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Erik Karjaluoto writes that he recently installed OS X Yosemite and his initial reaction was “This got hit by the ugly stick.” But Karjaluoto says that Apple’s decision to make a wholesale shift from Lucida to Helvetica defies his expectations and wondered why Apple would make a change that impedes legibility, requires more screen space, and makes the GUI appear fuzzy? The Answer: Tomorrow.
Microsoft’s approach with Windows, and backward compatibility in general, is commendable. "Users can install new versions of this OS on old machines, sometimes built on a mishmash of components, and still have it work well. This is a remarkable feat of engineering. It also comes with limitations—as it forces Microsoft to operate in the past." Bu Apple doesn't share this focus on interoperability or legacy. "They restrict hardware options, so they can build around a smaller number of specs. Old hardware is often left behind (turn on a first-generation iPad, and witness the sluggishness). Meanwhile, dying conventions are proactively euthanized," says Karjaluoto. "When Macs no longer shipped with floppy drives, many felt baffled. This same experience occurred when a disk (CD/DVD) reader no longer came standard." In spite of the grumblings of many, Karjaluoto doesn't recall many such changes that we didn’t later look upon as the right choice.
(Score: 4, Informative) by keplr on Monday October 20 2014, @12:23AM
From the article,
Sure, Helvetica looks crummy on your standard resolution screen.
You mean the standard resolution display currently sold on Apple's best selling notebook [apple.com]? Notebooks have roughly a three year life span (at least Apple notebooks) so that means the clock starts counting down from three years once they sell the LAST notebook with one of those "crummy...standard resolution screen[s]". They don't offer a high resolution MacBook Air yet. Once they do, it's going to take three years from that point before the hardware out in the wild EOLs. We could be looking at another year of production for the standard resolution Airs. So that puts widespread adoption somewhere around 2019.
That's a long time to spend squinting at Helvetica. That's a long time to put up with an absolutely horrible UI that you will see literally 100% of the time you are using the machine. It's no minor thing. This new upgrade doesn't just pull the rug out from under people with old hardware. It's sabotaging people buying BRAND NEW hardware so that, at some future date when they finally get around to upgrading the displays, GPUs, and batteries, across their entire line, we will reap some nebulous reward of enjoying Helvetica Neue.
The timing on this was all wrong. They should have stuck with the old UI until high resolution displays were already ubiquitous. Notebooks are NOT like phones. These things are going to be around for a lot longer and it's deplorable to relegate all those users to substandard experience simply because their timetable meant getting the software retina-capable before the hardware even exists (in the case of the Air).
I've downgraded back to Mavericks where I will stay until this sorts out, probably won't be upgrading until I replace this machine (A 2013 MacBook Air 13"). Should also give the people at Mozilla time to unfuck their browser on the Mac. They're slower than Valve when it comes to meaningful releases--despite their "rapid" 6 week cycle.
I don't respond to ACs.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 20 2014, @09:09AM
I still regularly use my iBook, which is 9 years old. I occasionally use my PowerBook, which is 12 years old. Nya.
(Score: 0) by chris.alex.thomas on Monday October 20 2014, @12:40PM
"That's a long time to spend squinting at Helvetica" ??
I've got yosemite installed on my 2009 macbook (not pro) running at the oh-so-old 1280 resolution and I'm not squiting, not one little bit....
if you're having problems on your system, I suggest you go get your eyes checked, because my eyes are not 20/20 and I have absolutely no problems, if my eye sight was better, I'd certainly not have problems....
so you're complaining all sounds a big bogus to me...