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I like this concept of a "bozo bit" and have to agree, the arbitrary difficulty of making Apple software do things slightly outside the happy path can border on
by jchw 4y ago
I like this concept of a "bozo bit" and have to agree, the arbitrary difficulty of making Apple software do things slightly outside the happy path can border on insanity, like that "Malcom in the Middle" Fixing the Lightbulb clip/GIF that goes around from time to time.
I would like to extend this concept. I do not, in fact, have the bozo bit set for my Linux desktop setup. I do, however, have the "fields of broken glass" bit set. On Linux, the entire system is made up of disparate packages maintained by unrelated groups that communicate sparsely, whose work is tied together by another party that actually takes the job of fielding this to the end user. And thus you get funny problems like "Oops, package A was generating a config file for package B and the syntax subtlety changed in a backwards incompatible way and now printing is broken but only on Thursday." (Example scenario, but it's based on a real one. https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/cupsys/+bug/255161/comments/28 https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/cupsys/+bug/255161...)
I think that to be fair to everyone, all modern computing environments are extremely complicated and you are always going to have a lot of trade-offs. Still, if I had one complaint about Apple, it would be this: it genuinely feels needless sometimes. Sometimes I feel like Apple is it's own worst enemy, more of a threat to their business than any competitor.
- DonHopkins 4y ago8 Bozo Bits = 1 Bozo Byte. 2^38 Bozo Bits = 2^30 Bozo Bytes = 1 Bozo Gig. I think we're all Bozos on this bus! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmWFrMq3qNY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmWFrMq3qNY
- zokier 4y agoI think contrasting with Linux is indeed interesting. Apple deserves also more flak for this because they so long were running with lines like "it just works" (old favorite of Jobs), and using "quality" as marketing point; throwing stones in glass houses I say. At least on Linux it feels more acknowledged that stuff is complicated and occasionally break, instead of living in some weird kafkaesque experience where you are not sure if you are just imagining things or is everything broken.
- apozem 4y agoMy brother was just complaining to me about Apple Notes. He finds it maddening when he takes a note on his iPad, switches to his phone, opens Notes and it's not there. No loading spinner, no indication that something went wrong, no message that it will be there, nothing. When things go wrong, it is exactly as you say- weird and infuriating.
- ASalazarMX 4y agoExcuse, we call those "Minimalist errors".
- Nevermark 4y agoIn the past Apple seemed to organize software design around minimizing the cognitive load that poor interfaces and poorly chosen features sets created for users. But now, the ease-of-use "bicycle for the mind" vision has faded. Today Apple seems to view computing devices through the lenses of "service kiosks", "media sales points", and "social portals". Some specific complaints, where they used to do better: 1. Overly "Flat" interfaces, that translate to "poor visual affordances", instead of "uncluttered, clear, simple, obvious". 2. Seemingly arbitrary variations in interfaces between device-types, where the differences don't seem to result from useful adaptations to each device-type. 3. Consistent interfaces across device-types, when the result is overly simple and clumsy interfaces. 4. Features of inconsistent presence across devices. ("Open in Safari" in News, available on Mac but not iOS, because ... ?) 5. Lots of small but odd interface glitches, that suggest interfaces hacked onto an unreliable data-communication model. (Apple Music, Apple TV, ...) 6. Weak, unattractive template-style interfaces. (I.e. Home app)
- yencabulator 4y agoThe cherry on top is that you get to blame Apple also for CUPS ;-) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CUPS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CUPS