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The Disappointing Surprise From Apple

amberweinberg.com

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Re: The Disappointing Surprise From Apple

#131

Post by Someone »

kalleboo wrote: post #67
meric wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had just finished implementing RSS on a website I was working for a client, making sure it worked for Safari, and that was yesterday. =\

Your work is not in vain, it's not as if everyone is going to switch to Mountain Lion anyway, if we look at the poor adoption numbers of Lion. http://imgb.mp/ivu.jpg

That is a bit disingenuous, as the article this comes from (http://insights.chitika.com/2012/mountain-lion-roars-capture...) claims Mountain Lion looks like it will do much better than Lion.

Re: The Disappointing Surprise From Apple

#132

Post by Someone »

rauljara wrote: post #17

I do think Apple was right to remove support for their crappy reader. In any domain where you have tons of options (like rss readers) I'd rather have no feature than a poorly executed one. No feature means I'll go out and get a good version of it. A poorly executed feature (especially from apple) means I'll probably put up with it longer than I should. However, given that they were going about destroying access to us…

Added bonus: it would give them a natural way to advertise the App Store.

Oh, and it is not "if the user is subscribed". The installer would have to check all user directories. And then, it would be a (small) privacy invasion to gather that information. Some sysadmins, on principle, would not want to know that at least one of their users subscribed to RSS feeds.

Re: The Disappointing Surprise From Apple

#134

Post by ObjectiveCat »

_nist wrote: post #100
jaysonelliot wrote: post #60

"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.

If you read the article, the data wasn't harmed, it was just moved. Therefore, the law wasn't violated.

It wasn't even moved, it remained in ~/Library/Mail/RSS/ - it's original directory and a very logical one at that. It's surprising that a developer wouldn't have been able to figure this out, considering ~/Library/ is the directory where all application data and preference files are stored..

Re: The Disappointing Surprise From Apple

#135

Post by SG- »

While it sucks for the few users that did use RSS reader in Mail.app, the truth is most people didn't actually use that feature in Mail.app and I actually like that Apple has removed feature bloat from Mail.app on a feature that has nothing to do with mail.

I think the only thing they should have done is the first time you start the new Mail.app is a warning comes up saying your RSS is gone and an option to export to some "easier to read" file on your desktop.

Re: The Disappointing Surprise From Apple

#136

Post by ralfd »

jseliger wrote: post #36
jws wrote: post #8

We've found the only user in the world that used RSS in Mail! I feel a bond, as I was apparently the only user of RSS in Safari. (as confirmed by informal polling of friends and family). I moved my stuff into Google Reader and also went to Reeder on the Mac, but tried Newsify on the iOS devices and have to say that a custom newspaper is a much better experience than the hundred takes on master-detail drill down you f…

And I'm the last person who uses the NetNewsWire desktop client. It's kind of buggy, and a better user interface would be nice, but it works well enough most of the time.

NetNewsWire for the win!

Re: The Disappointing Surprise From Apple

#137

Post by Tloewald »

shpoonj wrote: post #23
Tloewald wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking as someone who finds RSS to be useless (having tried all kinds of ways to consume it) and knew support had been dropped from ML, I think you're being condescending. It's not like apple advertises unfeatures on its product page. I would have no problem if RSS support were hidden by default for people not obviously using it, but this is pretty stupid. apple has gone from shoving RSS down our throats (default c…

Whether it is stupid, even if we're just going to assume such a thing can be viewed objectively, is beside the point. If you think it is stupid, don't use it. If you want your money back because you bought something that you didn't properly research, why not ask for it instead of whining about it on your blog? And, on the point of Apple not advertising 'unfeatures' (I like that term), we, as consumers, make decisions…

Who said who was "violated".

When Apple switched to QuickTime Player X they left QuickTime Player 7 around for people who needed its features. Likewise iMovie. all Appl had to do was leave the old version of Mail.

Re: The Disappointing Surprise From Apple

#138

Post by greedo »

kristiandupont wrote: post #97
greedo wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine that Apple decided in the next OSX release to discontinue Safari. Would Apple need to include a utility for users to export their bookmarks/cookies etc before upgrading? She's a developer, a self-proclaimed "Apple fan girl" but she didn't read up the release notes for ML. The world changes, features come and go. Expecting them to stay static or to provide you with with air bags in case of impact is unrealisti…

I actually don't think that would be unreasonable at all! Somebody might have important stuff in there, even if most people don't use it. I didn't know that this feature was removed. I don't know where the release notes that you refer to are to be found, but this page http://www.apple.com/osx/whats-new/features.html doesn't mention it and neither did the two articles I read before upgrading. I wasn't using it so it d…

And Apple doesn't aim to please everyone. Note the discontinuation of optical drives, of floppy drives, of hypercard etc.

Most of the reviews I've read (particularly John Siracusa's) point out that the RSS functionality is gone. Now maybe we've gotten to a point where people are treating OSX upgrades in a cavalier fashion, but I think that's a mistake. I always wait a few days if not a week or so to let the early adopters experience the pain.

Re: The Disappointing Surprise From Apple

#139

Post by greedo »

javajosh wrote: post #25

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…

They didn't remove her data. They removed the app. The data is still in the original location. The fact that she was able to "recover" it is unimpressive.

Re: The Disappointing Surprise From Apple

#140

Post by jfb »

msbarnett wrote: post #113
jseliger wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And I'm the last person who uses the NetNewsWire desktop client. It's kind of buggy, and a better user interface would be nice, but it works well enough most of the time.

I still use it too. It's the only RSS reader I can find for OS X that lets me set it up in my preferred "River of News" display format (what NNW calls 'combined view'). All feeds in one big stream, no 3-panel Mail-style separation of titles and content. Just scroll and read. If anyone knows a cleaner, less ugly, less buggy RSS reader for OS X that can display feeds in this way, I'd love to hear about it.

Reeder. It unfortunately syncs with Google, but otherwise, it's tops.
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