Apple is seemingly getting further and futher behind.

[Razeus]

Apple getting further and further behind on software/OS it seems.

Right out of the gate, Windows 10 Cortana does more out of the box than Siri, and Siri has been out for a few years now. Google Now keeps improving, while Apple insists on improving Siri once a year with iOS releases. I have to admit, Cortana come out swinging (I have a Dell XPS 13 w/ Windows 10 I use for my side business) and I'm impressed. Google Now gives me info without asking for it. Cortana already does more on day one than Siri has in the last few years. Siri STILL isn't even on desktops yet.

Google Maps vs Apple Maps. Apple Maps still not up to snuff.

Google Photos - machine learning and automagic algorithms vs Apple Photos making me do all the work. I gave up on tagging "faces" with Apple since I do 90, while Apple find the other 10. It's ridiculous. Google Photos already has everyone sorted out, NO tagging by me. It's already has Places ready to go. Brilliant. I guess they can do that with all the free data I give Google. Apple's strategy simply means they have nothing to work with.

Skype vs FaceTime. Multi platform unlike FaceTime. Whether, I'm at my work PC, my iPhone, iPad, my iMac at home, or my Dell XPS, Skype is there. Apple has a bad strategy here.

While I LOVE Apple's hardware, there software is little to be desired. I see why everyone puts Apple's apps on the last page of their devices, and load them up with Google/Microsoft. They simple do more, look nicer, and are updated throughout the year with new features, instead of once a year with an OS update.

I'm looking forward to the 6S+, but with iOS 9 being a bug/stability release (and the downhill trajectory of Apple's software quality the last couple of years), it's nothing to write home about, but at least we'll get some more functionality. Can't wait until Apple's September event.

This may be our last dance.

 

[macenied]

Apple getting further and further behind on software/OS it seems.

Right out of the gate, Windows 10 Cortana does more out of the box than Siri, and Siri has been out for a few years now. Google Now keeps improving, while Apple insists on improving Siri once a year with iOS releases. I have to admit, Cortana come out swinging (I have a Dell XPS 13 w/ Windows 10 I use for my side business) and I'm impressed. Google Now gives me info without asking for it. Cortana already does more on day one than Siri has in the last few years. Siri STILL isn't even on desktops yet.

Google Maps vs Apple Maps. Apple Maps still not up to snuff.

Google Photos - machine learning and automagic algorithms vs Apple Photos making me do all the work. I gave up on tagging "faces" with Apple since I do 90, while Apple find the other 10. It's ridiculous. Google Photos already has everyone sorted out, NO tagging by me. It's already has Places ready to go. Brilliant. I guess they can do that with all the free data I give Google. Apple's strategy simply means they have nothing to work with.

Skype vs FaceTime. Multi platform unlike FaceTime. Whether, I'm at my work PC, my iPhone, iPad, my iMac at home, or my Dell XPS, Skype is there. Apple has a bad strategy here.

While I LOVE Apple's hardware, there software is little to be desired. I see why everyone puts Apple's apps on the last page of their devices, and load them up with Google/Microsoft. They simple do more, look nicer, and are updated throughout the year with new features, instead of once a year with an OS update.

I'm looking forward to the 6S+, but with iOS 9 being a bug/stability release (and the downhill trajectory of Apple's software quality the last couple of years), it's nothing to write home about, but at least we'll get some more functionality. Can't wait until Apple's September event.

This may be our last dance.

A Mac forum may be not the best choice to discuss this . However, I will leave this "Apple ecosystem" ( been there, done that for 6+ years ) and have many personal and technical reasons for this. My current MBP will be my last one and my current iPhone is my last one as well. Let's see what happens with my iPad then . And some other Apple devices I own.

There seem to be a lot of happy Apple users as well. To each it's own.

 

[Razeus]

Probably not the place for sure. I have Apple everything but I'm feeling Apple software is being outclassed by others. Google Photos and Cortana right out the box. - version 1.0 software mind you - are much more capable in the same field Apple has been for years with innovative features.

I'm implying Apple simply isn't investing in software and seems to play catchup constantly. The annual updates doesn't help their cause.

 

[I7guy]

Apple getting further and further behind on software/OS it seems.

Right out of the gate, Windows 10 Cortana does more out of the box than Siri, and Siri has been out for a few years now. Google Now keeps improving, while Apple insists on improving Siri once a year with iOS releases. I have to admit, Cortana come out swinging (I have a Dell XPS 13 w/ Windows 10 I use for my side business) and I'm impressed. Google Now gives me info without asking for it. Cortana already does more on day one than Siri has in the last few years. Siri STILL isn't even on desktops yet.

Google Maps vs Apple Maps. Apple Maps still not up to snuff.

Google Photos - machine learning and automagic algorithms vs Apple Photos making me do all the work. I gave up on tagging "faces" with Apple since I do 90, while Apple find the other 10. It's ridiculous. Google Photos already has everyone sorted out, NO tagging by me. It's already has Places ready to go. Brilliant. I guess they can do that with all the free data I give Google. Apple's strategy simply means they have nothing to work with.

Skype vs FaceTime. Multi platform unlike FaceTime. Whether, I'm at my work PC, my iPhone, iPad, my iMac at home, or my Dell XPS, Skype is there. Apple has a bad strategy here.

While I LOVE Apple's hardware, there software is little to be desired. I see why everyone puts Apple's apps on the last page of their devices, and load them up with Google/Microsoft. They simple do more, look nicer, and are updated throughout the year with new features, instead of once a year with an OS update.

I'm looking forward to the 6S+, but with iOS 9 being a bug/stability release (and the downhill trajectory of Apple's software quality the last couple of years), it's nothing to write home about, but at least we'll get some more functionality. Can't wait until Apple's September event.

This may be our last dance.

FaceTime/iMessage end to end encryption. Skype not so much. Seems like a good strategy to me.

 

[C DM]

To each his/her own, as they say.

 

[KUguardgrl13]

I honestly don't use Siri much. She was a novelty when she first came out, but they removed a lot of her funny responses with iOS 8. As for having her on the Mac, no thanks. I wouldn't get much use out of her anyway since I use Chrome for my desktop browser.

As for Apple Maps, I certainly don't use them. The one time I did, they got me lost. Google Maps always.

Photos is good enough for me though. Seamless integration with my devices. I also don't bother with faces.

As for FaceTime, I really don't video chat much. I've used both Skype and FaceTime as well as the old iChat. I like FaceTime's ease of use compared to Skype.

It's really to each their own. I only use Apple devices anymore, so I like the integration of the ecosystem. Sure I use programs like Chrome and Office on my Mac and Google Maps on my iPhone. They happen to be better than the stock offering. I do expect that iOS 9 at release will be better than it is currently in beta, although I haven't used it yet. But honestly if they went to more frequent updates, the updates would have more bugs than they do now. And they would have to change how iOS works to individually update stock apps. That's still possible on the Mac with iTunes, but iOS has always bundled stock app updates with iOS updates (though not always the x.0! See Music and iOS 8.4).

If this is going to be your last dance with Apple, I wish you luck. Android has its share of problems, and I'm sure we'll find out soon enough about Windows 10 problems. And every hardware manufacturer has something.

 

[oldmacs]

Windows 10 performs better out of the box than Yosemite 10.10.5 does. At least my last week or so has shown me that. Mail on Yosemite continually freezes without displaying mail and has to be force quit, it disrupts shutdown, safari suddenly stops loading pages + goes to a white screen, maps today stopped searching, find my friends in messages started stuffing up etc. While not everyone is having these issues, I don't understand why they would be occurring on a fresh install of a year old operating system, up to its 5th revision.

Lets hope 10.11 fixes things.

 

[cynics]

FaceTime/iMessage end to end encryption. Skype not so much. Seems like a good strategy to me.

Skype calls and messages are encrypted. The telephone portion isn't obviously but thats a moot point because we are talking about features FaceTime isn't capable of so if you NEED that functionality you'll be using Skype anyway (conference/group calls with call ins etc etc).

But if you were to use Skype like you can use FaceTime both are equally encrypted.

 

[I7guy]

Skype calls and messages are encrypted. The telephone portion isn't obviously but thats a moot point because we are talking about features FaceTime isn't capable of so if you NEED that functionality you'll be using Skype anyway (conference/group calls with call ins etc etc).

But if you were to use Skype like you can use FaceTime both are equally encrypted.

There was an article about the ability to "gain access" to Skype conversations by parties other than the caller and callee. Not so with facetime or imessage. I probably should have written that more clearly.

 

[Razeus]

Skype calls and messages are encrypted. The telephone portion isn't obviously but thats a moot point because we are talking about features FaceTime isn't capable of so if you NEED that functionality you'll be using Skype anyway (conference/group calls with call ins etc etc).

Plus the point I was trying to make, that he missed, is that it is cross platform. Doesn't matter if you have an iPhone, Android, Mac, or Windows. Did a client call yesterday for my side gig and did a 4 way chat - with everyone on different platforms.

What I'm saying that with Apple keeping everything to themselves, it makes it hard to use their services consistently since not everyone has Facetime. It's a strange strategy.

 

[burne]

There was an article about the ability to "gain access" to Skype conversations by parties other than the caller and callee. Not so with facetime or imessage. I probably should have written that more clearly.

I pasted a URL in Skype to a client yesterday. A management interface for a government application so security is quite important. With seconds the URL was scanned by a number of Microsoft machines. A few seconds later a German IP tries next, followed by a Chinese IP and two minutes later a Russian IP. The IP has never been routable before and never before has the entry in DNS existed. I created both a few minutes before.

"Gain access" indeed. Pasting the URL in a busy #h4x0rs on IRC would have gained less attention.

 

[cynics]

Plus the point I was trying to make, that he missed, is that it is cross platform. Doesn't matter if you have an iPhone, Android, Mac, or Windows. Did a client call yesterday for my side gig and did a 4 way chat - with everyone on different platforms.

What I'm saying that with Apple keeping everything to themselves, it makes it hard to use their services consistently since not everyone has Facetime. It's a strange strategy.

I don't think its such a strange strategy, it makes sense from a business perspective because you'll need to buy an Apple device to use it, versus just using a service for what is basically free. Plus it gives them total control of the software with no hardware compatibility issues.

What is strange to me is not utilizing the proprietary nature of that a little better. If you control the software and the hardware you are only really limited by your imagination. So why is Apples software so limited sometimes would be my question.

Regardless, at this point Apples ecosystem still works the best for me. iMessage is my favorite messaging service for various reasons, mostly but not limited to the lack of compression on pics and videos. FaceTime is pretty good too, I use it pretty much every night with my g/f.

 

[maflynn]

FWIW, while OS X (particularly Yosemite) is not perfect, I find myself preferring the apple ecosystem. What surprised me is after a long analysis period I opted for the apple watch. I'm very happy with it, but it definitely locks me into the iOS ecosystem.

Apple's philosophy is being greater then the sum of its parts. Yes, one item may be lacking in comparison to its competitor, i.e., apple maps vs. google maps, yet the entire experience is superior. Apple has improved Apple maps to the point where its a much better product, though it is still inferior to google maps. I expect apple to improve its other services and products as time goes on. They're philosophy is to tighten the integration between iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, and Mac to the point where switch devices, is quite seamless, i.e., working on a document on the iPhone/iPad and moving on to the iMac, or taking a phone call on the iMac instead of looking for your phone that's ringing.

Overall Apple has a superior user experience and while specific items may be subpar, it succeeds because no one else offers all that apple does in such an integrated fashion.

 

[Tech198]

Force Touch and the constant inconsistent of menu items, buttons and any features added (like split view on iOS 9 coming, or green button in os x to go full screen, this is all related around which apps can support this stuff.

Personally, i wouldn't want the full screen stuff to be "optional" if an app is to re-done in an OS, and it has a updated feature to go full screen then it should be *required* in the app, and if install on that OS, will support it, otherwise it can't be in Yosemite...

To me, that may be a pain for developers, but it confusing as hell to the end user.


Now u know why Apple shows of these features only with *their* products at WWDC Makes it all look better than it actually claims to be in the real world. Since not everyone only sticks to using Apple's apps.

I hope they sort this out, and stop looking for the quick fix just not doing anything. user will figure it out,

 

[roadbloc]

I feel Apple's software quality has been on a decline for a while. I stopped using the latest OS X as my main OS when Lion was released. I continuously play around with their latest software, but I find it horribly unreliable and buggy.

 

[burne]

I stopped using the latest OS X as my main OS when Lion was released.

Does that mean you live in October 4th, 2012, or does that mean you live in June 23thd, 2011? (Last updates for Lion and Snow Leopard..)

 

[roadbloc]

Does that mean you live in October 4th, 2012, or does that mean you live in June 23thd, 2011? (Last updates for Lion and Snow Leopard..)

I actually use Tiger as my main OS. For work that is. I have a gaming PC running Windows 10 too.

 

[burne]

I actually use Tiger as my main OS. For work that is.

Security wise you are soundly beaten by even Windows XP and you seem to be proud of that? Why is that?

 

[Even Longer]

FWIW, while OS X (particularly Yosemite) is not perfect, I find myself preferring the apple ecosystem. What surprised me is after a long analysis period I opted for the apple watch. I'm very happy with it, but it definitely locks me into the iOS ecosystem.

Apple's philosophy is being greater then the sum of its parts. Yes, one item may be lacking in comparison to its competitor, i.e., apple maps vs. google maps, yet the entire experience is superior. Apple has improved Apple maps to the point where its a much better product, though it is still inferior to google maps. I expect apple to improve its other services and products as time goes on. They're philosophy is to tighten the integration between iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, and Mac to the point where switch devices, is quite seamless, i.e., working on a document on the iPhone/iPad and moving on to the iMac, or taking a phone call on the iMac instead of looking for your phone that's ringing.

Overall Apple has a superior user experience and while specific items may be subpar, it succeeds because no one else offers all that apple does in such an integrated fashion.

Exactly.

Additionally to that: there are many details and small things, Apple is taking care of, which make you smile sometimes.

 

[roadbloc]

Security wise you are soundly beaten by even Windows XP and you seem to be proud of that? Why is that?

I write books and stuff. I'm not working for military intelligence or anything. I use like three apps.

I'm not proud either, not sure where you got that idea.

 

[firewood]

Point solutions will almost always be ahead of highly integrated products. But a lot of consumers don't want to spend time putting together solutions. They just want a one-stop well integrated product that does it all reasonable nicely, even if it's not cutting edge. That's where the money is, which is why Apple mints more profits than Google.

 

[Tech198]

A one stop shop, then they come on forums and say nothing works yes....

That's what we want

El Captain is not perfect either nor is Windows 10 for that matter, but both share the sane kind of bugs/issues where more of your favorite software may not work as well ,or even at all like Yosemite..

Just look at Office for Mac ? then again every OS usually breaks something anyway. But we all have reasons to stay with Yosemite, just like we all have reasons to stay with anything, because it works, and u use older software u do not want to upgrade since u don't want features by that software, just for the sake of a new OS..

Unlike some users who like Apple music (probably due do only uploaded songs with never get matched is the only reason why users are happy with AM), for me, its been the worse Apple has offered in the way of services... Ive even publicly mentioned he doesn't care who stays and who goes.

Which tells me, if someone from Apple can public announce that in an interview, then they don't hold much hope for the end user.

The rest is just a convenience, not a requirement to use like voice assist. but it does open the door for more issues when we move to AI.

 

[maxsix]

I like OS X a lot.

Having used Windows/OS X/Linux/Unix on a concurrent basis for years, at the end of the day for my personal preferences and usage I like OS X.

Far from perfect as they all are, the general architecture and flow of Apple's desktop OS is the one I prefer and count on.

 

[grahamperrin]

Further and further behind

… on software/OS …

… Apple software is being outclassed…

In many ways: yes.

Imagine a different BSD operating system, with the ability to switch between multiple versions of the OS – without version-specific home directories, without resorting to backups. Such systems exist.

… Doesn't matter if you have an iPhone, Android, Mac, or Windows. … yesterday … everyone on different platforms.

… with Apple keeping everything to themselves, it makes it hard to use their services consistently … It's a strange strategy.

… why is Apples software so limited sometimes …

Excesses of closed source, closed development, and some ill-conceived design decisions made firm too soon – before the results of those decisions can be put in the hands of seed testers.

… no one else offers all that apple does in such an integrated fashion.

That unique selling point won't remain true forever. Within five years, maybe less, I expect alternative forms of integration to become widely acceptable. Then there'll be an Apple with some troubling excesses.