4 ms·

This is not an unknown issue at the fruit co. Can anyone speculate on any rational if not good reasons for not solving this problem yet?

by bredren 6mo ago

kccqzy 6mo ago
I don’t work at the fruit co but since you asked for speculations. Mine: the fruit co designers are still designing a nice interface to show the overflow, because they obviously think that the Windows tray overflow looked inelegant and are still searching for the ideal UI. But the designers themselves don’t have a lot of menu bar apps so they don’t think it’s a priority.
- tmd83 6mo ago
  Or perhaps the teams at fruit co found a way to claim that their overflow is an innovative new feature and not copied from some other designs. While they do a ton of good work, they do love to claim everything was first invented by them.
deleted 6mo ago
[deleted]
toraway 6mo ago
Probably the same response I just saw someone reply with in this very thread: "You shouldn't have so many utilities running" It's the go-to Apple user response to anything the OS doesn't support or does poorly: "Why would you want to do that?"
- biztos 6mo ago
  That’s the company response but I’m definitely not the only long-term Apple user whose go-to response is a sympathetic nod followed by a long rant about Tim Cook and his contempt for software engineering.
- edelhans 6mo ago
  Considering that I need a good dozen utility apps to override absolutely bonkers macOS design descicions there is no way around that.
- emj 6mo ago
  Windows has always baffled me with the system tray icons it is too cluttered. I grew up with a tricked out Linux desktop so I understand the need to customize. But most of the time you do not need that. I believe a VPN should stay hidden if it works, no need to have it visible.
  - paranoidrobot 6mo ago
    > I believe a VPN should stay hidden if it works, no need to have it visible. Which is fine if you only have one VPN client or one VPN network and you don't need to turn it on/off or change it regularly. My current day job has one VPN client but five different networks. At a previous job I had two different clients I would need to switch on and off. It is very on-brand with Apple though that there is one right way to do things, and everyone else either needs to change the way they do things or go elsewhere.
    - VerifiedReports 6mo ago
      I disagree with this one. If a VPN is important, I want to see that it is still connected and hasn't crashed.
- oneeyedpigeon 6mo ago
  TBF, there isn't a computer on earth that will solve that problem perfectly. At some point, "you shouldn't have so many utilities running" is perfectly acceptable advice.
  - VerifiedReports 6mo ago
    No, because their icons can simply be collapsed into a disclosure control.
    - oneeyedpigeon 6mo ago
      "You'll run out of memory eventually" was my point.
- VerifiedReports 6mo ago
  That's the standard apologist response to ANY defect you point out in anything, or any question they don't know the answer to but still want to bloviate about. See: Stack Overflow
fainpul 6mo ago
They think you're holding it wrong.
manmal 6mo ago
The upcoming MacBook Pro (late this year) is rumored to have a hole-punch camera: https://www.macrumors.com/2026/02/24/touchscreen-macbook-pro-dynamic-island/ https://www.macrumors.com/2026/02/24/touchscreen-macbook-pro... It‘s reasonable to assume that menu bar items will be rendered differently as well, to accommodate for Dynamic Island (which changes its width as needed).
veidr 6mo ago
Well I mean, recently because they have no idea how to make good UIs, and have not read their own enormously detailed (and excellent) Human Interface Guidelines tomes from 10, 20, and probably 30 years go, and have basically regressed to barbarism. But before that relatively recent fall-off-a-cliff event (whatever it was that caused it, most of us will never know), it was pretty clear that they didn't want to implicitly endorse the lazy/anti-user/Windows-equivalent-UX antipattern of having apps that intentionally made themselves accessible only from a menu bar icon. I hate the App Store shite that goes wildly too far the other way, but I don't quite understand wwhy they couldn't figure out a way to enable the menu bar widget API in a way that failed if your app didn't also have a way to open via all the normal ways (double-clicking the icon in /Applications, asking Siri to launch it, etc)
- kevincox 6mo ago
  > and have not read their own enormously detailed (and excellent) Human Interface Guidelines tomes This seems to also apply to all new UIs produced by apple in the last 5 years.
- xnyan 6mo ago
  > they didn't want to implicitly endorse the lazy/anti-user/Windows-equivalent-UX antipattern of having apps that intentionally made themselves accessible only from a menu bar icon. The single biggest complaint I had when I switched it to Mac was lack of this feature. Still miss it. .

This is not an unknown issue at the fruit co. Can anyone speculate on any rational if not good reasons for not solving this problem yet?

by bredren 6mo ago

This is not an unknown issue at the fruit co. Can anyone speculate on any rational if not good reasons for not solving this problem yet?

kccqzy 6mo ago

I don’t work at the fruit co but since you asked for speculations. Mine: the fruit co designers are still designing a nice interface to show the overflow, because they obviously think that the Windows tray overflow looked inelegant and are still searching for the ideal UI. But the designers themselves don’t have a lot of menu bar apps so they don’t think it’s a priority.

tmd83 6mo ago
Or perhaps the teams at fruit co found a way to claim that their overflow is an innovative new feature and not copied from some other designs. While they do a ton of good work, they do love to claim everything was first invented by them.

deleted 6mo ago

[deleted]

toraway 6mo ago

Probably the same response I just saw someone reply with in this very thread: "You shouldn't have so many utilities running" It's the go-to Apple user response to anything the OS doesn't support or does poorly: "Why would you want to do that?"

biztos 6mo ago
That’s the company response but I’m definitely not the only long-term Apple user whose go-to response is a sympathetic nod followed by a long rant about Tim Cook and his contempt for software engineering.
edelhans 6mo ago
Considering that I need a good dozen utility apps to override absolutely bonkers macOS design descicions there is no way around that.
emj 6mo ago
Windows has always baffled me with the system tray icons it is too cluttered. I grew up with a tricked out Linux desktop so I understand the need to customize. But most of the time you do not need that. I believe a VPN should stay hidden if it works, no need to have it visible.
- paranoidrobot 6mo ago
  > I believe a VPN should stay hidden if it works, no need to have it visible. Which is fine if you only have one VPN client or one VPN network and you don't need to turn it on/off or change it regularly. My current day job has one VPN client but five different networks. At a previous job I had two different clients I would need to switch on and off. It is very on-brand with Apple though that there is one right way to do things, and everyone else either needs to change the way they do things or go elsewhere.
  - VerifiedReports 6mo ago
    I disagree with this one. If a VPN is important, I want to see that it is still connected and hasn't crashed.
oneeyedpigeon 6mo ago
TBF, there isn't a computer on earth that will solve that problem perfectly. At some point, "you shouldn't have so many utilities running" is perfectly acceptable advice.
- VerifiedReports 6mo ago
  No, because their icons can simply be collapsed into a disclosure control.
  - oneeyedpigeon 6mo ago
    "You'll run out of memory eventually" was my point.
VerifiedReports 6mo ago
That's the standard apologist response to ANY defect you point out in anything, or any question they don't know the answer to but still want to bloviate about. See: Stack Overflow

fainpul 6mo ago

They think you're holding it wrong.

manmal 6mo ago

The upcoming MacBook Pro (late this year) is rumored to have a hole-punch camera: https://www.macrumors.com/2026/02/24/touchscreen-macbook-pro-dynamic-island/ https://www.macrumors.com/2026/02/24/touchscreen-macbook-pro... It‘s reasonable to assume that menu bar items will be rendered differently as well, to accommodate for Dynamic Island (which changes its width as needed).

veidr 6mo ago

Well I mean, recently because they have no idea how to make good UIs, and have not read their own enormously detailed (and excellent) Human Interface Guidelines tomes from 10, 20, and probably 30 years go, and have basically regressed to barbarism. But before that relatively recent fall-off-a-cliff event (whatever it was that caused it, most of us will never know), it was pretty clear that they didn't want to implicitly endorse the lazy/anti-user/Windows-equivalent-UX antipattern of having apps that intentionally made themselves accessible only from a menu bar icon. I hate the App Store shite that goes wildly too far the other way, but I don't quite understand wwhy they couldn't figure out a way to enable the menu bar widget API in a way that failed if your app didn't also have a way to open via all the normal ways (double-clicking the icon in /Applications, asking Siri to launch it, etc)

kevincox 6mo ago
> and have not read their own enormously detailed (and excellent) Human Interface Guidelines tomes This seems to also apply to all new UIs produced by apple in the last 5 years.
xnyan 6mo ago
> they didn't want to implicitly endorse the lazy/anti-user/Windows-equivalent-UX antipattern of having apps that intentionally made themselves accessible only from a menu bar icon. The single biggest complaint I had when I switched it to Mac was lack of this feature. Still miss it. .