iOS 9 and Mac OS X 10.11 Rumors
According to sources within Apple’s software development departments, Apple engineers have been pushing executives for a Snow Leopard-style stability focus in 2015, following numerous bugs that clouded the launches of both iOS and OS X. Apple directors reportedly opposed a complete pause on new features, but agreed to focus on quality assurance by holding back some features that were initially planned for the latest operating system launches. One source explained, “I wouldn’t say there’s nothing new for consumers, but the feature lists are more stripped down than the initial plans called for.”
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Marquee features aside, Apple has been working on significant enhancements to the security fundamentals of both operating systems, ranging from a major new initiative called “Rootless,” re-architected Apple apps with iCloud Drive file encryption, and a new feature called “Trusted Wi-Fi.”
Landon Fuller is worried about Rootless, as one more step towards locking down the system and restricting what apps can do. I would like to see more details on this.
Moving Notes from an IMAP to iCloud Drive back end makes sense. I’m not sure why Gurman says that Reminders and Calendar are also currently using IMAP (rather than CardDAV and CalDAV).
In what will come as a surprise to many people, our sources note that even A5-based Apple devices, including the original iPad mini and discontinued iPhone 4S, will be able to run iOS 9. In order to avoid the sluggishness and bugginess that was most notably seen in iOS 7 for the iPhone 4, Apple has restructured its software engineering process to better support older hardware.
This certainly sounds good.
Swift is planned to reach what is known as “Application Binary Interface (ABI) stability,” and its code libraries will therefore be pre-installed within the new iOS and Mac operating systems. This means that Swift applications updated for iOS 9 and OS X 10.11 will require less space and consume less data when downloaded over a cellular connection.
However, apps would still need to ship the Swift libraries for compatibility with Mavericks and Yosemite.
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"Landon Fuller is worried about Rootless, as one more step towards locking down the system and restricting what apps can do. I would like to see more details on this."
Well, while it's true that the devil is in the details, if the 9to5mac article is correct, the only thing preventing full transfer of admin from the user to Cupertino is the caveat that "though it can supposedly be disabled on OS X."
(my bolding)
Of course, even if that caveat proves out, will folks like ObDev still be able to successfully sell stuff like Little Snitch if it requires turning off a heavily marketed security 'feature'?
And, of course, even if that caveat proves out for 10.11, aren't the odds pretty good it'll be gone in 10.12?
As we wait on the details, I'd guess Landon's worries are far more likely to prove out than not.
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And:
"Even with this Rootless feature coming to OS X, sources say that the standard Finder-based file system is not going away this year."
(my bolding)
Back to the Mac!
(When I watched Steve-o deliver that particular keynote, I said at the time that this was the funeral. So, at least I got a decent head start on my grieving over Landon...)
