5 ms·

Received the calendar app this morning, it is a major step-backwards. What was once a killer app, a core productivity tool, has given way to an almost unusable

by buro9 12y ago

Received the calendar app this morning, it is a major step-backwards. What was once a killer app, a core productivity tool, has given way to an almost unusable interface. It is now really hard to perform some tasks. For example, I am a heavy calendar user and I have something in the calendar almost every day. It is now extremely difficult to answer the question: When is a three hour window free in the next month or two? That used to be a single glance at the month view which communicated to me full day events, part-of-day events, and for the latter which part of the day and how long the event took. A single glance at month view could answer it and I could move forward backwards to glance at the next/prev month. Old: https://www.dropbox.com/s/kiic7fdrmu65172/2014-11-13%2006.56.24.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/kiic7fdrmu65172/2014-11-13%2006.56... (October 2014 in the old v4.4 Calendar app) To achieve it now, I'd need to use the 5 day view, and for each 5 day segment to scroll up and down as even on my Moto X (2014) I cannot view more than half of the working day. New: https://www.dropbox.com/s/pgqbhnc1ifp02a9/2014-11-13%2006.56.51.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/pgqbhnc1ifp02a9/2014-11-13%2006.56... (October 2014 in the new v5 Calendar app) Gone is the ability to use Calendar on the phone as the core way to organise your life, it is essentially now unusable on the phone for anything other than a near-term agenda/itinerary. All of the new Gmail/Inbox to Calendar features? Dead to me, all of my accounts are Google Hosted accounts and none of the Google Now, Gmail, or Inbox integrations with Calendar work on Google Hosted accounts.

rurounijones 12y ago
Wow, that is a pretty drastic change, did they not consider this use-case or something?!
- hayksaakian 12y ago
  Drowned under the trumpet of flat design
  - wodenokoto 12y ago
    The screenshot of the old calendar looks pretty flat to me.
mirsadm 12y ago
Have you tried Today Calendar? There are plenty of alternatives. I do agree that the new calendar is pretty crappy on a phone.
- buro9 12y ago
  Thanks, I have just purchased it. I'll purchase it for most of my organisation members too if it works out well.
  - y4mi 12y ago
    you should also check out aCalendar. imo aCalendar is better for phones <5" and sunday calendar for tablets >7".
    - buro9 12y ago
      This one is working out even better.
sleepyhead 12y ago
"Received the calendar app this morning, it is a major step-backwards for me." FTFY.
- yhlasx 12y ago
  I think this is what people overlook most of the time. I did not use the calendar app because it was overloaded with things that were completely unnecessary for ME. Now, it is much simpler, might start using it. Majority of their users probably are better off with the new calendar app, so they readjusted it for a better fit. If it turns out this is not the case, they will change it further, maybe bring some old functionalities back. They focus on what will please majority of their users, as any other company would and should, not their power users.
  - userbinator 12y ago
    I did not use the calendar app because it was overloaded with things that were completely unnecessary for ME. Now, it is much simpler, might start using it. What's wrong with just ignoring the features you don't need (yet)? All software has a learning curve. The more you use it, the more features you should discover and find useful. Trying to flatten the learning curve by removing features (or making it much harder to discover them) just keeps more users from ever advancing beyond the "novice" stage, because there isn't all that much more to discover. Power users became power users because they explored and discovered more functionality, and this is because they were motivated to explore in the first place; extremely simplified UIs reduce much of this motivation, which results in less power users - and eventually developers. Maybe "we don't want power users and want them to disappear" is their goal (I hope not but wouldn't be surprised if it implicitly is), but this constant trend of lowest-common-denominator dumbing-down apps is, in the long term, not beneficial to anyone. Software should have defaults that make it easy to use initially for the beginner, but it should also encourage growth of the user's knowledge. Instead we get software that's easy to use initially - and then effectively stunts their growth, and all the aesthetics they throw at it cannot compensate for functionality. I think it's really quite sad; although if you believe in the theory that Google is aiming to take away user's control over their devices and replace it with Google's, then it makes a lot of sense to keep users as blissfully ignorant as possible. ("You can't easily check your schedule anymore... but look, we gave you beautiful rounded buttons!") From the parent: is essentially now unusable on the phone for anything other than a near-term agenda/itinerary. Looking at the way it doesn't even show the year anymore, "near-term" is right!
cturner 12y ago
> Received the calendar app this morning, it is a major step-backwards It's crushing when this happens. There's this thing that's part of your life, and then forces beyond your control sweep in and destroy it. I think this is the root of the reason that gadgets and new things have lost interest for me. In the past whenever I've invested in them I've been setting myself up for unhappiness down the line when it's dropped. Unix console tools are pretty messy but free of this. Tweak them once, you have them for life. We don't yet have a web or phone equivalent of that tradition.
- kaoD 12y ago
  Once again, Stallman was right. What you describe is not Unix console tools vs. mobile/web apps, but free vs. privative software. The infamous walled gardens.
  - zecg 12y ago
    Well, it happens with free software as well. See the Gnome 3 uproar. Yes, you can keep using the old version until bit rot takes it. And yes, you can fork it -- good luck with that.
    - e1ven 12y ago
      Please forgive me, but I'm about to focus on your example, rather than addressing your larger point. I know that that's generally poor form, and admittedly a bit impolite, and I apologize.. I was just struck by your example - The Gnome 3 changes seem like a very good argument AGAINST your position! Many people did not like the UI changes which were brought in Gnome 3, as you mention. After it was released, a group of users who were not fond of the change release MATE which is still very much in development, and (reasonably) widely used. It's included with many major distributions, and very straightforward. Another group (Cinnamon) originally forked the Gnome2 shell, and then later forked the Gnome3 shell and window manager, in order to restore a more Gnome2 like UI. In general, I agree that maintaining your own fork is a lot work, and likely not worth it in many cases.. But if it's something that you care about enough to throw hours at it, the option remains open.. And that option is taken more often than you might suspect!

by buro9 12y ago

rurounijones 12y ago

Wow, that is a pretty drastic change, did they not consider this use-case or something?!

hayksaakian 12y ago
Drowned under the trumpet of flat design
- wodenokoto 12y ago
  The screenshot of the old calendar looks pretty flat to me.

mirsadm 12y ago

Have you tried Today Calendar? There are plenty of alternatives. I do agree that the new calendar is pretty crappy on a phone.

buro9 12y ago
Thanks, I have just purchased it. I'll purchase it for most of my organisation members too if it works out well.
- y4mi 12y ago
  you should also check out aCalendar. imo aCalendar is better for phones <5" and sunday calendar for tablets >7".
  - buro9 12y ago
    This one is working out even better.

sleepyhead 12y ago

"Received the calendar app this morning, it is a major step-backwards for me." FTFY.

yhlasx 12y ago
I think this is what people overlook most of the time. I did not use the calendar app because it was overloaded with things that were completely unnecessary for ME. Now, it is much simpler, might start using it. Majority of their users probably are better off with the new calendar app, so they readjusted it for a better fit. If it turns out this is not the case, they will change it further, maybe bring some old functionalities back. They focus on what will please majority of their users, as any other company would and should, not their power users.
- userbinator 12y ago
  I did not use the calendar app because it was overloaded with things that were completely unnecessary for ME. Now, it is much simpler, might start using it. What's wrong with just ignoring the features you don't need (yet)? All software has a learning curve. The more you use it, the more features you should discover and find useful. Trying to flatten the learning curve by removing features (or making it much harder to discover them) just keeps more users from ever advancing beyond the "novice" stage, because there isn't all that much more to discover. Power users became power users because they explored and discovered more functionality, and this is because they were motivated to explore in the first place; extremely simplified UIs reduce much of this motivation, which results in less power users - and eventually developers. Maybe "we don't want power users and want them to disappear" is their goal (I hope not but wouldn't be surprised if it implicitly is), but this constant trend of lowest-common-denominator dumbing-down apps is, in the long term, not beneficial to anyone. Software should have defaults that make it easy to use initially for the beginner, but it should also encourage growth of the user's knowledge. Instead we get software that's easy to use initially - and then effectively stunts their growth, and all the aesthetics they throw at it cannot compensate for functionality. I think it's really quite sad; although if you believe in the theory that Google is aiming to take away user's control over their devices and replace it with Google's, then it makes a lot of sense to keep users as blissfully ignorant as possible. ("You can't easily check your schedule anymore... but look, we gave you beautiful rounded buttons!") From the parent: is essentially now unusable on the phone for anything other than a near-term agenda/itinerary. Looking at the way it doesn't even show the year anymore, "near-term" is right!

cturner 12y ago

> Received the calendar app this morning, it is a major step-backwards It's crushing when this happens. There's this thing that's part of your life, and then forces beyond your control sweep in and destroy it. I think this is the root of the reason that gadgets and new things have lost interest for me. In the past whenever I've invested in them I've been setting myself up for unhappiness down the line when it's dropped. Unix console tools are pretty messy but free of this. Tweak them once, you have them for life. We don't yet have a web or phone equivalent of that tradition.

kaoD 12y ago
Once again, Stallman was right. What you describe is not Unix console tools vs. mobile/web apps, but free vs. privative software. The infamous walled gardens.
- zecg 12y ago
  Well, it happens with free software as well. See the Gnome 3 uproar. Yes, you can keep using the old version until bit rot takes it. And yes, you can fork it -- good luck with that.
  - e1ven 12y ago
    Please forgive me, but I'm about to focus on your example, rather than addressing your larger point. I know that that's generally poor form, and admittedly a bit impolite, and I apologize.. I was just struck by your example - The Gnome 3 changes seem like a very good argument AGAINST your position! Many people did not like the UI changes which were brought in Gnome 3, as you mention. After it was released, a group of users who were not fond of the change release MATE which is still very much in development, and (reasonably) widely used. It's included with many major distributions, and very straightforward. Another group (Cinnamon) originally forked the Gnome2 shell, and then later forked the Gnome3 shell and window manager, in order to restore a more Gnome2 like UI. In general, I agree that maintaining your own fork is a lot work, and likely not worth it in many cases.. But if it's something that you care about enough to throw hours at it, the option remains open.. And that option is taken more often than you might suspect!