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: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 20 2014, @01:04AM
After Jobs was kicked out of Apple by the board, he started Next Inc. which developed a high end personal computer based on the Mach operating system (of course the company was eventually acquired by Apple). Anyway, that's when Jobs first came up with the idea of not providing a floppy disk drive - his idea was that people should use CD-ROMs and CD-RWs, which were available but rather expensive at the time.
After Next shipped its first PC, they were getting killed in the marketplace over the lack of the floppy drive, among other issues. So during an all-hands meeting there was a big argument between various employees and Jobs. Finally, workers started chanting en masse, "We need a fucking floppy! We need a fucking floppy!"
And so they got one. It was apparently one of the few times that Jobs ever backed down.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 20 2014, @01:22AM
Then he got cancer, and now he's worm food.
- The End -
(Score: 2) by iwoloschin on Monday October 20 2014, @02:17AM
I'm sure there's some anecdote here about how worms eat apples, but it's late and I'm too tired to figure it out.
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Monday October 20 2014, @05:21AM
What's worse than taking a bite of an apple and finding a worm?
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Ebola.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 3, Informative) by CRCulver on Monday October 20 2014, @01:39AM
The first NeXT computer came with a magneto-optical drive, not a CD-ROM or CD-RW (technology that was only being launched as the NeXT computer hit the market).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 20 2014, @02:47AM
While I can attest to the truth of that statement, I had a cube myself, it doesn't have any material bearing on the anecdote.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Monday October 20 2014, @03:26AM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 2) by VLM on Monday October 20 2014, @11:38AM
"not 'material bearing'"
Unfortunately it is, because the whole point is they were shipping with whacked out mass storage and the reality was even worse.
As a young coder at the time of NEXT I studied a book about the NEXT UI trying to figure out why it was so cool and how to get aspects of it on the machines I had access to at the time. Eventually I decided the UI pretty much sucked and did something else.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Monday October 20 2014, @05:40PM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 1) by brocksampson on Monday October 20 2014, @11:11AM
Now I know why OS X kernel binaries were named "mach_kernel" pre-Yosemite. I never made that connection before. I wonder if the name-change to just "kernel" in Yosemite is symbolic or completely random.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday October 20 2014, @11:45AM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves