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Apple's Software Quality Crisis

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Re: Apple's Software Quality Crisis

#811

Post by alexashka »

latexr wrote: post #779
alexashka wrote: post #756

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What these companies need to do is slow down and stop chasing every shiny thing Who is dealing in fantasies now, friend? :) Apple's software really isn't in crisis. It's just very low quality relative to what people who've written software for a living know to be possible. But it doesn't matter - Apple is a prestigious jobs guarantee program for rich kids first, entity that delivers value to consumers second. It's…

> Who is dealing in fantasies now, friend? I said they need to, not that I think they will. But they have in the past. There is a reason Snow Leopard is still lauded today. > It's just very low quality relative to what people who've written software for a living know to be possible. No, it’s low quality relative to what Apple users came to expect. There was a time when “it just works” was an aspirational goal which p…

Feel free to tell me where I said it was a primary goal.

Re: Apple's Software Quality Crisis

#812

Post by p0w3n3d »

I use Apple M1 in my work, and comparing to a PC, it has really good performance. I would blame Apple for a lot, but not for the performance. Namely, for:

- lack of repair support (either you pay through your nose for the screen replacement or you'll get a nasty stripe on second-hand screen that has been fitted into your machine)

- unrepairable devices (e.g. split Hard Disk chips to not be removable)

- artifically non-inclusive ecosystem that refuses e.g. Bluetooth file transfers from Android device

- idiotic policy of waiting on forgot password

Re: Apple's Software Quality Crisis

#813

Post by Angostura »

ramraj07 wrote: post #804
yalok wrote: post #685

This has been going on for years. I used to do a lot of iOS development, and have an eye for bugs. Almost every Apple app/service has been regressing in quality. Take basic functionality - a phone app (calling). After certain audio sessions use (calling via WhatsApp) I can’t make regular calls over cellular - the UI app immediately cancels the call. Only reboot helps. Or notes - for many years/iOS versions, they live…

I moved out of iPhone because of one such thing: the call log can only be 100 items long, like what? The most powerful processor ever, hundreds of GB and i can't see who I called last month?? I was done at that moment.

That doesn’t seem to be correct (any more?) I just spent a while scrolling back through the call log.

It goes back to 2019 - certainly more than 100 calls

Re: Apple's Software Quality Crisis

#814

Post by matwood »

schnable wrote: post #794
walterbell wrote: post #702

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Current head of Apple hardware is in the line of CEO succession. If he becomes CEO at some point in the future, could he have a positive influence on software culture within Apple?

In my experience, hardware people in the top decision making roles are the cause of degradation of software quality, not the solution. They often don't understand the nature of software and software product management.

Depends on the person. The CEO position is about setting a vision and hiring the right people to execute.

Re: Apple's Software Quality Crisis

#815

Post by leeoniya »

flessner wrote: post #713
yalok wrote: post #685

This has been going on for years. I used to do a lot of iOS development, and have an eye for bugs. Almost every Apple app/service has been regressing in quality. Take basic functionality - a phone app (calling). After certain audio sessions use (calling via WhatsApp) I can’t make regular calls over cellular - the UI app immediately cancels the call. Only reboot helps. Or notes - for many years/iOS versions, they live…

I have run into these same issues, it's particularly frustrating once you see a Reddit thread from a couple years ago outlining the exact issue. For a large consumer-focused company like Apple this can only be explained by ignorance. From a developer perspective many of these inconsistencies are rooting from inconsistent access patterns - operating system (ABI?), applications (ICP?), remote (TCP, HTTP, LDAP, FTP, ...…

> this can only be explained by ignorance.

s/ignorance/apathy

Re: Apple's Software Quality Crisis

#816

Post by piltdownman »

friendzis wrote: post #733
latexr wrote: post #700

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Sometimes I’m so frustrated, and thinking of my options - it’s either move to Android, or go get hired at Apple with a mandate to fix bugs in various products… Those aren’t options, they’re fantasies. Like dreaming of suing out of existence a company that wronged you, or fixing the world by ruling it, or winning the lottery without playing. Android isn’t perfect either, it’s a different set of frustrations. And why…

I have been saying this for years: consistent deterioration of ACs/DoDs. There is no limit to scrum and especially the constant refinement to ACs/DoDs. Yes, you may implement a solution more efficiently by not overengineering it. But at some point constant seek to reduce "complexity" so that more features fit into sprint (funny how story point measure complexity, not time, but sprint is sized in both time and SP capa…

First off - it's a sprint forecast, not a sprint commitment. A sprint is timeboxed in the sense of guaranteeing some delivery of incremental functionality for a product on a regular basis. It's aim is not to backdoor the mapping of time to points.

Furthermore, Sprint Planning/Refinement are just innocuous ceremonies whose only aim is to facilitate productive discussion between a Product Owner/Manager and an Implementation team as regards delivery timelines and priority ordering thereof. Done properly, it allows a pragmatic approach to achieving a predictable software delivery cadence via mutual compromise.

If the process turns into 'fit as many features into the sprint as possible' at the expense of Performance/Stability/Functionality or Technical Debt accumulation, you're really just doing the 'fast' version of Cheap/Fast/Good Waterfall Project Management.

Re: Apple's Software Quality Crisis

#817

Post by thedanbob »

catlover76 wrote: post #108
diggan wrote: post #4

I drank the "creating products that prioritize user experience over feature checklists" kool-aid back in ~2013 sometime, and got myself a first Macbook when I worked at a software startup the first time. While it certainly gave a more "premium" impression in terms of hardware/UI/UX for the first few years, around 2016 I had to move back to Linux because the software experience and the user experience is just too poor…

> around 2016 I had to move back to Linux because the software experience and the user experience is just too poor, outright buggy and changes all the time. Honestly, I have difficulty believing someone could find these kinds of issues to be less of a problem on Linux than on Mac

I've encountered fewer show-stopping bugs in Linux than macOS lately. And of the software that I use on both, the macOS versions have more problems. Honestly, the main thing holding me back from replacing my M1 MBA with a linux laptop is the wonderful speed and battery life. If the software problems get bad enough to negate those I'm switching.

Re: Apple's Software Quality Crisis

#818

Post by [deleted] »

p0w3n3d wrote: post #812

I use Apple M1 in my work, and comparing to a PC, it has really good performance. I would blame Apple for a lot, but not for the performance. Namely, for: - lack of repair support (either you pay through your nose for the screen replacement or you'll get a nasty stripe on second-hand screen that has been fitted into your machine) - unrepairable devices (e.g. split Hard Disk chips to not be removable) - artifically no…

[deleted]

Re: Apple's Software Quality Crisis

#819

Post by nbzso »

Apple makes a nice computer hardware. For running Linux.

iPhone is a trap. We see already in GB with removal of encryption. It is not the time for drooling over some UI animation. It is time to protect your data and learn to live in a surveillance state. All the people which are pretending to be a techie and use those types of devices called "smartphones" are plain stupid.

Every stroke on your Mac is collected. Just install Little Snitch and watch it real-time. Same with Windows. Simplewall app is showing it clearly.

This is not only a hostile computing and dark patterns' bonanza. They want AI governance over there in the headquarters of a global capital.

It is time to stop filling their baskets with cash. Use your old devices as long as possible. Do not update prematurelly. Educate yourselves. Protect your data.

Degoogled phone is a nice start for this UX.

Re: Apple's Software Quality Crisis

#820

Post by markus_zhang »

walterbell wrote: post #702
yalok wrote: post #685

This has been going on for years. I used to do a lot of iOS development, and have an eye for bugs. Almost every Apple app/service has been regressing in quality. Take basic functionality - a phone app (calling). After certain audio sessions use (calling via WhatsApp) I can’t make regular calls over cellular - the UI app immediately cancels the call. Only reboot helps. Or notes - for many years/iOS versions, they live…

Current head of Apple hardware is in the line of CEO succession. If he becomes CEO at some point in the future, could he have a positive influence on software culture within Apple?

Under this climate? Very hard I think.
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