Craig Federighi Talks macOS Big Sur Redesign, Siri, Default Apps and More in New Interview

[manu chao]

Why? It will be 11.1 and everyone knows it.

Federighi said they considered calling it macOS 14 (which definitely would have meant that next year it would have been macOS 15). Based on this, I wouldn’t totally exclude that they’d increment it next year by a full number.

But maybe everybody but Apple knew that something like macOS 14 could never happen.
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HP-49 beats TI

Though anything with RPN will do in a pinch.

 

[manu chao]

Because using maps on a laptop or desktop is way better than using it on a phone which is better in portability, and if that’s the case do you stick your laptop on your car window so you can “check the route”?.

I find ridiculous the way people defend an useless app on an operating system.

If I wanted to ridicule you, I might claim that your map reading skills appear to be limited to following turn-by-turn instructions. A very good map reader studies a map until they have basically memorised a route and have a mental image of it (such that they could draw the route including all ‘inflection points’ by heart). And seeing a route on a larger screen helps with that.

Plus they are many scenarios were one would want to see a map even with no intention of travelling, eg, to answer questions like what countries neighbour country X, through which countries does river Y flow, etc..

 

[tomi03]

If I wanted to ridicule you, I might claim that your map reading skills appear to be limited to following turn-by-turn instructions. A very good map reader studies a map until they have basically memorised a route and have a mental image of it (such that they could draw the route including all ‘inflection points’ by heart). And seeing a route on a larger screen helps with that.

Plus they are many scenarios were one would want to see a map even with no intention of travelling, eg, to answer questions like what countries neighbour country X, through which countries does river Y flow, etc..

Hahahahahaha 🤣

 

[kittonian]

Federighi said that when Apple looked at the top things people wanted to configure, "those two rose to the top," so it's where Apple started.

Yup, can't imagine anyone out there being more interested in having Waze be the default maps app over configuring a different web browser as the default.

 

[chucker23n1]

WRONG. They collect lots of crowdsourced data from Maps users.

To improve Maps, yes. Not to make money.

 

[alee]

Most under discussed detail: Craig’s internal codename has been leaked... 😂

 

[citysnaps]

It wouldn't surprise me at all if Apple is working on a calculator app that does much much more than what today's calculator apps do. Just takes a bit of imagination and starting from a blank sheet of paper.

I use pCalc today. And it's really good for a scientific calculator and having lots of options. But not nearly as nice or as useful and as efficient as the one I wrote in the early 1990s. I wouldn't be shocked if Apple's rethinking what a calculator should/could be, starting from scratch.

 

[MacBH928]

A YouTuber with over 10 million subscribers. Someone like MKBHD is practically a media personality at this point, you value the demographic they can reach out to, and it’s free marketing, so why not?

Yeah, very humble to give a 10-minute interview without any "grilling" to the top tech Youtuber in the world. I've never seen such an example of modesty in my life 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

well ...
1)YouTube is a lower form of media platform. Its like saying the queen of England is addressing the public via TikTok.
2)These executives are hard to catch and their time is valuable, they can give speeches for thousands of dollars, they deny interviews with multi-billion corporations like Disney's ABC. Guess how much time you have to give a youtube interview when you are an executive at Apple responsible for growing the price share of multi-billionairs, between that and his own time, and his family time...I don't think a "YouTube interview" on his Calendar means much.

@Pangalactic
Yes its humble, there are random average users that do not even care to reply to a forum post purposely ignoring it, yeah I do consider it humble from an Apple executive with a salary of a quarter a million and networth of $200million to make time for a youtube interview.

 

[GermanSuplex]

Only the apple marketing gods know. And, frankly, they might not even know yet
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I really think they are waiting for floating windows in the OS

You are probably right. I just find it hard to believe Siri or Safari are the only calculators on the OS without downloading something else.

 

[maxfromdenmark]

The answer about weather and calculator app for iPad is diplomatic and distinctive. And I don’t buy it anyway...

 

[usagora]

The answer about weather and calculator app for iPad is diplomatic and distinctive. And I don’t buy it anyway...

What's not to buy? Surely you're not under the impression that they're unable to scale up the existing iPhone apps or create new ones? So if you don't buy Craig's explanation (that they haven't gotten around to making them "great" for the iPad yet), then pray tell what do you think the real reason is?

I also continue to be confused by why this is even an issue, given how easy it is to download a calculator and weather app from the app store.

 

[Falhófnir]

My main complaint so far is that the UI is a bit "bigger" for lack of a better term. Basically, it feels like you went into Display settings and set it to "scaled" one notch bigger on the "Larger Text" side. On my test 13" Macbook Pro, I set it one notch towards "More Space" and it feels normal again. I don't like this, though, because the scaled settings don't look quite as sharp and crisp as "Default" does.

I'm not sure why they felt the need to do this. It was fine before, and in my line of work you need all the screen real-estate you can get.

Have they changed the defaults back to integer scaling? The retina 13" previously (2012-15) defaulted to 'looks like' 1280x800 which is exactly 4 of its display pixels per 'point', but they changed it to 'looks like' 1440x900 with the 2016 models which doesn't match its display resolution.

 

[dwsolberg]

Insanely frustrating that they won't let maps change to a different default. That has been one of their worst apps.

Guess is they need the additional data to keep improving, though.

They really do need the data. I keep waiting for Apple Maps to be "good enough", and it's definitely getting closer. Google is so far ahead, though.

 

[maxfromdenmark]

What's not to buy? Surely you're not under the impression that they're unable to scale up the existing iPhone apps or create new ones? So if you don't buy Craig's explanation (that they haven't gotten around to making them "great" for the iPad yet), then pray tell what do you think the real reason is?

I also continue to be confused by why this is even an issue, given how easy it is to download a calculator and weather app from the app store.

Simply I don’t want any other weather or calculator app than those I already have in iPhone. It could be just enough to make those two for iPad screen. My choice. Ok?

 

[cmaier]

Simply I don’t want any other weather or calculator app than those I already have in iPhone. It could be just enough to make those two for iPad screen. My choice. Ok?

Actually, it’s apple’s choice.

 

[usagora]

Simply I don’t want any other weather or calculator app than those I already have in iPhone. It could be just enough to make those two for iPad screen. My choice. Ok?

So no answer to my first question I guess. And right now, you have no choice but to stick with your iPhone for those apps or download third party apps on the iPad.

 

[TracesOfArsenic]

Federighi was asked why there's no Calculator app or Weather app on the iPad. "There are some things we have not done because to do it, we would want to do something really distinctly great in that space." Apple wants to wait to do it well, and hasn't "gotten around to doing it great." Federighi said the day "may come."

Yeah, because the rest of Apple's software screams "distinctly great". You're high, Craig.

 

[greenmeanie]

Does Craig Dye his eyebrows?

 

[cmaier]

Yeah, because the rest of Apple's software screams "distinctly great". You're high, Craig.

Better than Linux or windows, so yeah.

 

[ErikGrim]

Yeah, because the rest of Apple's software screams "distinctly great". You're high, Craig.

Um, yes, it does.

 

[chucker23n1]

Why? It will be 11.1 and everyone knows it.

Apple might take this chance to make macOS releases more like classic Mac OS and iOS/iPadOS/etc. — have a major release each year, and minor and point releases throughout the year.

 

[tennisproha]

I just opened it and put in the name of a handful of local businesses and a park go to regularly. It found one of four businesses and doesn't believe the park exists (although it's technically there as a green patch on the map, just not named). Google Maps found all of them.

Not exactly a winning experience.

Looking for data points is not the same as Maps navigation. Apple Maps has a better UI and features than Google Maps.

Obviously Google Maps has native datapoints while Apple Maps mostly uses Yelp so comparing datapoints is low hanging fruit.

The navigation itself is comparable on both with both having issues and not offering the most optimal routes.
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It seems a lot of people may have been too young to remember or have forgotten but google maps had their growing pains as well. Apple Maps did and now they (I think) are at a fairly decent place. Enough so Apple Maps is my default map and if I do doubt the routing I google map it then to either verify and or switch to google maps. Waze seems a little too “busy” for me.

I agree. I have issues with routing on both. Neither offers the most optimal navigation yet.

 

[boss.king]

Looking for data points is not the same as Maps navigation. Apple Maps has a better UI and features than Google Maps.

Obviously Google Maps has native datapoints while Apple Maps mostly uses Yelp so comparing datapoints is low hanging fruit.

The navigation itself is comparable on both with both having issues and not offering the most optimal routes.

That's still an overall loss to me. What good is a navigation app with a superior interface if it can't actually take me where I need to go?

In the navigation app rankings, it goes:
1. Waze
2. Google Maps
3. Apple Maps
at least based on my experiences

 

[tennisproha]

That's still an overall loss to me. What good is a navigation app with a superior interface if it can't actually take me where I need to go?

In the navigation app rankings, it goes:
1. Waze
2. Google Maps
3. Apple Maps
at least based on my experiences

I use it as my main app and it works well. Navigation routes could definitely be improved but that’s also the case for Google Maps for me.

 

[boss.king]

I use it as my main app and it works well. Navigation routes could definitely be improved but that’s also the case for Google Maps for me.

Obviously they all have room to improve, no app or service is ever 100% perfect. All I'm saying is that Apple has more room to improve than its competitors.