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For a while in the 2000s, it seemed like Apple really had something special going. FCP, DVD Studio Pro, Motion, Aperture, Shake, Logic, XSan, XServe. Even thei

For a while in the 2000s, it seemed like Apple really had something special going. FCP, DVD Studio Pro, Motion, Aperture, Shake, Logic, XSan, XServe. Even their iLife and iWork suites used to compete with mainstream productivity apps. Now they've been really dumbed down. What in the world happened? (At least we have DaVinci Resolve now... but it just doesn't have the finesse that Apple pro apps once had.)

worthless-trash 3y ago
Apple moved focus to mobile. Found mad cash money there to be made and neglected their existing ecosystem.
- Foivos 3y ago
  If it was neglected they would not touch it. The current versions have less functionality for no obvious reason.
  - skygazer 3y ago
    macOS gets iPhone hand-me-downs. Apple’s cross platform endeavors start on the phone, now. Catalyst replacement apps were initially abysmal, and are glacially improving, but have not approached their former Mac greatness, and probably won’t. I’d hoped the Apple Silicon reinvigoration of the Mac would help, but it hasn’t yet. iOS reigns supreme.
  - mikae1 3y ago
    Well, they constantly take tiny steps towards making it an iOS for the desktop. That's down to the name. Mac OS X became macOS (based on iOS). Their argument for denying users the ability to sideload software on iOS is that said software may include critical security vulnerabilities or even malware. So, why are they leaving their macOS users exposed to vulnerabilities? Why wouldn't they attempt to go in the same direction with macOS? Their absolute main reason is of course that they take a cut on all software sold via the App Store. Thankfully the EU is doing something[1]. [1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-13/will-apple-allow-users-to-install-third-party-app-stores-sideload-in-europe https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-13/will-appl...
heavyset_go 3y ago
They want your subscription money.
artdigital 3y ago
Logic, FCPX and Motion are still extremely good and pro-grade. Numbers is all right.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
deleted 3y ago
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basisword 3y ago
iLife was the reason I bought a Mac. I dreamed of getting one for years as a kid specifically for that software suite. The web creator product in iLife was really fun, letting you publish your own good looking websites with zero know-how.
seec 3y ago
Greed happened. Apple is run by someone who thinks that if something doesn't make a billion dollar it is not worth doing. At the moment where Apple had the most money to finance many things that don't make that much money or new experimental stuff they just stopped spending any money. All in the name of the shareholders. And peoples mostly talk about the annoying front-end stuff that has been removed or neglected but if you look at all the small things that you could find on a Mac it's really sad. This is exactly why I now say that Apple is not worth it nowadays. The hardware is nice sure, but there is plenty of nice hardware provided you are willing to pay the price. The software is becoming terrible quicker than ever and it already is a poor copy of what it was before (the way they "remade" the iWork suite is almost criminal).
- TimTheTinker 3y ago
  > Greed happened. I don't see any evidence that Apple's product managers are directly influenced by quarterly returns and AAPL share price fluctuations. If we were talking about Apple's financial behavior (such as their stock buyback program, or the killing of an entire product line), then perhaps. But I strongly doubt Apple's product managers were motivated by what you call "greed" when they made the choices that led to today's iWork suite. Perhaps it was something more like building the product that most of their customers wanted. Maybe market research told them they'd have better success letting Microsoft build the productivity suite for people at work, and instead build a product that people would use at home (even/especially people who don't use Office or any productivity suite at work). These are both credible possibilities that don't involve "greed". I'm very curious to know what really happened.

worthless-trash 3y ago

Apple moved focus to mobile. Found mad cash money there to be made and neglected their existing ecosystem.

Foivos 3y ago
If it was neglected they would not touch it. The current versions have less functionality for no obvious reason.
- skygazer 3y ago
  macOS gets iPhone hand-me-downs. Apple’s cross platform endeavors start on the phone, now. Catalyst replacement apps were initially abysmal, and are glacially improving, but have not approached their former Mac greatness, and probably won’t. I’d hoped the Apple Silicon reinvigoration of the Mac would help, but it hasn’t yet. iOS reigns supreme.
- mikae1 3y ago
  Well, they constantly take tiny steps towards making it an iOS for the desktop. That's down to the name. Mac OS X became macOS (based on iOS). Their argument for denying users the ability to sideload software on iOS is that said software may include critical security vulnerabilities or even malware. So, why are they leaving their macOS users exposed to vulnerabilities? Why wouldn't they attempt to go in the same direction with macOS? Their absolute main reason is of course that they take a cut on all software sold via the App Store. Thankfully the EU is doing something[1]. [1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-13/will-apple-allow-users-to-install-third-party-app-stores-sideload-in-europe https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-13/will-appl...

heavyset_go 3y ago

They want your subscription money.

artdigital 3y ago

Logic, FCPX and Motion are still extremely good and pro-grade. Numbers is all right.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

basisword 3y ago

iLife was the reason I bought a Mac. I dreamed of getting one for years as a kid specifically for that software suite. The web creator product in iLife was really fun, letting you publish your own good looking websites with zero know-how.

seec 3y ago

Greed happened. Apple is run by someone who thinks that if something doesn't make a billion dollar it is not worth doing. At the moment where Apple had the most money to finance many things that don't make that much money or new experimental stuff they just stopped spending any money. All in the name of the shareholders. And peoples mostly talk about the annoying front-end stuff that has been removed or neglected but if you look at all the small things that you could find on a Mac it's really sad. This is exactly why I now say that Apple is not worth it nowadays. The hardware is nice sure, but there is plenty of nice hardware provided you are willing to pay the price. The software is becoming terrible quicker than ever and it already is a poor copy of what it was before (the way they "remade" the iWork suite is almost criminal).

TimTheTinker 3y ago
> Greed happened. I don't see any evidence that Apple's product managers are directly influenced by quarterly returns and AAPL share price fluctuations. If we were talking about Apple's financial behavior (such as their stock buyback program, or the killing of an entire product line), then perhaps. But I strongly doubt Apple's product managers were motivated by what you call "greed" when they made the choices that led to today's iWork suite. Perhaps it was something more like building the product that most of their customers wanted. Maybe market research told them they'd have better success letting Microsoft build the productivity suite for people at work, and instead build a product that people would use at home (even/especially people who don't use Office or any productivity suite at work). These are both credible possibilities that don't involve "greed". I'm very curious to know what really happened.