Apple's Decision to Delay Some New Features and Focus on Software Quality Extends to Mac

[justperry]

Windows 10 seems to be pretty rock solid, excluding the recent BS from Intel. Even moreso if you're using the business branch. Truth be told, back when I was trying to use Windows at work, I had more issues with program compatibility than I did with the OS.

Yet Windows is still full of stupid Ui/Software behaviour, Windows Update is still the mess it was 20 years ago, and then just yesterday I had to use two programs (Exel and Acrobat) side by side on 2 monitors, If I do this in macOS it auto focusses on the mouse, I went with my mouse from the left to the right and scrolled, it scrolls on the first one so had to click first each and every ** time , WTF, plenty more annoyances.

 

[9081094]

Where are the users that see the glass half full instead of half empty? Where are the users that truly appreciate how amazing and complex today's tech is, and enjoy what is available today?

By the way, Siri works great for me.

Is observing minimal progress from Apple being negative? Do I have to applaud for the MacBook Pro touchbar disaster, the antique Mac mini, the ancient MacPro, the lag of progress in software in maps, iWork suite, cloud offerings? Applaud for the price hikes in big bezel phones except the X. The appletv which does nothing more a modern smart TV already offers? And yes, Siri is totally useless in Dutch.

A company the size of Apple should with such little products to focus on should offer the top of the notch quality products for the whole line to justify the high end prices. To say they’ve to slow down to bring more stability to their software is giving even more room for the competition to grow. It’s not that Apple is ahead in today’s world anymore. They’ve to catch up in every category they’re in today.

 

[chucker23n1]

IMO Apple should convert macOS into a rolling-release OS (basically what now Windows and most Linux distros do). You don't need to release a whole new OS version just to add a bunch of features like Safari tracking-prevention, a new Photos version etc. Just release a feature when it's stable and ready and release an up-to-date iso twice a year or so. iOS even converted the file system to APFS in a point update. I really don't get why each year there has to be a brand new OS version (with tons of bugs).

The only difference between macOS and Windows 10 is that one has a twelve-month cycle, and the other six.
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A company set to report billions in record revenue this week should not have to prioritize one over the other. Leverage your resources to offer stable software AND new features.

All the money in the world isn’t going to change basic engineering principles, especially not in a discipline as immature as software.

 

[Peperino]

More than focus on software they should focus on Hardware!!
the entire Apple line up (from desktop to laptops) is a complete joke.

 

[chucker23n1]

I really can't think of a single thing regarding macOS that became better in terms of stability and performance since Apple started to hand out a "brand new" OS "for free" on a yearly basis.

I´d rather have a $30 Snow Leopard than a free High Sierra..

Spotlight and Time Machine have gotten much faster and more reliable, for starters.

 

[wizard]

You have to be kidding here, Mac OS has had some very significant updates of late. Metal is just one example.
[Quote ="Stella, post: 25763663, member: 16381"]Mac OS is barely above "Maintenance" mode status as it is. The annual updates show that Apple have lost interest in applying innovative new functionality.
[/Quote]
While Ape is slow in some ways to improve Mac OS the fact is it is constantly being improved. Maybe the new stuff isnt what you want to see but it is there.

The days of Apple adding new exciting features to Mac OS are long gone.

Wrong! Maybe not exciting to you but feature are added with every release cycle.

Beyond that everything Apple has is still light years ahead of Windows 10 in reliability.

Frankly it isnt the OS that is pissing me off with Apple but rather the poor focus on upgrading their office suit. Numbers is so bad even simple one page spread sheets don't import properly due to the lack of function support. We are talking simple things here. This is across all platforms too, not just the Mac.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

Yet Windows is still full of stupid Ui/Software behaviour, Windows Update is still the mess it was 20 years ago, and then just yesterday I had to use two programs (Exel and Acrobat) side by side on 2 monitors, If I do this in macOS it auto focusses on the mouse, I went with my mouse from the left to the right and scrolled, it scrolls on the first one so had to click first each and every ** time , WTF, plenty more annoyances.

Try updating to Windows 10/update your applications. They've fixed the software update so you don't have to use IE to update your computer anymore (heck, IE isn't even visible by default anymore) and they made the scroll work similar to OS X, so that when you scroll, it scrolls the window that your mouse is over, not the last window you had highlighted.

 

[Zwhaler]

Can Apple just re-release High Sierra and start over

 

[justperry]

Try updating to Windows 10/update your applications. They've fixed the software update so you don't have to use IE to update your computer anymore (heck, IE isn't even visible by default anymore) and they made the scroll work similar to OS X, so that when you scroll, it scrolls the window that your mouse is over, not the last window you had highlighted.

No, Update is still a mess in W10, just look at the progression bar and keep an eye on data download, it still doesn't make any sense, as for the scrolling, missed that, that was on a Work computer, might be Windows 7.

 

[jst333]

Heck, I'd be happy to have some "New and Innovating" Desktop Backgrounds at this point.... And I'm being serious. There is nothing more "New and Innovative" than having to google "how do i delete files from my library folder? mac..." And fix the abomination was iTunes Also.

 

[bluecoast]

Windows 10 seems to be pretty rock solid, excluding the recent BS from Intel. Even moreso if you're using the business branch. Truth be told, back when I was trying to use Windows at work, I had more issues with program compatibility than I did with the OS.

I agree. Windows is pretty stable.

However from a user experience POV, if MacOS was like Windows 10:

- Most of the utility programs still looking like they did in Snow Leopard with blue scroll bars etc on display.
- The apps that had been updated to a new look would appear to be of two ‘families’ and look slightly different from each other
- the system would have 3 types of right click pop up menus
- There would be two system preference apps
- There would be ads for iCloud and other Apple services on the Launchpad and Apple menu
- Most third party programmes would use the installer and frameworks from the Snow Leopard era
- The help pages would be slightly scrappy pages on Apple’s website.

 

[KoolAid-Drink]

//This description makes a lot of sense. It would appear that the successful polish of Snow Leopard, for Macs of course, took place during a period of time just before iOS, the iPhone and their ilk over-shadowed everything else at Apple, in terms of marketing, revenue.....and organizational priority.//

SL was released in August 2009. The iPhone still existed back then, iOS also existed but was named "iPhone OS" at the time. It was said that SL laid the foundations for a more iOS-like experience by adding Grand Central, etc., so SL's polish may have actually been intended for iOS, not the Macintosh. The iPad was also released during SL's time, and iPhone OS was renamed to iOS. Maybe SL wasn't as Mac-centered as many would like to believe. Just another perspective.

 

[Fiachers]

Mac OS is barely above "Maintenance" mode status as it is. The annual updates show that Apple have lost interest in applying innovative new functionality.

The days of Apple adding new exciting features to Mac OS are long gone.

What are they supposed to do, exactly? It's not the mid 2000s anymore. The golden era of new exciting, "innovative" desktop OS features is over.

 

[mudflap]

I mean, when was the last time the Mac got any new software feature worth writing about?

APFS

 

[FasterQuieter]

Sounds good, but I don't really trust them after High Sierra. I think I would rather they literally cancelled the successor to High Sierra and fix all the current bugs. Keep it around for 3 years if necessary. Reliability is my number one requirement.

 

[Royksöpp]

You mean Apple is going to continue doing what they've been doing with release like High Sierra, Snow Leopard, Mountain Lion, etc, where they focus on performance? They've done the same with iOS too. This is nothing new.

No they have not! iOS 11 is one of the worst iOS versions to date. It’s still buggy, even for new devices. Mac OS does improve with very second release, the same can’t be said about iOS.

All I have to say is it’s about damn time!

 

[sziehr]

The admission that we need a gap year should be met with warm and opening embrace. This is a rare admission of guilt. Apple does these acts of contrition very rarerly

 

[cmaier]

The admission that we need a gap year should be met with warm and opening embrace. This is a rare admission of guilt. Apple does these acts of contrition very rarerly

Huh? They did it with Snow Leopard, Mountain Lion, and High Sierra. Hence the naming convention.

They just haven’t done it RIGHT since Snow Leopard.

 

[69650]

The current system is unworkable. Maybe they should ditch the whole iOS 11,12,13 thing and just bring out iOS updates as and when they’re ready on a rolling basis with no dates set in stone. Forget about the numbers altogether.

 

[rhett7660]

Mac OS is barely above "Maintenance" mode status as it is. The annual updates show that Apple have lost interest in applying innovative new functionality.

The days of Apple adding new exciting features to Mac OS are long gone.

I think Apple may have painted themselves into a corner with their dedication to releasing a new version of their OS each year. You will see this from both sides of the fence; "Apple never releases anything but minor updates, when are we going to see the new stuff?" versus "I wish Apple would slow down, they are releasing software way to fast and there are to many issues with it, but thanks for the new updates, they are cool!" Or something along either of these lines.

I am hoping they go back to how they used to release software and hardware updates. They get them out when they are ready. Period. No timelines, no time frames. I know this type of scheduling would piss off a lot of the people who visit these forums regularly and who are knew to the Apple ecosystem.

Heck, just look at this thread with the bickering and bitching going back and forth.

 

[Edsel]

Other than those embarrassing security gaffs, High Sierra has done a really good job running on my flashed 4,1 cMP. Not bad considering it’s not even an officially supported setup.



I can’t tell what you mean here. Windows 10 unified the desktop OS with an already dead App Store. That OS is a compromise of oversized UI elements and scetchy High-DPI font scaling. I was a big Windows Mobile user at one time, but Windows just seems aimless right now, and I don’t think it’s achieving a big thing that MS hoped (UWP adoption). I hope Apple doesn’t stumble into the same mess. Not to say it can’t be done—it’s a matter of being done well.

I think Microsoft has done a better job unifying their GUI across devices. For a non-technical user the transition from tablet>notebook>workstation under Windows 10 has a faster learning curve than iOS>OSX. Icons are identical & flexible and menus are nearly identical under the various Windows 10 platforms, more so than iOS/OSX.

I ditched relying on MSFT in 2004 and have used Apple or Linux since. Though retired, I still play with both OS's. It's been a fascinating evolution over the last 40 years.

 

[atikalz]

Apple's reported plans to delay some features planned for iOS 12 until next year will similarly extend to the Mac, although to a lesser degree, according to Mark Gurman, reporting for Bloomberg News.

Gurman's sources corroborate an earlier report from Ina Fried at Axios, which claimed that Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi disclosed the revised plans during a meeting with employees earlier this month.

While the shift in strategy appears to extend to macOS, it reportedly will not affect the development cycles of watchOS or tvOS.Apple's plans to focus on the quality of its current software platforms will presumably result in a greater emphasis on bug fixes, performance improvements, and the general stability of its operating systems.

The shift in strategy follows a few embarrassing mishaps for Apple in recent months, including a major security vulnerability that enabled access to the root superuser account with a blank password on macOS High Sierra version 10.13.1. Apple promptly fixed the critical bug in a security update.

Just weeks later, MacRumors was alerted to a security flaw in macOS High Sierra version 10.13.2 that allowed the App Store menu in System Preferences to be unlocked with any password. While this bug was much less serious, it was still system behavior that obviously shouldn't have been possible.

Apple had a similar shift in strategy in 2015 with the release of iOS 9, and with some other macOS updates in recent years, according to the report, so this isn't Apple's first time doubling down on the polish of its software.

The report also corroborates that Apple was planning a redesigned grid of app icons on the home screen in iOS 12, but that change is now delayed until 2019 along with expanded photo management capabilities. There's also word of a multiplayer mode for augmented reality games, but it's unclear when it'll be ready.

Gurman still expects some smaller improvements to the Photos app to roll out in 2018, while the original report by Fried mentioned enhancements to the Health app and parental controls are still planned for release this year.

Article Link: Apple's Decision to Delay Some New Features and Focus on Software Quality Extends to Mac

Sorry Apple, but to claim the most advanced operating system in the world, you cannot lean back and only deliver bug fixes!
You have to innovate and dont forget your bunch of useless crappy apps like mail, music, maps, calender, notes, reminder, iMessage, photos, safari... Look at google apps, whatsapp, spotify, ... they dominate in every aspect.

 

[User 6502]

They were, but that isn't what they turned out to be. High Sierra is definitely not a more stable Sierra.


Looks like we're on the same page, just saying things differently. Like you said ... they were intended as "improvements" and the results were hardly that.

So why do you think macOS "higher Sierra" is going to be any different? Not having new features didn't make High Sierra less buggy or more stable, and the same about Mountain Lion and many other releases. Not having new features will not make macOS better, it will just make it stagnant.

 

[Mike MA]

You mean Apple is going to continue doing what they've been doing with release like High Sierra, Snow Leopard, Mountain Lion, etc, where they focus on performance? They've done the same with iOS too. This is nothing new.

Yes, true. But nevertheless the decision is noteworthy. Btw, Snow Leopard to me was the most stable and streamlined OS ever. Yet, looking at it now I would miss some of today’s features desperately.

 

[Edsel]

The current system is unworkable. Maybe they should ditch the whole iOS 11,12,13 thing and just bring out iOS updates as and when they’re ready on a rolling basis with no dates set in stone. Forget about the numbers altogether.

It's all about marketing your product. The excitement and anticipation of new features helps sell product and Apple is one of the very best marketing companies in the history of merchandising & brand management.