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Do you like the direction Apple is going re: UIx & hardware minimalization?

  • Yes - the more flat, the more simple, the more thinner, the more reduced # of I/O ports, the better.

    Votes: 3 10.3%
  • No. Pencils down. Stop miniminalizing iOS, OS, & I/O ports towards a 8.5x11 white sheet of paper.

    Votes: 22 75.9%
  • Middle ground, I'm generally happy with whatever I'm given.

    Votes: 4 13.8%

  • Total voters
    29
  • Poll closed .

Tozovac

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jun 12, 2014
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I'm a pretty vocal non-fan of all the extreme minimalization seen at Apple software & hardware since ~2013, as well as what seems to be a spaghetti-on-the-wall approach to software UIx since the emergence if iOS7 & Yosemite OS.

Seems too often now Apple's way of giving more is by giving less than the previous OS, iOS, and/or hardware by the removal of intuitive UI elements, the removal of attractive/detailed UI elements, and/or the simplification of the hardware & physical I/O ports to a point where battery life has stagnated and where losses of certain conveniences seem to be felt much more than any gains from new simplistic/minimized ways of doing things. Compared to the Apple I started using in 2005, since 2012 it also seems the UIx is more about creative minimalization than best-in-class proven methods, often resulting in what seems like a revolving door of UI reinvention attempts every few years (especially in the iOS), many of which are worse than the prior offering (OS's iTunes 12 & iOS11's podcast app being two egregious examples of unnecessary solutions for non-existent problems).

Before 2013 I’d blindly update the OS or iOS without even thinking. Now I have to investigate to the nth degree any “upgrade” for fear of the shock I had with ios7, especially when Apple rendered my 3 year old iphone 4 uselessly slow and kidnapped me by not allowing upgrading back to iOS 6.

Sure, there were opportunities to be seized and exploited that at earlier points in time may have initially felt radical, like being able to put your entire music collection in your pocket, removing the optical drives for MacBook Airs, or being able to live the majority of the day connected online but w/o a keyboard, mouse, or stylus. But are some things going to far, such as the uber-minimalized iOS/OS software UI as well as the removal of magsafe, headphone jacks, and USB ports? I can't be the only one who too often thinks "it no longer just works?" Isn't there a point in time where it's smart to stop tweezing your eyebrows before it's too much?

In a nutshell, by voting here, above are three "extreme" options. Which way do you tend? Are you generally happy, generally sad, or pretty middle-of-the-road to the new Apple where it seems less will be your new more.
 
Last edited:

Tozovac

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jun 12, 2014
3,034
3,233
3 votes so far out of 96 views.

Votes are anonymous. Just curious to hear general sentiment.
 

triptolemus

macrumors 6502a
Apr 17, 2011
865
1,736
Votes are anonymous.
Screen Shot 2017-10-12 at 8.14.12 PM.png
 
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Feenician

macrumors 603
Jun 13, 2016
5,313
5,100
So basically if anyone doesn’t agree with you they’re allowed to answer “DURR NEEDS LESS PORTS” or “DURR I’M TOO STUPID TO CARE”. Absurd strawman poll. That’s why you’re not getting votes. I can’t answer any of these because they don’t reflect my views.
 

Tozovac

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jun 12, 2014
3,034
3,233
So basically if anyone doesn’t agree with you they’re allowed to answer “DURR NEEDS LESS PORTS” or “DURR I’M TOO STUPID TO CARE”. Absurd strawman poll. That’s why you’re not getting votes. I can’t answer any of these because they don’t reflect my views.

Disagree. Would be too difficult to add all sorts of middle-ground options. Just like Apple doesn't attempt to appease various customer preferences, I also purposely attempted to go very simple and very direct with as few options as possible, offering "keep going," "stop," and "whichever/whatever" to best get a simple sense of how people's sentiment leans (of those willing to vote).

It should be obvious that Apple itself couldn't "keep removing" or "stop cold," so anyone willing to play along here should just vote for which way they lean. Either a user likes the stretch, or feels too stretched, or feels indifferent. Should be simple as that.

But then pose your stance then, if there could be a 4th option. Maybe I can add if it makes sense.
 

Feenician

macrumors 603
Jun 13, 2016
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Disagree. Would be too difficult to add all sorts of middle-ground options. Just like Apple doesn't attempt to appease various customer preferences, I also purposely attempted to go very simple and very direct with as few options as possible, offering "keep going," "stop," and "whichever/whatever" to best get a simple sense of how people's sentiment leans (of those willing to vote).

It should be obvious that Apple itself couldn't "keep removing" or "stop cold," so anyone willing to play along here should just vote for which way they lean. Either a user likes the stretch, or feels too stretched, or feels indifferent. Should be simple as that.

But then pose your stance then, if there could be a 4th option. Maybe I can add if it makes sense.

No-one is asking for lots of middle ground options. If someone likes the current UI and thinks, for example, that the shift to wireless audio is a good idea, and would like to see Apple do more thinking like this then they're currently forced to vote "Yes - the more flat, the more simple, the more thinner, the more reduced # of I/O ports, the better." which makes them sound like a moron.

Equally, if they don't have a strong opinion, they're forced to vote "I'm generally happy with whatever I'm given." which, well, makes them sound like a moron.

The wording isn't an accident though. It's much easier for you to minimize the opinion of someone you hammered into the "doesn't agree with me so is a moron" box.
 

Tozovac

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jun 12, 2014
3,034
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And suggesting to stop in place and stop trying to stretch doesn't also sound impossible and moronic?

I tried to be extreme in all 3 cases. That may be controversial, but so is what much of Apple is doing nowadays.
 
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Feenician

macrumors 603
Jun 13, 2016
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And suggesting to stop in place and stop trying to stretch doesn't also sound impossible and moronic?

I tried to be extreme in all 3 cases. That may be controversial, but so is what much of Apple is doing nowadays.

"No. Pencils down. Stop miniminalizing iOS, OS, & I/O ports towards a 8.5x11 white sheet of paper." isn't extreme. Though, quite brilliantly, also makes the other two options sound like moron votes for implying they want "iOS... towards a 8.5x11 white sheet of paper". You and 2 or 3 other people have been bumping the same thread with, with the same minimization of anyone who dares disagree with you for almost a full year in the iOS 11 forum.
 

Tozovac

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Original poster
Jun 12, 2014
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"No. Pencils down. Stop miniminalizing iOS, OS, & I/O ports towards a 8.5x11 white sheet of paper." isn't extreme. Though, quite brilliantly, also makes the other two options sound like moron votes for implying they want "iOS... towards a 8.5x11 white sheet of paper". You and 2 or 3 other people have been bumping the same thread with, with the same minimization of anyone who dares disagree with you for almost a full year in the iOS 11 forum.

Brilliantly...why thank you. :)

In all seriousness, quite a bit of my and those 2-3 others' frustration with Apple is their incessant one-size-must-fit-all attitude for hardware & software. Quite a bit of my/others' whining would be eliminated if the market offered different-packaged hardware for different folks' needs, as well as different OS/iOS skins. For goodness sake, even Windows 7 allowed selecting a windows xp theme for those of us who felt aero/translucency was 100% distracting gingerbread created by designers mostly for designers' whims. And PC users can get anything from a heavy 17" gaming laptop with ports galore to touch/laptop combos to a hand-sized micro-computer.

There's something to be said for how many of us semi-reluctantly keep sticking with Apple when the PC world offers solutions to many of my/others' gripes. Apple still offers that something that we want even though it is doing its best to make that dedication super difficult.

Since the world is way, way too confrontational and anti-cooperative at the moment, what would you think about my adding a 4th option of something like: Keep going but give customers more options for "minimalist stretch" as well as "more accommodating hardware/software?"
 

Feenician

macrumors 603
Jun 13, 2016
5,313
5,100
Brilliantly...why thank you. :)

In all seriousness, quite a bit of my and those 2-3 others' frustration with Apple is their incessant one-size-must-fit-all attitude for hardware & software. Quite a bit of my/others' whining would be eliminated if the market offered different-packaged hardware for different folks' needs, as well as different OS/iOS skins. For goodness sake, even Windows 7 allowed selecting a windows xp theme for those of us who felt aero/translucency was 100% distracting gingerbread created by designers mostly for designers' whims. And PC users can get anything from a heavy 17" gaming laptop with ports galore to touch/laptop combos to a hand-sized micro-computer.

There's something to be said for how many of us semi-reluctantly keep sticking with Apple when the PC world offers solutions to many of my/others' gripes. Apple still offers that something that we want even though it is doing its best to make that dedication super difficult.

Since the world is way, way too confrontational and anti-cooperative at the moment, what would you think about my adding a 4th option of something like: Keep going but give customers more options for "minimalist stretch" as well as "more accommodating hardware/software?"

I think it wouldn't make the other two options any less silly but at least it would provide two somewhat middle of the road options and that those would end up being the most voted options, being sane, which most people are.
 

Tozovac

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jun 12, 2014
3,034
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I think it wouldn't make the other two options any less silly but at least it would provide two somewhat middle of the road options and that those would end up being the most voted options, being sane, which most people are.

Then maybe adding that 4th option is not sane nor reasonable, since Apple is unlikely to ever go that route. I do think it's very likely Apple will keep attempting to remove & minimize, unfortunately, so I hardly think that my "yes" option is that far off the mark of reality...

Also now that I think about it I also think the egos running Apple design at the moment as if it were a futuristic minimalist design contest are much more likely to tread water in place for a while (can't squeeze much more blood from the rock) and much less likely to ever back-track and add more flexibility, so I think my "No" option isn't that far off the mark of realistic possibility either.

Third, based on those of us who aren't yet running from Apple, we're all kind of forced to accept what Apple's giving us, even if sometimes begrudgingly, so we all fall into the 3rd option somewhat (just minus the "happy" part for many of us, and probably you too to an extent).

So yes, no 4th option and I'll let the 3 extremes stand for test purposes...thanks for helping walk thru that, my friend. :)
 

Feenician

macrumors 603
Jun 13, 2016
5,313
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Then maybe adding that 4th option is not sane nor reasonable, since Apple is unlikely to ever go that route. I do think it's very likely Apple will keep attempting to remove & minimize, unfortunately, so I hardly think that my "yes" option is that far off the mark of reality...

Also now that I think about it I also think the egos running Apple design at the moment as if it were a futuristic minimalist design contest are much more likely to tread water in place for a while (can't squeeze much more blood from the rock) and much less likely to ever back-track and add more flexibility, so I think my "No" option isn't that far off the mark of realistic possibility either.

Third, based on those of us who aren't yet running from Apple, we're all kind of forced to accept what Apple's giving us, even if sometimes begrudgingly, so we all fall into the 3rd option somewhat (just minus the "happy" part for many of us, and probably you too to an extent).

So yes, no 4th option and I'll let the 3 extremes stand for test purposes...thanks for helping walk thru that, my friend. :)

So, really, like I said at the start. Extreme strawmen at the two ends and your actual opinion in the middle.
 
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Tech198

Cancelled
Mar 21, 2011
15,915
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if Apple built clips to secure dongles in to ports.. than i would like them... Or made them more like USB so not so easily can fall out when a bit of tension is there.
 

Beeplance

macrumors 68000
Jul 29, 2012
1,564
500
As I have realised from Tozovac's posts in another thread, there are quite a number of things in which I see eye to eye with him regarding the current direction of Apple in terms of software and design.

Besides voting for 'Pencils down' for their software UI direction, I would also like to add that I would very much like Scott Forstall, Father of iOS, to return to the helm of software development. I am confident that he can, and will, return iOS to its glory days.
 
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Tozovac

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Original poster
Jun 12, 2014
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Besides voting for 'Pencils down' for their software UI direction, I would also like to add that I would very much like Scott Forstall, Father of iOS, to return to the helm of software development. I am confident that he can, and will, return iOS to its glory days.

Hear hear. Can you imagine if Scott Forstall assembled a team and undid the mistakes created to his work in 2013 while also redoing the new tools introduced after 2013? It's mildly satisfying to see bits & pieces of the UI from pre-2013 return slowly, as some start to "get it." I never understood why the signal bars went to circles (now returned in iOS 11)...I never understood why the calculator keys were shaped the way they were in iOS 7 to where the borders between buttons were hardly discernible (now they're improved a bit in iOS11). Same for certain other keypad entry cues (such as when you enter the "Touch ID & Passcode" settings), which have seen an improved keypad closer back to how things used to be, closer to "friendly to use." The stopwatch/timer interface is still godawful & impossible to see outdoors as are the "improved" podcasts & music apps...there are no words. Calendar is still a joke. But looking thru the Settings interface, there do appear to be some mild improvements in borders & "logical" visual cues. And they've added the ability to edit a contact when one appears when pulling down from the home screen...which should always have been the case if Apple applied common sense towards UI like used to be done before 2013.
 
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