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How Tim Cook transformed Apple after Steve Jobs

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Re: How Tim Cook transformed Apple after Steve Jobs

#311

Post by grishka »

bromuro wrote: post #175
systemvoltage wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every year their UX/UI gets consistently worse.

I don’t agree: I love the recent UI updates.

Big Sur is a huge step in the wrong direction. And there were links here on HN to posts that explained it better than I'll ever do. In short: there were many changes that only considered the looks, without ever thinking about actual usability. Then the fact that this overall touch-ification of the UI has now plagued macOS as well just saddens me. If nothing changes, in several years we'll lose the last mainstream OS that had a proper desktop UI made for keyboards and mice.

You know what was the best thing they could've done to the macOS UI? Leave it alone.

Re: How Tim Cook transformed Apple after Steve Jobs

#312

Post by valuearb »

totalZero wrote: post #299
valuearb wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s silly, we get as much benefit from free trade as every other country. Let China or India do assembly at wages that would be below minimum wage here, and take those savings to get a bigger piece of the market, sell more iPhones, do more software and hardware design and create more developer jobs.

> we get as much benefit from free trade as every other country Considering that trade relationships are fundamentally asymmetrical (ie, you wouldn't have them if you were self-sufficient in the market segment being traded), I think this is a naive view of the wealth transfer and externalities associated with international trade.

First, the relationships are voluntary. Second, the relationships are mutually beneficial else one party would end them.

Lastly, free trade doesn’t create a wealth transfer, it creates new wealth for both parties. Chinese assembling iPhones lifted a huge number of Chinese laborers out of rural poverty working in much more physically demanding and dangerous jobs at a fraction of the pay. A significant part of Apples market share, market cap, and tens of thousands of US iOS developer jobs are owed to cheaper iPhones enabled by Chinese labor.

The only time “wealth transfer” occurs is when free trade breaks down a monopoly. Like if we ended sugar tariffs, the wealth would be transferred from certain politically connected families in Florida, to US consumers and foreign workers.

Re: How Tim Cook transformed Apple after Steve Jobs

#313

Post by taneq »

andrewem wrote: post #123
baybal2 wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recalled that when in 2015, working for another sourcing shop working for likes of BestBuy/Futureshop/Target/London Drugs I was asked to tear down few chargers for them. I found that diodes in parallel are surprisingly common around the industry. This is such a thing which you are pretty much told on day 1 of any electronics course that it is impossible to not to know. My only thinkable conclusion was that people k…

I had to look up why not to put diodes in parallel, and here’s an answer: https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/6151/is-para...

Everyone's talking about negative temperature coefficients there. I thought it was more to do with diodes having a roughly constant voltage drop in the first place, meaning if you put two diodes with different voltage drops in parallel, the one with the lower drop would steal most or all of the current from the start?

Re: How Tim Cook transformed Apple after Steve Jobs

#314

Post by bryananderson »

totalZero wrote: post #168
Kranar wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article you linked argues why it wouldn't be possible to move to another country. In fact the article argues heavily that labor costs are not the biggest advantage that China has.

The article argues why it would be more expensive in the short term. The argument I've seen for bringing production closer to home is that it's going to be painful either way so we ought to rip the bandaid off, because every year that we continue the status quo represents more money and market power amassed by other nations on the back of American demand. There's more to corporate or economic strategy than today's co…

Trade is complicated and protectionism is not always bad, but the idea that "money going out == bad" is a common misconception that underlay the "mercantilist" economic policies of the early modern era. Kings and parliaments were alarmed to see precious gold leaving their shores. Adam Smith set them straight: money and value are not the same thing. In fact, money is only valuable if you can use it to acquire something else of value! If you "give up" an amount of gold but receive valuable goods, which can be combined with other goods to create even more value, the national wealth can go up even with "precious gold" leaving town.

Re: How Tim Cook transformed Apple after Steve Jobs

#315

Post by DaiPlusPlus »

joshspankit wrote: post #285
DaiPlusPlus wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The puck-mouse was a good mouse if you're a person that moves the mouse by flicking fingers or with hand movements rather than with arm movements - and if you tuned the mouse speed and acceleration curve - but most people don't set their mouse speed to their liking though, hence the ergonomic issues.

How does that “flicking finger” style combat the issue of returning your hand to the mouse to find that it’s rotated a few degrees?

(Right-handed user) I never release my thumb and pinky-finger from the sides of the mouse, so I'm always in control of its rotation.

I should better describe it as "controlled-flicking": kinetic energy is imparted onto the mouse via the fingers - not the palm - but the mouse never loses finger contact.

Re: How Tim Cook transformed Apple after Steve Jobs

#316

Post by steve_adams_86 »

d3nj4l wrote: post #189
steve_adams_86 wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The MX Master 3 is a wonderful piece of hardware but I personally couldn’t get used to it. I find the Magic Trackpad, though obscenely expensive, seems to fit my needs much better. I used the MX 3 for about a year. I do love some features it has.

If you're a hardcore mac user, I would agree, and even then if you like using trackpads in general. I switch between mac and linux all the time, plus I found using even the MBP 15"'s massive trackpad annoying to use for all-day work, so the MX Master was among the best investments I could've made.

The wheel on the MX Master is brilliant. It’s hard to leave that behind. I think the only reason I couldn’t stick with it was that I need to pan and zoom so often, and the pad makes it so much nicer without compromising too much.

Re: How Tim Cook transformed Apple after Steve Jobs

#317

Post by approxim8ion »

oblio wrote: post #75
joshspankit wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like the story would have been different if they made it the size of the 4... Right now the “mini” would have still been considered a large phone in the 3GS days.

That would make things even worse. A lot of people only use smartphones for computing and they want large screens. Making the screen even smaller would have doomed the mini even harder.

Also, the smaller you make it, the smaller the battery is. The mini already has battery life complaints. This product would likely be doomed if it was any smaller and didn't compromise on other things.

Re: How Tim Cook transformed Apple after Steve Jobs

#318

Post by approxim8ion »

MperorM wrote: post #230
astrange wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It didn't work so well for him either, he got fired. When he came back, he was different, because he'd gotten married. The terrible official biography of him actually notices that he was better the second time around and totally ignores it, but this is the reason.

What other things were terrible about the biography? It's my favorite biography of all time. I'd love to know better what important parts were left out.

It's well-written, but reads like fan fiction. Isaacson seems to be unable to separate himself from the "reality distortion field" he describes Jobs having.

Re: How Tim Cook transformed Apple after Steve Jobs

#319

Post by Teever »

hyperpallium2 wrote: post #251
hyperpallium2 wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't this ordinary commoditization? Provided Apple keeps innovating, they'll keep ahead. They have a head start, and innovatiin is their corporate organizing principle, from hiring to advertizing. They leave commodity profits on the table. The danger is if China has a monopoly on know-how, i.e. if it's not a "commodity". But that doesn't seem to be the case. However, one day, the iphone will be "good enough", and cu…

Acyutally, according to TFA, it's the whole ecology of supply chains in one place (an infrastructure) that is difficult to replicate. Perhaps similar to silicon valley, with investors and many kinds of skilled labour, all in one place.

It's ironic that you make that comparison to silicon valley because silicon valley was the progenitor of these supply chains.

If the supply chains can move across the ocean once then surely they can move back again.

Re: How Tim Cook transformed Apple after Steve Jobs

#320

Post by joshspankit »

DaiPlusPlus wrote: post #315
joshspankit wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does that “flicking finger” style combat the issue of returning your hand to the mouse to find that it’s rotated a few degrees?

(Right-handed user) I never release my thumb and pinky-finger from the sides of the mouse, so I'm always in control of its rotation. I should better describe it as "controlled-flicking": kinetic energy is imparted onto the mouse via the fingers - not the palm - but the mouse never loses finger contact.

Never?

Do you not type with your right hand?

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