Shopping trolleys and deep insight
To anyone, a question:
have you ever been in a shop where someone behind you accidentally catches the backs of your ankles with their shopping trolley – not once, but twice?
(That question may appear frivolous and unrelated to software, but it's not. Answers will relate to something that I'm preparing to post in connection with an Apple operating system.)
On Apple
Abbreviated:
… Apple handicaps it. … I'm so tired of each release being …
… Apple stayed alive because of niche users that saw something valuable in Apple's offerings, but look at them now. … stripped and dumbed down … dumped … more and more bugs. … a hilarious amount of bugs for having a public beta. I used to have faith and make excuses for Apple. … now I'm just pessimistic. … people begging for real improvements will lament. Mavericks was an exception, they really tried to make the OS better. Why can't we get more of that? Even look at Apple's website. Their software pages used to have so much detail. There was a page all about … advanced features. … I bought and returned … because it didn't do anything that my … couldn't. Sure it did it better, but an app opening 3 seconds faster doesn't cut it. … $5 less profit and the investors would riot and storm Apple's headquarters. Unlike many of the others here, I like Tim Cook. I think he's a great structural leader, but maybe not for a company that advertises the "best products we can make." Jobs wasn't much better, but I think he
was better. A few years ago I felt Apple really was trying to make the best products it could make within reason. Now, Apple seems much more like a cold "business." About money, not people. …
I'm all for choice, but not over confusion or crowded product lines. … I was attracted to Apple because of the narrow, focused product line. I hated that when I wanted to buy an Android device I had 10+ manufacturers with 20+ products. I loved how Apple had iOS and the iPhone. …
I think this is the longest post I've ever made!
/Rant (I think you can tell I'm a bit annoyed)
Coming from someone who's relatively new to Apple, relatively new to posting online, I have to say: the unabbreviated original post was outstanding. Long and critical, but entirely reasonable; not a rant. It has a depth of insight that I have sensed in only one other thing online this year.
There are many ways to
measure the success of a person, of a product, of a company. I believe passionately that it's in Apple's best interests, long term, to
not treat financial profit as an overriding measure
* at this time. Whilst I don't expect investors to suddenly take their eyes off the financial prize, I do believe that we can raise awareness of other, less measurable values within Apple.
On feelings
… about iOS and my feelings about Apple in general right now which spills over into their current design. I doubt anyone cares, but aww well. … It makes me sad because Apple was the only company I ever felt that I related too. Now I feel that the Apple I loved is gone. It's sad, because it's a real loss. It was a hoppy, interest, and enjoyment.
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In my most humble opinion, what I think doesn't really matter.
Traverse, on a personal note: IMHO, whoever gets to employ you (after you complete your thesis, hopefully sooner) will gain an asset that might not be valued in terms of profit. What you think does matter – not least because you politely and genuinely show an interest in the thoughts of others. Maybe not intentional, but it's a very effective way of motivating people to share their thoughts, their feedback. An occasional rant makes you no less professional. As I expect you'll discover, elsewhere in MacRumors Forums, most people do care – when given something or someone to care about.
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Less personally, to anyone: in recent months I have swung dramatically from optimism to deep pessimism
** but for what it's worth, I'm not entirely without hope. A few days ago on TV I saw, for the first time, an Apple advertisement with …
…
six colours! I literally caught my breath and had goose pimples. In my wild imagination, it was a coded signal from Apple that the opinions of people like me – of
old guard customers and loyalists – will not be disrespected in the march of progress of a new Apple. I dived for Google and sought some public reaction to this new commercial. I was disappointed to discover that it began airing
more than three months ago, but not entirely disappointed. This afternoon I realised that
on the day of my rebellion***
John Gruber saw a rainbow. By no stretch of the imagination was that rainbow was for me
but as a simple coincidence, it
is thought-provoking.
Product matrices
… attracted to Apple because of the narrow, focused product line. …
"… Apple had a very clear strategy in the late 1990s of a four quadrant product matrix - laptop vs. desktop, consumer vs. pro. And pros loved the PowerBooks and Power Macs. …"
A 2005 archive of
Apple's hardware page from one day after
announcement of the Mac Mini. No sense of that matrix there, but I do have a clear recollection of what was described by Low End Mac.
More indicative of that matrix, a 2007 archive:
https://web.archive.org/web/20070314000852/http://www.apple.com/hardware/
Whether that matrix was ever visualised by Apple as a square with four quadrants, I can't recall. I do know that it was very attractive, but I don't say that because I'm incapable of making complex purchase decisions. (Around 2003 I had responsibility for deciding how around thirty percent of of a £500,000 IT budget should be spent, and the proposed budget was originally much greater … millions … but there were two winners so the funding (JIF) was shared appropriately … blah blah blah … enough said.) In a way that's difficult to verbalise, that long-gone matrix does continue to guide my thoughts around purchases for colleagues.
Exemplary web content
… look at Apple's website. …
From 2009:
Apple (United Kingdom) - Education - Leaders & Administrators - The Apple Ecosystem
– maybe not the best example, but that page sprang to mind because it was recently quoted in a topic that mentioned Apple ecosystems.
It was web content from a company that I trusted to produce, within reason, the best.
In 2014 I suspect that someone began with
a marketing slogan –
Completely new. Completely Mac.
– but for a variety of reasons, the resulting product is neither of those things.
For reasons that I'll not publicise, I have a growing sense that no-one at Apple intended the end result to be as divisive as it is. As that sense grows, I'm more prepared to engage in whatever will be necessary to restore a more widespread love of Apple and its products. I have a hunch that this will involve at least:
- some carefully structured feedback through the channels provided by Apple
- a reasonably respectful rebellion that has the potential to hurt Apple in a spot that might concern investors – without hurting any individual or group within the company.
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Whew. That wasn't the lightest way for someone in the UK to end a thanksgiving period for readers in the US – sorry! – but here's the bottom line:
- I'm less pessimistic now than I was a few weeks ago
– and I look forward to some constructive, positive, results-oriented discussions in the weeks and months ahead.
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* I can feel the flames already.
** The vast majority of that optimism was elsewhere, not in the MacRumors domain.
*** Not duly respectful to agreements with Apple. I now know better.
