4 ms·

Looking at the old Microsoft menu gave me a pang of nostalgia for what we lost. It was so clear and readable. The icons were clearly colored and so easy to unde

Looking at the old Microsoft menu gave me a pang of nostalgia for what we lost. It was so clear and readable. The icons were clearly colored and so easy to understand. I think the key issue with macOS is that they don't seem to have someone who is looking at the whole ecosystem holistically to make sure that there's consistency and integration across experiences. You probably have development silos for different applications and they don't really integrate with each other. There should really be a role like Integration Emperor that exists outside of the traditional corporate hierarchy who can go to different teams to push for increased consistency.

meindnoch 10mo ago
>I think the key issue with macOS is that they don't seem to have someone who is looking at the whole ecosystem holistically to make sure that there's consistency and integration across experiences. That person died in 2011.
- wahnfrieden 10mo ago
  Rose tinted glasses. Have a look through Jobs era UI again.
  - halapro 10mo ago
    Oh yes Mountain Lion was very very bad. UI was simple, maybe too simple, but it made sense. The only complaint from that era was the thin scroll bars and the flipped scroll direction, both of which are forgotten about and accepted nowadays.
    - egypturnash 10mo ago
      As someone whose primary interaction with her computer is via her drawing tablet stylus I still loathe the thin scroll bars; I've turned them off in prefs but I still regularly encounter apps and websites that force them and they have to be really special to overcome that.
    - saulpw 10mo ago
      Say what you want about the design of Mountain Lion, at least it's an ethos.
  - pornel 10mo ago
    The complaints were that the UI was not customisable, with limited functionality, stubbornly did things the Mac way even if that was confusing to Windows users. The implementation was often slow and sometimes buggy. But it had taste and attention to detail. It followed Apple's own HIG (design guidelines). The UI had some flashy details, but they had a purpose or at least didn't get in the way. I don't feel any of this in the current Apple designs.
whateverboat 10mo ago
They do have a culture of silos and secrecy where employees are not allowed to talk to each other. This is actively enforced to prevent leaks but this also gets you this.

meindnoch 10mo ago

>I think the key issue with macOS is that they don't seem to have someone who is looking at the whole ecosystem holistically to make sure that there's consistency and integration across experiences. That person died in 2011.

wahnfrieden 10mo ago
Rose tinted glasses. Have a look through Jobs era UI again.
- halapro 10mo ago
  Oh yes Mountain Lion was very very bad. UI was simple, maybe too simple, but it made sense. The only complaint from that era was the thin scroll bars and the flipped scroll direction, both of which are forgotten about and accepted nowadays.
  - egypturnash 10mo ago
    As someone whose primary interaction with her computer is via her drawing tablet stylus I still loathe the thin scroll bars; I've turned them off in prefs but I still regularly encounter apps and websites that force them and they have to be really special to overcome that.
  - saulpw 10mo ago
    Say what you want about the design of Mountain Lion, at least it's an ethos.
- pornel 10mo ago
  The complaints were that the UI was not customisable, with limited functionality, stubbornly did things the Mac way even if that was confusing to Windows users. The implementation was often slow and sometimes buggy. But it had taste and attention to detail. It followed Apple's own HIG (design guidelines). The UI had some flashy details, but they had a purpose or at least didn't get in the way. I don't feel any of this in the current Apple designs.

whateverboat 10mo ago

They do have a culture of silos and secrecy where employees are not allowed to talk to each other. This is actively enforced to prevent leaks but this also gets you this.