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Apple’s declining software quality

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Re: Apple’s declining software quality

#381

Post by cleaver »

graeme wrote: post #99

The decline seems real to me. A shortlist of things I've noticed: * Spotlight no longer finds things as easily. I used to use it for everything. Since updating to El Capitan, it has missed some exact match folders. Planning to switch to Alfred. * iWork was gutted in '13. People used to use Pages professionally. I'm now using Pages '09, and planning to transition to Word or Latex. I tested Pages '13 intensively, and i…

Pages used to be my word processor of choice. I have since subscribed to Office 365.

My understanding is that the desktop version of Pages was brought in line with the iOS version. Simple things like paragraph styles were taken out.

Re: Apple’s declining software quality

#383

Post by hussong »

yeukhon wrote: post #328
coldtea wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There's just no way in hell Steve Jobs would be putting up with this and I wish he was alive to tear some people a new one. I didn't like Jobs but respect his ability to achieve things. You probably wasn't paying attention when Job was running things. OS X 10.1 was a mess -- it took until several updates to become somewhat usable. The Finder was half-arsed for a decade. Mail.app had several issues. The Windows vers…

> The Windows versions of iTunes was crappy. Oh joy. I remember those days when people were angry because plugging your iPod into a new PC means wiping your library! > That said, I don't buy the "Apple software went downhill as of late" thing. Perception on Mac after people switch from Windows to Mac OSX immediately is awesome. The perception is different if you use Mac OSX for a long time and suddenly you see comput…

Maybe the grass is greener on the other side. I was using an iMac for a couple months on a job a while back after using only Ubuntu for 5+ years and I found the whole Mac UI extremely sluggish and confusing.

Re: Apple’s declining software quality

#384

Post by sandworm101 »

Animats wrote: post #372

This has to be a management problem. Apple has total control over the hardware, total control over third party developers, and $203 billion in cash. What are they doing wrong? Apple has the resources to approach software like aerospace. Formal interface specs, heavy Q/A, tough regression tests, formal methods. It's expensive, but Apple ships so many copies that the cost per unit is insignificant. Microsoft did that,…

>>> Apple has total control over the hardware, total control over third party developers, and $203 billion in cash. What are they doing wrong?

Nothing. And that is the problem. When you are generally speaking doing everything well there is little room for massive improvement. The days of perpetually exponential improvement, and resulting growth, are over. Apple is not a startup. Like Ford, Sony and GE, they now have to settle into the grind of incremental improvements for reasonable returns.

Or they can put their markers down on ever more grandiose schemes. They could branch into transportation by starting an airline, or a robot taxi service, but I doubt shareholders will tolerate such outflows for long. If doing so causes the neglect of the core business (iPhone) shareholders will revolt.

Re: Apple’s declining software quality

#385

Post by vudu »

Apple needs a 'No man'. (as opposed to a 'Yes man').

Steve Jobs was that guy. He did not care about anything but 'is this a great product and would I use it?'. Stock price or someone's feelings be damned.

I've felt this way for many times of the last few years but the one that hit me hardest (even though this is more esoteric rather than design or technical faults - which imo there have been many) when I walked in the Apple store and saw the center piece of the store - Watch Bands - not the Watch. No, man, that aint right. I like to think Jobs would have fired that person on the spot.

Re: Apple’s declining software quality

#387

Post by vacri »

JustSomeNobody wrote: post #281
dplgk wrote: post #10

There's just no way in hell Steve Jobs would be putting up with this and I wish he was alive to tear some people a new one. I didn't like Jobs but respect his ability to achieve things. Perhaps, the years of oversimplifying applications has created an Apple that can't handle complex applications? Or, there's a chicken and egg question: XCode and the surrounding tools are atrociously buggy and hostile to the developer…

> Windows got so much flack over the years. It wasn't the prettiest but it worked and did what it said. No. Just No. Windows loves to "forget" things. Things like Bluetooth devices. Or wifi devices. Windows likes to update your laptop for you when you're trying to close it ("Don't turn off your computer..." Wait, what? I have a plane to catch!). Windows scatters files all over the place! And that registry. UGH!

> Windows scatters files all over the place!

Oh look, OSX has touched this usb stick, and vomited it's dotfiles onto it. Did it ever write to the stick? Nope, just need to throw those trash dotfiles onto every. single. thing. it. sees.

Re: Apple’s declining software quality

#388

Post by raisedbyninjas »

greggman wrote: post #335
graeme wrote: post #99

The decline seems real to me. A shortlist of things I've noticed: * Spotlight no longer finds things as easily. I used to use it for everything. Since updating to El Capitan, it has missed some exact match folders. Planning to switch to Alfred. * iWork was gutted in '13. People used to use Pages professionally. I'm now using Pages '09, and planning to transition to Word or Latex. I tested Pages '13 intensively, and i…

Clock has bugs. I've had alarms not go off 3 times in the last year. Pictures to prove it because when the alarm goes off it's no longer "on" (its switch is slide to the off position) so the fact that the switches are still on 30 minutes after the alarm time past means the alarm didn't go off. Nearly missed a flight. Music once it went flat UI is now complete crap. It drives me nuts all the time and I use it often be…

The Android stock alarm clock has the same problem since at least 4.0

Re: Apple’s declining software quality

#389

Post by ProAm »

mwfunk wrote: post #367

I blame the stock market pressure towards growth. The stock market rewards growth at the expense of everything else. It's like a kid pinching his arm to blow up a mosquito that was biting him- it's forced to grow and grow and grow until it pops. It's no longer acceptable to simply run a profitable business with happy employees and customers. It creates a push towards constant acceleration in all things- shorter relea…

> I blame the stock market pressure towards growth

This is because almost everyone's retirement fund/401k/IRA is now directly tied to the stock market in one form or another. There are no more pensions, so people need growth in order to retire and live a reasonable life in your last years.

Re: Apple’s declining software quality

#390

Post by macintux »

doomlaser wrote: post #337
elsurudo wrote: post #323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not everybody hates skeumorphism, especially when not taken to an extreme (okay, Apple under Jobs often did take it to an extreme... like the leather Calendar app). But skeumorphism, when used properly, provides affordances and hints to the user. > told developers that they don't need native apps because using HTML + WebView is enough That's because the SDK wasn't ready for developers yet. You must remember that, fir…

No, they weren't going to do a public SDK, until after the huge sustained public outcry. I understand the plan was to work with select third parties on a case by case basis, sort of akin to standalone game consoles.

I hear that repeated a lot, but I haven't seen any real evidence to back it up.

It seems equally plausible, especially given how quickly they announced the SDK after the iPhone release, that Apple was preparing for it but not ready yet (and/or wanted to give themselves time to work out the early kinks in all of the other parts: working with AT&T, supporting the new device and new OS, etc, etc).

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