Juli Clover:
During the quarter, Apple shipped an estimated 4.9 million Macs, compared to 5.4 million in the third quarter of 2017 for an 8.5 percent drop. Apple’s market share also declined, dropping from 8 percent in 3Q17 to 7.3 percent in 3Q18.
[…]
Apple’s decline in Mac sales is no surprise as the company has yet to update much of its Mac lineup for 2018. The only Mac that has seen a refresh so far is the MacBook Pro, with MacBook, MacBook Air, and Mac mini updates still on the horizon for a fall launch.
Falling Mac sales come amid stagnant growth for the overall worldwide PC market. A total of 67.2 million PCs were shipped during the quarter, an 0.1 percent increase from the third quarter of 2017.
Aside from the $4,999 iMac Pro, the current Mac lineup is not very inspiring. The Mac mini and consumer notebooks haven’t been updated recently. The iMac was updated in June 2017 and still has a defective processor. The MacBook Pro was updated this July, but the keyboard remains a question mark; we don’t yet know how reliable the new design is, and it’s been reported as less pleasant to type on than the unreliable one. The Touch Bar is still mandatory.
Apple has yet to deliver on its talk about recommitting to professional users. Mojave added hurdles that make it harder to develop and use pro apps, and a prototype framework for making dumbed-down apps. At WWDC, Apple hinted that there were Mac App Store improvements for developers, but so far they are MIA like those secret Leopard features. We know very little about the forthcoming Mac Pro, which is scheduled for 2019.
Previously: Macs Lose Marketshare, On the Sad State of Macintosh Hardware, Forthcoming MacBook and Mac mini Updates.
Update (2018-10-19): Bradley Chambers:
I am specing out a new bulk Apple laptop purchase, and I couldn’t be less satisfied with the current lineup.
I really need a MacBook with 2 USB-C and 256GB storage for around $1199.
Update (2018-10-22): Bradley Chambers:
Apple used to be about premium experiences compared to the competitors, but I do not see “premium” on any products except iPhone. It seems like now they are counting on the Apple brand to sell the products versus a best in class experience. On the flip side, I feel like there are so many categories they could make a meaningful impact in (home networking, home automation products, and expanded cloud services) that it perplexes me why they don’t.
[…]
The thing I like the least about Tim Cook’s Apple is they are taking gambles on raising pricing and building accessories for iPhones where Microsoft is re-thinking the laptop, and Amazon is trying to build a world where the OS lives in the cloud. We’ve been reduced to a world of apps and digital assistants. Android has most of the core apps you’d need to switch. Alexa can do a lot more than Siri. Amazon Fire TV has very similar apps to Apple TV.
Apple Business iMac Mac Mac App Store Mac mini Mac Pro MacBook Pro Marketshare Sandboxing
Solesignal:
SmartBackup uses its own custom sync engine which offers several performance advantages over other utilities. SmartBackup will immediately start copying data while it in parallel still analyses what has changed. SmartBackup’s sync engine then uses multiple threads that copy files in parallel, squeezing the fastest possible performance out of your storage. This makes it significantly faster that other utilities when cloning SSDs or syncing between fast RAID or SAN storage.
It supports bootable clones and archiving deleted files, and it claims to pass all the Backup Bouncer tests.
More about the threading:
- If a single “spinning” harddisk is involved as a source or destination 2 copy threads will be fastest.
- If source and destination are SSD/Flash based, or a RAID, 4 copy threads will give you optimum performance.
- If you use a network backup, it depends on your setup and the type of data. Somewhere between 2-4 threads will be fastest.
- On fast Xsan/Stornext volumes, choose the number of stripe groups available as the number of threads.
Backup Concurrency Mac Mac App macOS 10.14 Mojave Metadata SmartBackup Solid-State Drive (SSD)
Max Technology Labs:
Ever forgotten to remove a debugging entitlement? Signed an app with the wrong cert? Accidentally linked in an extra framework you didn't need? Don't do that.
This developer tool lets you inspect your apps for mistakes in entitlements, code signing and dependencies. Select or drag an app into Max Inspect and it will reveal useful information for you to verify the app before distribution.
It’s kind of like RB App Checker Lite, which is sadly now on hiatus. Unfortunately, it doesn’t let you drag and drop apps onto its icon in the Dock or LaunchBar.
Previously: RB App Checker Lite 1.0.
Update (2018-10-12): Maxwell Swadling:
Version 1.1 just came out, you can now drag apps onto it on the Dock icon :)
Update (2019-01-18): Maxwell Swadling:
Version 2 of Max Inspect is now out. You can now view and export the certificate apps were code signed with
View certs by clicking them
Drag them to save them
Code Signing Developer Tool Entitlements Mac Mac App macOS 10.14 Mojave Max Inspect
Nat Friedman:
Microsoft is pledging our massive patent portfolio – over 60,000 patents – to Linux and open source by joining OIN this morning. If you're looking for signs that we are serious about being the world's largest open source company, look no further.
Erich Andersen:
We know Microsoft’s decision to join OIN may be viewed as surprising to some; it is no secret that there has been friction in the past between Microsoft and the open source community over the issue of patents. For others who have followed our evolution, we hope this announcement will be viewed as the next logical step for a company that is listening to customers and developers and is firmly committed to Linux and other open source programs.
Linux Microsoft Patents
