overseeing both Android and ChromeOS and being tasked with integrating all Google products and services with both).
Basically, Canonical has shown that it is possible with Ubuntu. Honestly, before then, Microsoft showed it was possible with Windows. They had Windows CE, a minimal desktop OS, on their failed smartphone product, then their various PC desktop versions (i.e. Basic, Home, Professional, Power) of XP and Vista to correlate to CE, and then Windows Server editions i.e. 2003\2005\2008 were Windows maximized for high performance).
The Ubuntu thing failed because Canonical was not successful in making Ubuntu into a commercial product. Microsoft failed because, well, they’re Microsoft. Google will ultimately succeed IF they can find a way to make Chromebooks a compelling product.
I’d like to see Desktop iMovie’s cluttered interface replaced by the crystal-clear IOS version. Ditto iTunes.
The problem with using a single OS is that, for an iOS device, it is more complex than it needs to be, and larger. A lot of functionality was stripped from OS/X to make iOS.
I don’t know how much multiuser code is in OS/X but that would be superfluous on a mobile device and there is a lot of code for device support (disk, printer, multi display, backtomymac, dual boot etc.
Also iOS has its own multitasking code to conserve battery life.
If Apple add touch screens they could simplify the developers’ job but still keep iOS small and optimised for mobile.
Microsoft operating systems are enormous – hence users lose a lot of storage space on their mobile devices. I don’t see Apple going down this path…