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The Disappointing Surprise From Apple

amberweinberg.com

81–90 of 152 posts

Re: The Disappointing Surprise From Apple

#81
post #55
post #49

Removing RSS functionality: A defensible decision, I think. Many excellent third-party RSS readers are available and this fits Apple’s overall theme of simplifying the OS: there are more system apps but each does less and only a very specific thing (Mail was split in Mail and Notes, iCal was split in Calendar and Reminders), iTunes being the big exception. RSS was never a good fit for Mail, why should Apple have to s…

I would expect a decent third-party solution to scan for folders like this, just as every third-party browser grabs (or at least offers to grab) Safari's data.

So, how would e.g. Google Reader do that, exactly?

Re: The Disappointing Surprise From Apple

#83

In a word Amber, yes, of course you are right to feel violated. Apple removed your data without your consent. The fact that you were able to recover it is impressive, and far beyond the ordinary user. The fact that you are in the minority because you used a tool and technology (RSS) that is passe if not unpopular, should be no excuse to ignore this kind of treatment. That feed collection was your data, and Apple had…

> The fact that you are in the minority because you used a tool and technology (RSS) that is passe if not unpopular, should be no excuse to ignore this kind of treatment. It seems like just yesterday my NASA rocket scientist friend was asking me what this new-fangled RSS thing was. I explained, and his response was, "So they just reimplemented USENET?"

"No, because RSS actually exists, while no one has yet successfully reimplemented USENET."

Re: The Disappointing Surprise From Apple

#84
post #70

I don't have a lot of sympathy for her. 1. She could have read up on what was changing with ML. 2. She could/should have a backup of her data, especially before an OS upgrade. 3. Her data wasn't rendered "unusable" or "lost" it was left where the old RSS client kept it. 4. Her real beef seems to be that she lost the RSS functionality and wasn't told about it. For all of the commentators saying that Apple should have…

I think you're onto something.

"OS differently."

But do you mean Linux or Windows?

Re: The Disappointing Surprise From Apple

#86
post #70

I don't have a lot of sympathy for her. 1. She could have read up on what was changing with ML. 2. She could/should have a backup of her data, especially before an OS upgrade. 3. Her data wasn't rendered "unusable" or "lost" it was left where the old RSS client kept it. 4. Her real beef seems to be that she lost the RSS functionality and wasn't told about it. For all of the commentators saying that Apple should have…

I don't know why this was downvoted. This is a very accurate representation of Apple philosophy in a nutshell.

Re: The Disappointing Surprise From Apple

#87
post #11
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a pretty gratuitous assumption that you're making. And I don't see what the "good reason" is. Let's face it, they just dropped a feature that people were using, without clear upgrade path. Few people were using it ? Maybe. That doesn't make it a good decision, only (at best) a sad but necessary compromise. Frankly, a feed reader that is already there, and works, needs next to zero maintenance. It's not like RS…

But a feed reader inside another program that IS changing does indeed require maintenance. Even just testing to make sure it still works isn't free. It also adds complexity to the user interface.

If they didn't test it, it might have broken. That outcome is still better than what happened, where they ensured it became completely unusable.

Re: The Disappointing Surprise From Apple

#88

"A computer shall not harm your data or, through inaction, allow your data to come to harm." -Jef Raskin's first law of interface design Shame to see the Macintosh violating the first law of the Father of the Macintosh.

Not only that, but to do it to an (apparently unpopular) minority of users is indeed shameful.

Re: The Disappointing Surprise From Apple

#89
post #55
post #49

Removing RSS functionality: A defensible decision, I think. Many excellent third-party RSS readers are available and this fits Apple’s overall theme of simplifying the OS: there are more system apps but each does less and only a very specific thing (Mail was split in Mail and Notes, iCal was split in Calendar and Reminders), iTunes being the big exception. RSS was never a good fit for Mail, why should Apple have to s…

I would expect a decent third-party solution to scan for folders like this, just as every third-party browser grabs (or at least offers to grab) Safari's data.

Are sandboxed applications from the Mac App Store able to access these files? Sincere question, I'm not sure what the sandbox limitations are.

Re: The Disappointing Surprise From Apple

#90
post #14

If you don't like a product, don't use it. If you don't properly research a product, don't complain about its features. Do some research next time. Take responsibility for your actions instead of blaming others. These are elementary principles.

This is interacting with one's tools as a human being. But Apple's customers are self-selected to want to avoid that responsibility.
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