124: ‘Schiller Did Not Have to Put Up With This Bullshit’ With Guest Guy English

Episode Summary

Executive Summary: The episode is a deep WWDC debrief centered on the state of Apple as a more open, more distributed company and the technical changes unveiled at the conference. The speakers discuss app thinning, 64-bit-only app support, Bitcode, WatchKit 2.0, Swift 2, Metal on the Mac, iCloud web services, accessibility, right-to-left UI support, and Apple’s evolving PR/dev-rel posture.

Main Topics: WWDC live interview, Phil Schiller, and Apple’s new openness (Priority: 5/5): The conversation opens by praising a live WWDC interview with Phil Schiller as candid, surprisingly informed, and representative of a more open Apple. They also discuss how Apple now appears more comfortable with previews, NDAs, and public developer communication. App thinning, app slicing, and storage constraints (Priority: 5/5): A major topic is Apple’s effort to make iOS devices feel bigger through app thinning, on-demand resources, and app slicing. The speakers connect this to Apple’s push to make 16GB devices more viable and to reduce cellular download friction. Bitcode and Apple’s compiler strategy (Priority: 4/5): They unpack Bitcode as a misunderstood feature: not a magical future-retargeting system, but a way for Apple to apply limited, provably correct optimizations after developers have already tested their code. The discussion links this to LLVM and Apple’s long compiler investment. WatchKit 2.0 and the Apple Watch as a real platform (Priority: 5/5): The speakers note that WatchKit 2.0 is a substantial expansion: native apps, complications, notifications, and richer APIs. They emphasize how much more surface area Apple exposed than many expected, and how that changes watch app design. Swift 2 and the maturation of Apple’s programming model (Priority: 4/5): Swift 2 is framed as a meaningful improvement over Swift 1, especially because it adds error handling and better syntax. The conversation highlights that the language is now far more usable for real projects while still in a transitional phase. Metal on the Mac and pro creative workflows (Priority: 4/5): Metal’s arrival on the Mac is discussed as a significant step for graphics and compute workloads, not just games. The speakers cite Adobe demos showing real-time zooming and effects rendering, and argue that Metal broadens Apple’s performance story for pros. Accessibility, right-to-left layouts, and global reach (Priority: 4/5): They praise Apple’s accessibility work because it also powers UI debugging and better layout reasoning. They also highlight Apple’s serious support for right-to-left languages and internationalization as both a moral and commercial win.

Key Arguments: Apple is becoming more open and more distributed internally, with more people empowered to present and own features instead of relying on a tiny executive cast. App thinning and app slicing are real engineering investments meant to make small-storage devices viable and reduce download size, not just marketing spin. Bitcode is not a way for Apple to silently rewrite apps into arbitrary future CPU targets; it is a constrained optimization layer built on top of LLVM. WatchKit 2.0 turns Apple Watch into a real platform rather than a phone-remote, because it exposes much richer APIs than expected. Swift 2 meaningfully improves the language by fixing early design issues and adding explicit error handling that helps both the compiler and human readers. Metal on the Mac matters for more than games; it enables real-time pro workflows in Adobe tools and signals a lower-level graphics future. Accessibility and internationalization are not side quests; they improve developer tooling, app design, and Apple’s global market reach at the same time. Apple’s move toward HTTPS, web services, and iCloud authentication reflects a broader shift toward safer, more modern platform behavior.

Data Points: WWDC State of the Union duration: about 56 minutes - The interview discussion notes Schiller stayed on stage longer than the planned 45–50 minutes. Planned interview length: 45–50 minutes - The interviewer says he told Schiller the session would likely run about this long. iOS 9 required free storage: reduced from about 4 GB to 1.6 GB - Used as evidence that Apple is using software tricks to make smaller-capacity devices more viable. App download limit on cellular (historical): about 10 MB - Referenced as the old-era limit the speakers had to optimize around for apps like Tap Revenge. On-demand resources: up to about 20 GB total download size - Used to illustrate how large apps can be broken into smaller initial downloads. 2015 U.S. app download share: about 30% - Mentioned in the internationalization discussion to show that most downloads happen outside the U.S. Combined China + Japan app downloads: over 50% - Used to argue that localization is essential for developers. Apple’s 64-bit breakpoint: A7 or later - Noted as the hardware cutoff for apps that require 64-bit-only support. 64-bit introduction: iPhone 5S was first 64-bit iPhone - Used to explain the hardware line Apple can now target more selectively. Apple hired Chris Lattner: 2005 - Mentioned to show the long timeline behind Apple’s LLVM investment. Watch complications: multiple complication sizes with color restrictions - Discussed as a design challenge because developers have very limited space and cannot rely on color.

Pivotal Quotes: "wow, that's a side of Phil Schiller I've never seen before" — Unnamed audience/recap: Reaction to Schiller’s unexpectedly candid and casual live interview. "I kind of hope that might be a way of backing away from sandboxing." — Speaker 1: Speculation that System Integrity Protection might reduce the need for strict Mac sandboxing. "It’s not a failure. It’s just the side effect of Apple releasing it as early as they did to get feedback." — Speaker 2: Defense of Swift’s early release as a beta-like strategy rather than a fully finished language.

Implications: Apple is moving toward a more modular, globally oriented platform with stronger developer tooling and stricter security defaults. For developers, that means more work upfront but better performance, reach, and maintainability later.