I hear a lot of pro users afraid that Mac OS X will suddenly turn into iOS, making their computer into a giant, hinged phone they can’t use any more. Mountain Lion, the update Apple introduced privately to a handful of journalists hand-picked by their PR, may throw more fuel on those fears. Apple brought over some familiar features from iOS to Mac OS, and even prods users into installing apps from the App Store or containing some special developer key.
But I spend a lot of time talking to developers about what it’s like to work with Mac OS, and looking at how this impacts your experience as a user. So, even though I wasn’t on Apple’s short list, I can say with some confidence that this announcement – unless we hear something new – most likely means:
1. You’ll probably switch off this new Gatekeeper feature and use whatever software you want.
2. The name “Mac OS X” will be “OS X,” but you’ll keep calling it the Mac. (Heck, some of you will still call it Macintosh. Just don’t say “ex,” okay?)
3. The notification system isn’t all that different from Growl. If anything, that continues an Apple tradition of aping ideas from the third-party that goes back to the days when OS releases began with the word “System.”
4. Those of you using Mac OS to make music will probably continue to do so, because the OS still has the benefits that are the reason you use it. Those of you who use other operating systems, we’ll continue to look at how to get the most out of those.
That’s it. Really. You can safely ignore the debate – on all sides – likely to rage about what this OS update means. The stuff that matters most to us as musicians isn’t necessarily what matters to other people. (Now, you might personally decide you like iCloud and notifications and other little features; I’m just saying they don’t directly impact all music software. Nor do I see any indication they’ll get in the way if you don’t like them – and to the extent they do, you should be able to switch them off, as in notifications.)
In fact, even if music devs decide they want to make themselves compatible with the new app safeguards without getting on the App Store, they can get a developer certificate (apparently a few minutes’ work). My guess is, given almost no music devs have jumped into the App Store as distribution model, this means this changes nothing. And because those same developers usually certify their software before they say it’s compatible with a new OS update – on Windows as well as on the Mac – the certificate could even be a good indication that an app was tested on Mountain Lion.
Given the overheated coverage talking about how this revolutionizes computing or turns the Mac into an iPhone or an HDTV or the spawn of all that is evil or something, I thought I’d – for once – write something a little shorter. Mac hardware and software have loads of stuff that isn’t available on mobile. (For instance, I’ve gotten no indication yet that Thunderbolt, which is increasingly looking like the future of pro I/O in very cool ways, is coming to mobile platforms any time soon.) And the guts of Mac OS X remain the same under these surface-level changes – even if some people find them a bit creepy.
There’s a lot of understandable worry about how iOS and Mac OS X – erm, “OS X” – are merging. But under the hood, it’s the same OS.
For a great overview, free of lots of spin, check out Jason Snell at Macworld:
Hands on with Apple’s new OS X: Mountain Lion
Apple gets a lot more attention – and more impassioned emotions – these days. But the only really fundamental change I’ve seen is Microsoft blocking third-party Windows desktop code on ARM. That’s the kind of developer restriction that does make a platform entirely irrelevant for music development, in contrast to iOS, OS X, Windows on Intel, Linux, and even Android, all of which remain viable. I’m not saying Microsoft’s decision doesn’t have its own rationale – it just means you probably won’t be hearing about Windows and ARM on this site after this little story.
Apple has a way of ruffling feathers – heck, I can’t think of a way to make this announcement that could get people more upset. But I think in the long run, that Windows ARM decision may be more far-reaching, in that it – unlike this decision – really will cause communities of creative developers to completely ignore a platform.
If Apple does do something that causes serious problems for music development, believe me, you’ll hear about it here.
