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Scott Forstall leaves Apple

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Re: Scott Forstall leaves Apple

#321

Post by CamperBob2 »

masklinn wrote: post #275
CamperBob2 wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The man's got taste. That was true of Jobs as well... but holy crap, have you seen his yacht? Unfortunately, good aesthetic judgement in one area doesn't always carry over into other areas, even those that seem closely related. Human-machine interfaces have a functional aspect that can't be handled by dashing off yet another homage to Dieter Rams. Ive hasn't yet shown competence in this aspect of design.

> That was true of Jobs as well... but holy crap, have you seen his yacht? On the other hand, have you seen the designs the approved for the future HQ?

Yes. If design is language, the new Apple HQ's architecture speaks of an encircled army camp, bulwarked against any possible engagement with the world around it. Every visual feature is defensive in nature.

It's the sort of place where I'd expect a zombie movie to finish up, not where I'd expect people to be inspired to create great things. It belongs in Pyongyang, not Cupertino.

Re: Scott Forstall leaves Apple

#322

Post by CamperBob2 »

jarek wrote: post #318
89a wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same goes for this stupid piece of shit http://www.wthr.co

I was so confused when I saw that app a couple of months back. Why spend so much effort creating an admittedly aesthetically pleasing design, name check Rams and his principles, and so completely miss the point of "as little design as possible" and have a non-functional spinner display for the current conditions? And having such a prominent °F/°C switch is just baffling. This is not a function used regularly by the v…

(Shrug) I don't know anything about this app but I don't immediately get the hate for it. It looks cool.

The spinner dial may not be functional, but it could be and should be, because weather conditions change incrementally and (more or less) predictably. If it's humid and cloudy and the barometric pressure is falling, then it would make sense for the spinner dial to move slowly between "cloudy" and "raining" positions, for instance.

And maybe the author of the app is an advocate of the metric system and wants to encourage users to treat the °F/°C switch as a prominent educational feature. Like I said, I don't know anything about it, but the amount of negativity being aimed at the app seems difficult to justify.

Re: Scott Forstall leaves Apple

#323

Post by jarek »

CamperBob2 wrote: post #322
jarek wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was so confused when I saw that app a couple of months back. Why spend so much effort creating an admittedly aesthetically pleasing design, name check Rams and his principles, and so completely miss the point of "as little design as possible" and have a non-functional spinner display for the current conditions? And having such a prominent °F/°C switch is just baffling. This is not a function used regularly by the v…

(Shrug) I don't know anything about this app but I don't immediately get the hate for it. It looks cool. The spinner dial may not be functional, but it could be and should be, because weather conditions change incrementally and (more or less) predictably. If it's humid and cloudy and the barometric pressure is falling, then it would make sense for the spinner dial to move slowly between "cloudy" and "raining" positio…

I'm not sure if that part of the comment was aimed at me: I don't hate it, I just think it fails at reaching or perhaps even understanding its stated design goals.

Re: Scott Forstall leaves Apple

#324

Post by CamperBob2 »

jarek wrote: post #323
CamperBob2 wrote: post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(Shrug) I don't know anything about this app but I don't immediately get the hate for it. It looks cool. The spinner dial may not be functional, but it could be and should be, because weather conditions change incrementally and (more or less) predictably. If it's humid and cloudy and the barometric pressure is falling, then it would make sense for the spinner dial to move slowly between "cloudy" and "raining" positio…

I'm not sure if that part of the comment was aimed at me: I don't hate it, I just think it fails at reaching or perhaps even understanding its stated design goals.

Mostly referring to 89a's criticism ("Same goes for this stupid piece of shit.") I usually reserve language like that for politicians, Sony products, and iTunes, not cheesy weather apps.

Re: Scott Forstall leaves Apple

#325

Post by bonzoesc »

TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #319
drivebyacct2 wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great, I'll remember to curse him the next time I can't buy something because it's EXCLUSIVELY listed in iTunes. Not sure why this is downvoted. At least Apple's competitors allow me to buy their music as Linux user.

I just hate how slow the iTunes interface is on Windows, and the fact everything's in m4a/AAC, not MP3.

Isn't AAC a better codec than MP3 as far as quality per bit goes?

Re: Scott Forstall leaves Apple

#326

Post by TazeTSchnitzel »

Einherji wrote: post #286
chj wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That Podcasts app is really really a piece of "work". whoever designed it should be fired.

I actually like a lot of apple's skeuomorphism. I think it makes digital interfaces more natural. I think at least some of the iPhones success can be attributed to the fact that less savvy people find the skeuomorphisms easy to relate to everyday things and helps bridge the gap between, for example, using a real reel-to-reel vs. using a digital representation thereof. Although I agree that the podcast app is too much…

There are some interesting ways iOS uses fabric patterns, it's quite clever. But I don't think that making things look like their old-school equivalents really helps people, rather hinders.

Re: Scott Forstall leaves Apple

#327

Post by gergles »

FredericJ wrote: post #6

Can't wait to read this thread on Quora. http://www.quora.com/Apple-Inc-2/Why-is-Scott-Forstall-leavi...

I'd love to read it too. Unfortunately, I can't: """ Sign in to read this page. You may only read Quora content while logged in.

Sign In with Facebook I Already Have a Quora Account

Why do I need to join to read this? Quora is a knowledge-sharing community that depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. """

I'm going to put out a request to 'stop linking to Quora', because we readily decry this shit when expertsexchange does it, but when a Valley Darling does it, it's OK?

(Interestingly, they're A/Bing 'forced' login - when I loaded the page again in an incognito window, a "Cancel" option suddenly appeared.)

(Edit: the cancel option is worthless, every answer is unreadable and covered with: """ Join Quora for free to read this answer.

Connect to Facebook Connect to Twitter

Connecting helps us surface content that is relevant to you. We'll never post without your permission.

I don't have a Facebook or Twitter account. )"""

Re: Scott Forstall leaves Apple

#328

Post by jarek »

objclxt wrote: post #199
jordhy wrote: post #34

I feel very sorry for Apple. Scott was a major catalyst that made things happen at the company.

...but on the other hand, there's been speculation for years that his management style was very bad, and the source of frustration in the engineering teams, as well as his friction with the industrial design team.

So he was just like Steve then?

Re: Scott Forstall leaves Apple

#329

Post by jarek »

rahoulb wrote: post #145
ececconi wrote: post #82

Everybody here talks about Ive being opposed to skeuomorphism , does anybody have any examples of what the UI would look like under the leadership of his design principles? I can't even imagine it.

Like this? http://wthr.co/ (although I have to say, it looks beautiful but is an awful app)

God save the design world if an app with a spinner display for non-linear, non-rotational, non-user-controlled data and a prominent switch that maybe 5% of the users will use more than once is the future of Apple's UI.

Re: Scott Forstall leaves Apple

#330

Post by olliesaunders »

roc wrote: post #307
rdl wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aside from prices and selection (for some reason the number in USD is equal to the number in GBP for almost everything, even when GBP is 1.6-2.2x the USD), it's size and layout of stores and staffing. There were two main kinds of stores -- pale imitations of Best Buy, Circuit City, and Microcenter (out in the suburbs/small towns) (which is ironic since those businesses have had serious problems in the US market now,…

> "for some reason the number in USD is equal to the number in GBP for almost everything, even when GBP is 1.6-2.2x the USD" Price is set by willingness to pay. full stop. Cost for goods is almost always worked to, backwards, from price targets. Exchange rates don't enter into it, except as pertains to costs. GBP prices remain 'close' to numeric USD, because people still buy products at those prices. Looking into why…

I agree partly with this but it fails to take competition into account.
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