I don’t know if they’ve gave up, but their software has definitely started sucking.
One example that’s affecting me right now: The app store icon on my MBP shows there are 4 updates available, but if I click through to the Update page and click “Update” or “Update All” nothing happens. They’ve been available for days, and for days I’ve been unable to update them. Sometimes a spinning icon shows up in the corner by the forward/backwards arrows, but the updates never install.
Another example: iCloud on my phone. It prompts for my password every 5 seconds, even though I click “Not Now” and don’t want to use it. So I tried to disable it. But I need to sign in to disable it?!? So then it starts prompting even more often trying to get the password to sign out. It was practically DOSing me trying to use my phone yesterday.
And don’t get me started on how “Radio” and “Apple Music” have infiltrated the Music app and iTunes. I already buy my music on Amazon, I’m not interested. Yet they’re still there, apparently impossible to disable, and at least on iOs it seems to be the default screen when the app loads.
They just keep screwing up every little thing in the most annoying possible ways. I’m not planning on upgrading my hardware any time soon, so I’m locked in for now, but I’m certainly not buying Apple when it’s time to upgrade.
I don’t really see a regression - the Mac App Store and iTunes have always been crappy :). I have been pretty happy with the last two iterations of OS X. It seems that it has been getting some more attention after some years of stagnancy. E.g. El Capitan is much snappier on our Macs. I like the relatively new support for extensions, e.g. Finder and Photos.app extensions. System Integrity Protection seems good for family that every now and then manage to install dubious software.
Hardware-wise, I really like my new MacBook 12", it’s beautiful, light, has a great screen, and I like the keyboard. Yes, they should’ve put in at least two USB-C ports. I don’t really have an opinion on iDevices anymore, since I switched to Android two years ago.
tl;dr: to me it seems like business as usual, with occasional brilliance (MacBook 12", which will probably remove some of its limitations in the next iteration).
the Mac App Store and iTunes have always been crappy
If you include iOS’s music app in “iTunes” then I disagree. iOS2’s music player was big leap forward from the clickwheel design (I never used iOS1 but I assume it was the same) and there wasn’t significant backwards movement until iOS 7 and 8. Progress was slow (sorting names in subtly different order on unicode values outside ascii relative to iTunes, the addition of playlist editing, etc) but it wasn’t until they replaced “back” with “see a screen full of apple advertisements” that it became clear we were headed in the wrong direction.
Do you want some UI complaints? Try enabling bigger fonts.
Use the iOS9 todo list app. The text field is clipped and you can’t see what you are typing (bug reported).
Now go to the contacts app. Too easy to get wrong, right? And a PHONE NUMBER! Once you have entered 5 numbers, the field goes offscreen and you can’t see what you are typing (bug also reported).
I don’t think they’ve given up. I think they are focusing on the “industrial design blink” and completely forgot usability. Ive without Steve.
Yeah. I can imagine if a person signs up and enables everything and updates immediately to everything then it’s a great experience. But nobody’s considering the corner cases where people don’t go all in on every thing Apple releases, and a lot of those corner cases are broken.
No, I think my complaints fall into two categories.
First, general software bugs, like the update problem.
My second complaint isn’t necessarily with their services, but with how they integrate those services into iOs and OSX. iCloud and Apple music may be great services, but it feels like Apple is trying to bully me into using them by shoving them in my face every 5 seconds asking me to log in or whatever. If I say “No” the first time, they should respect it. They could at least wait a day or something instead of literally asking 5 seconds later. I can post a video; it’s literally 5-10 seconds apart between prompting for my iCloud login.
The update problem is because the same cloud infrastructure that does such a poor job with the various App Stores is reused for software updates. And yes, there’s a definite strategy tax issue with the way that the services have been shoe-horned into other software.
But I find the underlying software to be pretty good, and in some places, excellent. Full disclosure, of course, is that I used to work there.
iOS 7 bombed? Citation needed
I don’t know if they’ve gave up, but their software has definitely started sucking.
One example that’s affecting me right now: The app store icon on my MBP shows there are 4 updates available, but if I click through to the Update page and click “Update” or “Update All” nothing happens. They’ve been available for days, and for days I’ve been unable to update them. Sometimes a spinning icon shows up in the corner by the forward/backwards arrows, but the updates never install.
Another example: iCloud on my phone. It prompts for my password every 5 seconds, even though I click “Not Now” and don’t want to use it. So I tried to disable it. But I need to sign in to disable it?!? So then it starts prompting even more often trying to get the password to sign out. It was practically DOSing me trying to use my phone yesterday.
And don’t get me started on how “Radio” and “Apple Music” have infiltrated the Music app and iTunes. I already buy my music on Amazon, I’m not interested. Yet they’re still there, apparently impossible to disable, and at least on iOs it seems to be the default screen when the app loads.
They just keep screwing up every little thing in the most annoying possible ways. I’m not planning on upgrading my hardware any time soon, so I’m locked in for now, but I’m certainly not buying Apple when it’s time to upgrade.
I don’t really see a regression - the Mac App Store and iTunes have always been crappy :). I have been pretty happy with the last two iterations of OS X. It seems that it has been getting some more attention after some years of stagnancy. E.g. El Capitan is much snappier on our Macs. I like the relatively new support for extensions, e.g. Finder and Photos.app extensions. System Integrity Protection seems good for family that every now and then manage to install dubious software.
Hardware-wise, I really like my new MacBook 12", it’s beautiful, light, has a great screen, and I like the keyboard. Yes, they should’ve put in at least two USB-C ports. I don’t really have an opinion on iDevices anymore, since I switched to Android two years ago.
tl;dr: to me it seems like business as usual, with occasional brilliance (MacBook 12", which will probably remove some of its limitations in the next iteration).
If you include iOS’s music app in “iTunes” then I disagree. iOS2’s music player was big leap forward from the clickwheel design (I never used iOS1 but I assume it was the same) and there wasn’t significant backwards movement until iOS 7 and 8. Progress was slow (sorting names in subtly different order on unicode values outside ascii relative to iTunes, the addition of playlist editing, etc) but it wasn’t until they replaced “back” with “see a screen full of apple advertisements” that it became clear we were headed in the wrong direction.
It’s illustrative, I think, that your complaints here are all with Apple’s services infrastructure and design.
Do you want some UI complaints? Try enabling bigger fonts.
Use the iOS9 todo list app. The text field is clipped and you can’t see what you are typing (bug reported). Now go to the contacts app. Too easy to get wrong, right? And a PHONE NUMBER! Once you have entered 5 numbers, the field goes offscreen and you can’t see what you are typing (bug also reported).
I don’t think they’ve given up. I think they are focusing on the “industrial design blink” and completely forgot usability. Ive without Steve.
Yeah. I can imagine if a person signs up and enables everything and updates immediately to everything then it’s a great experience. But nobody’s considering the corner cases where people don’t go all in on every thing Apple releases, and a lot of those corner cases are broken.
No, I think my complaints fall into two categories.
First, general software bugs, like the update problem.
My second complaint isn’t necessarily with their services, but with how they integrate those services into iOs and OSX. iCloud and Apple music may be great services, but it feels like Apple is trying to bully me into using them by shoving them in my face every 5 seconds asking me to log in or whatever. If I say “No” the first time, they should respect it. They could at least wait a day or something instead of literally asking 5 seconds later. I can post a video; it’s literally 5-10 seconds apart between prompting for my iCloud login.
The update problem is because the same cloud infrastructure that does such a poor job with the various App Stores is reused for software updates. And yes, there’s a definite strategy tax issue with the way that the services have been shoe-horned into other software.
But I find the underlying software to be pretty good, and in some places, excellent. Full disclosure, of course, is that I used to work there.
At least with Apple Music, you can turn it off in settings (via Settings > Music > Show Apple Music).
I feel like Betteridge’s law applies here.
Betteridge’s law, for those who don’t know (like me):
And you don’t need to since the charge status is displayed on the phone’s screen…
“Yes”; alternately, “no”.