Thursday, February 25, 2016

Apple iOS 9.3 and Microsoft's Investment in a Company Called Xamarin

Apple recently came out with a new version of iOS 9, iOS 9.3, because a bug was discovered in the iOS 9 software.  If you set the date of your calendar to January 1, 1970 on your iPad, iPod, or iPod that device would become unusable the next time you  restarted it. This bug led to a hoax among some Apple users that said your Apple device would unlock a retro theme. However, that hoax has not been proven to be true. This bug resulted in Apple coming out with iOS 9.3. However, iOS 9.3 was not only designed to fix a bug in the iOS 9 software, but it was also designed to stop the Apple Pen for being used as a "navigation tool",but rather a normal stylus. To be honest, I think the Apple Pencil is a cool stylus but I never, really, thought that using a stylus was that much more useful than using your fingers as a navigation device. I feel like the Apple Pencil probably works well for drawing pictures and taking notes on your iPad Pro, though. Also, I think that it's a cool concept that you can charge your iPhone with the Apple Pencil. Anyway, what I found interesting about Apple's iOS 9 update was their decision to, kind of, influence what the Apple Pencil is used for. However, the Apple Pencil is just a stylus, so of course you can still use the device as a navigation device or as any other stylus. Apple is continuing to create new features for iOS 9.3 and the update for it will probably be available some time in March. Based on the iOS 9.3 update and all of the new features that Apple wants to add to this software, I'd assume that Apple might be planning to come out with a new software.

Microsoft recently bought a software called Xamarin which is a cross-platform (capable of working on multiple devices) app developing software.  Xamarin is a branch of another cross- platform app developing software company called Mono. Mono was created to be the open-source version of Windows.Net. A major reason why Mono was created was to make more apps compatible on Linux devices, which runs on an open-source platform.   The reason Microsoft decided to do business with Xamarin is because they want to write apps that are compatible on almost all types of devices. Microsoft wants to make sure that the apps they write fit in with the interfaces of more than one device and are user-friendly on all the devices they will decide to write apps for. Microsoft hasn't ever been successful at writing cross-platform software in the past which is the primary reason for why Windows has decided to do business with this company Xamarin. Xamarin is one of the many company's that Microsoft has partnered up with recently. This year, Microsoft has ,also, partnered up with SwiftKey and Samsung this year. I wonder why Microsoft has been so anxious to make business deals lately. I think Microsoft likes the feeling of owning property. I think Microsoft likes teeming up with other companies because it helps them to develop new ideas and helps them be and stay innovative. I think Microsoft likes to unlock its full, but needs the help and advice from others (Microsoft likes to grad all the advice it can get to keep its ideas and concepts fresh). I think that Microsoft is trying to find ways to create new software and devices so that it won't milk its previous devices and software. I think Microsoft is trying to stay more dominant than Apple. I think there are many reasons, a whole laundry list of reasons, why Microsoft has been partnering up with a lot of other companies recently. If you have ideas for why you think Microsoft has been making so many business deals lately, please comment on this page.   

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