Originally Posted By: jimhogan
- abandoned the xServe line.

The next iteration of the Mac Pro is what I'm wondering about. There were rumors that it would be rack mount friendly, which could make up for some of the lost possibilities by discontinuing the xServe. Though it's somewhat telling that Apple's own datacenter in North Carolina doesn't run on Mac hardware, so who knows. They may just have decided the dedicated rack mount server market wasn't for them, with OS X Server never really gaining much of a foothold over it's decade+ lifecycle.

Originally Posted By: jimhogan
- dropped Samba from distribution in Lion.

This was believed to be a GPLv3 issue. Apple could either stick with Samba 3.0 (GPLv2), and never gain the newer protocol introduced in Vista/Server 2008, or dump Samba and go with a solution more compatible with the licensing OS X carries. From what I understand, they chose to write their own replacement, not sure if it was based off some different SMB implementation or if they started from scratch.

Originally Posted By: andym
It seems to me Apple have abandoned any interest in the pro market in search of the mighty iDollar.

I won't deny that their success with iOS hasn't changed their focus quite a bit. And I would say it's probably the right thing for them to do, considering that in 2011, they sold more iOS devices then total Macs since the introduction in 1984.

With that said, I don't personally see Apple in the near term abandoning the pro markets that they currently have a stake in. In my eyes, 10.8 shows that Apple is going to remain committed to producing a desktop class OS for a while longer. They did slip up a bit when they rolled out Final Cut X, and pulled the previous version initially. Recent updates have been adding features lost in the changeover, specifically targeted at the pro market.

I can see why it would be harder to trust them now if you are into the high end video production field. Apple is going to have to do something to make up for that over time, and my feeling is that it was partially due to other projects being rushed to meet what Steve wanted to see before his passing. It's somewhat telling that Job's last performance on stage was to introduce iCloud, something that will be the cornerstone of their consumer efforts for a long time to come.