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Apple’s new headset meets reality

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251–260 of 527 posts

Re: Apple’s new headset meets reality

#251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've always found that after a while the wonder at the flash and pomp of some place that seems new and wonderful like that dies down and it's just another place that you do work in. Much more important is the people you interact with every day, both in person and at a distance. If I had to choose between jobs doing the same work but one was in a closet but interacting with people I like or the apple campus and intera…

What you are referring to is the culture. Obviously people are big part of it but the office is a big driving force of shaping the culture. Even in an online office! When I had Slack, I felt much more involved with people and the company (500+ employees) culture overall. Ever since they transitioned to Teams, I feel like I only exist within my own team. A pleasant and aesthetic office, surround by nature, built with…

No, culture is different. Enjoying the people you work around is not culture, it's having good coworkers. You can have coworkers you don't like but a good culture, and coworkers you do like and a bad culture. Culture is distinct from enjoying who you deal with on a day to day basis. People mistake that all the time though.

Culture does matter for this as well though, as enjoying your coworkers but not the culture may still make the job somewhere you don't want to stick around.

I think physical surroundings may help with the culture some, but they'll always be a much lesser influence than the people and policies in place. What's worse, sometimes companies will think the physical surroundings are much more important than they are, and focus on those instead of fixing the policies destroying their actual work culture. I think most people past their early twenties would much rather have a better set of work policies than a really good view out of an office window. Sometimes that's doubly true because those policies might allow you to spend less time in the office and more time at home, around your real family.

Re: Apple’s new headset meets reality

#252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is hard to not compare the breakthrough product release count between Jobs and Cook. If that is the measure, then we have to bring in Jobs' tenure as not only CEO but company founder that stretched 25 years as CEO, 1976 to 1985 and 1997 to 2011. Cook only took the reins in 2011, and at that time arguably the company should not have focused on releasing yet more revolutionary products. iPhone is the most successful…

> One product often left out, which may have started with Jobs, but delivery should be attributed to Cook is the new Apple HQ. The initial impact has crumbled due to Covid WFH. > However, this campus may turn out to be a force multiplier going forward. If so, it is a victory, but not in the minds of consumers. Curious, have you ever actually talked to anyone that worked there? While I have admittedly only talked to a…

I only worked there briefly (I never officially had an office there — Covid times and all that). I don't see it as any different than any of the other Apple campus buildings I worked in (like Infinite Loop) with regard to productivity.

(I've always compared it to some beautiful, modern art gallery — but without any art.)

But to the above degree, I have to say I enjoyed all large Apple work environments (even some of the more far flung ones I worked at like Results Way).

It's because I have enjoyed being able to walk down a hall, up a floor, and chat with The Guy That Works on IOKit Display-support. I am a "social engineer" (not one to socially engineer though if you know what I mean). I truly disliked working from home for extended periods.

Re: Apple’s new headset meets reality

#253
post #80

>underscoring the narrative that the company’s biggest victories were initiated under his predecessor, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs What does the author consider to be a victory? Tim Cook was elevated because he had the operational capability to grow Apple. Jobs did not consider Cook to be a product design person. But Jobs trusted Cook to find and keep people who could design products. By any stretch of the imaginatio…

[flagged]

Re: Apple’s new headset meets reality

#254
post #37

I continue to believe that IF (and that is a big if) anyone can make AR/VR a mainstream market it would be Apple. Just for the simple fact that Apple has in multiple occasions done 2 things: 1. Come out with something that shapes the rest of the industry. I mean how many times has Apple done something and within a year or 2 basically the entire industry follows. 2. Not captured a large (or majority) percent but conti…

Apple products: - PCs were already growing in popularity. - Mp3 players were already growing in popularity. - Smart phones were already growing in popularity. - Bluetooth headphones were already growing in popularity. - Home automation was already growing in popularity. Apple usually takes a look at a growing trend and decides that it can provide a far better experience. ... with the exception of: Apple Watch. - Appl…

Yeah. Apple enters when there’s clear product-market and out-executes everybody. For the watch, notice that fitness trackers (Fitbit) were already getting popular.

Re: Apple’s new headset meets reality

#255
post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And that, dear reader, is how we ended up with hundreds of bland copy-cat Android phones to the iPhone. There's something to be said, mentally, for working somewhere that's inspiring. A shitty office in yet a clone of all the other office parks, buried in office-park-landia of San Jose, is not it. Even a stroll through the secret underground parking lot at Apple is inspiring with all the exotic cars that are owned by…

This is nonsense. The place where the iPhone was invented, and iterated upon for many successful years, was the Infinite Loop campus, which is pretty much a clone of all the other office parks. Initially, when the iPhone was invented, developers had their own individual offices there, with closeable doors, which was nice. Apple Park: it kinda sucks to actually work at Apple Park. It’s a goldfish bowl. It’s impossible…

Well, a Mercedes he replaced every 6 months just so he didn’t have to suffer the indignity of a number plate.

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/10/how-s...

Re: Apple’s new headset meets reality

#256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> One product often left out, which may have started with Jobs, but delivery should be attributed to Cook is the new Apple HQ. The initial impact has crumbled due to Covid WFH. > However, this campus may turn out to be a force multiplier going forward. If so, it is a victory, but not in the minds of consumers. Curious, have you ever actually talked to anyone that worked there? While I have admittedly only talked to a…

I don't know whether they've backed off from the open plan office layout for Apple Park[1], but that sounded terrible to me. Personally I'd almost certainly prefer a real office (even a tiny closet-like one) with a door, maybe in Infinite Loop. [1] https://www.macworld.com/article/670869/complete-guide-to-ap...

Yeah, no, they were still large glass aquarium-like enclosures for a couple dozen engineers the last time I was there.

Re: Apple’s new headset meets reality

#257
post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And that, dear reader, is how we ended up with hundreds of bland copy-cat Android phones to the iPhone. There's something to be said, mentally, for working somewhere that's inspiring. A shitty office in yet a clone of all the other office parks, buried in office-park-landia of San Jose, is not it. Even a stroll through the secret underground parking lot at Apple is inspiring with all the exotic cars that are owned by…

This is nonsense. The place where the iPhone was invented, and iterated upon for many successful years, was the Infinite Loop campus, which is pretty much a clone of all the other office parks. Initially, when the iPhone was invented, developers had their own individual offices there, with closeable doors, which was nice. Apple Park: it kinda sucks to actually work at Apple Park. It’s a goldfish bowl. It’s impossible…

> This is nonsense. ... Apple Park: it kinda sucks to actually work at Apple Park. It’s a goldfish bowl. It’s impossible to focus. But, yes, it looks really nice. It’s very pretty, that is undeniable.

Sometimes what people think they want isn't what they actually want once they experience it. People unhappy and surrounded by drab office space might pine for a beautiful setting to work in, but I suspect most of them will find that it wasn't the lack of beauty making them unhappy and that a change of scenery doesn't do nearly enough to rectify the problem.

Re: Apple’s new headset meets reality

#258

From the information available so far, the Apple headset will be fairly close to Meta's Oculus Quest in terms of hardware: Portable and with external cameras to allow for orientation and "mixed reality". Maybe Apple is on the right track here, since the Oculus Quest has sold more units than all the other VR headsets combined. But there is one big difference: Apple's headset will be a very expensive premium product (a…

Quoting wikipedia: "Positional goods are goods for which the satisfaction derives (at least in part) from higher pricing." High price is just part of the appeal of Apple products for many.

Re: Apple’s new headset meets reality

#260
post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple watch? Airpods maybe? Apple silicon for sure. Other than that not much, but to be clear there has not really been any other inventions in this time span like those you mention. The market is more mature.

Isn't Time Cook ultimately like Steve Ballmer? He has continued and consolidated to build a golden prison with the construction of a monopoly and increase the money generated incredibly.

A “monopoly” in what product category?
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