Former Apple TV Engineer Claims New Apple TV Interface Discarded 5 Years Ago [Updatedx2]

[nightcap965]

That last sentence is Apple's rule for everything, i.e., the user will get use to it. Apple breaks traditional rules for just about everything. It's why Apple is Apple and not DellHPSamsungSony.

But going back to OS X, it is just NeXT, one more generation up. It is pure Steve Jobs. Apple bought NeXT b/c it was out of ideas at the time and Copeland was an utter bust. But, honestly, the only problem w/ the dock was it's initial inflexibility to be pinned anywhere but the bottom of the screen. Many OS 9 users had 3rd party dock-like program launchers though.

Chupa, I almost agree with everything you say. The Dock in NeXT was on the upper-right hand side of the screen, and though you could unpin elements, the default stayed put. The Dock in OS X has got one problem that NeXT didn't: it varies. I cannot quickly move my mouse to point X, click, and expect my program to launch. I have to watch the pointer carefully. There is no "point X" - it moves.

Don't get me wrong - OS X does a better job of getting out of my way and letting me work than any other OS I've ever used, and I've used 'em all from CP/M to BeOS with a flying pass at NewWave.

 

[dtaylor322]

Most frightening part of this story

There is a clear effort at Apple to make everything match the look and feel of their popular iOS products – starting with Lion and increasing momentum with Mountain Lion.

This scares the heck out of me. I DO NOT want my MacBook to look and behave like my iPad. I hate most of the changes to Lion, especially the new scroll bars without arrows. I need those arrows every day and they're not there. Luckily most of Apple's other stupid decisions can be turned off, but for how long?

The Mac is not a pad...the Mac is not a pad...THE MAC IS NOT A PAD.

 

[nightcap965]

Apple is finished without Jobs. If you have Apple stock now is the time to sell.

Rob Enderle? Is that you?

 

[tanda4]

Horrible design... Should have stayed "tossed out".

 

[Hastings101]

Uh oh Apple, better rush out and buy a company with a better UI

 

[Sol]

There is a clear effort at Apple to make everything match the look and feel of their popular iOS products – starting with Lion and increasing momentum with Mountain Lion.

This scares the heck out of me. I DO NOT want my MacBook to look and behave like my iPad. I hate most of the changes to Lion, especially the new scroll bars without arrows. I need those arrows every day and they're not there. Luckily most of Apple's other stupid decisions can be turned off, but for how long?

The Mac is not a pad...the Mac is not a pad...THE MAC IS NOT A PAD.

Maybe you are not using a track-pad? I would recommend that you use a trackpad and learn the swipe gestures because that seems to be the ideal way to use the current iteration of OS X. Personally I would never go back to mouse after learning to swipe between full-screen applications.

 

[jayducharme]

What is so bad about it? The fact that it uses the screen estate? Or that the icons are actually colorful?

I just find it ironic that they've added so much color to the ATV interface while stripping all color out of the OS X finder.

 

[SMOHKK85]

UI interface is ugly

The Interface needs a lot of work... at least try to make the icons a bit smaller. Im not blind. I don't need buttons as big as my head especially when i have a 60" TV..

 

[macingman]

Wirelessly posted

I like the new UI much better then the old one.

 

[MediaFrezy]

Transitional Yes. Better than before? ABSOLUTELY.

I jumped on the Apple TV some time ago. I tolerated it. It was clunky. Slow. Hardly worked. And don't even think about streaming a movie from your iPad using Airplay. The HD movies took forever to buffer. Since the new update... all that has changed for the better. And the UI isn't so bad. It's actually quite simple and intuitive. Don't believe me. Hand it off to the average wife/girlfriend who's technology gadget motto is "just make it work" and see how long it takes her to figure it out. Did you catch that? The smile she just flashed as she discovered all the chick-flicks you are now about to watch with her. Kudos Apple. Happy Wife. Happy Life.

 

[LLIBSETAG]

APPLE TV Box

Titles under movies are TOO SMALL & if they are too long, then they need to scroll....
There should be a larger movie title at top right hand side above all the movie poster graphics that changes as you select the posters.
Why don't they use CoverFlow more on Apple TV? CoverFlow works very well with iTunes Album Graphics...

I still have Apple TV 1.0 so it is better than that UI...

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FORMER employee from Apple / Apple TV Engineering seems a bit "disgruntled" about U/I & No Q/C now that Steve has passed away, which is total BS. Steve built & trained his surrounding inner circle of team leaders during many years after returning to Apple & was very hands on with their training & critiques of their process , products, engineering & conceptualization... They were trained very well & all of them love Steve Jobs & Apple so they will not let the team or their customers down at all in the future... THAT is unacceptable plus not in their nor Apple's DNA, period.

 

[Burro99]

Maybe you are not using a track-pad? I would recommend that you use a trackpad and learn the swipe gestures because that seems to be the ideal way to use the current iteration of OS X. Personally I would never go back to mouse after learning to swipe between full-screen applications.

+1.. Multitouch trackpad is the most game changing input device in the last decade. Going back to a mouse on work computer feels like the first five minutes after you've taken your roller skates off and you notice how cumbersome walking actually is.

 

[AidenShaw]

we must be playing different games...

+1.. Multitouch trackpad is the most game changing input device in the last decade. Going back to a mouse on work computer feels like the first five minutes after you've taken your roller skates off and you notice how cumbersome walking actually is.

For me, dealing with a trackpad makes me think that I'm back in the very early '90s.

Different strokes, different folks.

 

[Asclepio]

[Updatedx4] = retina rumors

 

[isoMorpheus]

". . . proverbial knob to 11 on everything." Nice.

 

[Saladinos]

I know I'll get downvoted, but frankly I dont care. The AppleTV in its current incarnation is a limited, boring device.

I post the screenshot below, knowing that because of its manufacturer I will be downvoted. But its years ahead of the Apple TV. Feature wise, AppleTV cant even compete with it.

I present, Samsung Smart TV.
Image

Well, you're getting downvoted (by me at least), but not because of the manufacturer.

I'll admit I was going to upvote you when I saw the picture and expected to see something about how the AppleTV interface is still a billion times easier to use than the competition.

Features mean very little if you can't use them. Talk to the Office team at Microsoft, who were pushed in to thinking about UI seriously when 9/10 of the most requested features were already in Office. The problem was the UI was so bad nobody knew they were there or how to use them.

The AppleTV may be light on features, but at least my mother can use the ones that are there.

 

[cameronjpu]

Actually, you're wrong. There was a thread started in these very forums on 3/16 titled "Am i the only one that hates the new UI" here:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1341734/

Spoiler alert: Several of us commented in that thread that we agreed with the OP that the new UI was a step backwards.

Anytime a UI changes, somebody hates it. So what? The whiners are always louder than the people who like it. If the old UI was so awesome, maybe the would have sold more than a tiny fraction of the addressable market?

There are always whiners when things change. That fact proves nothing at all.

 

[charlituna]

Tim Cook, I'm sorry, is not inspiring,

He isn't trying to be. They made the mistake of having a Rock God personality CEO already and it killed the stock value etc when that 'god' was on his death bed just in the rumors. The last thing they want is to repeat that.

The products are the focus, not the guy standing on stage talking about them

 

[cameronjpu]

And George Lucas had a roadmap for the first 3 star wars movies. You think if he had died they would have been realized the way he envisioned? Ok, put aside any "they would've been better jokes."

Wow, what a terrible metaphor!

It's terrible because it completely opens up the obvious rebuttal to your argument.

That rebuttal is... if Lucas had died after the first trilogy, and then the second trilogy had been released EXACTLY as it was released, would they have blamed its suckiness on the fact that Lucas didn't create it? Yes, they would have. But in fact, Lucas created it and it still sucked.

The lesson is - whining fanbois will complain because that's what they do. After a month the complaints pass and life goes on. The 99% of the world who are not pathetic losers don't even notice it happening.

 

[MadDog31]

And at the end of the day...

As a side note, this whole story should remind all of us how 140 characters can lay the groundwork for a long day of backtracking and clarifying.

Think before you tweet, folks. No matter who you are.

 

[dtaylor322]

Maybe you are not using a track-pad? I would recommend that you use a trackpad and learn the swipe gestures because that seems to be the ideal way to use the current iteration of OS X.

I like the track pad on the road, but I do not want a track pad at my desk. For one, there's no comfortable place to put one and I don't want carpal tunnel. For two, even if there was a good spot there's a lot I prefer to do with a mouse.

And before someone suggests Apple's mouse: it's too heavy, and neither scroll touch nor a scroll wheel (have one) is a substitute for those arrows.

There are a ton of posts on Apple's forums about this. Why can't they just put the stupid arrows back?

 

[charlituna]

This implies they've rewritted and debugged this version of the Apple TV OS (iOS?) since fall and released it? They must have started hours after Mr. Jobs died, that DOES NOT seem likely.

no joke. and remember that the UI was for a totally different type of device function wise. Jobs rejected this UI (or something similar) to work with that functionality.

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Steve Jobs also rejected the idea of . . . third-party apps on iOS.

not really. He just wanted them to be web app based.

 

[GregAndonian]

where once they had extremely consistant and intuitive design we now see the awful skeuomorphic junk even in OSX and ugly interfaces such as that of AppleTV.

Don't forget Final Cut Pro X...

 

[jmpnop]

Wirelessly posted

"now there is nobody to say 'no' to bad design"

Uh, yeah there is. They are called consumers.

Not really, most fanboys buy anything that's Apple including iShit..

 

[cameronjpu]

Not really, most fanboys buy anything that's Apple including iShit..

The universe of fanbois has magically expanded by several times over in the past couple years. Weird, huh?