14 MACWORLD SEPTEMBER 2020
MACUSER MAC ABOUT TO MAKE A COMEBACKiPhone apps could end up on the Mac.
sure. Not every iPhone or iPad app is
going to be a great experience on the
Mac. But the simple fact that users will be
able to install a mobile app and run it
seamlessly is a huge sea change. Plus,
having those apps available on the Mac
has the added benefit of possibly
encouraging developers who ordinarily
might not have considered the Mac as a
platform to improve their apps to make
them better Mac citizens.
Throw in the huge collection of Unix-
compatible software that it’s able to run, and
the Mac is arguably the most versatile
platform in existence, with everything from
command-line software first deployed
before the Mac existed all the way up to an
app designed for a smartphone in 2020.
THE BIG SUR PRIZE
On top of all that, Apple’s thrown in the
most significant redesign of the Mac
operating system since the debut of Mac
OS X nearly two decades ago. Big Sur is
sure to engender plenty of strong
opinions amongst both admirers and
detractors, but it’s hard to argue that it’s
not a bold move.
That’s significant because, to my mind,
you don’t make that kind of statement on a
platform that you don’t care about. While
some might see it as a sign of the Mac
becoming more iPad-like, I’d argue that it’s
about letting the Mac be the Mac, but
borrowing from everything that Apple has
learned in developing the iPad and the
iPhone over the last decade-plus.
The only constant is change, and if
the Mac doesn’t adapt, it will die.
Therefore, the fact that it’s changing to fit
the times is a testament to its longevity.
The Mac has been through far worse
before, and it’s always survived; hard to
say the same about any other technology
product entering its fifth decade
because, well, there just aren’t that many
of them, are there?
The Mac, as Phil Schiller once said (go.
macworld.com/phsc), keeps going forever,
so what we’re seeing now is just the start
of the latest chapter in its long and storied
history. And it looks like it’s going to be a
good one. ■