No, Mac OS X isn’t going anywhere

In the days following WWDC, with iPhone 4 on everyone’s mind, several bloggers decided that the introduction of iOS 4 is the death knell for Mac OS X. Oh, please.

Apple is concentrating on mobile technologies for the moment because that’s where its massive market and mind share lie. But there’s no way Apple will put Mac OS X out to pasture. In favor of what? iOS? Mac OS X isn’t going anywhere.

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That’s like arguing that Microsoft is going to ditch Windows 7 in favor of Windows 7 Phone — not gonna happen.

Where are these rumors and theories coming from? Maybe some instigators are trying to drum up a controversy, or perhaps some people genuinely think that Apple will dispatch its most successful operating system in favor of iOS. The latter is simply ludicrous. After all, iOS is built on an Mac OS X foundation. It’s an optimized subset of Mac OS X with a different shell.

That said, iOS isn’t equipped to run full Mac OS X-based applications, no matter how much processing power and RAM the device might have. There’s a supporting cast of dependencies that simply don’t exist on the Spartan iOS that enable Mac OS X applications to function. Why would you centralize on a single operating system that’s tasked with everything from cell phone calls to addressing high-end graphics and audio interfaces, especially when you have two perfectly good ways of handling those use cases now? It doesn’t make any sense to think that Apple’s iOS is the future of the company’s desktop and laptop offerings.

Where does Apple go from here? My guess is a hybrid. We won’t see anything like a full Mac OS X on an iPhone-sized device simply due to physical interface issues. But we may see a more general-purpose operating system on the iPad, taking advantage of the larger screen and better battery life. I don’t imagine it’ll run Photoshop or VLC, say, but it’ll behave more like a full operating system than even the same version running on the iPhone — better multitasking methods and interface, that sort of thing.

Mac OS X will gain support for iPad and iPhone apps. Technically, this already exists in the form of the iPhone/iPad simulators, but it lacks the touch angle, so I think we’ll see touch-enabled laptops and desktops, either on-screen, or via a specific touchpad.

I could go either way on that, but the touchpad angle holds up better for me. It’s one thing to use touch controls on a horizontal device like a phone or an iPad, but it’s really annoying to sit and point at vertical display panel. Kiosks? Sure. But for long computing, development, even surfing sessions, it’s not a realistic option. Using an external touch device makes more sense.

Rumor has it that Apple may release a gyroscopic Wii-like controller, too. Couple a 27-inch LCD panel with a Mac running Mac OS X and games developed for the iPad/iPhone, all controlled by the equivalent of a Wiimote, and you suddenly have a compelling gaming system that could run the same games on devices ranging from the iPhone to the iMac. From the developer’s perspective, it’s develop once, run on every Apple device.

And did you happen to notice that the new Mac Mini has an HDMI port? Imagine that. Gee.

The problem with touch-specific computing is that it’s great for consumption, but not nearly as suitable for creation. If I want to read a book, I’ll grab my iPad. If I want to write a book, I’ll grab my laptop.

Touch computing is a companion technology ideally suited for mobile applications, but in its current form can’t surpass the traditional keyboard-and-mouse paradigm. If you ask me, the only interface that will one day depose the tried-and-true QWERTY is brainwave monitoring. It’s already in its infant stages, and in 15 years I’ll be more than happy to jettison my keyboard and mouse in favor of a neurocannula at the base of my skull. Well, I would hope that it would be wireless, but I’ll take what I can get.

So don’t fear, Mac users. Your operating system isn’t going anywhere, though you might get some additional features added onto it, thanks to iOS. Who says that progeny are ungrateful?

This story, “No, Mac OS X isn’t going anywhere,” was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Follow the latest developments in mobile, Apple, and the iPad and read more of Paul Venezia’s The Deep End blog at InfoWorld.com.