Kirk McElhearn, Macworld:
I was chagrined to learn that Sal Soghoian, who was Apple’s Product Manager of Automation Technologies, was let go for “business reasons.” Mr. Soghoian had been with Apple for nearly 20 years, and was the keeper of the flame for technologies such as AppleScript, Automator, and more.
And:
It’s not clear whether the termination of Mr. Soghoian means the demise of AppleScript altogether, and particularly in iTunes, but many developers, iTunes users, and others are concerned by this decision.
You see, it’s all about freedom. Freedom to do things we want that Apple doesn’t think we need to be able to do. Freedom to explore. Freedom to discover new ways to link applications, to interact with files, to create our own solutions. We can’t expect apps to cater to all our whims, and tools like AppleScript and Automator allow us to go a step further and discover ways to do things that Apple never even considered.
Nice job by Kirk, passionately capturing the essence of the value of AppleScript and Automator. Technologies like AppleScript and Automator expose just enough of the wiring to allow pros and hobbyists alike to build out their own infrastructure, make their Apple products more powerful than they were when they came out of their boxes.
I really don’t want to see my investment in AppleScript programming for our workflow vanish. I could re-write it in Javascript, but I’d really rather not.
Given that Apple is the one who championed Automator, AppleScript and scriptable application frameworks I don’t know that they need the value explained to them.
Apple hasn’t killed AppleScript, but Apple supports using Javascript for automation. That’s actually far more open and flexible than AppleScript.
Apple’s roadmap for the future has been very clear for a few years now, and that is that they are headed back into a “thin client” environment. You don’t need AppleScript or Automator if you don’t have apps and files… and you soon won’t. EVERYTHING… and I do mean EVERYTHING will be stored in the cloud, and the only way to get anything done on the Mac will be if you do it, AND store it in the cloud. With Sierra, Apple has even whittled away at connecting to servers.. now takes more clicks than before,… and AFP soon won’t even be supported… and the same with SMB as well. You don’t need to connect to local servers when everything is in the cloud. Apple has giving up on content creators like myself, and has turned into a content consumption company. Aperture? gone. iTunes? almost impossible to use these days with files on your computer, but you don’t need iTunes with Apple Music(or whatever its called these days). And don’t forget the rumor that Apple wills stop SELLING songs in iTunes, forcing everyone into some kind of subscription model of business. And once you subscribe, you don’t need files on your computer. iMovie, Final Cut, Logic, and Garage Band soon will no longer be. No new MacPro’s. no new MacMini’s, iMacs and laptop that can’t be updated…in my mind, all of this points to one thing: Cloud. and MORE cloud.
@DanielSw:disqus Even worse: the stance being projected by Apple in this situation doesn’t paint any rosier a picture for JavaScript Automation on the Mac. Sal was, as far as I know, the person in charge of those initiatives as well.
sorry but what self-agrandizing dreck. this is about Braveheart-style “FREEDOM!” now? my god people take themselves seriously….
cool story bro. too bad you wrote it without any input from anyone at apple who actually knows what their roadmap is.
apple isn’t projecting any stance. thats all in your head. a guy who used to work for apple doesnt anymore, and we really have no idea why that may, or may not, be the cause.
from there the echo chamber panic sets in. commenters on sites like these start projecting their fears and writing blog posts and etc etc… all of it entirely separate from anybody related to any of this stuff at apple. its just hysteria. more hysteria. every week.
It certainly is within Apple’s power to present a clearer impression of their stance towards automation, if they choose to do so.
sure, it’s within their power to. but it’s not their style to. Apple historically doesnt talk. the fact that they are like this today is a brave new world.
but the absence of a messaging from them doesnt give credence to blog hysteria. which is why i never take this crap seriously — usually it blows over and the hysteria/DOOM people were out of their minds as usual.
Apple has sure killed just about every other thing that made them great … Apple’s values, at least as a traditional computer company have eroded, not just on the hardware side, but most sides. I do like they they keep touch (mostly) off macOS, yet non upgradeable $3,500 laptops – that are in say a “midrange” power wise (80W), is insane …
use paragraphs, ever? buddy, would help if you want others to understand. I understand if you don’t.
Maybe it should be Apple’s style to occasionally populate a “roadmap” or give its users half a clue. Yes, with all that Apple has killed, user have a right to be concerned. With the Apple “Music” debacle.
Apple’s failure to make actual, traditional computers … sure that was the old Apple, yet computers still pull a lot of money for the company, even though they drop “computer” from their name.
Apple does not appear to take its computers very seriously, anymore. Why is there no new Mac Pro – announced or otherwise?
Because historically Apple was known for upgradable computers…
The new MBP is interesting largely because it is very powerful while also being very efficient.
Probably because even among professionals there is little demand for that type of computer any more (and because Intel hasn’t released the new Xeon CPUs).
Yes, historically Apple has been known for upgradable professional computers.
Look at Power Mac G3, G4, G5 that had easy-open doors. Look at the iMac G5. Two screws and the whole mobo is revealed. Look at the MacBook Pro from 2010, which can be configured with the same RAM and more SSD than the 2016 model.
Sometimes a client surprises you with a big project or new kind of project and you need more RAM than you ever expected/budgeted. Or more SSD. If your Mac is 18 months old, bigger RAM and SSD is now easy to find cheap because of Moore’s Law, even though the Mac has at least another 18 months in it. But with current Macs you cannot respond to a client or other unexpected situation like that.
In some cases, you max out the RAM/SSD at purchase, and a year later you can double it all from a third party, but you can’t because the Mac is sealed shut.
PowerBook G3 had a bay on each side that could hold either a battery or an optical disc or a second hard disk.
The make-it-slimmer and seal-it-up thing is awesome for consumer devices and business computers. In creative work, we go from project to project. If you start a new movie every 6 months you may need to reconfigure your hardware and software each time. Each new project has a different budget and different needs. If you realize your new movie means you need more RAM to run more tracks in Logic or more operating systems in Parallels and that RAM chip is $100 but you can’t put it in because you bought a Mac instead of a Dell, that is frustrating.
And thinner doesn’t help pros much. Configurable is much better. Dongles are not temporary for pros. There are people buying the 2016 MacBook Pro with a GigE to Thunderbolt 3 adapter to replace a 2012 MacBook Pro and its GigE to Thunderbolt 2 adapter. In creative work, giant audio video files and photos get to your Mac through GigE. It is not an antique, phasing-out port. Consumers may not need it at home or on iPad or MacBook, but it should be on MacBook Pro.
All Apple has done this decade with Mac form factors is make them thinner and glue them shut and let the software stagnate into 1995 territory. That did nothing for most pro users. The devices did not get better overall. Individual parts got faster and a geegaw got stuck on the keyboard like HP is designing Macs now. But overall, Macs from 5 years ago are better professional workstations.
The ports on an iPad or MacBook are an inconvenient challenge for the user that you want to see go away. The ports on a MacBook Pro are a Swiss Army knife the user uses every day to respond to various situations and locations. One approach does not suit the entire product line. As iPad and MacBook got smaller, MacBook Pro should have gotten bigger, because the MacBook Pro user now almost certainly has an iPad. They are using the MacBook Pro because it is big.
The original post was about laptops, but…
That’s somewhat true of the professional desktop line, but there was always limited support for many upgrades, like CPUs, GPUs or other PCI cards.
I know a lot of professionals who use Macbook Pros as their primary workstation because they can carry with them on set, or in the studio or at home. To say that is no benefit is simply wrong. With the new Macbook Pro you can drop into the office, plug in one cable and be connected to power, ethernet, attached storage and an external monitor. Get to a studio and one cable connects you to a projector and a suite of control surfaces.
Apple is pushing a professional workflow based around a bare-bones core system which can be easily augmented via daisy-chained, high-speed peripherals. It’s a different paradigm, but I don’t see it as abandoning professionals at all.
I completely agree with you. I think Federighi appreciates full well the continuing importance of Apple’s automation assets. One guy gone does NOT not a dismal scenario paint.
Horse pucky. Quit generalizing and exaggerating! And get off this “upgradeable” kick. That’s soooo ’80s and ’90s. Fast, thin, and quiet is the name of the game, and that does NOT allow for tinkering, expanding, or even user-accessibility. They’ve been doing an admirable job of keeping prices down for year now. But if new technology happens to cost more, then guess to gets to pony up for it? We do. I still remember dropping $9K in ’88 for a Mac Iici. It was a great machine and served me well for a good number of years. But I wouldn’t trade my current late-model iMac for it, which cost about a third of that price. Money is money. If you don’t have enough, knuckle down and figure out how to make more.