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Issue 18.4 ('Mac to iOS')
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COLUMN

Change Is the Only Constant

Thoughts from the Publisher

Issue: 18.4 (July/August 2020)
Author: Marc Zeedar
Author Bio: When xDev publisher Marc Zeedar was a kid he used to create magazines just for fun. Now he's doing it for a living!
Article Description: No description available.
Article Length (in bytes): 2,899
Starting Page Number: 5
Article Number: 18400
Related Link(s): None

Full text of article...

Apple has changed everything. Again. Last week's WWDC unveiled a much-rumored announcement that Apple will be migrating their laptops and desktops to their own silicon over the next two years (with the first machines shipping by the end of this year). While this may sound minor, considering Apple's small share of traditional computers, it's important in several ways.

First, it will allow Apple to control the "whole widget," and promises increases in speed, efficiency, battery life, and hardware customized for certain tasks (video encoding/decoding, machine learning, biometric security, etc.). Just think about all the advancements in the iPhone over the last decade that wouldn't have happened if Apple had been stuck relying on another maker for the CPU.

Second, this move will consolidate all Apple tech so everything uses the same processor family, (eventually) simplifying development.

Finally, we all know Apple has an outsize influence on the rest of the industry, so expect this to cause waves throughout the computing world.

The future is suddenly much more interesting—what will Apple do over the next few years? I remember the exciting days when a new laptop meant 2x, 3x, even 5x increase in power. Lately, if you get a lame 20% faster you're doing well, which has made new computers boring.

Obviously, this will bring change to Xojo developers, but the transition won't happen overnight and I predict it will be fairly smooth. I'm looking forward to the future.

In This Issue

Without XOJO.CONNECT this year, we've got more presentations turned into articles. Tom Baumgartner explains about porting his Mac App to iOS, and I reveal PowerXS, my tool to make XojoScripting easier.

Stefanie continues her SceneKit series, and Markus has more mapping adventures and another article about his object-oriented ListBox.

In our regular columns, I explain how to solve a vexing Drag and Drop problem, and Paul covers WWDC and more. Enjoy!

End of article.