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I don't get how any professional can trust Apple after the past few years. If as a pro, you aren't at the very least actively looking for alternatives to Apple

I don't get how any professional can trust Apple after the past few years. If as a pro, you aren't at the very least actively looking for alternatives to Apple products you are doing your future self a huge disservice. After using nothing but Apple products for a decade, I am being forced to wean myself off them, because I cannot depend on Apple for the tools of my trade. What they've done with their Pro hardware is ridiculous. Even if they release the greatest computers ever released for Pros in a month, their history over the past few years makes them completely unreliable. Final Cut Pro, Aperture, MacBook Pro, Mac Mini, Mac Pro, XServe, OSX Server, form, in one way or another at least a majority of their pro offerings, for any useful definition of the word Pro, and Apple's behavior with these products have ranged from dumbing down, to neglect, to straight up abandonment. And it's not just pro users, but also "prosumers". iPhoto, Mail, Calendar, iWork all been dumbed down to the point of not being able to serve any prosumer needs. Apple provides experience and value to consumers that seems far beyond their competitors but their actions towards pro users couldn't have been more clear in their intent. Lip service with an occasional teaser to keep you hooked.

bane 10y ago
Apple needs to be very careful, by effectively abandoning the pro creatives market, their products start to look more and more like expensive toys and convenience products. Supporting pro-level consumers, they made their offerings indispensable at work and thus more convenient for users at home.
- addicted 10y ago
  It's possible, but as the whole Samsung recall debacle showed, Apple is still heads and shoulders ahead of their competitors in serving the consumer market. The entire consumer Eco system, including support, 3rd party integration, 3rd party apps, first party apps, and hardware, just seems significantly ahead of any competitor. I find it hard to see how a loss of the pro market will affect their ability to sell hundreds of billions of dollars of iOS devices every year. Which, of course, worries me even more about the future of Apple in the professional space.
  - brokenmachine 10y ago
    The Samsung recall didn't seem so bad to me. People were offered a replacement, not long after the problem was recognized. Yes it's bad that there was a problem, but they did what they could, and quickly. Apple is terrible with problems with their hardware. Look at the Iphone 6 Plus touch fiasco, and there's millions of other examples. I'm trying to think of the name of that Apple hardware fixit guy with the youtube channel who did the awesome "fuck Apple" rant. Ask him how far ahead of the competitors Apple is.
- chiph 10y ago
  Not only that - developers, pro-sumers, and audio/visual professionals are often asked for recommendations on what to buy by friends & families. They're "influencers", and Apple is abandoning them at their peril.
  - collyw 10y ago
    I am sure thats where a lot of their "cool" factor comes from.
  - brokenmachine 10y ago
    Yes, they have always marketed themselves as the computer for "creatives", while PC-compatibles are for "geeks".
- gutnor 10y ago
  The problem is that the "Pro" are the people that keeps the platform alive by developing app for them. I think that Apple is getting blinded by the strength of the iOS ecosystem that bleed on the MacOS one. They think they can get away with anything. Or they just don't care and the iPad Pro is really the computer of the future at Apple. The huge wait since the last update of whole range of Mac hardware really start to make me feel as they have just put it on life support. With maybe one last significant update maybe this year and then let the platform slowly drown, with infrequent updates. IMO, if they announce a cloud version of XCode that publishes compiled app in a special developer app store, that would mean the end of the Mac line.
willtim 10y ago
I do not believe that Apple has ever offered the "greatest computers ever released for Pros". For example, the MacBook Pro is more Prosumer than Pro when compared to a Lenovo Thinkpad P70 with a 17" 4K display, Xeon CPU and 64GB of RAM. EDIT: designed for heavy sustained CPU applications
- shlant 10y ago
  You realize that what made Apple good for "Pros" is not based purely on specs right? That is a very shallow view of the issue. For music production and live events for example, the reliability, stability, compatibility and application support is why many chose Apple. To think that professionals choose hardware based on specs alone means you don't really understand the reasoning.
  - willtim 10y ago
    Yes, it's not just about specs. I didn't mean to imply it was. Apple also optimise for an ultra thin/light chassis and battery life. These are not what you want for sustained high CPU applications with a real-time requirement. A mobile workstation running a stable build of Windows 7 would certainly give stable audio. My reasoning matches that of the article: Apple's yearly software/OS upgrades and Prosumer hardware are not giving the "reliability, stability, compatibility and application support" that you claim.
    - subway 10y ago
      Note GP said chose, not choose. Almost as though this entire thread were on the topic of how Apple was formerly great for professionals.
      - willtim 10y ago
        Ah good point. I did indeed not spot the "chose".
  - FireBeyond 10y ago
    As someone who moved from the Windows to the Apple ecosystem several years ago but who still builds out support for Windows, reliability and stability in the Windows ecosystem has been a non-issue for many years now (and for the few years preceding that was largely a factor of crappy third-party drivers).

bane 10y ago

Apple needs to be very careful, by effectively abandoning the pro creatives market, their products start to look more and more like expensive toys and convenience products. Supporting pro-level consumers, they made their offerings indispensable at work and thus more convenient for users at home.

addicted 10y ago
It's possible, but as the whole Samsung recall debacle showed, Apple is still heads and shoulders ahead of their competitors in serving the consumer market. The entire consumer Eco system, including support, 3rd party integration, 3rd party apps, first party apps, and hardware, just seems significantly ahead of any competitor. I find it hard to see how a loss of the pro market will affect their ability to sell hundreds of billions of dollars of iOS devices every year. Which, of course, worries me even more about the future of Apple in the professional space.
- brokenmachine 10y ago
  The Samsung recall didn't seem so bad to me. People were offered a replacement, not long after the problem was recognized. Yes it's bad that there was a problem, but they did what they could, and quickly. Apple is terrible with problems with their hardware. Look at the Iphone 6 Plus touch fiasco, and there's millions of other examples. I'm trying to think of the name of that Apple hardware fixit guy with the youtube channel who did the awesome "fuck Apple" rant. Ask him how far ahead of the competitors Apple is.
chiph 10y ago
Not only that - developers, pro-sumers, and audio/visual professionals are often asked for recommendations on what to buy by friends & families. They're "influencers", and Apple is abandoning them at their peril.
- collyw 10y ago
  I am sure thats where a lot of their "cool" factor comes from.
- brokenmachine 10y ago
  Yes, they have always marketed themselves as the computer for "creatives", while PC-compatibles are for "geeks".
gutnor 10y ago
The problem is that the "Pro" are the people that keeps the platform alive by developing app for them. I think that Apple is getting blinded by the strength of the iOS ecosystem that bleed on the MacOS one. They think they can get away with anything. Or they just don't care and the iPad Pro is really the computer of the future at Apple. The huge wait since the last update of whole range of Mac hardware really start to make me feel as they have just put it on life support. With maybe one last significant update maybe this year and then let the platform slowly drown, with infrequent updates. IMO, if they announce a cloud version of XCode that publishes compiled app in a special developer app store, that would mean the end of the Mac line.

willtim 10y ago

I do not believe that Apple has ever offered the "greatest computers ever released for Pros". For example, the MacBook Pro is more Prosumer than Pro when compared to a Lenovo Thinkpad P70 with a 17" 4K display, Xeon CPU and 64GB of RAM. EDIT: designed for heavy sustained CPU applications

shlant 10y ago
You realize that what made Apple good for "Pros" is not based purely on specs right? That is a very shallow view of the issue. For music production and live events for example, the reliability, stability, compatibility and application support is why many chose Apple. To think that professionals choose hardware based on specs alone means you don't really understand the reasoning.
- willtim 10y ago
  Yes, it's not just about specs. I didn't mean to imply it was. Apple also optimise for an ultra thin/light chassis and battery life. These are not what you want for sustained high CPU applications with a real-time requirement. A mobile workstation running a stable build of Windows 7 would certainly give stable audio. My reasoning matches that of the article: Apple's yearly software/OS upgrades and Prosumer hardware are not giving the "reliability, stability, compatibility and application support" that you claim.
  - subway 10y ago
    Note GP said chose, not choose. Almost as though this entire thread were on the topic of how Apple was formerly great for professionals.
    - willtim 10y ago
      Ah good point. I did indeed not spot the "chose".
- FireBeyond 10y ago
  As someone who moved from the Windows to the Apple ecosystem several years ago but who still builds out support for Windows, reliability and stability in the Windows ecosystem has been a non-issue for many years now (and for the few years preceding that was largely a factor of crappy third-party drivers).