8 ms·

I have been hearing this for almost 2 decades now, as long as I’ve been following the ‘community’. Meanwhile, in my real life, my parents, wife, kids, and frie

I have been hearing this for almost 2 decades now, as long as I’ve been following the ‘community’. Meanwhile, in my real life, my parents, wife, kids, and friends, are all happier than they ever ever been with their latest MacBooks and macOS. Things like iCloud photo syncing, universal control, and airdrop feel boring to us, but they make the computing experience feel pretty much like living in the future for them.

hnburnsy 4y ago
Nothing against you and your family, but I am disappointed when for example, the Netflix app shows 2 rows of 6 titles when probably 100 could fit on the 3024-by-1964 native resolution display. Heck even the top 10 list scrolls to the right and only shows 1 through 4.
- bqmjjx0kac 4y ago
  Annoyingly, nearly every video streaming service uses this horizontal-scrolling skeuomorphism, presumably modeled on video tape rental shelves. Give me vertical scrolling, or give me death!
  - Nathanba 4y ago
    My opinion on this is that it's purposefully slower to browse through titles so you can't ever create a full mental map of all available titles. That way it feels like you could still find something new if you just tried harder.
    - threeseed 4y ago
      They also put the same content in different categories with sometimes different thumbnails. If you had everything on one screen it would be much easier to pick this (and their many other tricks) out.
      - isametry 4y ago
        > They also put the same content in different categories with sometimes different thumbnails. And I thought I was going crazy! And seems like it does work, at least on me. From the frontpage, the Netflix catalog always feels like twice its actual size — and it only occurred to me now how they do it.
  - jbay808 4y ago
    It would at least be nice if I could scroll all the rows together, instead of one row at a time. In the video rental store, I could do that. But I'd also be happy with just a file directory.
- zaptrem 4y ago
  Conversely, I like that it forces me to actually consider more titles I otherwise would have scanned over without giving a second thought.
- kcplate 4y ago
  Seems your complaint is more about Netflix’s UX design choices…
- happyopossum 4y ago
  What the heck does Netflix’s crappy UI have to do with my comment here?
hammyhavoc 4y ago
Your parents, kids et cetera aren't power users though. Macs used to be for professionals, but Apple started seriously chasing the consumer demographic with the original iMac.
- jononomo 4y ago
  Macs are far better for power users now than they were 10 years ago. They're also faster!
  - hammyhavoc 4y ago
    "Better" is highly dubious. Less user-serviceable, forced to endure lead times at Apple Stores to procure parts. Death of macOS Server. Shall I continue?
    - jononomo 4y ago
      Yes, please continue.
- altairprime 4y ago
  You incorrectly assume that all power users wish to modify their operating system and hardware, and in doing so exclude professionals who prefer to use the tool as it was sold to them. There are many reasons why professionals with the capability to modify software and hardware behaviors might choose not to; conflating “power users” and “professionals” disregards that distinction, and by doing so ignores why Macs are successful among those professionals who are not, as you label it, “power users”.
  - hammyhavoc 4y ago
    I said nothing about modifying anything, if anybody is assuming things, it is you. Case in point: my 70 year old aunt and 8 year old neighbour can change the RAM and storage on their computers, that doesn't make them power users. An Academy-winning Hollywood director I know bought his Windows-based computer pre-made, doesn't modify anything on it, just uses Da Vinci Resolve, but requires the absolute pinnacle of performance. He's a power user.
MrScruff 4y ago
Totally agree! I've been using Macs since the 80s, every version of Windows since 3.1. I use the Linux desktop all day at work. I've been reading these 'Apple has lost its mojo' opinion pieces for decades but I'm really not seeing it. Sure there are specific issues but compared to the competition it's still night and day.

hnburnsy 4y ago

Nothing against you and your family, but I am disappointed when for example, the Netflix app shows 2 rows of 6 titles when probably 100 could fit on the 3024-by-1964 native resolution display. Heck even the top 10 list scrolls to the right and only shows 1 through 4.

bqmjjx0kac 4y ago
Annoyingly, nearly every video streaming service uses this horizontal-scrolling skeuomorphism, presumably modeled on video tape rental shelves. Give me vertical scrolling, or give me death!
- Nathanba 4y ago
  My opinion on this is that it's purposefully slower to browse through titles so you can't ever create a full mental map of all available titles. That way it feels like you could still find something new if you just tried harder.
  - threeseed 4y ago
    They also put the same content in different categories with sometimes different thumbnails. If you had everything on one screen it would be much easier to pick this (and their many other tricks) out.
    - isametry 4y ago
      > They also put the same content in different categories with sometimes different thumbnails. And I thought I was going crazy! And seems like it does work, at least on me. From the frontpage, the Netflix catalog always feels like twice its actual size — and it only occurred to me now how they do it.
- jbay808 4y ago
  It would at least be nice if I could scroll all the rows together, instead of one row at a time. In the video rental store, I could do that. But I'd also be happy with just a file directory.
zaptrem 4y ago
Conversely, I like that it forces me to actually consider more titles I otherwise would have scanned over without giving a second thought.
kcplate 4y ago
Seems your complaint is more about Netflix’s UX design choices…
happyopossum 4y ago
What the heck does Netflix’s crappy UI have to do with my comment here?

hammyhavoc 4y ago

Your parents, kids et cetera aren't power users though. Macs used to be for professionals, but Apple started seriously chasing the consumer demographic with the original iMac.

jononomo 4y ago
Macs are far better for power users now than they were 10 years ago. They're also faster!
- hammyhavoc 4y ago
  "Better" is highly dubious. Less user-serviceable, forced to endure lead times at Apple Stores to procure parts. Death of macOS Server. Shall I continue?
  - jononomo 4y ago
    Yes, please continue.
altairprime 4y ago
You incorrectly assume that all power users wish to modify their operating system and hardware, and in doing so exclude professionals who prefer to use the tool as it was sold to them. There are many reasons why professionals with the capability to modify software and hardware behaviors might choose not to; conflating “power users” and “professionals” disregards that distinction, and by doing so ignores why Macs are successful among those professionals who are not, as you label it, “power users”.
- hammyhavoc 4y ago
  I said nothing about modifying anything, if anybody is assuming things, it is you. Case in point: my 70 year old aunt and 8 year old neighbour can change the RAM and storage on their computers, that doesn't make them power users. An Academy-winning Hollywood director I know bought his Windows-based computer pre-made, doesn't modify anything on it, just uses Da Vinci Resolve, but requires the absolute pinnacle of performance. He's a power user.

MrScruff 4y ago

Totally agree! I've been using Macs since the 80s, every version of Windows since 3.1. I use the Linux desktop all day at work. I've been reading these 'Apple has lost its mojo' opinion pieces for decades but I'm really not seeing it. Sure there are specific issues but compared to the competition it's still night and day.