Apple Seems to Have Forgotten about the Whole “It Just Works” Thing

Megalith

Megalith

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"It just works” is the phrase that Steve Jobs trotted out year after year to describe products or services he was unveiling, but now, that concept is withering away. This author points out the variety of high profile bugs that have hit macOS/iOS and believes they’re inexcusable due to Apple’s impressive profit margins.

Apple isn't some budget hardware maker pushing stuff out on a shoestring and scrabbling for a razor-thin profit margin. All this makes missteps such as the ones that users have had to endure feel like Apple has taken its eye off the ball, and that it's perhaps putting increased effort into developing and selling new products at the expense of keeping users happy.
 
It has never "just worked". Every Mac customer that ever came into my shop to fix their obviously-not-just-working Mac has used some variation of this phrase and I've always had a good laugh about it. More reliable than the average Windows box, sure. Just working? Nope.
 
Cobra said:
It has never "just worked". Every Mac customer that ever came into my shop to fix their obviously-not-just-working Mac has used some variation of this phrase and I've always had a good laugh about it. More reliable than the average Windows box, sure. Just working? Nope.
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I will agree. Working support for a hardware vendor, it seemed every time that OSX or iOS rolled out an update, even a minor one, we got a wave of calls where customer's Windows, Android, and other devices worked fine, but all their Apple devices couldn't connect to the Wi-Fi. The bug frequency of this year isn't new, it's just that Tim Cook just isn't as good a salesman as Steve Jobs.
 
When your products become more about hipsters dancing down the street in the moonlight than about computing and functionality, it doesn't really matter what works and what doesn't.
 
Must agree. Apple lost sight of the ball even before Jobs went under!
Am an Android person now but.... the Iphone original, 2 and 3G were great phones, revolutionary.
 
I get a lot more people in now than I dis 3 years ago asking how to fix stuff for mac and Apple.

We Don't officially support them so I tell them to drive 40 miles to a mac store ;)
 
I still use apple phones/tablets because so far, for me, they do just work. Problem is you can't keep making 'simple' for a decade and not have things seem stale. Thing is, phones are like computers.....they haven't figured out what new thing to put in them to sell more of them...cars still have 4 wheels...and it seems some people will buy digital iphone watches but it's a small percentage of phone users.....where do you go. Music, HD video.....check, check. Where? Holography.......TELEPATHY....get on that shit, Samsung.
 
No, no, no, they changed that line years ago. Someone's been omitting the rest of the phrase. "...you over."

That said my MBP just works. My Windows VM sees more use than the native OS though...
 
When Jobs died, The Reality Distortion Field died with him so, after several years the lingering effects of that are finally beginning to wear off from the Cult of Mac members, sooner or later they'll realize the fake Kool-Aid Apple has been supplying them for decades now isn't as good as the real thing. :D
 
Tiberian said:
When Jobs died, The Reality Distortion Field died with him so, after several years the lingering effects of that are finally beginning to wear off from the Cult of Mac members, sooner or later they'll realize the fake Kool-Aid Apple has been supplying them for decades now isn't as good as the real thing. :D
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And there's nothing worse than fake Kool-Aid. Probably use sugar substitute to sweeten it too! Yuck! :D
 
"What's a Computer?"

Most telling statement in any advertising ever.

The Mac platform is abandonware. When you can write iOS apps on the iPad, the Mac is well and truly finished.

Anyone buying Macs aren't paying attention.
 
I think Apple needs to re-org their QA team. There have been a lot of bugs in recent years. The again, when Jobs was alive during the iPhone 4 launch, somehow QA let a phone get through that had a degraded signal when you didn't hold it right. I'm sure Jobs fired some people over that. However, did they fix the problem or just fire someone as a cover. (IDK if anyone was fired - but many stories have talked about his temper.)
 
Megalith said:
"It just works” is the phrase that Steve Jobs trotted out year after year to describe products or services he was unveiling, but now, that concept is withering away. This author points out the variety of high profile bugs that have hit macOS/iOS and believes they’re inexcusable due to Apple’s impressive profit margins.

Apple isn't some budget hardware maker pushing stuff out on a shoestring and scrabbling for a razor-thin profit margin. All this makes missteps such as the ones that users have had to endure feel like Apple has taken its eye off the ball, and that it's perhaps putting increased effort into developing and selling new products at the expense of keeping users happy.
Click to expand...

And so are the bugs that M$ releases. Point?
 
I was just helping some friends in their 80s try and deal with their iPad. Weak speaker and apps dont work anymore, cant update to os10. Ive always had issues with Apple products just not working after a while. Phones getting slow as hell, no drive space because sd cards are the devil.
 
They do just work. We have a 2009 MAC Mini that is still going well (SSD and memory upgrade). We have another 2016 IMAC 21.5, no issues. And 4 iPhones, 2 iPads. Let me put it this way. Before the MACs they had Windows PCs, and they ALWAYS had issues. I got sick of having to fix something with them every week. On the MACs, I can't think of the last time I had to fix anything on them. The iPhones (from Android), same thing.

I'm the only one that has a Windows 10 PC, as it's my gaming rig, and it's my field I work in for the last 25 years of IT. I don't want to fix issues when I get home with the other family machines, so the MACs are great.
 
Was at the family xmas white elephant. I gifted a Samsung 64gb usb OTG drive. Apparently no knows wtf OTG is cuz they all have apple crap. smh...
 
I agree with the author, the bugs are inexcuseable. This doesn't just apply to Apple though, it applies to other companies, rather it's Samsung and their phone bombs, Google/LG with the Pixel 2 XL debacle, Nvidia releasing drivers that kill GPUs, Microsoft putting out updates that ruin Windows (or Windows phones, ugh!). They all charge exorbitant prices on products that fall sort of what should be expected from these guys.
 
NIZMOZ said:
They do just work. We have a 2009 MAC Mini that is still going well (SSD and memory upgrade). We have another 2016 IMAC 21.5, no issues. And 4 iPhones, 2 iPads. Let me put it this way. Before the MACs they had Windows PCs, and they ALWAYS had issues. I got sick of having to fix something with them every week. On the MACs, I can't think of the last time I had to fix anything on them. The iPhones (from Android), same thing.

I'm the only one that has a Windows 10 PC, as it's my gaming rig, and it's my field I work in for the last 25 years of IT. I don't want to fix issues when I get home with the other family machines, so the MACs are great.
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Do they do much with the macs?
I find PCs need more attention because people try to do a lot more with them.
 
kju1 said:
And so are the bugs that M$ releases. Point?
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1) MS has never claimed that their product 'just worked' they've never bragged about the simplicity of Windows or Office
2) People have been mocking MS for years so why are you getting your knickers in a twist when people mock Apple for not living up to a slogan that they still claim to live by

Nenu said:
MS realised this and thought it was the recipe for success lol.
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Yup, MS has been bloating the shit out of Windows for years.
 
How do you think they get such a large profit margin? There are two main ways to make money. Sell more, or cut costs. Well, now you know where those cuts came.
 
And yet macOS is still a better OS than Windows 10. At least, at this point in time, Apple know better than to muddle their desktop/mobile interface into one mishmash of both.

Furthermore, their updating process is a damn site more reliable than that of Windows 10, with more control and respect for the end user. Awaiting the flaming simply because I'm on [H] and not singing the praises of MS - Credit where credit's due, in MS's case there's not a lot of credit to be had with Windows 10.
 
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kju1 said:
And so are the bugs that M$ releases. Point?
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The author is an Apple device user lamenting about Apple's product degration. Why is Microsoft in this discussion? Does it make it OK for Apple if Microsoft software has bugs? He said as much that he expected more from Apple because of the premium prices it charged. What a tool.
 
bbqrooster said:
The author is an Apple device user lamenting about Apple's product degration. Why is Microsoft in this discussion? Does it make it OK for Apple if Microsoft software has bugs? He said as much that he expected more from Apple because of the premium prices it charged. What a tool.
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He can expect more all he wants. Hes just a whiny bitch like everyone else who thinks software shouldnt have bugs. Companies do the minimum they can to sell their software. As long as people keep buying it they wont give two shits.

Dont like it? Dont buy it.
 
The few folks I know that use Apple are starting to get fed up. One or two say to me "I don't know who Apple makes its hardware for now, as it isn't me!"
 
I had more of my relatives switch to Samsung tablets, watches and ms systems this year than ever before. Most have been suffering tge 1/1000 issues people claim not to get with Apple.

Sure I spend some time repairing windows computers from viruses and bad software, even some updates that mess with company software, but some of my customers stuff like Drake accounting won't run on Apple. Even if it did the cost difference still drives then to buy a 300$ hp rather than an apple.

Costs aside I personally haven't had any bit issues with my windows installs. All 10 pro or home with insider or not.
Maybe my hardware vendors are less prone to causing issues.

I feel the whole debate is subjective until mac reaches the number of people windows machines does(never), but with Apple slowing mac os and desktop/laptop r&d down in favor of their mobile segment it was a matter of time before problems cropped up.
 
BulletDust said:
And yet macOS is still a better OS than Windows 10. At least, at this point in time, Apple know better than to muddle their desktop/mobile interface into one mishmash of both.

Furthermore, their updating process is a damn site more reliable than that of Windows 10, with more control and respect for the end user. Awaiting the flaming simply because I'm on [H] and not singing the praises of MS - Credit where credit's due, in MS's case there's not a lot of credit to be had with Windows 10.
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Very true on the updating portion. Even OS updates go smoother on Mac OS X. As for mac OS being better thats subjective, I find the more you use mac OS for stuff other than home use then you notice even more problems/crashes (Enterprise). Apple did not know better they just wanted more $$$ (buy multiple devices (phone, tablet, laptop, watch). Microsoft took a chance (it failed pretty bad because of Microsoft employees who thought they knew better (Who the hell thinks hiding the start button would be a good thing that has been there over 20+ years?)) to make one UI for all devices. If you look features from iOS have been integrated into macOS such as Siri. Someday I am sure Apple will just kill off the macOS and make you run iOS.
 
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