←back to thread

405 points Bogdanp | 2 comments | | HN request time: 0.399s | source
Show context
steve_adams_86 ◴[] No.45021167[source]
> The problem isn’t that one little bird has died. The problem is that the bird might be dead because the whole mine is filling with deadly carbon monoxide or highly flammable methane gas

This is where I'm at with Apple at the moment.

I know this sounds crazy or stupid, and people on reddit made sure to tell me as much, but the recent iOS, macOS, and watchOS betas have actually caused me to abandon the Apple ecosystem. As far as I'm concerned, there isn't one bird dead, but a whole bunch of birds. I suppose I'm a little more sensitive than Gruber. I find the design language (or lack thereof?) in Apple's recent work to be largely void of life, inspiration, purpose, craft, or anything else I'd come to expect over the last 25 years of using their platform. The quality in terms of performance, efficiency, bugs, intuitive user interfaces, and so on has been dropping for years now. The last OS revision is exemplary of this decline in a deeply concerning way.

I've been so disheartened by things like this, and I'm confident it represents the end of an era so to speak, that I've already come to terms with it and started moving off of Apple's ecosystem.

For me, the move is a matter of pursuing systems which allow me a bit more freedom. Apple has restricted me in ways that I permitted for decades now, but I permitted it because the compromise was worth it. I don't see it being worth it in 5 or 10 years, so I'm starting the transition now. I sold my watch, gave away my iPhone, and started shopping for a ThinkPad.

It's hard to give up macOS and Apple hardware (the value prop has become kind of insane, really), but seeing their recent OS work takes the sting away. I'd love to see them recognize their mistakes and correct course, but... I don't think I'm their target customer anymore, frankly. The people who think I'm an idiot on reddit are their target market, I suppose. That's fine. I'll learn to love Linux and Windows for different reasons and regain some privacy and control over my machines.

My family will certainly stay on Apple's ecosystem.

replies(4): >>45021247 #>>45021438 #>>45021701 #>>45025437 #
1. givinguflac ◴[] No.45025437[source]
I agree re: Apple, but Windows giving you more privacy? Come on now. And I have used Linux for years, most recently pop, and there is certainly no ‘past-apple’ level design there either, but best of luck finding what works for you! I despise my thinkpad, personally.
replies(1): >>45026188 #
2. steve_adams_86 ◴[] No.45026188[source]
I didn't mean to imply that Windows offers more privacy at all. I think it's mostly a disaster of an operating system, but it does have a lot of useful software that I'd like to have access to. For example, programming the PLCs I use for automation absolutely requires Windows.

As far as privacy goes, I'd depend on Linux. As for nice user interfaces, cohesion, consistency, any kind of unification: I just have to leave it behind.

But I think I can eventually develop and find something 'good enough' that isn't dependent on Apple to maintain and improve. No mandatory regressions.