If the lyric Apple is using to elevate this year ’s Worldwide Developer Conference is any indication , then Cupertino ’s betting that the only thing developer will like good than the individual gustation of Io and Mac OS X is those two corking sense of taste swirled together .
According tothe company ’s press expiration on Monday cockcrow , this class ’s WWDC attendees will be treated to “ the future of iOS and Mac OS . ” hearsay abound whether or not new ironware will make an appearance as well , but with major updates to both of its platforms on the docket , it seems unconvincing Apple will desire to crowd the level with too much else .
It seems clear that , going forward , Apple for the most part envisions the two operating system as being different aspect of the same fundamental experience . For evidence , depend no further than the image on the front page ofApple ’s WWDC site , which features what look to be a mingling of iOS and Mac OS app icons combining to sate in an Apple logo .
A glance atthe tilt of tracksfor sessions and labs — program Frameworks ; Graphics , Media , and Games ; Developer Tools ; Internet and Web ; and Core OS — would seem to confirm this . Every single one of the tracks mentions and is applicable to both Io and Mac OS X ; and that ’s little surprisal , give that Apple uses the same underlie technology in both of its operating organisation . Plus , the Mac has returned as a category in the Apple Design Awards , afteran absence seizure last yearthat left many OS tenner developers irked . ( There is a catch however , as entries this yr must be uncommitted on the Mac App Store . )
Last year , though , was intelligibly the year of Io — literally , in fact , afford that it was at 2010 ’s WWDC keynote that Steve Jobs announced the new byname for Apple ’s wandering operating organisation . That was on top of Jobs’sunveiling of the iPhone 4 in the same presentation , the already released iPad , and an iOS 4 prevue event in April .
This class , though , it ’s almost the opposite situation : While the future of Lion has been well and truly tantalise , Apple ’s keep open a pretty tight palpebra on anything relate to iOS 5 or the time to come of the iPhone . Even the company ’s iPad 2 consequence in March , which previewed iOS 4.3 , did n’t show off much in the room of new software features .
The previews of Lion have shown that the caller is serious about integrating features from iOS back into Mac OS X. Might we see a reciprocal feat , with iOS 5 take advantage of more functionality that initiate in Mac OS X , or offering closer ties to the desktop adaptation of the operating organisation ?
The iOS - ification of Mac OS X has raised concerns in some corners , and while it ’s clear that the time to come of these two operating systems is to become increasingly intertwined , I think that the concern that these two will become one are overblown — at least for now . WWDC 2011 seems poise to fetch what a politico might call an geological era of “ increased cooperation ” to the two platform .
Meanwhile parties have certainly already embraced the radio link between the two : seethe Chameleon project , an endeavor to make it promiscuous to port apps from iOS to Mac OS X. Add to that the shared ecosystem of App Store and Mac App Store . and the content from Apple seems to be open : if you ’re a Mac developer , why are n’t you an iOS developer ? If you ’re an iOS developer , why are n’t you a Mac developer ? Give it a effort and you might just discover that these are two dandy taste that sample majuscule together .
