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IMHO, the touchbar had more to with competitive positioning against microsoft's touchscreen than optimising benefit for the user. It's the new 'one button mouse

IMHO, the touchbar had more to with competitive positioning against microsoft's touchscreen than optimising benefit for the user. It's the new 'one button mouse'.

jp555 10y ago
Bret Victor tweeted that the TouchBar took 8 years of work to go from conception to production. https://twitter.com/worrydream/status/791767756928462848 https://twitter.com/worrydream/status/791767756928462848 You sure it was a reaction to MS?
- WalterSear 10y ago
  An 8 year release process lines up with the release of touchscreen-enabled windows 7 and 8. Sure, they may have been investigating it before the windows release, but the choice to produce this hamfisted feature, rather than a touchscreen, still looks like a competitive reaction. Many things take lots of time to develop, and lots of things never make it into an actual release. EDIT: khaledtaha's comment above sounds even more plausible, give the strategy Apple currently appears to be pursuing.
- khaledtaha 10y ago
  Yes, but that can also mean that during that it was shelved as a bad idea only to be revived as a scrambled attempt to have a one-more-thing moment.
- tlow 10y ago
  Steve Jobs: "I'm as proud of the things I have done as the things I have not". Jobs would not have brought this version of TouchBar to market; not a chance.[1] [1] My source is my personal opinion and anecdotal. If I'm not unimpeachably correct in this assertion you should downvote; there is no possible means to prove the assertion so only judgement can decide the validity of my claim. While I had met Jobs and had multiple run-ins with him in Palo Alto (I was an avid walker and lived on Ramona for several years), I never knew him well on an intra-personal level.
  - sbuk 10y ago
    It doesn't matter what Jobs would've done. It's a different Apple now. Also "Never ask what I would do. Just do what's right." Tim, Jonny or whoever clearly thought the Touch Bar was "right".
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
  - dash2 10y ago
    You never knew him well on a personal level. An intra-personal level would mean that you were stuck in the same body, like Being John Malkovich.
    - tlow 10y ago
      lol whoops interpersonal then?
  - k-mcgrady 10y ago
    If you need a massive disclaimer at the end of your comment explaining that something you expressed as a fact shouldn't be treated as a fact what's the point? Jobs made plenty of bad product decisions, some much worse than the touch bar.

IMHO, the touchbar had more to with competitive positioning against microsoft's touchscreen than optimising benefit for the user. It's the new 'one button mouse'.

jp555 10y ago

Bret Victor tweeted that the TouchBar took 8 years of work to go from conception to production. https://twitter.com/worrydream/status/791767756928462848 https://twitter.com/worrydream/status/791767756928462848 You sure it was a reaction to MS?

WalterSear 10y ago
An 8 year release process lines up with the release of touchscreen-enabled windows 7 and 8. Sure, they may have been investigating it before the windows release, but the choice to produce this hamfisted feature, rather than a touchscreen, still looks like a competitive reaction. Many things take lots of time to develop, and lots of things never make it into an actual release. EDIT: khaledtaha's comment above sounds even more plausible, give the strategy Apple currently appears to be pursuing.
khaledtaha 10y ago
Yes, but that can also mean that during that it was shelved as a bad idea only to be revived as a scrambled attempt to have a one-more-thing moment.
tlow 10y ago
Steve Jobs: "I'm as proud of the things I have done as the things I have not". Jobs would not have brought this version of TouchBar to market; not a chance.[1] [1] My source is my personal opinion and anecdotal. If I'm not unimpeachably correct in this assertion you should downvote; there is no possible means to prove the assertion so only judgement can decide the validity of my claim. While I had met Jobs and had multiple run-ins with him in Palo Alto (I was an avid walker and lived on Ramona for several years), I never knew him well on an intra-personal level.
- sbuk 10y ago
  It doesn't matter what Jobs would've done. It's a different Apple now. Also "Never ask what I would do. Just do what's right." Tim, Jonny or whoever clearly thought the Touch Bar was "right".
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
- dash2 10y ago
  You never knew him well on a personal level. An intra-personal level would mean that you were stuck in the same body, like Being John Malkovich.
  - tlow 10y ago
    lol whoops interpersonal then?
- k-mcgrady 10y ago
  If you need a massive disclaimer at the end of your comment explaining that something you expressed as a fact shouldn't be treated as a fact what's the point? Jobs made plenty of bad product decisions, some much worse than the touch bar.