I’ve been writing software for Apple hardware for over 15 years now. It’s been a pretty wild rollercoaster of a time, actually. Apple has infused me with a massive reservoir of good will because of the Mac. It was the computer that ignited my interest in technology and turned me into the programmer I am today.
There’s no question, unfortunately, that the Apple of 2024 bears little resemblance to the one from 1984. Which makes Brent Simmons’ post this week all the more relevant:
Apple doesn’t care about you personally in the least tiny bit, and if you were in their way somehow, they would do whatever their might — effectively infinite compared to your own — enables them to deal with you.
Brent was talking more about Apple’s rather mercenary attitude towards its developers: how they will take their cut of developer revenue even outside the context of the App Store’s payment system. And I largely agree with the predominant sentiment that Apple may have the right to make the rules on its platform, but that it is behaving spitefully and greedily.
And yet, this really isn’t the biggest problem I have with the Apple of 2024.
It’s kinda the other thing that’s happening this week: the launch of the Apple Vision Pro. This remarkable piece of kit promises to usher in a new age of computing. I have no idea whether it will succeed, but can I say this out loud? How great would it be for this to fail?
Because I’m fed up with Apple shipping handcuffed hardware.
Basically, there’s an argument that iOS devices should be more like traditional PCs (including the Mac), on ethical or moral grounds. The “it’s my device, I should decide and control what software runs on it” argument. I get it.
I’m pleased that John Gruber articulates this frustration, but it’s not enough. It’s not enough! The Apple Vision Pro is basically a fancy-pants iPad strapped to your face. It has all the same software, it does the same stuff, and it has the same limitations as iOS.
The iOS-ification of computing has many benefits, as borne out by its dramatic market success. But it’s also a set of handcuffs that limits creativity and learning potential.
In my perfect world, Apple never forgets that the Mac is where its soul lives. What does that look like? It looks like an iPad that gives the user full control over its capabilities. Or a spatial computing device that borrows from the Mac instead of a mobile phone operating system that needs to be reined in, lest it take down the West Coast.
So I’m clearly not going anywhere, but dammit, Apple’s making it harder to be partisan every day.