For quite some time now, there have been whispers and even some indications, like the increased integration between iOS and Mac OS X, that the two would merge into a single operating system at some point down the line. However, if you ask one Apple engineer, that event is simply not on Apple’s calender.
Who better to common on, and pour cold water all over, the notion of OS X and iOS being melded into a single piece of software than Craig Federighi, who is Cupertino’s lead on software engineering. Here’s what he had to say when he spoke with Macworld:
“The reason OS X has a different interface than iOS isn’t because one came after the other or because this one’s old and this one’s new.”
But what about the fact that there has been some integration between iOS and OS X? For instance, with OS X Mavericks, which was released this past October, if you search for directions on your Mac or MacBook, you can actually forward them directly to your iPad or iPhone from the OS X Maps app. Federighi acknowledged that integrating the two will continue, but only where appropriate.
“You don’t want to say the Mac became less good at being a Mac because someone tried to turn it into iOS,” Federighi said. “So you’ll see them be the same where that makes sense, and you’ll see them be different in those things that are critical to their essence.”
What do you think? Do you believe that iOS and OS X will merge at some point, or do you believe Federighi when he says that Apple has no plans to meld the two? Sound off in the comments below.
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