kbee

Moving away from OpenGL (and not moving to Vulkan) is one of Apples biggest mistakes:
- OpenGL and it's successor Vulkan are industry standards, Metal is a proprietary Apple technology (the way Microsoft would have done it).
- Lots of technologies are built on top of industry standards, all software developers developing cross platform applications rely on industry standards.
- Embedded systems ship with OpenGL (with Vulkan being not available right now on most platforms).
- Famous frameworks like Qt are build on top of OpenGL and offer a little bit of Vulkan.
- Famous tools like Blender are built on top of OpenGL and don't care about Metal.
- Not a single Linux platform supports something like Metal or DirecxtX (to name both proprietary technologies in a single sentence).
- The Web is build on top of standards - ever heard of WebGL? There won't be a WebMetal or WebDirectX.

Game engines:
Yeah! Game engines support Metal! But if we have a closer look, a lot of this game engines use frameworks like MoltenVK to map their Vulkan calls to Metal.
Shame on you Apple! There is a good and open standard and Apple doesn't support it!

Apple custom GPU:
So why is Apple moving in the direction of Metal? Cause Apple is building it's own custom GPU and so Apple doesn't have to implement OpenGL or Vulkan functionalities! Makes sense from Apples point of view but it maybe breaks compatibility with Vulkan/OpenGL in the future.
No one knows if the next Vulkan version will be supported on the next Apple GPU version cause Apple just doesn't care.

What Apple should have done is replacing OpenGL with Vulkan. A lot of developers including myself are turning away from Apple. Slow GPU, bad hardware, bad keyboards, everything soldered and glued, no ports, not replaceable SSD/RAM, no powerhorse Mac Pro - and the best no more OpenGL/Vulkan support in the future.

Goodby Apple

P.S.
This was my first post in 12 years Appleinsider. It was always fun to read the articles but in the past Appleinsider articles read like Apple press releases.
 

Why is it that these people who threaten to leave never do?

Times have changed now. For myself I used and loved Apple products for 12 years now and made some nice money with Apple - but now I'm desperate to replace my MBP and I waited for a new Mac Pro this year/last exit. What should I buy? No chance to buy a laptop with less than 32GB and no chance to buy a laptop with a soldered SSD. Those two points are deal breakers. I would accept that I'll get no sdcard slot, no ports, no function keys combined with a weak GPU.
But deprecating OpenGL forces me to think about Linux/Windows on a nice Dell XPS, Precision/Thinkpad and even Huawei is now building nice laptops (the Matebook X is a nice replacement for some Apple products). 

alanh said:

If a global 30% reduction in iPhone sales was ever iminent, Apple could easily afford to buy WeChat. It would be a good investment and basically a 'no-brainer'!

(X) you don‘t know what WeChat is and what chinese people do with that app

Sorry but this is the only possible explanation for your assumption. WeChat is not some iMessage or WhatsApp. With WeChat you transfer money, pay, order tickets, simply everything - there is no possible future or dimension Apple could buy WeChat
https://qpsoftware.net/blog/all-wechat-features-2020

georgie01 said:

It doesn’t mean anyone needs to like Metal, but complaining Apple is anti-consumer because of it is rather absurd.

Oh, and btw, I have yet to see an app based on Qt that doesn’t have a sucky UI/UX. It’s a framework for developers who either don’t have the resources to produce a proper UI for different platforms or who lack taste or understanding. That’s not a good example to be using to support your point.

It doesn't matter ho you feel about Qt UIs. Qt was just an example and it is strong in the embedded world.
Apple isn't Anti-Consumer, it is Anti-Developer. MacOS was always great because of "just works". Science and research are closely tight to Open Standards and Apple is dropping OpenGL/never implementing Vulkan because Apple doesn't want to implement all the functionality on their custom silicon.

In a world that is more and more cloud driven open standards matter. macOS has always been a impressive platform for rapid prototyping but I never will implement a Metal shader for a prototype when an OpenGL/Vulkan shader is needed. Metal may be nice but it is a proprietary technology for a niche market - who wants to buy a 18000$ iMac Pro that isn't even capable of displaying a simple OpenGL/WebGL application using the latest OpenGL standard?
 

Word. In your face, Apple.

From https://support.google.com/googlepixelbuds :
"Do not attempt to remove the batteries. Contact Google or a Google authorized service provider to replace the batteries."

So it seems that batteries of the PixelBuds can at least be replaced by an authorized service provider. Why doesn't Apple care?
And why doesn't AppleInsider care when AirPods and PixelBuds are compared?

AirPods can be used for ~18months (that is my experience and the experience of some friends). After that period of time AirPods start to slowly become unusable cause they don't hold the charge. Can you replace the battery? No! Recycling is also hard for other companies than Apple?
I know stories from NY where thrown away or lost AirPods cause massive problems.
https://www.idropnews.com/news/lost-airpods-have-become-a-massive-problem-in-nyc-mta-to-take-action/116206/

So when you consider our environment and given that the battery of PixelBuds really can be replaced - there is only one winner: PixelBuds!
Shame on you Apple! Where is the battery replacement program for AirPods? When does Apple change the design of the AirPods so that the battery can be replaced?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=167&v=HDTZ_yaYIAc&feature=emb_logo

This is a useless test. The Razor blows the Mac right of the water, when it comes to GPU performance - no one needs to argue that those laptops are build for different purpose.

The razor also supports CUDA and therefore is also superior when it comes to machine learning. 

The Mac is a nice and fast machine, but it can not compete when it comes GPU performance. Simple as that.

22july2013 said:

I've said this before. Apple should shut down the app store in any country that seriously questions its legitimacy or fairness. Apple's explanation should be, "We are shutting it down as a courtesy to the authorities in this jurisdiction until they give us the all-clear to turn it back on." But Apple seems to have a non-confrontational approach. I would ask Apple to show some pugnacity, gumption and perspicacity. "Who Dares Wins."

You should tell Apple about this cool idea. As a revenge for being criticized they should just shut down their own business. Guess you have a PhD in economics? But wait a second ....

aderutter said:

If Apple does get forced to allow other app-stores it should let users know that installing a third party non-apple-approved app will disable all the Apple authored apps to ensure their security is not compromised. So, if you install the Epic app-store for example you can say goodbye to Safari, the official Apple App-Store app, Mail, Calendar, Notes, GarageBand, Pages etc.

I‘m really wondering what kind of stuff you guys are smoking? Does anyone really know what anti competitive means?