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The erosion of the Mac experience

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Re: The erosion of the Mac experience

#31
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the concept of having a separate mobile device and a computing device will be irrelevant. Well ... yeah. People have been predicting and experimenting with this for more than a decade. But when you do this some parts of each platform has to suffer. It's a compromise. User interfaces have to change, designs have to consolidate, performance or features take a hit. So the challenge becomes how do you sell this? Seamle…

Let me use a single device but via different hardware depending on context. Give me a phone I can plug into 2 monitors and a keyboard and interact with as a desktop, or slot into the back of a laptop case for portable computing, or put into my pocket.

Actually sounds pretty good, but how feasible is it for a phone sized device to be sufficiently high spec to run, e.g., fully featured development tools etc. I mean you need 32Gb RAM, 8 core processors and 512Gb SSDs these days just to run the basics (maybe less if using linux)...if you're doing modern game development or CAD stuff probably twice that. But... something you could dock your phone into as needed to allow a seamless experience that supplied the extra resources as needed might be feasible?

Re: The erosion of the Mac experience

#32
post #6

I believe that Apple is strategically choosing to coast on their desktop software while they work to harmonize their mobile, desktop, and entertainment software stacks. Why? Because based on rumors, patents, and the decisions they've made and the actions they've taken (or not taken), it appears as though that Apple believes that in the not so distant future the concept of having a separate mobile device and a computi…

[deleted]

Re: The erosion of the Mac experience

#33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me use a single device but via different hardware depending on context. Give me a phone I can plug into 2 monitors and a keyboard and interact with as a desktop, or slot into the back of a laptop case for portable computing, or put into my pocket.

I remember when Bill Gates pitched this concept years before the first iPhone. It has been possible for a while with the right Android phones. Still waiting on someone to make it useable.

Some level of "convergence" works on linux phones (e.g. Pinephone, Librem 5), with the same "mobile" apps playing nice with the rest of the linux desktop/userspace. I think it will be the future of consumer electronics.

Re: The erosion of the Mac experience

#34

I have been hearing this for almost 2 decades now, as long as I’ve been following the ‘community’. Meanwhile, in my real life, my parents, wife, kids, and friends, are all happier than they ever ever been with their latest MacBooks and macOS. Things like iCloud photo syncing, universal control, and airdrop feel boring to us, but they make the computing experience feel pretty much like living in the future for them.

Nothing against you and your family, but I am disappointed when for example, the Netflix app shows 2 rows of 6 titles when probably 100 could fit on the 3024-by-1964 native resolution display. Heck even the top 10 list scrolls to the right and only shows 1 through 4.

Annoyingly, nearly every video streaming service uses this horizontal-scrolling skeuomorphism, presumably modeled on video tape rental shelves. Give me vertical scrolling, or give me death!

Re: The erosion of the Mac experience

#35
Apple should accept the old Mac OS X HIG principles and make them mandatory. The UX is so broken, that in some moments I have Windows Vista reminiscence.

But hey, I am an old user. I should move away and say: Yes Apple, you know better than me.:)

Re: The erosion of the Mac experience

#36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing against you and your family, but I am disappointed when for example, the Netflix app shows 2 rows of 6 titles when probably 100 could fit on the 3024-by-1964 native resolution display. Heck even the top 10 list scrolls to the right and only shows 1 through 4.

Annoyingly, nearly every video streaming service uses this horizontal-scrolling skeuomorphism, presumably modeled on video tape rental shelves. Give me vertical scrolling, or give me death!

My opinion on this is that it's purposefully slower to browse through titles so you can't ever create a full mental map of all available titles. That way it feels like you could still find something new if you just tried harder.

Re: The erosion of the Mac experience

#37
post #35

Apple should accept the old Mac OS X HIG principles and make them mandatory. The UX is so broken, that in some moments I have Windows Vista reminiscence. But hey, I am an old user. I should move away and say: Yes Apple, you know better than me.:)

[deleted]

Re: The erosion of the Mac experience

#38
post #6

I believe that Apple is strategically choosing to coast on their desktop software while they work to harmonize their mobile, desktop, and entertainment software stacks. Why? Because based on rumors, patents, and the decisions they've made and the actions they've taken (or not taken), it appears as though that Apple believes that in the not so distant future the concept of having a separate mobile device and a computi…

I'm skeptical of the "one device" future dream when so much of Apple's revenue comes from selling multiple devices for different form factors. Why would Apple want to sell you one device when they could sell you an iPhone, an iPad, AND a Macbook?

Re: The erosion of the Mac experience

#39
post #6

I believe that Apple is strategically choosing to coast on their desktop software while they work to harmonize their mobile, desktop, and entertainment software stacks. Why? Because based on rumors, patents, and the decisions they've made and the actions they've taken (or not taken), it appears as though that Apple believes that in the not so distant future the concept of having a separate mobile device and a computi…

iPhone+ iPad revenues compose ~65% of revenues.

Mac revenues are ~10%.

They are allocating people to where they expect to make the most money. I don't characterize that as coasting, just business sense.

Overall, I still agree that Apple needs to do better with Macs.

Re: The erosion of the Mac experience

#40

I have been hearing this for almost 2 decades now, as long as I’ve been following the ‘community’. Meanwhile, in my real life, my parents, wife, kids, and friends, are all happier than they ever ever been with their latest MacBooks and macOS. Things like iCloud photo syncing, universal control, and airdrop feel boring to us, but they make the computing experience feel pretty much like living in the future for them.

Nothing against you and your family, but I am disappointed when for example, the Netflix app shows 2 rows of 6 titles when probably 100 could fit on the 3024-by-1964 native resolution display. Heck even the top 10 list scrolls to the right and only shows 1 through 4.

Conversely, I like that it forces me to actually consider more titles I otherwise would have scanned over without giving a second thought.
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