Apple Set To Unveil Boldest Software Redesign In Years Across Entire Ecosystem 76
New submitter CInder123 shares a report from TechSpot: Apple is undertaking one of the most significant software overhauls in its history, aiming to revamp the user interface across iPhone, iPad, and Mac devices. This ambitious update, set for release later this year, will fundamentally transform the look and feel of Apple's operating systems, enhancing consistency and the user experience.
The updates are part of iOS 19 and iPadOS 19, codenamed "Luck," and macOS 16, dubbed "Cheer," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. He cited sources who requested anonymity since the project has yet to be officially announced. These major upgrades will introduce a new design language while simplifying navigation and controls. Apple's push for consistency across platforms aims to create a seamless user experience when switching between devices. Currently, applications, icons, and window styles vary significantly across macOS, iOS, and visionOS, leading to a disjointed experience.
The updates are part of iOS 19 and iPadOS 19, codenamed "Luck," and macOS 16, dubbed "Cheer," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. He cited sources who requested anonymity since the project has yet to be officially announced. These major upgrades will introduce a new design language while simplifying navigation and controls. Apple's push for consistency across platforms aims to create a seamless user experience when switching between devices. Currently, applications, icons, and window styles vary significantly across macOS, iOS, and visionOS, leading to a disjointed experience.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
The Mac Pro has 6 full-length PCI Express gen 4 slots (Two x16 slots, Four x8 slots) and one half-length x4 PCI Express gen 3 slot with Apple I/O card installed.
So instead of fixing existing bugs, (Score:3)
Instead of fixing existing bugs, they'll add a slew of new ones, while adding confusion for existing users. Yup, total winning strategy.
And since they're already behind with their new AI Siri, this'll just add to the mess and delay.
Re: (Score:2)
> they're already behind with their new AI Siri, this'll just add to the mess and delay
I think they have like 14,000 developers.
Probably different teams.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
TDS is a real recognized diagnosis now.
They're gonna have to add EDS soon.
windows 8? (Score:1)
Touch devices and functional computers should not have the same UI. Normally Microsoft is the one whose "purpose of [its] life is only to serve as a warning to others."
Apple does dumb shit but normally not by consciously disregarding the most hated version of Windows of all time.
Re: (Score:1)
Windows Me or Windows 8?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:1)
Well, maybe it's about time (Score:2)
I understand that Linux works reasonably well on Apple Silicon Macs now - might be worth giving that a try.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Why would they? Despite the moaning on here, a lot of people like both IOS and MacOS - and for a lot of people it is a differentiator for them from Linux/Android and Windows.
Re: (Score:2)
MacOS isn't BAD, there are at least a few features baked in that are arguably better than Windows / Linux alternatives. Quicklook is one that jumps out. Bash / ZSH, and the availability for pure BASH scripting being natively available is also a really nice feature.
That being said, there are tons of really annoying issues that Apple refuses to fix at any cost. The primary one being Finder is a steaming turd that makes the Windows Explorer file manager look like the pinnacle of file management in comparison.
Re: (Score:1)
The primary one being Finder is a steaming turd that makes the Windows Explorer file manager look like the pinnacle of file management in comparison. Finder is so bad that people make a paid replacement for it, and enough people buy the replacement for the company to stay in business.
Seems you never used either of them.
What is bad with Finder?
And what is good with Windows Explorer on Windows 11? Yes, I have a replacement for that: GitBash shell. Because the Explorer is close to unusable. But unfortunately t
Re: (Score:1)
Finder never crashed on me.
Well, perhaps in Mac OS 6? No, the bad one was 8, but I did not use it ...
You have a point with sorting views, but if you want to have folders on top: you sort by type. Simple.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Why would they encourage people to use their App Store clients for another purpose?
Re: (Score:1)
If I wanted to run Linux, I would have bought a cheap $300 computer, not an expensive Mac.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
If you already own a Mac, the cost of trying out Linux on it is $0.
I actually have been reasonably happy with macOS... but one has to wonder whether "fundamentally transform[ing] the look and feel of Apple's operating systems" will mean the neutering of macOS to more closely align with Apple's device OSes.
For example: Will they remove people's ability to install apps from outside Apple's walled garden? Will they kill the terminal?
Re: (Score:2)
Every time a story about an Apple UI resign comes along (every two or three years) Slashdot loses its collective mind about "neutering" MacOS.
Relax. They're going to tweak the colours of some icons. Maybe, if they're feeling particularly spicy, they'll change the name of "System Preferences" to "Settings."
Re: (Score:2)
The best thing they could do is bring back the NeXT interface. In particular, wide screen monitors ought to have the dock at the left or right. It's bananas to have it at the bottom center, and when you have it there both autohide and not having autohide are just irritating in different ways. I use XFCE with a toolbar set up like NeXT on a 4k TV, it's basically the same thing and there's plenty of real estate for lots of icons.
The thin strip across the top of the classic Mac OS was pretty slick as it did ev
Re: (Score:1)
Why would a Unix OS lose its terminal?
How actually would you make it impossible to install software from "outside of the walled garden"?
Software on macs is not "installed". The only few things that need "installing" are obscure extremely low level drivers which for example install bridged network drivers for virtual machines.
Every other software, you "copy" on the place where you want it, or download and built it, or download and unpack it. There is nothing to install.
Re: (Score:1)
You do not need to install Linux on Macs to run Linux tools.
You just download/install them ... same as on Debian etc. p.p.
OS X is a mess (Score:2, Insightful)
The OS X interface is a disaster. Everything takes forever to find and multiple clicks to access. They don't have proper scaling. Multi-monitor hardware support only properly exists in the M4. Windowing is nothing compared to Windows 11 or, better yet, Windows 11 with FancyZones. The iPhone is just as bad when compared to Android, except that iOS is locked down tighter than Superman's fist making a diamond.
I used to be 100% a Mac guy, but the world moved on. Now I'd run Windows or a desktop Linux long
Re: (Score:2)
Does anyone have proper scaling? For a while it seemed like we were finally heading towards resolution independence but now we're stuck with some kind of weird pseudo-pixel system based apparently on a base pixel that is 1/160th of an inch. But not always. And instead of UIs based on scalable vector elements, we still are generally stuck with scaled pixmaps.
That said, on a 4k screen macOS looks a lot better than most other operating systems, including Windows and Gnome. One thing stopping me from buying
Re: (Score:2)
XFCE is great at 4k. No problems whatsoever. I'm doing it right now. NVidia, on the other hand, is kind of a little PITA when it comes to using it with this TV. I have tried I think every different mechanism for forcing output to a specific display, but it still can only seem to detect and react to when my display disconnects, and not to when it connects. If it weren't for my using CUDA regularly, I would regret my choices enough to actually think about buying an AMD card, which is what I expect to do next
Re: (Score:2)
Yes that's what I'm getting at. Qt apps seem to do okay, and GTK4 is a lot better in recent releases with support for factional scaling finally. I understand what fractional scaling is and how virtual pixels now forms the device-independent base unit of measurement, but I still don't like how it's done. 100% scale should mean the button, font, line, circle, whatever is the same size regardless of screen resolution, and changing that percent simply
Re: (Score:2)
Windows handles all kinds of fractional scaling just great. I don't know if it's by pixel or by vector, but shit works. I can go from a 125% screen at 4k to a 100% screen at HD and the scaling just resizes.
Re:OS X is a mess (Score:4, Informative)
> They don't have proper scaling.
What on Earth are you on about? MacOS has better scaling than any other OS out there.
> Multi-monitor hardware support only properly exists in the M4.
Again, what on Earth are you talking about? I've run multiple monitors on MacOS for over a decade without an issue. What, exactly, did you have a problem with?
Re: (Score:2)
What on Earth are you on about? MacOS has better scaling than any other OS out there.
I tried using a Mac from my TV recently. The only way to make the interface larger so that I can comfortably read it from a distance is to turn down the resolution. Why????? There is a hacky way to force the TV as a retina display, but MacOS just 2x scales the whole interface on retina displays which is way too big for my TV's lower resolution. Both Windows and most Linux desktops have true fractional scaling, in fact Windows high DPI scaling has gotten quite decent recently. When I set my scaling to 125% i
Re: (Score:2)
> What on Earth are you on about? MacOS has better scaling than any other OS out there.
I don't think so? I'm 50yo so my eyesight is getting worse. I need large text to be able to read it. My monitor resolution is 3840x2160.
When I used to use Windows, to get everything in large text (menus, dialogs, prompts, ...) I'd stay in 3840x2160 resolution and choose "large fonts 150% or 200%". The UI adjusts: I get the large fonts I need, but staying at native resolution, so all the lines+curves in the fonts are cl
Re: (Score:2)
But... but... Steve Jobs is a god!
Re: (Score:1)
Erm ... there used to be an UI scaling applet in system settings.
That you change resolution to get bigger fonts makes no sense to me.
But my Macs run on 10 year old OSes ... so no idea what the current "Mac fuck up again" is.
Re: (Score:2)
OS X doesn't really do fractional scaling. It looks like ass.
Re: (Score:2)
"Forever to find"? You've gotten used to the shit sandwich that's Windows and just assume that if it's different from Windows it's worse.
Windows is a special kind of disaster, where configuring a network interface properly means dropping down from the nice new UI that only includes half of what you need into an unholy thing that looks like it dates back to Windows 95 that includes all of the settings, but organized in a way that no sane person would think is anything but an abomination.
But no, macOS in recent versions is a disaster, too. When they iOS-ified System Settings, it became way harder to find anything. Every version of macOS prio
W8 zombies return! (Score:2)
This poorly implemented idea was already done by M$ as Windows 8 and the Windows Phone. I hear the phone was okay, but W8 was a confusing mess. It doesn't really matter to me. Apple's "intuitive" interfaces are not so intuitive unless you grew up on them and I won't be buying any of their stuff. I admired Apple's interfaces until I had to use them.
Re: (Score:2)
W10 and W11 are just refinements of W8, a step back towards Windows 7 in some ways but also steps forward in many others. W10 and W11 are, except for the spyware and cloud stuff (the latter of which can be easily turned off), pretty decent OSs.
Oh God No (Score:1)
Please don't do this, Apple... there's absolutely zero chance it will be good.
Re: (Score:2)
Can it be any worse than what they ship right now? Just kidding. Of course it can.
Re: (Score:2)
Can it be any worse than what they ship right now? Just kidding. Of course it can.
Every release, I ask myself the same question. Maybe if I stopped asking, they would stop finding ways.
That code name will bite them (Score:2)
Code named luck.
The street name will be "you're fucked".
It doesn't matter if it's objectively good or bad. People equate easy with familiar. Any change is going to get screamed about on Reddit and the apple tech sites.
It also doesn't matter because people who buy apple products don't look to buy anywhere else. It's not like what Microsoft has been doing with the Windows store and Live365 accounts to login to your computer will attract anyone new to the platform.
Re: (Score:2)
People loathe and fear change. Big Tech has be shoving unnecessary forced upgrades at us for many years now. I don't know anyone who wants a reorganization of software they already know. While the Apple faithful will defend all manner of getting fucked as somehow innovative and quite desirable, unfamiliarity will cause customer attrition. Apple can join Microsoft, Amazon, Goo, etc as experiences to just get thru not enjoyed.
Re: That code name will bite them (Score:2)
I just want to get my work done, I don't want to spend time every year chasing a moving target motivated solely by Apple's business need to have something different to show at their convention.
Code name LUCK (Score:2)
Here is my guess.... (Score:1)
They will introduce a bunch of changes that nobody needs, nobody asked for, and nobody wants. They will modify things that everyone has gotten used to, irritating users as they have to adjust and get used to all the changes that nobody needs, nobody asked for, and nobody wants. They will completely ignore fixing broken shit and fixing stupid shit. They will stir the pot, piss people off, and manage to add no value whatsoever. It will be hailed as revolutionary. Same as it ever was. Good "luck" with all th
Re: (Score:2)
All that will happen, and their share price will still go up
Re: (Score:1)
Well, that's the important thing. As long as the share price goes up, I don't care what they do.
Final Cut PRO X... (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
... All over again
At least FCP X burned so many people that Apple has given us fourteen years of free updates as penance. And in truth, after a few years, most of the stuff that FCP X didn't support wasn't stuff I cared about anymore anyway, once I moved away from HDV. But yeah, those were not good times.
Mac Mode (Score:2)
Jobs had the goal way back in '06 of a KVM mode for a phone that would be your desktop computer.
This seems like the penultimate step.
I beta tested a MacNC back in the 90's with netboot via tftp and AFP instead of a hard drive. He and Larry realized not everybody had a T-1 to their house so they pivoted that hardware to iMac instead.
Sometimes these ideas take a while to come to fruition.
FWIW I got the docking station for a Pine64 many years back and it worked fine. Not fast but OK for light office work.
Mos
Based on how they are behaving currently? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
iOS 18 hid almost all application preferences behind a secondary menu. macOS hid AirDrop. Both are now trying to predict my writing incorrectly. Notes is turning into bloated trash and hashtags. TextEdit was ruined long ago. Passwords is this new incantation that might work in the future but currently gets in the way asking stupid questions. I am going to be cussing at equipment for weeks after this comes outâ¦at least I can locate and override some of the nonsenseâ¦but my poor customers will be cussing for years.
No matter how often they ask, no, I really do want to use Keychain Access. It does what I need, and doesn't get in my way.
Team Skuemorphic (Score:1)
Management without direction (Score:2)
This seems more like Apple management has no direction of where to go, and is just trying something to see what sticks.
Since iPhone 3G, the basic interface of the iPhone had been basically consistent, and that means grandma can do FaceTime with her grandkids without much trouble. Nearly zero support effort is a great incentive for the breadwinner of the family to choose iPhones for family members over other options.
Ok, and now Apple is going to drastically change the iPhone interface? Maybe it is time to
Re: (Score:2)
They mean what they've always meant: make everything else look like an iPhone screen.
Disjointed? (Score:2)
" Currently, applications, icons, and window styles vary significantly across macOS, iOS, and visionOS, leading to a disjointed experience."
They just spent the last decade throwing out all the skeuomorphic UI elements and making all these devices have the same look and feel. The got rid of the old macOS System Settings for one that looks like iOS. What in the world do they mean disjointed? Maybe they mean macOS users don't want their laptop to look like an iPhone screen? How old are these developer tea
Re: (Score:2)
MS Windows already destroyed graphical structures for the sake of Android-like lists of text. This was/is departure from the core interface ideas. Not to mention disastrous Win8 monster. Please, experiment without rushing it to the user base.
My PC is not a iPhone (Score:1)
I wrote an OS myself. (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
A machine does not know how to write "Subroutines" - unless it got taught the exact same subroutines by a human developer.
A machine does not know how to make something "safe" unless it was taught the exact same thing by a human developer.
A human developer does not know how to make save things and put them into a subroutine: unless he learned it from an other human who had superiour knowledge.
So: no one at the current state/stage of AI is writing anything secure - in subroutines - for an operation system.
The
Re: (Score:2)
Unfuck your current system first (Score:2)
I mean, look at Photos. Worked fine. Now it is a mess. Can't do proper slide shows anymore (something that worked perfectly since I used it first on the first ipad), can't connect to a remote display: it just mirrors ... And lets think about all these small issues on macOS eg when you have multiple desktops and pin an app to all, after a reboot it is stuck on desktop 1 ... at the bottom of all other windows and it can't be brought to top. Or that macOS will never remember what app windows where on which mon
Re: (Score:1)
I stopped upgrading to newer Mac OS X / macOS versions when this started to happen.
I mean, I got hooked back to Macs at 2004. I bought the first 17" Mac laptop in my town.
Everything regarding multiple monitors was just perfect.
You put it to sleep at home.
Unplugged the monitor(s), went to work. Obviously the windows "on the other monitor" where now on your main screen. But chances are: 90% you did not use or need in the office.
You went home, plugged in the big screen. Does not matter if you woke up the lapto