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This is true about all walks of Apple software, sadly, from file syncing to Bonjour (mDNSresponder) to UI frameworks to developer tools to consumer applications

This is true about all walks of Apple software, sadly, from file syncing to Bonjour (mDNSresponder) to UI frameworks to developer tools to consumer applications. Apple developers rewrite software in a butterfingered way on a consistent basis, creating software that lacks any design, missing large chunks of functionality and often lacks any kind of polish or coherency. Other problems in the dev culture accentuate this problem even further. It seems there is a complete lack of dependency graph between the software stacks; apple engineers who opt to rewrite a piece of software or functionality have no documentation or idea how the software is used or was originally intended to be used, be it inside Apple or otherwise, often causing serious design-level bugs, often resulting in major rollbacks. The lack of any QA work is also very apparent, especially in recent years, where simple bugs and glitches are allowed to go through, let alone major rewrites. The only tool to counter this is radar/feedback assistant, which are tools well documented in their inefficiency from current and ex Apple developers themselves. I don't think this should solely fall on Apple developers, of course. As is often the case, such inherent problems in culture are due to lackluster management. This has been hinted at by many ex Apple engineers.

chmaynard 7y ago
Agreed, but at least Apple managers have great hair.
ohithereyou 7y ago
>Apple developers rewrite software in a butterfingered way on a consistent basis, creating software that lacks any design, missing large chunks of functionality and often lacks any kind of polish or coherency. The day they completely gimped Disk Utility is the day I started looking to move off macOS.
- LeoNatan25 7y ago
  Yes, that's a good example. A software that was messed up, had crazy security bug and is still lacking. Why was a rewrite necessary? How cynical would be to say "the engineer of the day fancied Swift more than going into old code"? Sadly these days, I'm not sure this is so far-fetched.
  - bitL 7y ago
    > Why was a rewrite necessary? Most likely because original authors were laid off or moved on; it's cheaper to rewrite software than to fix existing one; both need very different skillset and there are more people that can write their own algo quickly than fix somebody else's.
    - LeoNatan25 7y ago
      I get this point. But coupled with lack of expertise & experience, lack of QA and lack of dependency tree (what feature is used where), the result can be amateurish at best and catastrophic at worst. In the case of DU, it was more the latter. Again, the cynic in me can't accept the "cheaper" argument. Apple has lack of funds to properly hire people who are not afraid to go into complex existing code? I get this argument in a start-up environment, but won't accept it in the case of the largest tech company in the world. This is just bad management.
    - userbinator 7y ago
      cheaper to rewrite software than to fix existing one That's a very shortsighted thought, because the rewrite has also introduced its own set of new bugs.
    - mmcwilliams 7y ago
      Didn't the re-write happen around the time that Apple released and shifted to APFS? Not defending the new app, it is a huge misstep in my book, but it makes sense that there was a major overhaul to the Disk Utility app when they were introducing substantial new features for something as important as the file system.
      - LeoNatan25 7y ago
        I think both apps are a wrapper for diskutil or its underlying implementation. And UI-wise, APFS didn't warrant introduce any substantial UI changes, especially not ones that couldn't be added to the existing software.
- DonHopkins 7y ago
  Please, many people consider that term offensive. The politically correct wording is now "The day they completely photoshopped Disk Utility is the day I started looking to move off macOS."
  - irascible 7y ago
    plug: Photopea.com! Throw your gimps and photoshops in the garbage!
  - devy 7y ago
    Pardon my ignorance, what does "photoshopped Disk Utility" mean? I get the reference between GIMP vs. Photoshop, but what does it mean by "gimped/photoshopped" an application?
    - DDR0 7y ago
      To gimp something means to severely reduce it's functionality. The photoshopped part is a joke; it doesn't mean anything.
      - schlumpf 7y ago
        Using gimp as a verb can also be a sly reference to Pulp Fiction: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bring%20out%20the%20gimp https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bring%20out%...
        sli 7y ago
        You've got it backwards. "Gimp" is also a BDSM term, which is what it's used for in Pulp Fiction.
    - toyg 7y ago
      It’s a joke: gimp as derogatory slang [0] should not be used, so you use... Photoshop. [0] https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/gimp https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/gimp

chmaynard 7y ago

Agreed, but at least Apple managers have great hair.

ohithereyou 7y ago

>Apple developers rewrite software in a butterfingered way on a consistent basis, creating software that lacks any design, missing large chunks of functionality and often lacks any kind of polish or coherency. The day they completely gimped Disk Utility is the day I started looking to move off macOS.

LeoNatan25 7y ago
Yes, that's a good example. A software that was messed up, had crazy security bug and is still lacking. Why was a rewrite necessary? How cynical would be to say "the engineer of the day fancied Swift more than going into old code"? Sadly these days, I'm not sure this is so far-fetched.
- bitL 7y ago
  > Why was a rewrite necessary? Most likely because original authors were laid off or moved on; it's cheaper to rewrite software than to fix existing one; both need very different skillset and there are more people that can write their own algo quickly than fix somebody else's.
  - LeoNatan25 7y ago
    I get this point. But coupled with lack of expertise & experience, lack of QA and lack of dependency tree (what feature is used where), the result can be amateurish at best and catastrophic at worst. In the case of DU, it was more the latter. Again, the cynic in me can't accept the "cheaper" argument. Apple has lack of funds to properly hire people who are not afraid to go into complex existing code? I get this argument in a start-up environment, but won't accept it in the case of the largest tech company in the world. This is just bad management.
  - userbinator 7y ago
    cheaper to rewrite software than to fix existing one That's a very shortsighted thought, because the rewrite has also introduced its own set of new bugs.
  - mmcwilliams 7y ago
    Didn't the re-write happen around the time that Apple released and shifted to APFS? Not defending the new app, it is a huge misstep in my book, but it makes sense that there was a major overhaul to the Disk Utility app when they were introducing substantial new features for something as important as the file system.
    - LeoNatan25 7y ago
      I think both apps are a wrapper for diskutil or its underlying implementation. And UI-wise, APFS didn't warrant introduce any substantial UI changes, especially not ones that couldn't be added to the existing software.
DonHopkins 7y ago
Please, many people consider that term offensive. The politically correct wording is now "The day they completely photoshopped Disk Utility is the day I started looking to move off macOS."
- irascible 7y ago
  plug: Photopea.com! Throw your gimps and photoshops in the garbage!
- devy 7y ago
  Pardon my ignorance, what does "photoshopped Disk Utility" mean? I get the reference between GIMP vs. Photoshop, but what does it mean by "gimped/photoshopped" an application?
  - DDR0 7y ago
    To gimp something means to severely reduce it's functionality. The photoshopped part is a joke; it doesn't mean anything.
    - schlumpf 7y ago
      Using gimp as a verb can also be a sly reference to Pulp Fiction: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bring%20out%20the%20gimp https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bring%20out%...
      - sli 7y ago
        You've got it backwards. "Gimp" is also a BDSM term, which is what it's used for in Pulp Fiction.
  - toyg 7y ago
    It’s a joke: gimp as derogatory slang [0] should not be used, so you use... Photoshop. [0] https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/gimp https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/gimp