The Mac’s Marginalized Future

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The Mac is my favorite computing platform on God’s green Earth. I find great joy in using it, but it makes me sad at the same time.

I’m not alone in that duality. Many of the Mac’s most hardcore fans have felt slighted — or even forgotten — as the iPhone and iPad have risen to prominence at Apple.

I don’t think the Mac is a dead platform yet, but I do fear its glory days are behind it. It isn’t seeing the types of innovation it once did. It’s not the focus for many third-party developers, but more importantly, it’s unique advantages are slipping away:

  • The Mac is required to write software for iOS devices. For now. Swift Playgrounds may blossom into something much more powerful that could meet at least low-end needs.
  • The Mac is the only Apple operating system that offers a multi-window environment. For now. iPad multitasking could become a lot more powerful in the future.
  • The Mac is the only computer Apple sells with a display over 13 inches in size. For now. A desktop-sized iPad would be a lot of fun.
  • The Mac offers a unique blend of GUI applications and a command line interface that many people need to get their work done. For now. For most younger computer users, Terminal is a weird app you aren’t supposed to open.

(I’m not saying the iPad will change to absorb all of the tasks Mac users do now, but that in some cases, the very nature of those tasks will change. The Mac is losing ground on both fronts.)

The Mac is becoming marginalized. For many, it is becoming easier to use an iOS device as their primary computer. A day is coming when the Mac is just needed by professionals like developers and creatives — the very users that feel disenfranchised by the Apple of 2016.

These types of thoughts, coupled with a lack of updates to Mac hardware, have Mac fans on edge.

Are we on a sinking ship?

Should I be looking at Windows?

Why would I write an application for this platform?

Yesterday, Mark Gurman published an article that put details to the vague fear some Mac users have felt over the last few years:

To die-hard fans, Apple Inc.’s Macintosh sometimes seems like an afterthought these days.

He goes on to back that up with a bunch of examples dug up via interviews with sources at Apple:

They also describe a lack of clear direction from senior management, departures of key people working on Mac hardware and technical challenges that have delayed the roll-out of new computers.

And:

In another sign that the company has prioritized the iPhone, Apple re-organized its software engineering department so there’s no longer a dedicated Mac operating system team. There is now just one team, and most of the engineers are iOS first, giving the people working on the iPhone and iPad more power.

And:

In recent years, Apple managers have also become more likely to float two or more competing ideas, meaning designers and engineers must work on more than one concept at a time. In the past, managers pushed a more singular vision. Engineers are now “asked to develop multiple options in hopes that one of them will be shippable,” a person familiar with the matter said.

None of these snapshots are due to an inherent flaw with the Mac itself, but with how Apple seemingly views it.

To a degree, it’s hard to argue with Apple here. The iPhone is Apple’s driving force, and to let off the gas there would be a really dumb move. The iPad — while still in a sales free fall — is so closely tied to the iPhone, it’s easy to see why it’d get attention before the Mac. Plus, Tim Cook is super into it, and you’ve got to keep the boss happy.

Most of the big features added to macOS in the last few years originally appeared on iOS, or at the very least are in place to make using a Mac with an iPhone or iPad better.

I don’t think Apple is going to merge its two operating systems, but rather keep dragging macOS behind iOS. The news of the stand-alone macOS team being absorbed shouldn’t be shocking for people who have been paying attention.

So why is this happening?

Apple can’t seem to walk and chew gum at the same time. The company is bigger than ever, but is seemingly unable or unwilling to move the Mac forward in meaningful ways. Apple’s internal structure may be to blame there.

We can blame Intel (to a degree) for the hardware delays of 2016, but if we keep that up for years to come, the chipmaker may become a scapegoat for Mac angst it didn’t cause. After all, Intel didn’t make Apple skip two generations of Xeons that could have gone into the Mac Pro.

The darkest timeline is the most simple: Apple just doesn’t care about the Mac like it once did. Apple may view the Mac as a legacy business. Perhaps the iPad really is the future, and Mac fans who are mocking it today will come down on the wrong side of history.

Whatever the reason, if Gurman’s reporting is right, Mac fans need to work on processing this change. It’ll make the future easier to swallow.

Kbase Article of the Week: Get Quick Info With Dashboard ⇢

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If you want to use Dashboard in El Capitan, this document is for you:

Dashboard is a collection of small programs, called “widgets,” that let you quickly do a wide variety of tasks such as checking stock prices, finding weather information, and more.

Oh, ok.

Note: You can also use widgets in Today view in Notification Center. For more information, see Use Notification Center.

Harsh.

AirPods Impressions

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AirPods

After months of waiting, I finally got my hands on a set of AirPods, Apple’s new wireless earbuds that were promised way back at the iPhone 7 event in September.

I’ve only had them for a day or so, so this isn’t a comprehensive review, but I wanted to share some initial impressions.

Tech

The AirPods are full of little touches of whimsy that make them feel a lot smarter than normal headphones:

  • When you first put them in your ear, they make a little sound to let you know they are connected.
  • If you take one out, the music pauses. This was designed with the idea that you may need to take one out to talk to someone, and want to be able to hear them clearly.
  • If you listen to something with just one AirPod, the sound is sent in mono. Pop in the other, and it moves to stereo.
  • If music is already playing on your device and you put in the AirPods, the music will be automatically routed to them. However, if no music is playing, putting in the AirPods won’t force something to start.

All of this adds up to the AirPods feeling intelligent about their surroundings. Apple really thought all of these use cases through, and I appreciate it. The AirPods just do the right thing.

Pairing these things is easy. Open the case and push the button on the back. That’s it; your iOS device will ask you if you want to pair, and then the info about the AirPods is saved to your iCloud account, so you can quickly select them in Control Center on your other iOS devices, or from the Sound menu bar item on macOS. 

Behind the scenes, this is all powered by Apple’s fancy new W1 chip, which is some type of superset over regular Bluetooth. The range seems way larger than my old Powerbeats.

It’s not perfect, though. I have had the AirPods drop chunks of audio, especially after switching devices. Taking them out and then reseating them in my ears has always cleared it up.

Design & Fit

There’s probably no way around this: I think these things look a little goofy:

AirPod Selfie

Its like Jony Ive put his EarPods in a vice grip, sliced off the cable and elongated the stem.

I’m hoping they seem a little more normal over time, but at this point, I think I may catch some looks with them on in public.

They fit me pretty well. I never loved the EarPods, but I didn’t find them too problematic. These seem to fit a little bit better, thanks to the wire pulling them out and down being gone. As is the case with these things, your mileage may vary, since Apple doesn’t offer foam or rubber tips to change the size, like many other manufacturers.

The case is a joy to use. The lid is magnetic, and makes a lovely little click when it closes:

The whole thing feels solid and dense. I’m a fan, even if it does look like I could pull dental floss out of it.

Battery Life

Apple says the AirPods themselves will get five hours of battery life, while the case packs 24 hours of charge. I can’t vouch for the case battery life yet, but five hours seems pretty much right to me so far. Thankfully, just 15 minutes in the case will result in three hours of listening time, so charging mid-day on a lunch break shouldn’t be a problem for people using these all day.

To check the battery charge, simply flip open the case and a panel will slide up from Control Center showing the charge of the AirPods and the case.

The AirPods themselves also show up in iOS’ battery widget, and if it is opened, the case will as well. If you are using just one, the graphic on the battery widget will update to reflect that:

AirPod battery meters

You can also ask Siri for the battery level of the AirPods.

Controls & Siri

The AirPods support just one gesture: a double tap. By default, this activates Siri on whatever iOS device or Mac they are connected to.

The double tap can be changed to act as a play/pause button, but Siri is probably more useful. Siri can change volume, skip tracks and more that the AirPods can’t do on their own. 

This is a step backwards in usability from the in-line remote we’ve grown used to. I keep trying to double tap the AirPods to skip tracks. I think that muscle memory is from the old in-line remote, and I’m afraid it’s going to take a while to break.

My guess is that I’ll just pull my iPhone out to change something rather than talk to Siri in the gym. I usually have Internet access, but those who travel underground or on airplanes are going to be sad. 

Worth It?

The AirPods are $159, which is a lot of money, but $40 less than the Powerbeats that I have been using up this point when working out or cutting the grass. I think the price is fair.

If you use your iPhone a lot, and you liked Apple’s previous EarPods, I think the AirPods are a great upgrade. They sound like their wired cousins, making the move easier. 

AirPods are clever and fun, just like a good Apple product should be.

20 Years Ago, Apple Bought NeXT

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NeXT

On Dec. 20, 1996, Apple announced that it had purchased NeXT:

Apple Computer, Inc. today announced its intention to purchase NeXT Software Inc., in a friendly acquisition for $400 million. Pending regulatory approvals, all NeXT products, services, and technology research will become part of Apple Computer, Inc. As part of the agreement, Steve Jobs, Chairman and CEO of NeXT Software, will return to Apple — the company he co-founded in 1976 — reporting to Dr. Gilbert F. Amelio, Apple’s Chairman and CEO.

The acquisition will bring together Apple’s and NeXT’s innovative and complementary technology portfolios and significantly strengthens Apple’s position as a company advancing industry standards. Apple’s leadership in ease-of-use and multimedia solutions will be married to NeXT’s strengths in development software and operating environments for both the enterprise and Internet markets. NeXT’s object oriented software development products will contribute to Apple’s goal of creating a differentiated and profitable software business, with a wide range of products for enterprise, business, education, and home markets.

I’d argue that this is probably the single most important tech acquisition of all time. What came out of this deal not only saved Apple and the Mac, but made the iPhone, iPad and more possible as well.

Connected #122: 2016: Big, Heavy and Vaguely Disappointing ⇢

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This week on Connected:

With 2016 (finally) drawing to a close, the Connected trio hop in their time machine and revisit the biggest tech stories of the last 12 months.

My thanks to our sponsor:

  • Smile: Give the gift of Smile, and you’ll be giving the gift of time.

We’re taking next week off, but Connected will be back on January 3.

Tim Cook: ‘Great Desktops’ Are Coming ⇢

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Apple’s CEO, in a posting to an employee message board that was leaked to TechCrunch:

The desktop is very strategic for us. It’s unique compared to the notebook because you can pack a lot more performance in a desktop — the largest screens, the most memory and storage, a greater variety of I/O, and fastest performance. So there are many different reasons why desktops are really important, and in some cases critical, to people.

The current generation iMac is the best desktop we have ever made and its beautiful Retina 5K display is the best desktop display in the world.

Some folks in the media have raised the question about whether we’re committed to desktops. If there’s any doubt about that with our teams, let me be very clear: we have great desktops in our roadmap. Nobody should worry about that.

He didn’t mention the Mac mini or Mac Pro. I’m sure he’s aware how long in the tooth they are, and praising them at this point would have been seen as a little ridiculous. I’m not going to sit here and read into these tea leaves and say that the Mac Pro is dead, but on the other hand…

I take Cook at his word that Apple knows desktops are important to its customers. I hope that there are great desktop Macs in the spring, but I really don’t think the company should go longer than that without an update to at least the iMac.

Apple made a bad call in skipping two Xeon generations in the Mac Pro. I would like to think that if Apple had known Intel’s dates would slip as they have, we would have seen a new Mac Pro before now.

Maybe the iMac is hung up with Intel issues, too. Maybe the one guy working on the Mac mini retired.

All that aside, the clock is ticking, and has been for a while. These future Macs may be great, but a lot of people are tired of waiting.

Dashboard

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Remember this?

Dashboard in Mac OS X Tiger

Introduction & Evolution

Introduced with Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, Dashboard was easy enough to explain:

Dashboard is home to widgets: mini-applications that let you perform common tasks and provide you with fast access to information. With a single click, Dashboard appears, complete with widgets that bring you a world of information — real-time weather, stock tickers, flight information and more — instantly. Dashboard disappears just as easily, so you can get back to what you were doing.

While not as flashy or important as Tiger’s keystone feature, Spotlight, Dashboard still enjoyed a big push from Jobs on stage.

A user could tap a keyboard shortcut or visit a hot corner and Dashboard would activate, dimming the screen and flying in widgets. Adding new ones could be done with a click of the mouse.

(My Titanium PowerBook’s GPU couldn’t render the water ripple effect that played when a new widget was added to Dashboard. However, college roommate’s aluminum PowerBook could do it without breaking a sweat. I was insanely jealous of him for about 72 hours after we both installed Tiger in our dorm room.)

Jobs pitched widgets as mini-apps that let you look up a quick bit of information without ruining your workflow or train of thought. They allowed for quick interactions. They were present when you needed them, and disappeared when you didn’t.

I remember being impressed at the demo, and even more impressed once I had my hands on Tiger, but John Siracusa wanted more:

I have one big complaint. Apple has unnecessarily linked two good ideas in Dashboard: the widgets themselves, and the Exposé-style layer where they live. While I really love the idea of a separate window layer for infrequently used items, I’m extremely disappointed that only Dashboard widgets can live there. To a lesser extent, I’m also disappointed that Dashboard widgets can’t be interleaved with regular windows, float on top of all windows, or be embedded in the desktop like Konfabulator1 widgets can.

I’d like to be able to put any application in the Dashboard layer, and I’d like to be able to pull widgets out of it and place them anywhere I want. This would require rethinking the Dashboard UI a bit (e.g., providing an active menu bar in the Dashboard layer) but I think the benefits would be well worth it.

Tiger came with these widgets pre-installed:

  • iTunes
  • Stocks
  • Weather
  • Dictionary
  • Phone Book (powered by Yellow Pages)
  • World Clock
  • Stickies
  • Tile Game
  • Calendar
  • Flight Tracker
  • Address Book
  • Unit Converter

10.4.2 brought a new first-party widget, named the Widgets Widget:

The Widgets Widget simplifies Widget installation, providing you with clear notification when a new widget is being installed. The easiest way to enable and disable widgets, the Widgets Widget also lets you sort your widgets by name or by date. (The latter’s a great way to tell the newest from the oldest widgets.) And if you find a widget you’re no longer using, you can also use it to delete widgets.

Woof.

The list of default widgets has changed over the years, but this is what a clean install of macOS Sierra includes.

After Dashboard launched in 2005, Apple published a huge library of third-party widgets. The first 1,000 were available in the first four months, and by the time Leopard rolled around, Apple boasted that more than 3,000 widgets were available for download.

The widget directory is still up to this day, listing some 1,900 widgets still around for download. My guess a bunch of them rely on web-based services that are no longer working, though.

One reason for the boom is that it is super easy write Dashboard widgets, as the environment is based on WebKit. Under the hood, a widget is just some HTML, CSS and Javascript. I remember making one for myself in just a few minutes that showed me a dogcow every time I opened Dashboard.

The core technology behind Dashboard has remained the same since Tiger’s introduction way back in 2005.

Perhaps the biggest addition Apple made to Dashboard was WebClips, which premiered in Mac OS X Leopard. This feature allowed a user to make a selection of a webpage in Safari and save it as a widget. These widgets would auto-update, so it was a great way to keep tabs on headlines or a sports score without having to leave it open in a web browser window.

Dashcode

In Leopard, Apple shipped an application named Dashcode. It made creating widgets simple, giving developers a visual workflow for putting assets together and bundling everything up as a .wdgt file.

Dashcode.app was last updated in July 2012. It can still be downloaded from Apple’s developer site, but doesn’t run on macOS Sierra. Many of its features have been rolled into Xcode, and re-used in tools to build webapps for Safari on the desktop and iOS.

Concerning Konfabulator

So, uhhhh, Dashboard wasn’t an original idea.

Konfabulator was an existing third-party application that allowed users to place widgets on their desktops:

Konfabulator is a JavaScript runtime engine for Windows and Mac OS X that lets you run little files called Widgets that can do pretty much whatever you want them to. Widgets can be alarm clocks, calculators, can tell you your WiFi signal strength, will fetch the latest stock quotes for your preferred symbols, and even give your current local weather.

What sets Konfabulator apart from other scripting applications is that it takes full advantage of today’s advanced graphics. This allows Widgets to blend fluidly into your desktop without the constraints of traditional window borders. Toss in some sliding and fading, and these little guys are right at home in Windows XP and Mac OS X.

Apple Sherlocked this application, and Sherlocked it hard.

Arlo Rose, the developer behind Konfabulator Arlo Rose was not happy, according to a CNET article at the time:

“It’s insulting, is what it is,” Rose said in a telephone interview. “They could have at least offered to work with us or to buy it.”

Apple, for its part, maintains that Dashboard is the company’s own creation, noting that Widgets have long been a part of Mac OS X and the NextStep OS.

“The goal isn’t to be like anything else,” Apple Senior Vice President Phil Schiller said in an interview. “It’s not his stuff. What we’ve done is ours.”

Not everyone thought Apple ripped it off, however. Here’s John Gruber:

Bullshit. Dashboard is not a rip-off of Konfabulator. Yes, they are doing very much the same thing. But what it is that they’re doing was not an original idea to Konfabulator. The scope of a “widget” is very much the modern-day equivalent of a desk accessory.

The classic Mac OS shipped with Desk Accessories, which were small, single-purpose programs that could run alongside a user’s main application, even before the Mac could truly multitask.

Regardless of where the original idea came from, many thought Dashboard was a pretty clear clone of Konfabulator. The app’s website certainly said as much after Dashboard had been unveiled:

Konfabulator

I can only assume Apple was aware of Konfabulator’s existence when developing Dashboard. While Sherlocking is something that happens, it’s always a little icky to consider.

Konfabulator was purchased by Yahoo in July 2005 and powered Yahoo Widgets until 2012 when the platform was shut down.

Dashboard’s Present & Future

For a couple of years, I used Dashboard pretty heavily. I had all sorts of little utilities handy, but over time, it slowly faded from my workflow.

My guess is that’s the case for most Mac users. Slowly but surely, stuff that widgets were great at has been replaced by things like simple iOS apps or even quick Google searches.

Dashboard itself has faded, too. Starting with OS X Lion, Dashboard could be configured to act as a space to the left of the first desktop, accessible via Mission Control or a swipe. I remember the change, and thought at the time that it felt like a demotion for the once-impressive user interface and placement Dashboard had previously enjoyed.

As of OS X El Capitan, Dashboard is off by default on fresh installations. Notification Center has become the new target for Mac developers wanting to build widgets, and Dashboard’s dedicated media key on MacBooks and external keyboard has been replaced with one for Launchpad.

(You can add it back if your Mac has a Touch Bar, though.)

Every year, I think to myself that Dashboard has reached the end of the line, but Apple keeps surprising me.

Maybe someone important on the macOS team still really love Dashboard, or maybe everyone’s forgotten it’s still in there, deep in the codebase somewhere. Whatever the reason, Dashboard lives on, for now at least.

Dashboard in macOS Sierra

Update: macOS Catalina finally killed Dashboard in 2019, with the death of all 32-bit apps and frameworks.

  1. More on this in a moment. ↩

RSS Sponsor: Associate — Simple Affiliate Linking for Amazon ⇢

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