Everything you stated here is totally on the mark, RexRox. It’s good to hear from someone who’s had similar experiences and is willing to question the status quo. I spent many years at home and at work using Windows extensively, finally switching to the Mac world in 2010 for the usual reasons as well as my recognizing the quality of the newer Macs owned by family members and others. I put in a lot of startup time becoming familiar with the system and learning programs and apps that were new to me. After the initial learning curve though, issues like we’ve been discussing began occupying an ever increasing portion of my computer time. I initially thought it must just be my inexperience with Macs and Apple products but soon after realized it wasn’t simply me:
The following are just a few examples of what I have experienced over the last four years with my household’s iMacs, iPhones, iPads etc.
- It wasn’t just that I couldn’t locate simple common sense commands and menu items in Apple programs that were supposed to work both individually and collectively together. They actually didn’t exist!
- Months worth of backups really could randomly get obliterated or otherwise made useless in Time Machine for no apparent reason. And yes, for no apparent reason, Time Machine suddenly fails to recognize the current backup disc being written to, stops backing up and sends false error messages telling the user the disc is full when it is nowhere near capacity. And yes, there really are only two commands on the Time Machine menu.
- Yes, you really can’t make the already too narrow names column in Contacts any wider
- Yes, you really can’t access the iPhoto library you’ve spent years building because the latest forced version of the program has made it obsolete.
- Yes, the collection of custom cover art you’ve spent years building for your iTunes library really does randomly disappear for various items on a regular basis.
- Yes, programs like Apple mail really don’t offer anything to speak of in terms of options or variety.
- Yes, my less than a year old iPhone 5 suddenly lasts only 5 hours (with minimal use and all possible power saving measures in place including a complete clean reinstall) on a 100% charge before draining dead. I got 3 days out of my 4 S (and that's with actually using it!) Scores of others apparently have the same issue. How is this deemed progress? I can't note a single thing that the 5 improves on. Is anybody at the organization reading these boards and addressing anything on them?
- Yes, I had to trash an entire Airport Extreme router because the "paper clip" reset button had to be pushed so many times, it stopped functioning and is now in a permanently off state. And yes, the brand new out of the box Airport Extreme router I just purchased to replace the aforementioned one that had to be trashed, now after the first futile attempt to set it up properly with the appropriate settings, refuses to be recognized at all by any device using the Airport Utility app despite numerous complete resets.
-And yes, my brand new out of the box iMac 27” from the get go, just randomly completely freezes up without warning, requiring a hard reset to function again.
The key operative you’ve touched on is “agenda". The bulk of whatever agenda is being adhered to is pointless cosmetic changes and putting commands in a different location that makes it either more difficult to execute or locate them or the outright elimination of useful relied upon features that you now, simply don’t have anymore. These changes are seemingly randomly made without purpose and do not follow any logic or rhyme or reason. The whole approach is nonsensical. It is change for the sake of change, nothing else. Maybe serious users are the minority in their customer base and the majority is texting teens and social media users who aren’t utilizing the products’ full potential. All you’ve said regarding attitude rings true. The message comes through loud and clear and is evidenced in what seems to be a blatant disregard for serious existing customers who invest enormous amounts of money, time and effort in both their work and leisure tech related activities and are both committed to and held accountable for quality results. The response you received is exactly what I would have expected. And yes, they stand by the products when there’s an outright physical failure and I can say that I’ve always gotten quality customer service in that regard. My 2009 iMac blew through three hard drives in two years and Apple replaced every one of them without issue. (nice, but a new high quality machine should not have needed its' hard drive replaced three times after a year of use) When it comes though to quality in programming, applications and systems with products working properly and delivering on that inherent promise of high tech perfection, there’s simply no accountability. Apple enjoys a unique niche in the tech world with a vast difference between perception and reality and in terms of business success, reality simply doesn’t matter:
There are armies of dedicated followers who will continually buy the next version of whatever products they use sight unseen, simply assuming that anything newer is better than what came before it and worth the additional expense. Many more converts await and switch over when the competition screws up enough. (and in the strict sense of the word, like choosing a political party in which it’s either one or the other, there really is no competition. It’s either Mac or Windows). Add to the mix built in obsolescence, irresistible concepts like the product suite and phenomenons like the “fear of missing out” and the “next big thing" and you have a formula for success that does not need to include the practice of being held accountable to your existing serious customer base in terms of inherent promise, implied warranty and simply not blindly changing or risking the functionality of existing processes and programs that customers have come to rely on as a result of the initial decision to invest in your product. They essentially have a product that “sells itself”.
Sadly, the feeling of excellence, hope and renewal I initially had has been replaced by one of frustration, hopelessness and ever increasing dread with each new OS X version, app update and hardware purchase. With hardware, the frustration is further compounded by the realization that products appear to be deliberately designed to be inaccessible, thus preventing performing even basic maintenance procedures to fix anything simple or prolong the product’s life via parts replacement (as you have aptly illustrated above). It is absolutely insane that this level of egregious flaws and failures can exist in the execution of the products of a top name organization that prides itself on unmatched innovation, quality and excellence. Is there any QC whatsoever beyond the initial implementation stages of anything having to do with the operation of these products? It’s akin to designing and building the best machine out there made with the highest quality parts and nobody ever bothered to check whether it actually works or not before it goes out the door. Again, a few bugs here and there that are fixable via software updates whenever needed are normal and to be expected. However, the level and depth of issues myself and others experience on a regular basis is simply beyond any kind of acceptable level. Once you take that leap of faith and convert to Apple technology, there’s really no going back. Way too much invested and far too much to lose. Returning to Windows is not an option. There are no equivalent competitive products to keep the game on the up and up. The only viable option is to hold Apple accountable.
