Studio Display Update Issue Fixed as Apple Addresses Code-Signing Issue

[chucker23n1]

I'm sure if someone had put Windows xp in the DVI monitor in 2002 it would not be usable right now.

Lots of ATMs still run Windows XP Embedded today, for better or worse.

An operating program like iOS is a complex system of a bunch of programs that have their vulnerabilities and they depend on each other. Over time, this will become increasingly difficult to keep in stable operation.

Yes, but those vulnerabilities are largely irrelevant in a device that's basically airgapped.

 

[xyz369]

I hear that Apple is working very hard to be absolutely perfect as so many in this thread are/want to be.

How hard they work when a user plugs in a new monitor from a box and gets a message to contact the support service and can't use it. I think the common man from such an experience will just lose confidence in buying new products from apple.

 

[guzhogi]

I still think it’s weird that a monitor runs iOS.
It needs the whole iOS just to control the webcam and speakers?

It has an A13, so it's far easier to port over iOS rather than write a whole new 'displayOS'. I'm guessing Centre Stage mandated iOS being used.

I doubt that they'd need to write a whole new OS from the ground up, more like pare iOS down into some kind of "Just Enough OS" like LibreELEC. Such an OS would have many benefits such as smaller storage & RAM requirements (and thus faster download/install times), less threads & processes for the CPU/GPU to handle (so more resources can go to actual display needs), and far less code for the developers to maintain (hopefully) leading to less bugs.

 

[guzhogi]

Lots of ATMs still run Windows XP Embedded today, for better or worse.

And aren't a lot of banking systems still built on COBOL?

 

[nvmls]

I hear that Apple is working very hard to be absolutely perfect as so many in this thread are/want to be.

Introducing Butterfly Keyboard Pro Max™, featuring touchbar 2.0 and free finger lube.

 

[chucker23n1]

I doubt that they'd need to write a whole new OS from the ground up, more like pare iOS down into some kind of "Just Enough OS" like LibreELEC. Such an OS would have many benefits such as smaller storage & RAM requirements (and thus faster download/install times), less threads & processes for the CPU/GPU to handle (so more resources can go to actual display needs), and far less code for the developers to maintain (hopefully) leading to less bugs.

Apple has plenty of OSes to choose from (for example, the Secure Enclave is reportedly L4-derived, the iPod originally use Pixo, they still have NewtonOS somewhere in the archives, etc.) — but none of them other than iOS already have a finished implementation of most features ready to go: they display needs to show stuff (yup), run a camera (yup), implement Center Stage (yup) and pass through USB devices (that one they probably needed to custom-code).

And aren't a lot of banking systems still built on COBOL?

Some internal corporate stuff still is, yes. It's mostly "someone came up with this business logic 56 years ago and who knows if it's still needed? Best not touch it".

I think the center stage camera issue is going to involve a bit more work than I originally thought. The crux of the problem seems to be that camera applies an aggressive crop when only one person is sitting "table-length" away from the camera. They're going to need to make some one-off algorithm adjustments for the desktop camera use-case.

But that's also mostly true for the iPad, which offers Center Stage and has the exact same camera, with one slight difference: you typically hold an iPad closer than you place a monitor. So yes, the crop is probably smaller. But I'm not sure that's a sufficient explanation.

 

[rgwebb]

I'd be more harsh about a bad production code change if I hadn't just made that sort of mistake last week. ?

 

[rgwebb]

But that's also mostly true for the iPad, which offers Center Stage and has the exact same camera, with one slight difference: you typically hold an iPad closer than you place a monitor. So yes, the crop is probably smaller. But I'm not sure that's a sufficient explanation.

I think it certainly explains it in part. From what I've seen in person, the quality appears better with two or more in frame with a "normal bubble" between people. My assumption being that it is not cropping then scaling quite as aggressively.

 

[JippaLippa]

This display is cursed...
No matter all the controversies...I still want it.

Not that I can afford it comfortably...

 

[ChromeAce]

This is hilarious. Trillions of dollars in valuation but won’t pay someone minimum wage to double-check their own software certificates.

 

[Apple Fan 2008]

I still think it’s weird that a monitor runs iOS.
It needs the whole iOS just to control the webcam and speakers?

It's for hey siri and the camera that zooms on you.

 

[Unggoy Murderer]

I’m sure you have an org chart to back your claim/theory? When I worked for them
departments were separated by individual technologies but there were also teams that worked on products. During a prerelease only that product team holds all the pieces. So if the display was any secret at all then a special group would be working on the iOS fork or components specific to the display. The general iOS team would not have any idea until it was released. Which would cause this issue. Communication breakdown due to only being included in the loop at the last second.

I don't I'm afraid, it in a video where I'm sure it was Craig Federighi and someone else talking about how collaboration works at Apple. I've tried to locate said video but I'm sorry, I can't find it.

 

[_Spinn_]

Glad Apple got this fixed.

 

[cmbarclay]

FIX THE CAMERA APPLE!

 

[murdoc2k]

More rigorous software testing would not create this problem.

This is not a software problem, but an operations problem. Their release process needs to be updated to prevent errors like this from reoccuring.

 

[paulypants]

Oh no! People have just started complaining about this...they hadn't even had a chance to attach -gate to it!

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

I still have two questions:

• isn't 15.4 the version those displays were reviewed with anyway? Did affected displays ship with an earlier release? Possibly with the one Gruber says may have had a better webcam image?
• I've seen rather conflicting info on what happens if the update fails. Does the display merely revert to the old version, or does it flat-out stop working?

The display, or at least most of them, shipped with 15.3, but 15.4 was already available as a software update on launch day.
If the update failed, you just got a “try again later” error message from what I’ve been able to gather, but I haven’t heard of any bricking, so I assume the display just continued working on 15.3

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

More rigorous software testing would not create this problem.

More rigorous software testing wouldn’t change anything, this wasn’t a bug, it was an oversight

 

[Souponastick270]

Now put an M1 (or an M2 at this point) in it and sell it as a 27” iMac and I might consider buying one…

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

How hard they work when a user plugs in a new monitor from a box and gets a message to contact the support service and can't use it. I think the common man from such an experience will just lose confidence in buying new products from apple.

You could still use the monitor just fine, you just couldn’t force it to update. But in terms of using it as what it was intended for… A monitor, 15.3 worked perfectly fine.
It displayed all of the images and videos on the panel that you told it to.
There was no urgent need for the update, and either way Apple had the issue fixed within hours so it doesn’t matter now.
If someone saw the “try again later” error message on Sunday morning, by Sunday night the update would install just fine.

 

[izzle22]

You could still use the monitor just fine, you just couldn’t force it to update. But in terms of using it as what it was intended for… A monitor, 15.3 worked perfectly fine.
It displayed all of the images and videos on the panel that you told it to.
There was no urgent need for the update, and either way Apple had the issue fixed within hours so it doesn’t matter now.
If someone saw the “try again later” error message on Sunday morning, by Sunday night the update would install just fine.

The problem existed for several days not hours. It started last Thursday on the 7th and lasted until Sunday night. The message said try back in an hour not later. So 4 days of not being able to download the update was a little frustrating wondering what was going on. But yes the display worked just fine the whole time. It really caused me no issues except my OCD kicking in and wondering if my new $1600 display had a defect not allowing the update.

 

[Spike1999]

I wonder if we’re still going to see a lot of these on eBay?

 

[EugW]

I think the center stage camera issue is going to involve a bit more work than I originally thought. The crux of the problem seems to be that camera applies an aggressive crop when only one person is sitting "table-length" away from the camera. They're going to need to make some one-off algorithm adjustments for the desktop camera use-case.

My friend got this display. The camera framing was totally off until he ran FaceTime or something.

 

[lukematch]

anyone also notice the setup in the pic on the article is left-handed? stood out to me for some reason.

 

[eifelbube]

This isn't actually how Apple work, teams aren't really siloed.

There aren't separate teams for product lines, rather they're for technologies. For example, they have an acoustics team who will work on HomePods, but also on MacBook and iPhone speakers.

So, they must have two webcam teams, one for the Studio Display, one for all other devices with a webcam …