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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

#301

Post by least »

gcanyon wrote: post #250
nouveaux wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the Little Snitch[0] problem. If you have ever used Little Snitch, you will soon realize that 1) there is so much crap phoning home and 2) most people do not want to deal with giving permission to each and every one of these services. I have tried giving permission and at the end of the day, it's just not worth the time. For me, Little Snitch is great as a reporting tool but it's just too much work as a firew…

> most people do not want to deal with giving permission to each and every one of these services. It’s far worse than just annoying: if people have to give permission to a bunch of things they don’t understand, they will absolutely give permission to something they shouldn’t. You want the user to make a few decisions as possible, and every single one should be an actual decision: where the user knows what the options…

I think this is a bit of an odd take, given that the alternative is that the computer just silently allows you to download content from anywhere. I don't think this makes someone any more susceptible to malware than they already were. Little Snitch is the sort of software that the average person wouldn't install, anyway.

I understand the point, though. Going to just about any major website you will be pummeled with prompts to allow for a dozen different domains just to view one page, and it doesn't really give any indication of what those are used for. They have a what seems to be infinitesimally small list of connections that they do recognize and explain their use, but ultimately it's pretty useless for the vast majority of prompts.

I'd like there to be a better way to deal with this, but I'm not really sure what the solution to it would look like. You can download blocklists and just silently allow other connections, but I don't think that's significantly better than just using a hosts file.

The most useful thing Little Snitch does is alert me when individual applications try to phone home. For browsing the web it feels more like a chore.

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

#302

Post by tomtheelder »

philg_jr wrote: post #259
noneeeed wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The current UX of notifications is terrible . After months of using it I still don't understand the mental model. A notification comes up, I hover and wait for the cross to appear and click it. But then some time later I unlock my machine or something happens and apparantly all my notifications are still there for some reason and I have to clear them again, only this time they are in groups and I have to clear multip…

As a new iOS user, this is the #1 thing that makes me want to sell my 12 Mini and go back to vanilla Android. Notifications are a total mess in iOS.

Unquestionably it's the biggest gap. Having also switched recently, notifications on iOS feel like stepping literally 10 years into the past.

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

#303

Post by simonebrunozzi »

joconde wrote: post #213
superasn wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Note that Windows now has an official package manager called WinGet ( https://github.com/microsoft/winget-cli ), which worked very well when I tried it a few months ago; Skype and OneDrive can now be uninstalled without an external tool; and disabling all telemetry also seems to weaken antivirus protection.

Is it named after apt-get ? (loved Debian and always will)

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

#304

Post by dreamcompiler »

yosito wrote: post #292
jjice wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is something so many big companies do, and I hate it. Every 6 months it seems Spotify has to change their UI and make it harder to find what I want. Just make a decent UI and stick to it. I don't understand why there are redesigns over and over and over. My assumption is that it keeps people employed, even if they aren't necessarily needed. It at least takes away from more important issues being taken care of.

> why there are redesigns over and over and over Because they aren't building UIs to be useful for pleasant for users anymore. Once these data-driven companies have enough users locked in, they begin optimizing the user interface to manipulate user behavior for profit. They shift from helping you do what you want to manipulating you into doing what they want you to do. It's actually gotten so bad that open source sof…

Spotify is an ever-evolving trash fire. It's become very difficult or impossible to get it to display a list of albums created by a given artist, and then play album X. "Oh no" Spotify says. "I think what you really want to do is play and then a whole bunch of random songs by other artists you've never heard of, right? That's what I'm going to do for you."

I realize it's still actually possible to get Spotify to do what I want, but that stuff is increasingly buried beneath dark patterns.

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

#305

Post by throaway46546 »

jjice wrote: post #274
makecheck wrote: post #204

While this article focused primarily on things being left unmaintained, etc. there is also a huge problem with things being touched for no reason and making them worse . When handed what must be a mountain of bugs and unfinished items, why the hell did they prioritize things like breaking notifications and Safari tabs, for instance? They’re in a position where engineering resources desperately need to be closing gaps…

This is something so many big companies do, and I hate it. Every 6 months it seems Spotify has to change their UI and make it harder to find what I want. Just make a decent UI and stick to it. I don't understand why there are redesigns over and over and over. My assumption is that it keeps people employed, even if they aren't necessarily needed. It at least takes away from more important issues being taken care of.

Maybe making it harder to find what you want makes you more likely to find what they want.

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

#306

Post by aunty_helen »

azinman2 wrote: post #256
sneak wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> getting updated security signatures AKA phoning-home to Apple what apps you launch in realtime, in an unencrypted manner visible to your ISP/hotel/government too. It also connects to all of that crap even if you have LS off, analytics off, iCloud/FaceTime/iMessage/AppStore off, et c. Press F8 and your serial number gets transmitted to Apple.

I guarantee you there are no unencrypted communications going to Apple.

Hostname: ocsp.apple.com

IP Addresses: 2600:1402:e::b833:965b

  2600:1402:e::b833:9661

  2600:1402:e::b833:9669

  2600:1402:e::b833:966a

  + 17  more
TCP Port: http (80)

Protocol: TCP

Connected: no

Connects: 0 allowed, 7,359 denied

First Activity: 2/11/21, 22:20

Last Activity: 5h 29m ago

Yea sorry, sneak's right, it's still going port 80.

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

#307

Post by 2muchcoffeeman »

koyote wrote: post #299
makecheck wrote: post #204

While this article focused primarily on things being left unmaintained, etc. there is also a huge problem with things being touched for no reason and making them worse . When handed what must be a mountain of bugs and unfinished items, why the hell did they prioritize things like breaking notifications and Safari tabs, for instance? They’re in a position where engineering resources desperately need to be closing gaps…

> there is also a huge problem with things being touched for no reason and making them worse. I have never been a big fan of Apple's software, but I must say that this is not just an Apple problem, it's a software industry problem. The amount of software I use daily that has actually improved in the last 5 years as opposed to getting worse is getting frustratingly low as the years go on. I have just upgraded to the l…

We have come to a point where we have large companies employing thousands of people who need a purpose.

Fix your bugs. There are plenty. It’s not that they have no purpose. They want to add things to their resume so the next place will give them a pay bump or get that promotion.

If your strategy was to hop around between jobs every 12+ months or climb the ladder, would you bother making things better? You’ll be gone soon and it will be the next persons problem.

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

#308

Post by naravara »

joemi wrote: post #179
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…

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.

I agree in principle but in practice Apple made a lot of bad bets with the previous generation across the entire product line.

Intel failed to meet its targets time and time again, which hit Apple's production schedules especially hard since they tend to make big updates infrequently rather than continuously updating internals to be as fast as possible.

The USB-C ecosystem never got as convenient or extensible as they had hoped. Only now do I see a lot of good USB-C docks and peripherals coming out and it's still not as robust as you would want if you're building your entire product suite around it.

Some stuff there just was no good alternative, particularly SD cards.

The TouchBar was a dud.

The low-profile switches on their keyboards had big reliability issues.

And many more! Part of being a bold innovator is knowing when an idea didn't work out. The latest generation shows that they're willing to defer to practical needs rather than doubling-down on failed ideas.

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

#309

Post by throaway46546 »

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…

LTSC

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

#310

Post by ethbr0 »

drewg123 wrote: post #287
noneeeed wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The current UX of notifications is terrible . After months of using it I still don't understand the mental model. A notification comes up, I hover and wait for the cross to appear and click it. But then some time later I unlock my machine or something happens and apparantly all my notifications are still there for some reason and I have to clear them again, only this time they are in groups and I have to clear multip…

I wish there was some way to look at the last N notifications, see what apps generated them, etc. My biggest pet peeve right now is that my iPhone bongs when charging. Not when the charger is plugged or unplugged (its a different sound). It seems to happen when the charge passes 20% and then again when it passes 80%. But there is never a notification on screen, just a sound. Googling for this is impossible, since you…

I feel like users don't actually want notifications; they want Kafka with a nice UI.

On the other hand, developers (and specifically, ones with engagement KPIs) want as disposable notifications as possible.

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