Apple ends consulting agreement with Jony Ive • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple ends consulting agreement with Jony Ive

#11

Post by mgh2 » Tue, Jul 12, 2022, 10:56 PM UTC

lttlrck wrote: post #7

The man has skills but this past due. Apple devices have become sterile, utilitarian, no passion. Sony set a very high watermark practicality and desirability - subjective of course, but just look at what they've done over the years: https://www.sony.com/en/SonyInfo/design/gallery/ I hope Apple can inject some creativity.

Is design supposed to be transient to catch up with the times?

Like fashion, the discipline is bound to change over time; fresh new thinkers are always needed to continually keep pace with innovation.

Re: Apple ends consulting agreement with Jony Ive

#12

Post by bmitc » Tue, Jul 12, 2022, 11:06 PM UTC

lttlrck wrote: post #7

The man has skills but this past due. Apple devices have become sterile, utilitarian, no passion. Sony set a very high watermark practicality and desirability - subjective of course, but just look at what they've done over the years: https://www.sony.com/en/SonyInfo/design/gallery/ I hope Apple can inject some creativity.

I can’t find the article right now, but I believe Ive hasn’t really been present, in the figurative and also literal sense, at Apple for over half a decade. There was a really good piece regarding this that I read probably at least a couple of years ago, where Ive basically retreated to his home, “running” things from there, and would require presentations to be done close to his home, where he would barely contribute feedback.

I think he and Cook don’t get along. Ive is honestly a bit full of himself in a non-introspective way. I believe he wanted the Apple Watch to be a pure luxury object, and not just a smart watch. I’m not really sure I ever got the love for his designs. They are boring, cold, and often designed at the cost of functionality. I’m not sure how one gets to be so famous and rich struggling at both form and function. And with Cook being a logistics person, without a personality to be found, I’m sure their meetings were probably pretty awkward.

Re: Apple ends consulting agreement with Jony Ive

#13

Post by kitsunesoba » Tue, Jul 12, 2022, 11:17 PM UTC

bmitc wrote: post #12

lttlrck wrote: post #7

The man has skills but this past due. Apple devices have become sterile, utilitarian, no passion. Sony set a very high watermark practicality and desirability - subjective of course, but just look at what they've done over the years: https://www.sony.com/en/SonyInfo/design/gallery/ I hope Apple can inject some creativity.

I can’t find the article right now, but I believe Ive hasn’t really been present, in the figurative and also literal sense, at Apple for over half a decade. There was a really good piece regarding this that I read probably at least a couple of years ago, where Ive basically retreated to his home, “running” things from there, and would require presentations to be done close to his home, where he would barely contribut…

Ive’s designs definitely changed over time. His history at Apple actually predates the return of Jobs, and he was responsible for much more expressive designs like that of the Twentieth Anniversary Mac, the Newton eMate, the PowerMac G3 AIO, and perhaps most famously the various generations of CRT iMac. It wasn’t until the early 2000s that he started leaning harder into the straight lines and cold metal.

Re: Apple ends consulting agreement with Jony Ive

#14

Post by Nextgrid » Tue, Jul 12, 2022, 11:18 PM UTC

lttlrck wrote: post #7

The man has skills but this past due. Apple devices have become sterile, utilitarian, no passion. Sony set a very high watermark practicality and desirability - subjective of course, but just look at what they've done over the years: https://www.sony.com/en/SonyInfo/design/gallery/ I hope Apple can inject some creativity.

> utilitarian

I wouldn't say so. My feeling with Apple software in the past ~5 years or so is that it's been a slow devolution into "growth & engagement" and catering to idiots (and nudging them to do counter-productive things) rather than true utility.

True utility would be to do a task, do it well, and don't change all the time. Instead, Apple has been devolving more and more into what you'd expect from a typical "growth & engagement" startup, with for example the Music apps on Mac and iOS being only a shadow of their past selves (despite iTunes having real problems).

Design-wise, countless features have been replaced by copious amounts of whitespace and the trend shows no signs of stopping. Say what you want about skeuomorphism, but I'll take anything over absolutely nothing.

Re: Apple ends consulting agreement with Jony Ive

#15

Post by kitsunesoba » Tue, Jul 12, 2022, 11:21 PM UTC

maxxam wrote: post #6

unixhero wrote: post #4

Can we have kick ass laptops again?

We already started getting them imo. Look at the 14in MacBook Pro for example.

I’ve been just as happy or happier with my company provided M1 Pro 16” than I was with the much vaunted pre-touchbar 2015 15”. I can’t think of too much more that I’d want from a laptop.

Re: Apple ends consulting agreement with Jony Ive

#16

Post by function_seven » Tue, Jul 12, 2022, 11:25 PM UTC

Nextgrid wrote: post #14

lttlrck wrote: post #7

The man has skills but this past due. Apple devices have become sterile, utilitarian, no passion. Sony set a very high watermark practicality and desirability - subjective of course, but just look at what they've done over the years: https://www.sony.com/en/SonyInfo/design/gallery/ I hope Apple can inject some creativity.

> utilitarian I wouldn't say so. My feeling with Apple software in the past ~5 years or so is that it's been a slow devolution into "growth & engagement" and catering to idiots (and nudging them to do counter-productive things) rather than true utility. True utility would be to do a task, do it well, and don't change all the time. Instead, Apple has been devolving more and more into what you'd expect from a typical "…

Smart Playlists!

Back in the iTunes days, I had a smart playlist that consisted of songs that I last listened to between 6 and 7 months ago. Kind of a reminder of music that I liked, but maybe forgot about. I had several different playlists that were all dynamic and based on some combination of my listening history, download date, release date, and/or other ID3 tags.

The new Music app is stupid when it comes to playlists. You have to manually create each one.

Re: Apple ends consulting agreement with Jony Ive

#17

Post by Dracophoenix » Tue, Jul 12, 2022, 11:27 PM UTC

kitsunesoba wrote: post #15

maxxam wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We already started getting them imo. Look at the 14in MacBook Pro for example.

I’ve been just as happy or happier with my company provided M1 Pro 16” than I was with the much vaunted pre-touchbar 2015 15”. I can’t think of too much more that I’d want from a laptop.

HDMI 2.1, DP 2.0, ECC RAM, replaceable SSDs, non-adhesive batteries, and, ideally, a cellular modem. In my case, it's likely I'll be waiting a long time.

What's your company's policy on data safety? I would hope there's something in place should your Mac's motherboard fry.

Re: Apple ends consulting agreement with Jony Ive

#18

Post by pxmpxm » Tue, Jul 12, 2022, 11:34 PM UTC

Nextgrid wrote: post #14

lttlrck wrote: post #7

The man has skills but this past due. Apple devices have become sterile, utilitarian, no passion. Sony set a very high watermark practicality and desirability - subjective of course, but just look at what they've done over the years: https://www.sony.com/en/SonyInfo/design/gallery/ I hope Apple can inject some creativity.

> utilitarian I wouldn't say so. My feeling with Apple software in the past ~5 years or so is that it's been a slow devolution into "growth & engagement" and catering to idiots (and nudging them to do counter-productive things) rather than true utility. True utility would be to do a task, do it well, and don't change all the time. Instead, Apple has been devolving more and more into what you'd expect from a typical "…

This - the nag screen to sign up iCloud when attaching photos in iMessage is prime example of this: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250951130?answerId=2518...

Re: Apple ends consulting agreement with Jony Ive

#19

Post by solardev » Tue, Jul 12, 2022, 11:43 PM UTC

throwaway5959 wrote: post #3

subtract-smiles wrote: post #2

While I doubt this will happen, I am interested to see if any of Apples products (recent MacBook Pros excluded) will get a drastic design overhaul.

Could you imagine if they finally made the Magic Mouse a decent mouse? Recharge from the front, more ergonomic, great pairing/switching.

I hope they don't change the ergonomics. In 30 years of using a mouse, trying out dozens of different ones, this is the only one that I've ever been able to use the whole day without discomfort. It's magic.

Re: Apple ends consulting agreement with Jony Ive

#20

Post by solardev » Tue, Jul 12, 2022, 11:45 PM UTC

maxxam wrote: post #6

unixhero wrote: post #4

Can we have kick ass laptops again?

We already started getting them imo. Look at the 14in MacBook Pro for example.

It's a lot better than the old Macbook Pros, but that's only because they've been terrible for so long.

All I want is a Mac in a Thinkpad-like shell, with ports and docking support and all that 1990s-style jazz. But they can keep the modern monitor, that's pretty good.