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Apple Says It's Out of the Standalone Display Business (macrumors.com)
The launch and marketing push of the 27-inch 5K UltraFine Display made in partnership with LG all but confirms that Apple is out of the standalone display business. Previously, it was rumored Apple was working on its own branded Thunderbolt Display powered by an integrated GPU, but with the launch of LG's display it appears to indicate Apple gave up those plans. The Verge's Nilay Patel also confirms the news, tweeting: "Good notes by @jsnell. I can add that Apple told me it's out of standalone display biz." 9to5Mac reports: The two new LG displays, which will be available later this year, feature Thunderbolt 3 connectivity for an easy one-cable-solution for new MacBook owners. Apple will sell both displays, a 4K model for $699.95 and a 5K model for $1299.95, on its online store. Back in June, Apple officially discontinued its lone company-branded monitor, the Thunderbolt Display, after it had languished for a period of time without a substantial update. Apple's statement on the discontinuation made it appear as if it may be the last of the Apple-branded display, and this has been seemingly confirmed: "We're discontinuing the Apple Thunderbolt Display. It will be available through Apple.com, Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers while supplies last. There are a number of great third-party options available for Mac users," said an Apple spokesperson.
"all but confirms"
So in other words, it's not confirmed, it's just speculation and rumor, right?
I call bullshit. I actually do work in market making. None of the serious network cards (SolarFlare, Chelsio, etc.) support OSX. The industry standard is to use Linux with various hacks to reduce context switching. Also, there's no Apple server hardware that you can install in a rack at a colocation or proximity site. You can't do low-latency trading from home, the latency of your connection to the exchange will swamp any advantages you can get by tuning your software; you need to have your stuff running on a box on-site. IBM's Intel-based servers were a popular choice until they offloaded that unit to Lenovo. Dell PowerEdge has risen in popularity since then. Yes, I've edited trading system code on a Mac, but only over SSH to a Linux server.