[joshspankit]

This is probably a controversial opinion, but it feels like Apple is trying to lock developers in to a single path of constantly upgrading hardware and getting more and more specialized in the skills required in the Apple ecosystem.

Not just developers who try to do it for a living, but the demographic that used to be called power users (and before that: hackers): the enthusiasts that install things and dig deeper and make tools for themselves and maybe make tools for others or even transition to being career developers.

It’s the developers who build the moat around the walled gardens of mobile, and enthusiasts who bring in the people in their lives. I think Apple knows this and intentionally builds new APIs (while depreciating old ones) just so they can force devs to upgrade their OS’ which in turn forces them to upgrade to the next generation of restrictive hardware and lead them further down the garden path.

I have no insight in to the workings of Apple. I only see what they show to the public. I’m comfortable being wrong about this, but I don’t think I am.

[flohofwoe]

Not a controversional opinion at all but instead very obvious, and for a long time now.

At least macOS is a UNIX under the hood these days (unlike MacOS 9), which provides some 'cross-platform synergies', but looking at where Apple has been taking these UNIX roots with iOS that was probably just a lucky accident. Enjoy it while it lasts (on macOS at least) ;)

[pjmlp]

Had BeOS been acquired instead of the NeXT reverse acquisition, Apple's history would have been much different, and most likely there wouldn't be any UNIX desktops to chose from (as I doubt Desktop Linux would have been any different in such alternative universe).

[ramesh31]

>This is probably a controversial opinion, but it feels like Apple is trying to lock developers in to a single path of constantly upgrading hardware and getting more and more specialized in the skills required in the Apple ecosystem.

That has literally been Apple’s business model since the 80s.

[code_biologist]

This is an internal NeXT video from 1991 with Steve Jobs explaining their product strategy. The more things change, the more they stay the same. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRBIH0CA7ZU

[pjmlp]

It is so funny to see people that only came to OS X, because they couldn't bother to support Linux and BSD OEMs, always being surprised by the Apple developer culture (the ones actually developing for the platform since its inception).

[hot_gril]

> This is probably a controversial opinion

Apple has been well-known as a walled garden since its inception. Some are ok with that, some aren't.