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images/news/apple.jpg I've never ventured off into the Apple camp to see what "Apple users" are saying about Apple products, but today, I ran across this article, and it looks like there are a lot of pissed off "Apple Consumers". Here are a few paragraphs from the article. You can read it in its entirety HotHardware. You'lll sleep better knowing you're running Windows 7
Apple's software track record was darn near impeccable (at least when compared to the hundreds of gaffes related to Windows) during the OS X 10.0 to 10.4 years, but something has happened since the introduction of OS X 10.5 ("Leopard"). And it's not something Apple should be particularly proud of.
OS X 10.5 was launched in the fall of 2007; needless to say, the majority of Apple's focus that year was on the original iPhone, which was yet another groundbreaking product. That phone was unveiled in the summer of 2007, but we're guessing the bulk of Q1 and Q2 2007 was spent fine tuning its functionality. By and large, Leopard was a real hit. Few people had major complaints, and while there were a few here and there, Apple worked hard and fast to fix quirks and keep things running smoothly. We even covered a number of those screw-ups/fixes during its time on the shelf.
Why mention OS X 10.5? The flurry of early bugs--which was very un-Apple like--was just the beginning. Apple went so far as to say that Snow Leopard would be its next operating system. Why? Because rather than introducing hundreds of brand new features as Leopard had, this one would simply be making Leopard a smoother, more reliable cat. Sounds like an easy way to make $29 per upgrader, doesn't it? Evidently it wasn't so simple, as Apple's least expensive OS ever--the one that was engineered from the start to simply improve upon the groundwork laid by Leopard--is quite possibly its buggiest OS ever. Or at least that's the reputation that it is quickly getting.
All that said, it begs the question: "What happened to Apple's software quality?" Since Snow Leopard hit the shelf just 2.5 months ago, we've seen a dizzying array of issues. Many users can't use their printers. Apple even admitted itself that the OS could literally eat all of one's user data if you snuck into the Guest Account in a certain scenario. Apple's own support boards are still loaded with issues ranging from programs being incredibly unstable to the inability to open Network Settings. We fully understand that Apple has had very little time to address these concerns, and we're confident that the majority of them will be solved eventually, but one glance at those forums certainly gives one pause. In fact, isn't this exactly what a Windows support board should look like if we were to believe Apple? What about that whole "it just works" thing? When did that stop applying? Since when were Apple operating systems riddled with problems the same way Windows operating systems were? Hmm.
And if you think that's concerning, don't even dare to venture into the iTunes, iPhone OS or Apple TV forums. In fact, Apple just released an emergency x.x.1 update to its Apple TV for this reason: "There is an issue with Apple TV software version 3.0 that can possibly cause your content to disappear after a period of time. All customers running Apple TV software version 3.0 should immediately restart their Apple TV and then upgrade to Apple TV software version 3.0.1." Really? Vanishing data? Call us crazy, but this is exactly the kind of thing that Apple would generally poke and prod Microsoft over. Why doesn't Microsoft take this opportunity to shoot a parody ad that goes after some of the issues that Apple products have been dealing with lately? One could say that Microsoft is too busy enjoying its 90+% market share to worry over Apple's silly ads, but like it or not, they're having an impact on public perception.
Apple's software track record was darn near impeccable (at least when compared to the hundreds of gaffes related to Windows) during the OS X 10.0 to 10.4 years, but something has happened since the introduction of OS X 10.5 ("Leopard"). And it's not something Apple should be particularly proud of.
OS X 10.5 was launched in the fall of 2007; needless to say, the majority of Apple's focus that year was on the original iPhone, which was yet another groundbreaking product. That phone was unveiled in the summer of 2007, but we're guessing the bulk of Q1 and Q2 2007 was spent fine tuning its functionality. By and large, Leopard was a real hit. Few people had major complaints, and while there were a few here and there, Apple worked hard and fast to fix quirks and keep things running smoothly. We even covered a number of those screw-ups/fixes during its time on the shelf.
Why mention OS X 10.5? The flurry of early bugs--which was very un-Apple like--was just the beginning. Apple went so far as to say that Snow Leopard would be its next operating system. Why? Because rather than introducing hundreds of brand new features as Leopard had, this one would simply be making Leopard a smoother, more reliable cat. Sounds like an easy way to make $29 per upgrader, doesn't it? Evidently it wasn't so simple, as Apple's least expensive OS ever--the one that was engineered from the start to simply improve upon the groundwork laid by Leopard--is quite possibly its buggiest OS ever. Or at least that's the reputation that it is quickly getting.
All that said, it begs the question: "What happened to Apple's software quality?" Since Snow Leopard hit the shelf just 2.5 months ago, we've seen a dizzying array of issues. Many users can't use their printers. Apple even admitted itself that the OS could literally eat all of one's user data if you snuck into the Guest Account in a certain scenario. Apple's own support boards are still loaded with issues ranging from programs being incredibly unstable to the inability to open Network Settings. We fully understand that Apple has had very little time to address these concerns, and we're confident that the majority of them will be solved eventually, but one glance at those forums certainly gives one pause. In fact, isn't this exactly what a Windows support board should look like if we were to believe Apple? What about that whole "it just works" thing? When did that stop applying? Since when were Apple operating systems riddled with problems the same way Windows operating systems were? Hmm.
And if you think that's concerning, don't even dare to venture into the iTunes, iPhone OS or Apple TV forums. In fact, Apple just released an emergency x.x.1 update to its Apple TV for this reason: "There is an issue with Apple TV software version 3.0 that can possibly cause your content to disappear after a period of time. All customers running Apple TV software version 3.0 should immediately restart their Apple TV and then upgrade to Apple TV software version 3.0.1." Really? Vanishing data? Call us crazy, but this is exactly the kind of thing that Apple would generally poke and prod Microsoft over. Why doesn't Microsoft take this opportunity to shoot a parody ad that goes after some of the issues that Apple products have been dealing with lately? One could say that Microsoft is too busy enjoying its 90+% market share to worry over Apple's silly ads, but like it or not, they're having an impact on public perception.
ditto VG
