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Comment by thelopa | Hacker News Reader

Not sure if you're being sarcastic, but they are right. there isn't an OSX team. Apple doesn't slice things up that way. If there were an OSX team then surely there would be a manager for that team, right? The only person that could plausibly fill that role is Craig Federighi... but he arguably fills the same role for iOS, too.

In the Scott Forstall days, there was a distinct iOS team (Scott) and a distinct OSX team (Craig). now there isn't.

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> In the Scott Forstall days, there was a distinct iOS team (Scott) and a distinct OSX team (Craig). now there isn't.

Frankly, maybe that's exactly the problem. He left in 2012, and that definitely feels like around when things started going downhill.

I don't know what stuff is like under the hood, but from a user perspective, iOS and macOS are two very different platforms that are good at very different things. I'm sure there is a lot of tech that can be shared between them, but some individual focus would likely be beneficial as well.

Sure, there is one exec, but there must be someone under him who is responsible for OS X.

Nope. Craig’s directs are responsible for apps and all the platforms those apps ship on or cross-platform technologies that power apps.

I'm not sure what point you are trying to make here. macOS is a product. With releases, features, etc. Someone or some group of people must necessarily make decisions about what makes up "macOS 10.14.5". Even if that team is "Craig and his direct reports" or whatever, and even if that team has other responsibilities.

For example, I believe if macOS had a dedicated VP with specialized software teams like the type we are speculating here, my guess is we would have fewer bugs of this sort than we do now.

This is my take as well.

> Even if that team is "Craig and his direct reports" or whatever, and even if that team has other responsibilities.

And if those "other responsibilities" are iOS, tvOS, and watchOS, then there is no "macOS team." There is the software engineering organization.

I don’t get what you’re trying to express. Is there anyone at Apple who works only on Mac OS? The senior most such person is the de facto boss of Mac OS.

I think you're not grasping the difference of how Apple is structured compared to most companies, and why I made the comment I did, which is completely verifiable.

Apple slices up departments by function, not by product, which is why there are organizations under Tim Cook such as Software Engineering, Hardware Engineering, Internet Services, etc. Everyone and no one is responsible for shipping all the products as a result of this structure. Software Engineering in particular is responsible for all of the operating systems that powers Apple hardware.

Similarly, this is how smaller departments under each SVP/C-level org are subdivided, and so on to the team level. Each team may be responsible for a particular product, which includes all the experiences for that product across operating systems. There is no single engineer responsible for just macOS/iOS/tvOS/watchOS. Everyone is responsible for everything, and similarly no one is responsible for anything.

Apple's structure is unique compared to other companies, and contrary to how most are run, which probably contributes to your confusion.

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