They also had (but squandered) the potential to be ahead on the software side. macOS is the only platform I'm aware of that has every app wired for scripting (AppleScript/Apple Events). And not only that, they already solved the issue of adoption since almost every well-behaved (read: non-electron) application has decent support for AppleScript.
It would take very little effort to put an LLM frontend on top of this, and yet they've not only abandoned applescript (or the underlying apple events) at a time when they could expose it to the masses, but have gone in the exact opposite direction with "Shortcuts".
Oh and the icing on the cake is that apple events can be sent over the network as well, and this infrastructure has existed since the early days of OSX.
I agree. The AppleScript/Apple Event Manager thing is an example of treating macOS like a second class citizen in the ongoing iOS-fication of the Apple Ecosystem. The point of macOS for me is that it's simple to use for most beginners but allows more advanced users to add complexity through tools like Apple Script and Automator and the underlying Unix base.
Like you say, an MCP server integrated with AppleScript/Apple Event Manager would instantly hook up any LLM with virtually all Mac apps. More Mac devs will then be incentivized to support these features. For people who find AppleScript un-intuitive, JavaScript is also supported. And in my view, this is a revolutionary way to use my computer - a very Star Trek way of using the computer.
It would take very little effort to put an LLM frontend on top of this, and yet they've not only abandoned applescript (or the underlying apple events) at a time when they could expose it to the masses, but have gone in the exact opposite direction with "Shortcuts".
Oh and the icing on the cake is that apple events can be sent over the network as well, and this infrastructure has existed since the early days of OSX.