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If Apple keeps letting its software slip, the next big thing won’t matter

macworld.com

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Re: If Apple keeps letting its software slip, the next big thing won’t matter

#171

Post by marmaduke »

superasn wrote: post #59
freediver wrote: post #18

Yesterday I prepared a few years old Windows laptop for my daughter to use in school. It took me a few hours just to install updates, remove bloatware (my oh my, the amount is staggering!) and fix privacy settings. And this was for Windows 10 which I hear is a mild version of a mess that Windows 11 is. I was instantly reminded why I appreciate Apple software more.

1. Yes first thing I run if I ever have to use a Windows PC is this little gem called Shutup 10 (1). 2. Then there is another software called 10AppsManager (2) to remove further bloatware like Onedrive, Skype, etc. 3. After that I visit ninite.com (3) to get the usual software without toolbars and spyware. 4. For other software like ffmpeg I use choco or chocolatey (4). I am now a full time linux user but this was th…

From (1)

> Some services … share your WLAN access data with your facebook contacts

Is that true? There’s no citation but seems a lot more flagrant a violation than I’d expected from Windows.

Re: If Apple keeps letting its software slip, the next big thing won’t matter

#172

Post by AMD_DRIVERS »

gonehome wrote: post #165
AMD_DRIVERS wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your comments on Apple Home are factually incorrect. I have lights, cameras, smart blinds, thermostats, temperature/humidity/air quality sensors, my eero6 router and even my Roku added into Home. Apple Wallet also supports some forms of ID, transit cards and even vaccine certificates.

I use Apple home and want to like it, but it mostly sucks. I think the main cause of this isn't so much Home, but the available third party hardware. I wish Apple would make a smart switch (I know that's fairly out of scope for them), but one high quality smart switch that actually worked reliably would resolve 90% of home tech issues. Homepods are similarly bad with basic actions. I have five of them in multiple roo…

In my experience, it's been pretty okay. Not amazing, but I can't really complain.

I've got 2 HomePods in a small apartment, and they typically work okay in what I need them to do, and automatons always work.

I sometimes have to close the app and open it again to get devices to respond IF I'm in not on my home network. Kind of annoying.

What's funny is that I've noticed that it's been better since I bought an eero 6 and added into into Home.

Most importantly, it works for my girlfriend who isn't the most keen on new technology. That's the most important part for me, rather than what I want.

Re: If Apple keeps letting its software slip, the next big thing won’t matter

#173

Post by pertymcpert »

taylodl wrote: post #144

Look at the mess that is Apple Home. They added it because Google and Amazon were doing it - and, that's about it. Hey, I can add some lights that I can change color to any color I want! Too bad if I want a thermostat, a doorbell, or... Okay, what about Apple Wallet? It'd be really nice to add my digital driver's license, health insurance cards, auto insurance card, frequent shopping cards - basically make it so I do…

Are you posting from 2014 or something?

Re: If Apple keeps letting its software slip, the next big thing won’t matter

#174

Post by taylodl »

gonehome wrote: post #165
AMD_DRIVERS wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your comments on Apple Home are factually incorrect. I have lights, cameras, smart blinds, thermostats, temperature/humidity/air quality sensors, my eero6 router and even my Roku added into Home. Apple Wallet also supports some forms of ID, transit cards and even vaccine certificates.

I use Apple home and want to like it, but it mostly sucks. I think the main cause of this isn't so much Home, but the available third party hardware. I wish Apple would make a smart switch (I know that's fairly out of scope for them), but one high quality smart switch that actually worked reliably would resolve 90% of home tech issues. Homepods are similarly bad with basic actions. I have five of them in multiple roo…

It's the dearth of 3rd party hardware that I find frustrating. It's not apparent that Apple has done much to flesh out that ecosystem.

Re: If Apple keeps letting its software slip, the next big thing won’t matter

#175

Post by mattferderer »

slownews45 wrote: post #114
passivate wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like your PC vendor installed a whole bunch of crap. I put W10 on a fresh PC just a couple of months back and it was a painless process. It was a W10 Pro ISO from Microsoft.

I deploy windows 10 pro. Loaded down with crap. What businesses want Xbox companion and xbox game bar running on all their work computers - seriously -> if you are on Microsoft search for xbox on your work computer. Does Candy Crush Saga still come on the business pro ISO installs? That used to make the office laugh - who is paying $200/machine to get candy crush saga pre-installed. In fact, the trick was they also h…

Every business should enable & demo Xbox Game bar. The video capture is awesome for helping debug things. Just record what's happening & send it over with your Help Desk ticket.

It's free, easy to use & comes with Windows.

Microsoft could & should also just load that as a stand alone tool like the snipping tool. But they haven't, so I encourage Xbox Game bar.

Re: If Apple keeps letting its software slip, the next big thing won’t matter

#176

Post by travisgriggs »

city41 wrote: post #41
malshe wrote: post #34

Is it me or HN just upvotes any article critical of Apple without much thought? At times it feels like I'm on Reddit

FWIW, I really want Apple to fix this. I used to be a huge fan, yet now I use no Apple products at all. It's pretty damning when MacWorld says "It’s happened to pretty much any Apple device user: You go to use a feature and it just doesn’t work." So I personally like the negative exposure. I really hope it lights a fire under Apple.

I worry it's too late. Once upon a time, Apple built pretty cool software with a fraction of the staff that Microsoft employed to maintain not-so-cool software.

There were some smart/motivated/creative people at Apple. And they did it with this FrankenLanguage called Objective-C.

Apple software doesn't make new/cool things anymore. They produce "catch up" features. I can't decide if Swift is causal or symptomatic, but I worry it's a little of both. Objective C made me groan and giggle in the space of 10 minutes, but I felt creatively empowered when I did things in that ecosystem. With Swift and newer libraries/frameworks from Apple, I often just feel like I'm in a computer language variant of the line at the DMV. Follow the rules, just try to figure out how to get the compiler to grant me a result that is close enough to what I want.

Apple is victim to Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy.

Re: If Apple keeps letting its software slip, the next big thing won’t matter

#177

Post by city41 »

handrous wrote: post #129
city41 wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds pretty reasonable to me. But that still doesn't excuse Apple not implementing it. Apple doesn't implement features like this because they want to maintain app store sales. They do this for them, not their customers.

I think if Apple really really wanted to implement it if not for the risk to app sales, they'd have it on desktop Safari, at least. As it is, I just think they don't want to implement it, App Store or no. From observing non-geeks use the "feature", I think that's the right call regardless. It needs to go back to the drawing board, or be scrapped. In general, anything that expands the reach & capabilities of websites…

You must feel that way about push notifications from apps too then? You seem strongly against push. If you only dislike push on websites, why?

If Apple thinks push notifications are annoying, why does iOS have them? Again, Apple is protecting their walled garden. That's all this is. There really is no other good faith argument for this.

Re: If Apple keeps letting its software slip, the next big thing won’t matter

#178

Post by wtallis »

alphaomegacode wrote: post #70

As an anecdotal example that may be relevant, I wanted to upgrade to Monterey and my Mac Mini said there wasn't enough room. Hooked up a Western Digital external drive that I had used on previous Macs and launched Time Machine. And that's when it started. Time Machine presented what seemed like a stack of Finder windows in the middle, a timeline with hash marks on the right-side and the only button highlighted was th…

I think your difficulties may stem from thinking of Time Machine as a backup application, when the UI is designed around treating it as a core system component. The configuration is all handled through System Preferences, and the UI you entered was solely for viewing and restoring files from your backup archive. You probably also missed a prompt to use the drive for Time Machine backups when you first plugged it in.

Also, Time Machine is intended for full system backups, and using it for just a handful of folders not as easy as using it for everything.

Re: If Apple keeps letting its software slip, the next big thing won’t matter

#179

Post by joemi »

8f2ab37a-ed6c wrote: post #4

The good news is that for once we have a precedent of Apple listening to what people actually want with the new MBP lineup. Whether they'll be able to replicate that magic with their software teams remains to be seen, but at least now it feels within the realm of possible.

I'm sure plenty of people will disagree with me, but I don't think this is a good precedent. Apple has always been opinionated, and that's a lot of what made Apple different. Admittedly, sometimes their opinionated takes weren't great, but a lot of times they really were great, even when some people didn't realize it. That's what allowed Apple to grow and soar to the heights it did. I worry that the new MBP line is a sign of Apple beginning to loose that quality that made them different from so many other companies... I worry that it's the start of a fall into mediocrity.

Re: If Apple keeps letting its software slip, the next big thing won’t matter

#180

Post by loudthing »

mattnewton wrote: post #156
plorkyeran wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Time Machine's insane UI isn't an example of Apple's software quality slipping; it's basically unchanged since it first shipped 14 years ago. It's more of just an example of how Apple's software never was as good as some people would like to pretend.

When I was at apple, we did this thing people called "keybote-driven development" where everything was made to look great in and keynote presentation to an exec. If it looked great you got the go ahead to finish it and ship it, and if not it got skipped. There are a lot of things to like about this approach. However, Time machine's UI to me feels like a quintessential blind spot of this incentive structure, where it…

Big yikes.
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