long term consequences of running an H1B gulag and underpaying relative to industry
Apple's Software Quality Crisis
571–580 of 1001 posts
Re: Apple's Software Quality Crisis
#572Earlier quoted context omitted.
Honestly, I don't think it's a culture thing or a CS fundamentals thing. I think it's the fact that software is 100x, or maybe even 1,000x, more complex that it was just 25 years ago. Apps are built on so many libraries and frameworks and packages that an average application will have 100x the amount of code. And they're all necessary . A typical phone app is 200 MB, when Word 4.0 was less than 1 MB. But it's not jus…
> And they're all necessary. A typical phone app is 200 MB, when Word 4.0 was less than 1 MB. On native platforms, no it’s not. I know this for a fact because I maintain moderately complex, functional phone apps that have binary sizes that sit below the 30MB mark. I use multiple desktop and mobile apps from other developers that also match this description. The cause of the bloat there can be attributed to the follow…
Engineers who care about good engineering are pretty much a thing of the past. Today the game is buffing your resume with as many complex tools as possible, and jumping to the next thing before your pile of complexity crumbles under its own weight.
Re: Apple's Software Quality Crisis
#573Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know the feeling. I'm forced to use a Mac laptop for work, and it's really made me appreciate Linux.
Which distro do you use? I've run a mac and Linux laptop and the Linux setup keeps sending me back to Mac.
I set up Mint for a friend a few years ago and it took me about an hour never having done it before. What did you find difficult about it?
Re: Apple's Software Quality Crisis
#574Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know the feeling. I'm forced to use a Mac laptop for work, and it's really made me appreciate Linux.
Linux makes you use the terminal and read manuals and edit configs to accomplish the most basic tasks. At least neither Windows nor macOS need that. Linux is fine for servers, but I can't fathom using that on my actual computer.
That's a... like 20 years old talking point by now?
I mean, you can probably find _a_ Linux that's like what you say, but top Linux distros are nowhere like that.
Re: Apple's Software Quality Crisis
#575My take: over success breeds complacency. Apple knows where its money is coming from. It has carved out an extremely hard to establish hardware production chain via iphone and macbooks, and is able to provide a certain consistent level of quality for it. Software is an afterthought, especially for software that is not in service of this primary hardware revenue source. From a business point of view it literally does not make sense for them to do anything differently.
Of course, disruption is always a possibility. Google was the undisputed AI leader for years, but their reputation as a House of Knowledge was overshadowed by their comfort as a search, cloud, and advertisement business. These are steady services that just need to be reliable to remain profitable, no invention required.
For a while I was surprised by Mircrosoft's signs of life around generative AI by the time OpenAI came about, but it seemed to relapse into complacency too.
I honestly believe there is some unstated law of success, I think there is a "ceiling" to success, at which point it becomes impossible to expand. It has something to do with the correlation between success in complexity. As a business grows more successful, it becomes more tied down to various commitments, constraining its ability to innovate without assumptions. There's a limit to what any given entity can handle.
Re: Apple's Software Quality Crisis
#576It's not just Apple guys, it's everywhere. Software quality has seriously declined across the board, from Spotify to Slack to core operating systems like Windows and macOS. I think a major factor is corporate culture, which largely ignores software quality. Another issue is that many engineers lack a solid understanding of CS fundamentals like performance, security, and reliability (perhaps this is why many are not a…
This.
I’d like to hear from the HN comments. Does anyone here work for a modern and popular software company (something I might have used recently) and think that the software they make is really and truly bulletproof? Like no backlog of hundreds of unfixed bugs and polish items that won’t stop growing?
I don’t think I have met anyone who works at one of those places yet. I’d like to.
Re: Apple's Software Quality Crisis
#577While I worked at Apple in 2021-22 their issues seemed about the same as nearly every other company producing consumer apps and devices; bloated slow garbage with very mediocre quality. Their engineering culture is terrible, especially as it relates to transfer of the “Apple ethos” to the next generation of devs. Apple is going to be indistinguishable from the rest of the pack within the next decade. But most of all…
> Sorry, got in to rant mode. I really want “less but better” from things in my life. We as consumers aren’t rewarding companies that take this approach apparently.
If *becoming the most valuable company in the world* isn't being "rewarded", then what possibly is?
No, it's the hypercapitalist endless drive for ultra short-term, next quarter profits at the cost of anything else that causes this. Obvious irony being that Apple would've never become this big if Jobs had followed this approach.
This of course is the #1 reason of the downfall of the West, above all else - pure short-termism.
Re: Apple's Software Quality Crisis
#578While I worked at Apple in 2021-22 their issues seemed about the same as nearly every other company producing consumer apps and devices; bloated slow garbage with very mediocre quality. Their engineering culture is terrible, especially as it relates to transfer of the “Apple ethos” to the next generation of devs. Apple is going to be indistinguishable from the rest of the pack within the next decade. But most of all…
This saddens me, as I learned the lessons of less but better through Apple over 20 years ago through Steve and Jony, which ultimately led to Rams. It was a pretty transformative lesson in my life, and extended far beyond tech or products.
I hope they are able to course correct with the right leadership. A culture that cares deeply about the little things is hard to build and has to be supported at the highest levels.
Re: Apple's Software Quality Crisis
#579I want a MacBook Air with Linux running on it perfectly, audio, microphones everything. Would be so nice.
Re: Apple's Software Quality Crisis
#580Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Enter a birth date in a contact entry without a year. I’m glad I’m not the only one. It’s mind boggling . I’ve had to start putting in my best guess just to have it save…
For exclusively Apple ecosystem users, how do you handle these feature gaps? Just get used to working around them and ignore? I feel like every time I swap to the Mac ecosystem it's a litany of "Hunh, that weird tiny thing doesn't work" issues. PS: USB-C DisplayPort MST (display daisy-chaining) support that's been missing for... a decade and counting?
I accept them as I do in windows and Linux because I have built workflows around the things I do want on each of them respectively. I’ve long since given up the dream of any one platform or technology choice meeting all my needs, for me at least, it’s a fools errand.
This bug I can’t even replicate so :shrug: