Re: Thoughts on Workflow acquisition?
Re: Thoughts on Workflow acquisition?
- Subject: Re: Thoughts on Workflow acquisition?
- From: David Gregg <email@hidden>
- Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2017 07:54:28 -0600
> On Mar 23, 2017, at 7:02 AM, Jean-Christophe Helary <email@hidden> wrote:
>
>
>> On Mar 23, 2017, at 21:51, David Gregg <email@hidden> wrote:
>>
>> Yesterday there was an announcement of the Apple acquisition of the iOS automation app called Workflow. The team of three individuals that developed that product will be moving to Apple.
>
> Weird, appleinsider says the three will move to Apple "reports TechCrunch", but TechCrunch says that 4 team members move to Apple:
>
> AppleInsider:
> "As part of the acquisition, Workflow's team of Ari Weinstein, Conrad Kramer and Nick Frey are headed to Apple to work on unspecified projects, reports TechCrunch."
>
> TechCrunch:
> "Workflow the app is being acquired, along with the team of Weinstein, Conrad Kramer, Ayaka Nonaka and Nick Frey."
>
> Also, AppleInsider is not adding much to the TechCrunch story...
Thanks, I was reading over the TechCrunch story just as you replied and noted the same discrepancies.
>
>> Does this suggest a tighter integration and possible stronger automation platform on iOS?
>
> Well, a bit more than suggests doesn't it ?
>
>> Does this possibly have implications to automation on macOS? Will this replace Automator?
>
> No way to tell.
Maybe a little more context would help ....
I have recently been working for a customer on a method for using text messaging to trigger home automation activities. Siri tends to be too much of a generalist for my liking, and often returns a webpage of results. Maybe this acquisition will help on that issue. With the text messaging route I can send a query to a Mac server running home automation software, and apply my own filtering on the Mac end. Appropriate security measures have been applied to prevent queries from unknown parties.
Now how does this have anything to do with Workflow. Well, I can SSH into my Mac, and send a direct message instead of being tied to the iCloud messaging service. Obviously this can be done in other ways. However, Workflow generally provides a faster, more intuitive method, and I can trigger it from various locations on iDevices (Workflow, home page, notification widget, action extension), or even from an Apple Watch. Triggering home automation requests from a notification widget using an Apple Pencil, versus futzing with Siri, is efficient and generally more responsive.
Workflow also has an interesting underlying model:
"Much of the magic of Workflow comes from the Content Graph, a technology that intelligently converts between different types of content on your behalf. When an action expects one type of content, and you pass in another type, the Content Graph will automatically coerce to the desired type.
For example, consider a workflow with a Get Upcoming Events action followed by a Show Directions action. When run, this workflow will show navigation directions to the next event on your calendar.
The Content Graph knows that the first action outputs a calendar event, and the second action expects a Maps location as input. As such, Workflow automatically grabs the location where the event will take place, and passes that location to the second action to get directions.
With the Content Graph, you rarely have to consider whether you’re passing the right type of content from one action to another. Workflow assumes what you want to accomplish, and figures out how to get there."
>
>> Does this mean a common automation platform between iOS and macOS?
>
> No way to tell.
>
>> Your thoughts?
>
> It's still not enough to move all my workflow to an iPad, but that seems pretty cool.
>
> Jean-Christophe
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