Apple's open sourced Swift can be a data and market changer

Apple announced in June that it will be making Swift 2.0 open source at the latter part of 2015. Some developers have called the move monumental and even game changing. What can an open source Swift 2.0 do for the market?

Developers are calling open sourced Swift 2.0 as a “huge milestone in the evolution of the programming industry," according to Computer World. For those not familiar with it, Swift refers to Apple’s modern programming language that allows developers create apps for OS X and iOS. Making the software open source will allow the company to open ports for OS X, iOS and Linux. According to Apple, this may eventually render Swift available in all favourite platforms.

"We think Swift is the next big programming language," said Apple exec Craig Federighi previously during the WWDC 2015.

"The one we will be doing application and systems programming on for 20 years to come. We think Swift should be everywhere and used by everyone,” he added.

More importantly, it can be used for Windows applications as well in the future. This will allow Apple to redefine technology ecosystem. Previously, Apple was always accused of being isolated in the market place. This is no longer the cause as iMacs are seeing larger market share, Apple's solutions are trickling to enterprise units and iOS devices are not the benchmark of the premium market.

According to Wired, an open sourced Swift can develop into a contender with other languages running on other devices. Apple may be even able to penetrate data centres. This is good for both Apple and the developers. Apple can bring in more people to the language that drives iPhone apps. Open source already dominated the software industry. If Apple wants to catch up with its rivals, then it should expand its horizons accordingly. An open sourced Swift may just be the answer.

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