My own rant...
@canned_tuna_og I get it. Apple is playing follow the leader too much these days. Bigger and bigger phablet displays, widgets on the Home screen, HomePod mini, Apple One, and so many more. I'm not saying ignore demand, but this obsession with beating the competition at their own game as well as the greed of trying to conquer every market has destroyed Apple's focus (no pun intended, though a fun coincidence on the thread topic) i.e. quality. "It just works" meant something, believe it or not. While systems were not infallible -- the infamous "bomb" system error and sad Mac -- users rarely dreaded upgrades and other changes. Sure, at times it was a true quest to find a certain peripheral or software that was Mac OS compatible, but when you got it, it worked 99% of the time. And every software update didn't have a flashy new feature to tout, however, we also didn't face longstanding features suddenly becoming useless. For example, in iOS 13, it wasn't until the final versions that Apple fixed Smart Color Invert, making it consistent and even impressive, dare I say. Then iOS 14 launches and Smart Invert is back to a glitchy, unpredictable mess. For those of us who benefit greatly from such accessibility features, that's a huge drawback in user experience. And I haven't yet mentioned the truly bold Jobs innovations/transitions: iMac with its USB peripheral only support, iPod with its mini HDD and dial-type scroll wheel, inclusion of CD-RW drives when all else were touting DVD (video) capabilities -- which Apple even temporarily switched to before transitioning to the CD-RW/DVD-ROM "Combo" drives. Quite frankly, Jobs' visions were indeed ahead of their time. They were products no one predicted, including the "One more thing..." -- which is now just the one product most people are chanting for. Ultimately, it's inevitable Apple will eventually fall, like every other company. Sadly, I haven't yet seen their replacement.
@canned_tuna_og I get it. Apple is playing follow the leader too much these days. Bigger and bigger phablet displays, widgets on the Home screen, HomePod mini, Apple One, and so many more. I'm not saying ignore demand, but this obsession with beating the competition at their own game as well as the greed of trying to conquer every market has destroyed Apple's focus (no pun intended, though a fun coincidence on the thread topic) i.e. quality. "It just works" meant something, believe it or not. While systems were not infallible -- the infamous "bomb" system error and sad Mac -- users rarely dreaded upgrades and other changes. Sure, at times it was a true quest to find a certain peripheral or software that was Mac OS compatible, but when you got it, it worked 99% of the time. And every software update didn't have a flashy new feature to tout, however, we also didn't face longstanding features suddenly becoming useless. For example, in iOS 13, it wasn't until the final versions that Apple fixed Smart Color Invert, making it consistent and even impressive, dare I say. Then iOS 14 launches and Smart Invert is back to a glitchy, unpredictable mess. For those of us who benefit greatly from such accessibility features, that's a huge drawback in user experience. And I haven't yet mentioned the truly bold Jobs innovations/transitions: iMac with its USB peripheral only support, iPod with its mini HDD and dial-type scroll wheel, inclusion of CD-RW drives when all else were touting DVD (video) capabilities -- which Apple even temporarily switched to before transitioning to the CD-RW/DVD-ROM "Combo" drives. Quite frankly, Jobs' visions were indeed ahead of their time. They were products no one predicted, including the "One more thing..." -- which is now just the one product most people are chanting for. Ultimately, it's inevitable Apple will eventually fall, like every other company. Sadly, I haven't yet seen their replacement.
