hopefully,
I love my iMac its a great computer as well as my 2012 rMBP, I want to see Apple succeed and hopefully I'll see fruits of this sooner then later.
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Rant: 30-year Mac fanatic finally buys Windows
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I love my iMac its a great computer as well as my 2012 rMBP, I want to see Apple succeed and hopefully I'll see fruits of this sooner then later.
I also (weirdly?) really want Apple to succeed. I have used their products for many years and, generally, really like them. I genuinely hope they will learn from their mistakes and come back with even better products.
However, after having used a Surface Pro 3 for a little while I have to say that Apple really could learn something from Microsoft. A powerful laptop and a "pro" tablet doesn't have to be mutually exclusive. They can (and in my mind do) work really well in a single product.
Just like Eddie Van Halen hinting at months and months of unpublished music in the vaults. Apple and Van Halen, two situations losing all their once-greatness right in front of me and making me sad.
I am sure you would be happy to elaborate on this response, with some well thought out comments. Thanks in advance.
Sounds more interesting but - what has Apple done truly innovative in the past 4 years with iOS/mobile devices other than run unnecessary minimalism design contests? They stripped out all the good UI/UX that used to be Apple's hallmark and left behind a whited-out uninteresting-looking flat-design unintuitive interface. And worse, that poison is infiltrating the OS now. If Apple's M.O. for innovation is to focus on "less is more" by removing mass (focusing on thinness), removing hardware features, and removing attractive and intuitive UI elements, what's the advanced plan? What can possibly be innovated and removed next?
Factually incorrect... I'm gonna leave it at that, as it is easily provable, for anyone who knows anything about both platforms.
Along those lines - asking as a still-Mac fan no matter how hard Tim, Jony, and Phil keep trying to push me away (this is not trying to be a troll bait question): Are there any Macbook Air-wannabe PC's out there by any makers, with Apple's similar fascination with non-upgradeable hardware and requiring a bag of dongles? I am curious how many PC's are infected with that avoidable birth defect.
I'll agree with BoneDaddy, being that I got a good 8 years out of my first Mac and intend to get a similar 8 years out of my Macbook Air. My Macs have been good buys. A valid complaint should be how Apple's missing out on being a GREAT BUY while Timmy, Jony, and Philip are allowed to keep up their bulimia/anorexic addiction to thinness while doinking around with all the unnecessary minimalism design contests that have stripped out most of the great UI/UX experience that use to be what meant "Apple."
You guys are smoking something good! Big difference between a Mac lasting 8 years and Apple selling the latest tech. I bought a 2016 MBP and for what I paid, that tech is garbage. but for the user expeirence I decided it was worth the price. I'm not delusional in thinking I got great technology because it's not.
It's exactly like I said. Apple has very rarely sold consumers the latest and greatest components but has always excelled in user experience. Not sure why anyone would argue that point. It's like trying to say the Apple in Apples logo is a Granny Smith. It's not.
Are you saying lack of unix commands on Windows? if so, why not install WSL (& Ubuntu Bash)? gives all the unix commands someone could need.
Now I'll agree some with YOU. I still feel Macs have been a good buy for as long as I've bought Apple computers (once in 2006, once in 2014) as far as what I've received vs. the price paid. Now though, discussing getting the latest tech vs. what you paid...that's an entirely different discussion.
And, to your second paragraph, Apple used to (not always) excel in the user experience. Since Steve died and Jony started changing things around just to change things around, the user experience has really declined to where it's less than it used to be...a little better than the competition but not world's better like it used to be.
Apple used to (not always) excel in the user experience. Since Steve died and Jony started changing things around just to change things around, the user experience has really declined to where it's less than it used to be...a little better than the competition but not world's better like it used to be.
Which is the basic weather map of my rant. In 30 years of using Mac, I've never felt that any machine was a *bargain* (though the first iMac's price was a very pleasant surprise). But I didn't mind some overhead to ensure the Mac experience, which was for most of those 30 years waa-a-a-a-ay out ahead of the Windows UI -- which to my eye always looked like an explosion in a paint factory and acted like a two-year-old who's just learned the word "no."
But post-Ballmer Microsoft is working hard to get out of the not-invented-here syndrome, and that means among other things a user interface that does not look like an overcrowded neon-blinking cityscape from "Blade Runner." The gap is closing, because Microsoft is starting to understand design, while at Apple design now is a drag on power, a limiter on function.
One of the best analogies I've read of this mess Jony and Tim & Co. have created and stuck us with for the past 4 years. Jony force-feeds an unintuitive different-just-to-be-different UI onto us, full of contradictory non-natural elements that keep getting more twisted and further unintuitive each time they try to fix something they realize to be too bad to let sit. Instead of admitting their error in the entire UI they stubbornly dig their heels in and double down by enacting another change using their imagined best UI, so contradictory to the Apple of ~2000 to 2013 that barely changed because they used the right principles which just worked. Argh.
I've been saying for years that Cook needs to go. He's what's holding the company down, that and a management team that just don't get it anymore.
Apple has never been stronger as a company. More profitable, more sales, more blockbuster products, and a booming services business. Cook is going nowhere.
Yes, that's exactly the problem of us old-timers
Peeps. Just get used to it. Target audience of Apple used to be creatives, professionals, designers in particular, musicians. Now target audience of Apple is everyone with money. Times change. I don't like it either. Tough. They're the most valuable company in the world and going up. There is absolutely no way Tim Cook is going anywhere.(Still. Fire Cue.)
You're talking crap. They're merely drifting along with incremental updates. No blockbuster products. It's all just crap. Cook is not a creative or innovative thinker. Apple's output will continue to fall into the wasteland under him, they are no longer at the forefront of technology because they're too busy sitting on their hands.
They are making money hand over fist, and given the profits apple is enjoying, Cook won't be going anywhere BUT and its a big but. Aside from the phone, their business has not been stellar. The iPad is cratering, its been sliding for 13 quarters, the mac business has bounced back a bit but nothing really exciting. Apple is enjoying its profits from the iPhone that has not markedly change in years. We get emojis and a thinner product, while the competition (whether phone or PC) are pushing the envelope.
While I don't think apple is doomed, I don't see a clear focused strategy.
My guess is that Apple has plenty of money and time to fix their strategy.
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I agree with Apple just drifting along, but it's come to the point where being innovative and coming up with new products in the computer market is difficult. They would have to revamp their entire product line and user interface for MacOS and iOS. As is now, all they can do is get some new decent hardware out there and crop the prices to get people to buy their products.
I'm not saying they won't be revolutionary again, but it's going to take a lot of work to get there.
Not something Apple are familiar with.
They've just hiked their prices here in the UK, supposedly in response to Brexit, and yet you can bet they wouldn't even begin to think about decreasing them when GBP has recovered. They're snakes they're taking advantage of politics to shamelessly raise prices, without having to admit they're just greedy.
If sales go down enough... maybe they will. I'm currently nearly completely migrated to Windows and Android, but I still have an iPad and some old dusty Macs that I only use for emergency reasons. To the best of my abilities I have tried to keep the options of going back to MacOS open, but I'm not coming back until I see laptops and desktops I want to spend my money on.
Thing is, I can't image any major shareholder saying "Tim Cook made Apple the most profitable company in the world and its value is increasing. Therefore, Cook must go."
The only thing that would make shareholders doubt Cook would be if public perception of Apple went down. Which I think it is, slowly. Consumers have been slowly brainwashed with this idea that anything that comes from Apple is the absolute best technology has to offer, and the best quality you're going to find anywhere.
If that marketing spiel doesn't hold up to real life, consumers will start looking elsewhere when they seem better products, cheaper from other brands. Microsoft is just one that comes to mind, who I believe is doing better things than Apple right now.
Apple are relying on their legacy to keep them afloat. They're not bothered about continuing to deliver the magic.
What do you feel has actually changed since those legacy products from them to not continuing to deliver the magic?
To me this is an age old debate. I've never been blown away by Apple tech specs however the experience is something I'm still willing to pay a premium for because I can find value in it. As mostly a Linux user nowadays its refreshing to sit in front of a Mac and use Apples ecosystem. Even using Windows 10 when I hear my phone ring in the other room and stare at the computer monitor waiting to answer before I realize it can't do that (maybe it can with a Windows phone but who uses that?).
My main gripe and I think many others feel the same is the lack of recent updates that used to roll out like clock work combined with very good competition. I've been using a Linux box for a HTPC however I would really like to use a Mini but it will need to deliver similar specs as a NUC7 or better. Where is it though? Apples silence is just....frustrating.
