Concept in Definition ABC

Although there is much talk about the convergence between mobile and desktop devices, we still find two systems differentiated operating procedures for the different device formats, mainly due to their respective particularities of use (what which leads to certain needs of the user interface), and the hardware platform on which they are used (usually x86 on computer, and ARM on mobile device).

In the case of Apple, as in that of other companies, we can clearly see this dichotomy: While computers, which use Mac OS X, mount Intel x86 chips and lack a touch interface, mobile devices (iPhone, iPad), are based on the architecture ARM and employ a operating system adapted, iOS.

iOS is the "version" of the platform software Apple intended to run on mobile devices, such as the iPhone or iPad. A variant of this equips the Apple TV.

Like all operating systems, it provides the user of the machine that mounts it with an interface to interact with the software, the ability to run applications, store files of all kinds, interact with the outside world, connect to

Internet, etc.

A defining aspect of iOS is the impossibility of direct user access to the file system, something that can only be carried out through an application, unlike what happens in Android, an operating system that has some administrators files.

Likewise, you cannot access the storage and the file system through its connection to a computer, as with Android, but must be done exclusively through the iTunes program, available for Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows.

This prevents using an iPhone or an iPad connected to a PC with GNU / Linux to access the file system or, at least, makes it difficult, since third-party solutions have been born to do so, but they are always subject to changes in the iOS by Apple that render them inoperative.

iOS was born in 2007 with the first iPhone, being the first operating system (and the terminal, the first phone) to support a multi-touch interface.

Until then, touch user interfaces only supported one pressure point, but the iPhone revolutionized this, introducing gestures that would later become popular for other platforms as well, such as “pinch and zoom”Which allows us to enlarge the image with two fingers making the“ clamp ”.

Another feature of the first iOS was that it did not support Flash.

This decision, taken - as far as is known - personally by Steve Jobs, was justified at the time safety of the Flash plug-in, as well as its technical problems, although it is said that it was due to the release of a version of Photoshop earlier for Windows than for Mac, which annoyed Jobs to the point of boycotting this important piece for Adobe.

The 2007 iOS also had some gaps compared to desktop computers, such as the lack of true multitasking.

This aspect was solved in its fourth version. Currently, and like Android, iOS has a potential - not exploited by Apple - to act as a desktop operating system.

All iOS applications must be installed from the Apple App Store.

This concept was also very novel at the time; Although there were centralized application repositories, none was the "mandatory" one, and everyone could download programs from wherever you wanted, both on desktops and devices mobiles.

The concept of the App Store gained many followers, to the point that it was adopted by the competence (there we have Google Play) and even its model went to desktop systems.

However, it also generated its enemies, developers who saw how their applications were not approved by Apple for the App Store, or were withdrawn, and users who wanted to install what they would like.

For these profiles was born what has been called Jailbreak, and that consists of "freeing" the iOS to install whatever you want.

Once done, the jailbreak allows you to install any application downloaded from the Internet, with a large volume of software not approved by Apple but it can be installed on our iPhones without having to go through the App Store.

The iOS also has, since 2010, the first and most famous voice assistant, Siri.

Voice is the user interface of the future for computer systems, and Apple was ahead of it. aspect with Siri, which was available as an app for iOS in 2010, and already integrated into the system from from 2011.

Siri accepts a wide range of voice commands, as well as allowing interaction with third-party applications built into iOS.

For a few years, iOS has also served as the basis for tvOS, the platform software that Apple uses on its Apple TV, a set-top box thought for him consumption of content and also, in its latest models, the execution of apps, mainly video games.

Photos: Fotolia - John Takai / Jackie2k

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