[Note: This translation was created with the assistance of AI. English is not the author's native language.
Dear Apple Enthusiasts,
As a longtime Mac user who purchased my first Mac II in 1987 and whose professional career as a designer has been closely intertwined with the Mac, it is with a heavy heart and deep disappointment that I must confess today: I have lost all faith in Apple's ability to produce functional software for the Mac. What was once a beacon of user-friendliness and innovation is increasingly degenerating into a dysfunctional patchwork of promises and disappointments.
For years, I have watched with growing dismay as the quality of macOS continues to decline with each update. Once-valued programs like Music, Photos, Mail, and Apple TV have become torturous to use. They ignore basic principles of usability and logic, as if Apple has forgotten all understanding of consistent design.
The recent update to System Settings is a prime example of Apple's incompetence. Instead of real improvements, we get redesigned chaos that lacks any comprehensible structure. Where are the color codings that could at least visually guide us through this labyrinth? Instead, we are flooded with pointless features and useless bugs, while essential functions are neglected.
Apple's marketing promises us the moon, but the reality is sobering. Many of the grandly announced features prove useless in practice, while once reliable features fail more and more frequently. It's as if the entire macOS ecosystem is falling apart before our eyes.
Can Apple's much-touted AI still save this sinking ship? I strongly doubt it. My confidence that Apple is still capable of delivering even remotely everyday usable software for its admittedly excellent hardware has been shaken.
What good is a $5000 hardware setup if I have to restart the computer multiple times a day and buy expensive alternatives for half of the pre-installed programs just to get basic functionality?
Apple has clearly lost its compass. There is a lack of a plausible overall concept for macOS. Instead, we are fobbed off with an incoherent hodgepodge of poorly made and even more poorly maintained applications.
It's time for us as a community to raise our voices and hold Apple accountable. We deserve better. We deserve an operating system that lives up to the performance of the hardware, that is consistent, reliable, and innovative.
Apple, listen to us: Your focus may lie elsewhere, but don't forget the loyal Mac users who made you great. Remember your roots, the principles that once distinguished macOS. Only then can you regain the lost trust.
With deep concern and hope for improvement, Arne Thaysen
An Open Letter to the Mac Community: The Decline of macOS
Dear Apple Enthusiasts,
As a longtime Mac user who purchased my first Mac II in 1987 and whose professional career as a designer has been closely intertwined with the Mac, it is with a heavy heart and deep disappointment that I must confess today: I have lost all faith in Apple's ability to produce functional software for the Mac. What was once a beacon of user-friendliness and innovation is increasingly degenerating into a dysfunctional patchwork of promises and disappointments.
For years, I have watched with growing dismay as the quality of macOS continues to decline with each update. Once-valued programs like Music, Photos, Mail, and Apple TV have become torturous to use. They ignore basic principles of usability and logic, as if Apple has forgotten all understanding of consistent design.
The recent update to System Settings is a prime example of Apple's incompetence. Instead of real improvements, we get redesigned chaos that lacks any comprehensible structure. Where are the color codings that could at least visually guide us through this labyrinth? Instead, we are flooded with pointless features and useless bugs, while essential functions are neglected.
Apple's marketing promises us the moon, but the reality is sobering. Many of the grandly announced features prove useless in practice, while once reliable features fail more and more frequently. It's as if the entire macOS ecosystem is falling apart before our eyes.
Can Apple's much-touted AI still save this sinking ship? I strongly doubt it. My confidence that Apple is still capable of delivering even remotely everyday usable software for its admittedly excellent hardware has been shaken.
What good is a $5000 hardware setup if I have to restart the computer multiple times a day and buy expensive alternatives for half of the pre-installed programs just to get basic functionality?
Apple has clearly lost its compass. There is a lack of a plausible overall concept for macOS. Instead, we are fobbed off with an incoherent hodgepodge of poorly made and even more poorly maintained applications.
It's time for us as a community to raise our voices and hold Apple accountable. We deserve better. We deserve an operating system that lives up to the performance of the hardware, that is consistent, reliable, and innovative.
Apple, listen to us: Your focus may lie elsewhere, but don't forget the loyal Mac users who made you great. Remember your roots, the principles that once distinguished macOS. Only then can you regain the lost trust.
With deep concern and hope for improvement, Arne Thaysen
