Disenchanted After a Decade

So, I’ve been thinking for a loooong time about my feelings I’ll lay out here, and I finally feel like I need a space to let them out. The MacRumors community has been good to me, and I try to be good back to y’all, so, I’d love to have respectful discourse about the current state of tech.

I’m pretty much fully disenchanted with how Apple’s tech has progressed, where we are from where we’ve come, and I have little hope it’ll improve. I won’t go into too many terrible design choices and software bugs because, as you all know, we have tons of threads dedicated to this stuff, so, I’ll stay broad. The overall theme IMO is that tech quality has plummeted over the last 5+ years, and it’s not looking promising.

- These many devices used to integrate well, but with the increase in devices for specialities (e.g., watch for quick access, iPhone for mobile interactions, iPad for media consumption, Mac for more heavy-duty work) has come spotty integrative connections. Why doesn’t the iPad allow syncing to the Watch, including health and activity apps? Why can’t I control my phone’s parameters from my Mac? Etc. Furthermore, why do these devices have the same hardware, but different abilities? I bought an S6 cellular Watch so I could use just that in my new car to stream music, use Siri for directions and phone calls, etc, but it doesn’t work like that. It only streams music, and Siri works for that kind of request (simple info), but it cannot initiate calls, and the directions audio don’t route through the BLE connection. Why not? As a result, I haven’t worn my Watch in a couple of days because it’s so basic, it’s almost useless (there’s an increasing amount of evidence suggesting that the Watch’s biometric data isn’t really that accurate. If it were, the field of health would recommend them.). Relatedly, why are cellular functions on iPad so limited?

- Many newer devices are using outdated tech, but are sold as premium products. The new iMac is teach compared to the current state of tech, but it’s sold at a price that insults Apple’s customers. Why doesn’t the iPhone have USB-C when all other major products do? Relatedly, the software UI choices used to be progressive, but are now antiquated. Why is it called ‘Settings’ on every OS except macOS? Why can’t we move Home Screen icons to anywhere we want? I find myself doing things twice, like tapping the same button because it mysteriously didn’t register the first tap? 🤷🏼‍♂️ Who knows? And typing on any of these screens, especially the iPad, is F****** atrocious! IF the software actually recognizes the touch input for the correct letter, the auto-correct might get the word right, but often doesn’t, and just compounds the issue by not recognizing basic grammar.

- The OSs are getting so complex that their own sub-systems have trouble speaking with one another, as well as to the cloud. Why are there separate systems for Siri’s voice and voiceover? Have you heard when they bicker with one another?! Why, the heck, did it take soooooo. looooong. for iCloud tabs to be fixed?

- And don’t get me started on Siri as a sub-system. 😵

In essence, the ‘beast’ has gotten so big that it’s now unwieldy. I’ve even dabbled with other systems and ecosystems, but I find it to be the same way: so complex that it’s mismanaged, and unmanageable. Having been part of this tech sphere basically from the beginning, it’s disappointing to see it drop to such a low.

Does anyone else feel this way? I can’t be the only one. Happy to have a respectful chat about everyone’s thoughts here. To end, I’ll offer a different vision:

- What if any one of our devices could be controlled from the other?
- What if all of our devices are so integrated that they us one adaptive OS, providing a uniform basis for inter-communication?
- What if the FIRST priority for any OS update was bug fixes?
- What if new features were polled from the stakeholder community (AKA real-world users) instead of some ethereal Board deciding what they think is best for us?
- What if bugs could be squashed by peer-reviewed patches from the tech community?

I think we can do better, but to do so requires a massive re-thinking of how electronic technology is built, at all levels. Until then, I predict we’re going to continue this downward slide in quality until we’re forced grass-roots. Let’s be honest: Apple is not the company it used to be; it’s a services company that dabbles in tech, which was not Job’s vision (however I understand it). Other companies follow suit, and innovate in their own way sometimes, but with the same underlying principle: profits over quality. It’s ‘just good enough’ engineering to maintain shareholders, not stakeholders. To Apple’s credit, they can innovate (e.g., the M1 chip, Retina display, etc.), but it’s clear their focus is on trickle-in profiting, not the advancement of tech for it’s own sake.

Thanks for reading this far! 🙏🏼