Apple Engineers Working Overtime on iOS 7's 'DeForstallization'

[motorazr]

Should be nice - the game center has always looked really un-apple like to me.

removing some of the clutter will allow the OS to unify its application design further I'd think.. which would be nice.

 

[twigman08]

Why is it always 'working overtime'? How about get off your ass and start working on your projects with enough time to hit the deadlines.

I know, because developing an OS is so easy, takes only a month or two if that! Redesign? Psh, even easier.

It's software/OS development. Sometimes they hit snags.

Hire more engineers? lol. I'd be afraid to see what Apple looked like if y'all ran it. Cause hiring more people is always the answer! In any line of software development, from games, desktop apps, phone apps, and especially operating system development, their is a time where developers will be working over time, also called "crunch mode" or "crunch time." Apple engineers working overtime is nothing different than what any other development team does.

 

[tkermit]

I seriously hope they don't go overboard with this. Not so sure getting rid of Forstall was a good move in the first place.... :/

 

[Sky Blue]

yes.. maybe if you're a 12 year old kid.

thank god some of you don't work for apple.

and how plays games on their phones? 12 year old kids.

 

[Daalseth]

Wasn't DeForstallization the first name of the actor that played Dr. McCoy on Star Trek?

 

[nicroma]

I'm surprised no one else seems concerned that they're taking Engineers from OS X 10.9 to work on iOS 7. I hope this means that 10.9 is in a good place, and not that their focus in general is more on iOS... because the second one would make me pretty sad.

They did the same thing back when the first iPhone was originally released. Good things come to those who wait.

 

[keysofanxiety]

For the love of God, hire more damn engineers and stop being so greedy with your damn cash reserves.

So annoying.

Yes, because throwing money at a problem solves it quicker!

You're a genius. How are you not CEO of Apple yet?

 

[adildacoolset]

For the love of God, hire more damn engineers and stop being so greedy with your damn cash reserves.

So annoying.

One does not simply speed up a project by hiring more enigneers

 

[haravikk]

I have mixed feelings on this; I don't want flat like Windows 8/Windows Phone, and I'm not completely opposed to skeuomorphism. My main gripe with Skeuomorphism is when it actually makes things harder to use, or has too many vestigial, non-functional elements simply for the sake of completing the look.

I dunno; I want a happy medium where things look like functional objects where their purpose and how to interact with them is hinted by their appearance, but at the same time I'd like more consistency; ideally with a view to apply custom theming so if I have a black iPhone then I can have a darker interface skin, or lighter for a white iPhone, for example. By functional I mean items that have some familiar real-world characteristics, but not necessarily trying to look like exact real-world items like actual knobs and switches; I'm fine with switch-like.


I do however hate skeuomorphism in OS X; since all of my interaction is through a mouse and keyboard, overboard styling is redundant and usually counter-intuitive. For a desktop/laptop OS I prefer consistency first and foremost; I don't mind a bit of quirkiness on a mobile, fully-touch device where direct interaction with your fingers (or whatever you press your screen with) is the name of the game.

 

[ChrisCW11]

Natural stock growth?

This is called Tim Cook in charge:

- Listen to anal-ysts and follow them instead of leading on your own;
- Stop innovating;
- Turn a natural growth stock into Nestlé/Microsoft;
- issue debt when no debt is needed.

There is nothing natural about Apple's stock growth.

Actually if you are talking about flatness, look at the first 20 years of Apple stock "growth".

Personally I think Apple is trying to spell their name in historical stock charts, so far it looks like they almost completed the A:

1983 -------------------------------------^ 2013

But I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment that Tim Cook is not the man that should be in charge of Apple. Most CEO's could only dream of ever reaching $300 per share stock value let alone losing $300 in stock value and still keeping their jobs.

 

[Krevnik]

I seriously hope they don't go overboard with this. Not so sure getting rid of Forstall was a good move in the first place.... :/

Yes, it is hard to tell what "flat" means when it can be many different things.

However, OS X up until 10.7 was getting "flatter" with each release. I'd be happy if that's the sort of "flatter" we get with iOS going forward. More consistent UI that doesn't forsake visual cues, but focuses better on the content rather than drowning it out in flair.

 

[adildacoolset]

Nope, it's gonna look like a real, innovative OS again.

Let's just hope the move against iOSification is even more pronounced in OS X.

I really don't get what this iOSification in OSX makes people complain. No one forces users to use launch pad, or the new gestures. They're there for the less tech-inclined.

 

[Risco]

i hope it allows things like newsstand to be hidden on iPhone as it is totally impractical due to the size of the screen..

 

[portishead]

Great... more of the same. Apple focusing on iOS and ignoring OS X.

 

[adildacoolset]

This is called Tim Cook in charge:

- Listen to anal-ysts and follow them instead of leading on your own;
- Stop innovating;
- Turn a natural growth stock into Nestlé/Microsoft;
- issue debt when no debt is needed.

Please elaborate on your second point.

 

[JohnDoe98]

I know, because developing an OS is so easy, takes only a month or two if that! Redesign? Psh, even easier.

It's software/OS development. Sometimes they hit snags.

Hire more engineers? lol. I'd be afraid to see what Apple looked like if y'all ran it. Cause hiring more people is always the answer! In any line of software development, from games, desktop apps, phone apps, and especially operating system development, their is a time where developers will be working over time, also called "crunch mode" or "crunch time." Apple engineers working overtime is nothing different than what any other development team does.

Working overtime is nothing new, but transferring a team from one OS to another is (even though it has precedent). All the time the OS X team spends on iOS is time that could have been used to further progress OS X along, and there is a lot of work that needs to get done. Given how many issues need work on, hiring more people would be helpful here. If it was a single problem, fine, more hands don't always help. But when you have hundreds of issues requiring major work, well then hiring more people is more often than not the solution.

 

[adildacoolset]

Bring back Forstallllll!


Is this more media hating on him? I love the wood, the leather and the tape reels. I like the shredder in passbook. Nice touches to software that works. If I wanted a flat lifeless windows phone i would have bought one.

Are you Scott forstall?

 

[Greg McBride]

For the love of God, hire more damn engineers and stop being so greedy with your damn cash reserves.

So annoying.

Sorry, but it's not as simple as that. I read a great quote once…I think it was on this site. "Nine women can't make a baby in one month." These things take time and putting more people on the project won't necessarily speed things up.

Oops, I just noticed that about five other people have given you the same response. Apparently a lot of people like that quote.

 

[ctdonath]

Before *everyone* piles on against skeumorphic interfaces, remember why they exist. With a visual theme they communicate the purpose of an app or a process, in a way that is analagous to objects and processes one uses off-computer to do similar tasks. I cite "notepad". It looks and acts like one, "plus the computer benefits". Just by seeing it you already know how to use it and what to expect!

That's fine - when the user is indeed close to that which is being mimicked. It was fine when easing new users from physical media into an otherwise bland glossy screen.

It's 2013 now. Much of the user base (how much is debatable, with some people at paid a great deal to know) has pulled away from that which the skeumorphs mimic. A large fraction of users have never encountered a reel-to-reel tape machine beyond a mere historical curiosity. Many of us have given up paper for notetaking entirely. Felt-covered game tables are an anachronism in an age of XboX 360s and PlayStation3s being near-obsolete. Much of what's skeumorphic only serves those aging new users late to the digital-media world. Most of us know what we're trying to do, which has nothing to do what faux leather and spinning reels and felt surfaces mimic.

Skeumorphs were necessary to transition the world to the new platform of tablet computers. OK, the transition happened, user base is approaching a plurality of world population, now let's get the interface on to what it should be in and of and for itself, not continuing to recount what it replaced years ago.

I had a fun lunchtime conversation a few months back: a bunch of us were reminiscing about physical audio media we've used and still do, and the benefits of one form over another. A recent PhD grad looked on silently with a bit of a baffled look; when prompted she said "I've used nothing but downloaded audio files for 10 years" in a tone which made the rest of us feel quite old.

 

[ezhilk]

For the love of God, hire more damn engineers and stop being so greedy with your damn cash reserves.

So annoying.

As Aristotle once said, nine women cannot make a baby in one month

 

[keysofanxiety]

Great... more of the same. Apple focusing on iOS and ignoring OS X.

You're on a blazing rumour site. None of these things are confirmed. We know nothing.

It's not like Apple said "we're delaying iOS 7." It's not like they've said "OS X 10.9 has been delayed because of iOS 7." We don't even know what either of them will look like. We don't know any new features. We know nothing.

I don't understand some of the commenters sometimes. Do you just love to complain, or is there something I'm missing?

And yes, I'm aware of the history of Leopard being delayed so they could finalise the OS for the 1st gen iPhone; but the context of that is slightly different

 

[barkomatic]

Apple can remove skeuomorphic design and shine from its own apps and menus -- but won't that clash with the design of third party apps? I'm still not sure what "flat" design really means but it sounds interesting.

However, it's going to take more, a lot more, than removing leather trim from a few apps to make iOS fresh again.

 

[herr_neumann]

Most CEO's could only dream of ever reaching $300 per share stock value let alone losing $300 in stock value and still keeping their jobs.

Stock price is pretty meaningless, it is market cap that matters. Apple could reverse split their stock 4 or 5 times tomorrow to give the stock price some quick multiples and leave the market cap unchanged. It wouldn't make your holdings worth more.

I'll leave it to the Khan Academy for the full lesson on this topic: http://www.khanacademy.org/science/...d-investing/v/price-and-market-capitalization

 

[Boris-VTR]

This is called Tim Cook in charge:

- Listen to anal-ysts and follow them instead of leading on your own;
- Stop innovating;
- Turn a natural growth stock into Nestlé/Microsoft;
- issue debt when no debt is needed.

i Would add:
- god forbid to spend another $ to hire new programmers/engineers
- easily fork out 15 mils to some xerox guy
- give some exec suit guys million dollar paychecks

 

[Undecided]

For the love of God, hire more damn engineers and stop being so greedy with your damn cash reserves.

So annoying.

Wrong approach. As Steve Jobs aptly put it, Microsoft just throws more and more people at projects and still produce junk. There's a limit of how many people can effectively work on one tech project, and once you exceed that you have rapidly diminishing returns, if not outright declines in productivity and/or quality.