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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

#21

Post by ogjunkyard »

While I will agree that it takes a long time to reach everywhere with new features in Maps, I'd say the recent macOS Monterey update was a major improvement in performance/reliability, so the article doesn't really resonate for me.

I IMMEDIATELY noticed the improvement in application startup times after upgrading and have seen a big difference between my work laptop (macOS Catalina) and my personal laptop (macOS Monterey). Everything has been more stable in Monterey for me personally. I've noticed that the weird occasionally-crash-my-laptop-when-using-a-dock bug has been resolved. Connecting my AirPods has become more reliable and the connection doesn't flake out anymore.

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

#22

Post by rabuse »

phoenixdblack wrote: post #2

One important thing not mentioned here: Apple should make sure to keep up Safari Development. It's by far the worst browser available and the web platform is only growing.

Same experience. The amount of css "quirks" I have to work around trying to get a site "mobile friendly" is absurd. The navbar issue, and the scrolling still not being disabled with overflow:hidden makes me bang my head against the wall.

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

#23

Post by rch »

Skunkleton wrote: post #7
jamil7 wrote: post #3

Apple's software quality has certainly slipped. I'm not sure if I'm just getting old but I find software quality in general seems to have slipped. Or is it just because there's more software around?

I think that the slip in quality we are seeing is a result of increased complexity more than anything else.

I'd expand your reasoning to include organizational complexity, which sometimes overrides technical factors.

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

#24

Post by freediver »

phoenixdblack wrote: post #2

One important thing not mentioned here: Apple should make sure to keep up Safari Development. It's by far the worst browser available and the web platform is only growing.

On a Mac, Safari is the best browser (as defined by being fast, battery efficient and native app) by a far margin compared to other mainstream choices, only matched by the Orion browser (but I may be biased).

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

#25

Post by ximeng »

boldslogan wrote: post #20
ximeng wrote: post #6

I have a few issues with Apple software, but with AirPods Pro they recently added an AI-driven voice isolation mode which was an incredible change. Went from the other side barely being able to hear you when you were speaking in a noisy environment to feeling like you were in a quiet room together. Massive quality of life improvement and increased competitive moat from better software.

was that in software or only the new Pros?

It was a recent software addition.

https://www.apple.com/hk/en/ios/ios-15/features/

Another neat new feature is screen sharing in FaceTime. But there’s a huge list of improvements, it’s clear they’re investing heavily in software.

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

#26

Post by nodejs_rulez_1 »

I recently tried to block YouTube ads on an iPad and failed. Equally surprised to see OS updates bring new feature changes that simply cannot be disabled (tab/app groupings). I mean there aren't that many Safari/iOS config options to choose from to begin with! What an insanity.

Samsung still makes cheap tablets that are awesome in terms of hardware, right?

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

#27

Post by DaiPlusPlus »

jamil7 wrote: post #3

Apple's software quality has certainly slipped. I'm not sure if I'm just getting old but I find software quality in general seems to have slipped. Or is it just because there's more software around?

> Or is it just because there's more software around?

I think there's _less software around_, insofar as there's fewer discrete software titles around, but each title has far, far more software code behind it.

I remember as a sprog, running my cracked copy of Adobe Photoshop 6.0 - that in order to do anything "cool" in PS (especially when you just can't grok how to paint, even with a Wacom) you needed a huge smattering of third-party Photoshop plug-ins: Alienskin, Kai's Power Tools, Flaming Pear, FilterFactory, etc - but nowadays while plug-ins are still a thing I find myself getting-by with only Photoshop's stock functionality. It certainly doesn't help that Apple continues toward completely locking-down their platforms: in-proc and binary plug-ins for Photoshop on iOS will never be a thing.

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

#28

Post by onemoresoop »

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.

Windows is horrible in this regard. And what's worse is that the users seem not to care such that this behavior proliferates. I have a windows machine that I take it offline and want it running at all times. No updates possible, Wi-Fi is turned of right? Wrong, windows does restart machine and enables Wi-Fi. It pisses me to no end how little control I have of this machine

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

#29

Post by Jcowell »

FinalBriefing wrote: post #19
sedeki wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Care to elaborate?

It is always behind on web technologies and hasn't implemented may features that have been around for a while. It only gets updated once a year, so any updates they do make are slow to hit users. This wouldn't be so bad if they were more up to date with Firefox and Chrome.

Is it behind web technologies or is it behind Google Chrome Features ?

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

#30

Post by nodejs_rulez_1 »

spoonjim wrote: post #8

This is just a guy griping about his bugs. Apple’s software quality is by far the best among competitors (Facebook’s is better but not really an Apple competitor).

That OS bubble you are in isn't making you any favours.
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