macOS Tahoe: A Pattern of Poor Usability and Design Regression

[Sniper08]

Notice how 'bugs should be squashed' is said first (ritual acknowledgement), and then we immediately pivot to 'opinions are opinions', which quietly flattens functional regression into aesthetic preference so nothing specific has to be addressed.

It’s a very clean maneuver: agree in principle, dismiss in practice. Everything becomes equally valid, which sounds fair until you realize it makes evidence, reproducibility, screenshots, and workarounds irrelevant. That’s how you end up with a forum that’s excellent at tone-policing and mediocre at troubleshooting.

And with that, a discussion about whether a feature works gets downgraded into a discussion about feelings. It’s a neat way to sound reasonable while ensuring nothing gets discussed.

 

[fisherking]

Notice how 'bugs should be squashed' is said first (ritual acknowledgement), and then we immediately pivot to 'opinions are opinions', which quietly flattens functional regression into aesthetic preference so nothing specific has to be addressed.

It’s a very clean maneuver: agree in principle, dismiss in practice. Everything becomes equally valid, which sounds fair until you realize it makes evidence, reproducibility, screenshots, and workarounds irrelevant. That’s how you end up with a forum that’s excellent at tone-policing and mediocre at troubleshooting.

And with that, a discussion about whether a feature works gets downgraded into a discussion about feelings. It’s a neat way to sound reasonable while ensuring nothing gets discussed. Not sure what the motivation is here.

a fact is not the same as an opinion. is that really so hard to grasp? 🤷

 

[Novae Bentos]

Guys if you don't like macOS, switch to windows that's it...

There’s a world of difference between not liking macOS and not liking Tahoe, if anything the people who don’t like Tahoe actually love the macOS experience and are upset that it is being destroyed by those at Cupertino who lack history or have any vision.

Thanks for your hot take though.

 

[Wolf1701]

Guys if you don't like macOS, switch to windows that's it...

Brilliant solution... but in reality, we are only here discussing this because we care about macOS and its future.

 

[fisherking]

just to be clear (thanks, dictionary!) -

Fact
A fact is a true datum about one or more aspects of a circumstance. Standard reference works are often used to check facts. Scientific facts are verified by repeatable careful observation or measurement by experiments or other means. Generally speaking, facts are independent of belief, knowledge and opinion. Facts are different from inferences, theories, values, and objects.


Opinion
An opinion is a judgement, viewpoint, or statement that is not conclusive, as opposed to facts, which are true statements. A given opinion may deal with subjective matters in which there is no conclusive finding, or it may deal with facts which are sought to be disputed by the logical fallacy that one is entitled to their opinions.


Distinguishing fact from opinion is that facts are verifiable, i.e. can be agreed to by the consensus of experts. An opinion may be supported by facts and principles, in which case it becomes an argument.

 

[Nekronos]

As someone who has used windows for many years and mac more recently have a long hiatus, I'm quite baffled at the number of visual inconsistencies and general bugs (visual and nonvisual) that I come across in the current mac OS.

At least windows offers built-in deep optionality on customizing both performance and appearance compared to mac.

 

[Wolf1701]

It’s a very clean maneuver: agree in principle, dismiss in practice. Everything becomes equally valid, which sounds fair until you realize it makes evidence, reproducibility, screenshots, and workarounds irrelevant. That’s how you end up with a forum that’s excellent at tone-policing and mediocre at troubleshooting.

There are those who do it practically as a profession; every time there is a discussion about something controversial, they reappear with the same modus operandi. In the end, you get tired of it and let them play alone... if that makes them happy.

 

[GigabitEthernet]

I do think this forum suffers from an almost total inability to call bad things, bad things, or to take Apple's side even when nobody else is. It's weird.

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

opinions are opinions, and worthy of discussion, but no one's opinion is more valid that anyone elses.

In your opinion?

 

[fisherking]

There are those who do it practically as a profession; every time there is a discussion about something controversial, they reappear with the same modus operandi. In the end, you get tired of it and let them play alone... if that makes them happy.

it's interesting (to me, anyway) that every OS version has the same exact 'discussions', where people rant at what's changed, and others insist it's for the better. (am generally on 'it's for the better' side).

but, to be fair, it's the same thing every year.

 

[amancalledsun]

I have Reduce Transparency on. Overall look reminds me of the Big Sur, though I'd like more grayish black

View attachment 2596604

Look at the Search field in your image, overlapped by scrolling items. If you move that list up another few notches Battery will fully underlay Search and make it illegible. Even worse if you scroll so the selected entry (General) is underneath.

So bad.

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

Look at the Search field in your image, overlapped by scrolling items. If you move that list up another few notches Battery will fully underlay Search and make it illegible. Even worse if you scroll so the selected entry (General) is underneath.

View attachment 2597276

So bad.

The fact is, it’s just poor fit and finish.

Once you strip away the (literal) gloss, it’s clear that little thought has been put into how these silly elements play out system wide.

 

[nebojsak]

Look at the Search field in your image, overlapped by scrolling items. If you move that list up another few notches Battery will fully underlay Search and make it illegible. Even worse if you scroll so the selected entry (General) is underneath.

View attachment 2597276

So bad.

You mean this?

Yes, it's poor execution, for sure. I can only hope it will be ironed out in some of the next updates. But still, it's not critical (to me) in my everyday workflow.

 

[Madonepro]

just to be clear (thanks, dictionary!) -

Fact
A fact is a true datum about one or more aspects of a circumstance. Standard reference works are often used to check facts. Scientific facts are verified by repeatable careful observation or measurement by experiments or other means. Generally speaking, facts are independent of belief, knowledge and opinion. Facts are different from inferences, theories, values, and objects.


Opinion
An opinion is a judgement, viewpoint, or statement that is not conclusive, as opposed to facts, which are true statements. A given opinion may deal with subjective matters in which there is no conclusive finding, or it may deal with facts which are sought to be disputed by the logical fallacy that one is entitled to their opinions.


Distinguishing fact from opinion is that facts are verifiable, i.e. can be agreed to by the consensus of experts. An opinion may be supported by facts and principles, in which case it becomes an argument.

And Dogma is taking those Facts, and offering the Opinion as incontrovertibly true.

 

[steve333]

Tahoe is a disgrace and Safari is about to get dumped by me unless Apple fixes it in the next update.
A new issue-I had TextEdit open with a message I wrote that I didn't save yet.
I had to go somewhere so I put the computer to sleep and when I got back the text just disappeared!
Never had this happen before, ever.
Tahoe is ruining Apple's reputation, although it was on its way with the ridiculous System Preferences that is disjointed and difficult to navigate. People complained about it but Cook never brought back the old System Preferences.

 

[steve333]

Did the Thumbs Down emoji go away, or just for me?

 

[G3Blue]

If I buy a new MacBook Pro M4 or M4 Mini from Apple today, which software version will they ship with?

 

[G3Blue]

Apple are still incapable of fixing tabs. There is a website open in this tab, only updates when you click on it. Issue since day one on Tahoe. They do not read feedback comments, waste of time.

 

[G3Blue]

Impossible to see the favourite icon when scrolling through all photos. You’d think they would display the heart icon in black on a white or light background.

 

[BillyJoeJimBob]

Again? Why bring this up incessantly? There already are a million threads on this.

Because it's a problem that needs to be acknowledged and addressed by Apple and (their) boosters.

 

[BillyJoeJimBob]

Guys if you don't like macOS, switch to windows that's it...

No. That is ignoring the problem that the Tahoe influencers need to face.

 

[BillyJoeJimBob]

The fact is, it’s just poor fit and finish.

View attachment 2597284
Once you strip away the (literal) gloss, it’s clear that little thought has been put into how these silly elements play out system wide.

Careful, that's a load-bearing squircle.

 

[Astuces iOS]

No. That is ignoring the problem that the Tahoe influencers need to face.

Too bad, personally I have no problem with it… If others don’t like it then too bad for them…

 

[danbuter]

Apple doesn't give a **** about MacOS. They only care about iPhones.

 

[Siliconguy]

Guys if you don't like macOS, switch to windows that's it...

Cinnamon looks better and better 😉

Quiet, high contrast, everything in focus, stays out of the way. I'll see what 27 brings before converting this MacBook Air to Linux to match the desktop.