With Mountain Lion's iCloud Integration, Apple Strengthens the Garden Wall 376
snydeq writes "With WWDC around the corner, iOS 6 rumors are taking center stage, but the real action for developers may be around iCloud. Forthcoming OS X Mountain Lion will integrate iCloud into the formal file system, making iCloud usage much easier and thus more common, and thanks to iCloud Documents, which lets apps open and save documents directly in iCloud, developers will be able to better tap iOS-to-OSX document syncing in their apps, a la iWork. But there is a downside to this opportunity: 'For developers, it further enmeshes you in the Apple ecosystem, almost in the way that America Online did in its heyday. Case in point: OS X apps can use the iCloud Documents APIs only if they are sold through the Mac App Store.'"
Re:Garden Wall? (Score:3, Informative)
Garden Wall is what it's called by Apple Fanboys. Apple users call it the Jail Wall. That's why your iOS devices need to be jail-broken, not garden-broken.
Re:It is just more of Macs becoming iDevices (Score:2, Informative)
WHAT?
Do I really need to do the research for you? Come on, man.
http://www.macrumors.com/2011/07/19/apple-reports-record-breaking-q3-2011/
iTunes Store: 5%
Other (who knows what this actually is): 4%
Hardware sales: 91%
Clear enough?
Re:Tim Cook's first big fuckup. (Score:5, Informative)
you simply won't be able to run X11 apps on Mac OS X any more
None of the articles in the results from your linked Google search actually seem to agree with that statement.
Re:Tim Cook's first big fuckup. (Score:3, Informative)
You should read what you quote:
"With Mountain Lion, Apple seems to eliminating its dedicated support for the X11 application, instead redirecting users to the open source XQuartz project, which it will continue to support."
Re:You just dont get it, even after all this time. (Score:3, Informative)
I do agree with you that the motherboards are fabricated by the same people who make the motherboards for Dell and others. However, the motherboards are made to Apple's specifications just like Dell specifies their motherboard designs. I also agree that the individual components are manufactured by third-party vendors that sell to just about everybody.
The key difference between the brands is that Apple wants quality to be associated with their branding and will make design choices and parts selections that ensure that they keep their image. They charge a premium for their equipment so they have enough margin to chose quality over economy.
Dell, on the other hand, wants to offer the most bang for the buck. They are competing against beige box assemblers and make design choices that allows them to offer a reasonably powerful machine at very low cost. Their margins are small so they do cut corners to keep the price low. For the average hobbyist and home user that uses Windows, Dell makes a nice machine. The average user will upgrade to a newer machine in about 3 years and the Dell will *probably* last long enough until a Windows game/program/operating system comes out that will require a new computer anyway.
I prefer Apple, but I do purchase and use both brands (non-Apple usually equals Dell), however lately I've been buying Supermicro instead of Dell. I have powerpc Apples that are still functioning well, and the Apple laptops (even the white plastic MacBooks) are still in use. The Dell laptops haven't faired so well. The Desktop machines are still mostly working, but most of the cheap ass parts were replaced (I believe the chassis and the motherboard are the only original equipment). The laptops however are crap. The new Dells with the smart card reader looks promising (we purchased 5) and we hope they do better than the other Dells.
Overall the Apple branded equipment are better made. I had a couple of lemons that Apple gladly swapped out and the replacements have been trouble free.
Long story - short. Your milage may vary but to say there's little difference between Dell and Apple branded computers is pretty naive.
Re:This is what Mac users WANT (Score:5, Informative)
Honestly, that's why I bought my first mac over 10 years ago. I wanted a Unix based laptop where all the hardware actually worked and since I've never really looked back. Why? Because for 10 years my macs have pretty much stayed out of my way and let me get work done. Which is something I've grown even more appreciative of as I've gotten older and want to spend time doing things other than messing with computers. Mac App Store, great, let's me know when app updates come out. Also guess what, I bought Cyberduck through the App store. I've used the program for years always meaning to donate, but that was a hassle through paypal since I don't link Paypal to my bank account. With the App store, it was one click and I was more than happy to give the cyberduck project money for their years of work. If updates for the apps I use on a regular basis it lets me know that an update is available with a pretty good overview of what changes have been made.
Re:Tim Cook's first big fuckup. (Score:5, Informative)
"you simply won't be able to run X11 apps on Mac OS X any more"
This is patently false. Apple is no longer supporting X11, but they are recommending that people install an open source X11 for OS X called XQuartz. So, you will be able to run X11 apps in Mountain Lion.
http://www.macrumors.com/2012/02/17/apple-removes-x11-in-os-x-mountain-lion-shifts-support-to-open-source-xquartz/ [macrumors.com]
http://xquartz.macosforge.org/trac/wiki [macosforge.org]
Re:You just dont get it, even after all this time. (Score:5, Informative)
Poor windows support? I'm running Windows 7 Pro (Bootcamp partition) and OSX right now via Parallels seamlessly at the moment. I do my android development on the windows side of the house as well as some work in Visual Studio. Sure, if I have to build something large I'll boot into windows, but for most of I work I can run Windows throughout he virtual machine just fine. Furthermore I can travel with just my laptop and do my work from anywhere I have an internet connection (which with my mobile hotspot is pretty much anywhere I have a cell signal).
And restrictive about getting things on a box? Okay a couple times I've had to create ACC versions of MP3's for whatever reason. Usually took less than 5 minutes for iTunes to do the conversions and whatever song I wanted was on the iDevice of my choice. Mostly though, any of the music I want to buy is already on iTunes and for $1.29 a song I get what I want. Click buy once and it automatically syncs and downloads to my iPhone, Mac Book Pro, iMac, and iPad. I've sat and watch it do it to all 4 devices at the same time.
I have no problems connecting to other macs or PC's on my home network. OSX seems to find my HP windows 7 box as well as my FreeBSD file server without any problems.
Re:Tim Cook's first big fuckup. (Score:4, Informative)
You have to use iCloud if you want to compete apps which have iPad versions that can open their documents from the cloud.
In other words, it's classic tie-in - using their dominance on the tablet market to get developers in line on the desktop. To remind, from June 1 onward, all apps sold in the Mac App Store have to be sandboxed - in other words, it becomes a full-fledged walled garden, just like iOS.
Re:Skydrive? (Score:5, Informative)
The most recent version of SkyDrive just shows up as a folder on your PC. Any app can read and write files to it using normal filesystem APIs, and they get automatically synced. And, of course, said app doesn't have to be distributed through the Windows Store.