Imagine if Apple open-sourced MacOS. They could keep possibly some substantial portion of it. Services and apps, even. But the main UI, basic operating system services, development tools. All of it open source.
They might at some point stop making Macs, although I would argue Apple nowadays is much more of a leader in hardware than in software.
They just focus on iOS and iPadOS and WatchOS. The walled garden was always Apple’s way, so let them have at it.
They lead an open-source operating system project, sell support and hosting and whatever. OpenMacOS (OMO) would be a serious alternative to both Windows and Linux.
They could spend a lot less money and more important, focus, on Macintosh while getting a better product and opening it up to all the innovative hardware manufacturers. Oh, for computer like Microsoft Surface, with a touchscreen and stylus that acts as a drawing tablet. Wacom has always been the Mac’s touch interface, and it works great.
OMO would attract more open source software. With Apple in the lead, we might start seeing friendly, high quality user interfaces (go on: name even one open-source application with a good ui).
Apple could still seek to lead with a gorgeously curated walled garden of services and apps and UI experience, some exclusive to iPad and iPhone, others available “all major open source operating systems”.
Finally, do you think Microsoft would follow Apple? Either way is fascinating to ponder.
Thursday, October 10, 2019
Sunday, August 11, 2013
No-one gets why self-driving cars matter
I can't find anyone who has really understood the sorts of changes that self-driving cars are going to bring.
Everyone is picturing vehicles like we have now but without drivers. And sure, we'll have those, and those will be fine. And commuting will be more pleasant and faster and there will be fewer accidents and we will probably mostly not own our own cars.
That doesn't begin to encompass the shift that's about to take place.
Consider instead the new variety of vehicles that will be possible when you don't have to have people in them at all. What about really small delivery vehicles that can weave between vehicles on the roads, and deliver individual things from individual businesses three hundred miles away, right to your door in an hour?
The big deal here is that goods delivery costs -- think Fedex -- are going to plunge so far and so fast that every other business is going to change beyond recognition. Amazon will be able to offer same-hour delivery in most places. But if you have a better widget than Amazon sells, you can have Fedex ship it anywhere in the world within a day, so anyone can be Amazon.
Supermarkets? Gone. You order the canned goods and whatever you want from a website and it's at your door in ten minutes. You pick what you want from the produce, return the rest. Clothing stores? Gone. Pick some candidates from a catalog, several sizes of each are delivered, you pick the ones you want and return the rest. Instant store at your door any time of the day or night. Boom. Headshot. The traditional retail store is dead, dead, dead.
Cities? Well, we don't need parking lots in anywhere people want to be. Most folks will just take taxis everywhere (it won't be cost effective to own a car). And if you own a car, it can park across town and be ready to pick you up in minutes. Cities will become walkable spaces joined by the odd road. Maybe much of the transport will be underground. I wonder what some talented architects will do with the redundant road spaces between the buildings?
With retail mostly gone, and everyone being super-mobile (transport, remember, is much faster and much cheaper), other than residential, towns will have residential, school and entertainment/recreation/green spaces, and I can't really think of anything else. Industry will be outside of town, over by the dump.
If we haven't messed up our social infrastructure so crime isn't back at 80s levels, towns and cities will be great places to live. Broad, green walkways instead of roads, and a shops replaced by neighbourhood dining and parks. The suburbs will be back, but I don't think there will be much to distinguish the city from the burbs at this point. You'll just live near folks who like the same size yard that you do.
Maybe all the efficiencies that this brings will finally give us some more time to enjoy all this, as well. But I'll save that for my next post.
Everyone is picturing vehicles like we have now but without drivers. And sure, we'll have those, and those will be fine. And commuting will be more pleasant and faster and there will be fewer accidents and we will probably mostly not own our own cars.
That doesn't begin to encompass the shift that's about to take place.
Consider instead the new variety of vehicles that will be possible when you don't have to have people in them at all. What about really small delivery vehicles that can weave between vehicles on the roads, and deliver individual things from individual businesses three hundred miles away, right to your door in an hour?
The big deal here is that goods delivery costs -- think Fedex -- are going to plunge so far and so fast that every other business is going to change beyond recognition. Amazon will be able to offer same-hour delivery in most places. But if you have a better widget than Amazon sells, you can have Fedex ship it anywhere in the world within a day, so anyone can be Amazon.
Supermarkets? Gone. You order the canned goods and whatever you want from a website and it's at your door in ten minutes. You pick what you want from the produce, return the rest. Clothing stores? Gone. Pick some candidates from a catalog, several sizes of each are delivered, you pick the ones you want and return the rest. Instant store at your door any time of the day or night. Boom. Headshot. The traditional retail store is dead, dead, dead.
Cities? Well, we don't need parking lots in anywhere people want to be. Most folks will just take taxis everywhere (it won't be cost effective to own a car). And if you own a car, it can park across town and be ready to pick you up in minutes. Cities will become walkable spaces joined by the odd road. Maybe much of the transport will be underground. I wonder what some talented architects will do with the redundant road spaces between the buildings?
With retail mostly gone, and everyone being super-mobile (transport, remember, is much faster and much cheaper), other than residential, towns will have residential, school and entertainment/recreation/green spaces, and I can't really think of anything else. Industry will be outside of town, over by the dump.
If we haven't messed up our social infrastructure so crime isn't back at 80s levels, towns and cities will be great places to live. Broad, green walkways instead of roads, and a shops replaced by neighbourhood dining and parks. The suburbs will be back, but I don't think there will be much to distinguish the city from the burbs at this point. You'll just live near folks who like the same size yard that you do.
Maybe all the efficiencies that this brings will finally give us some more time to enjoy all this, as well. But I'll save that for my next post.
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