To hear faux news channels tell it, the world is falling apart while we watch (so, keep watching; our advertisers love it). Maybe so, maybe not, but every day there is a new day.
To hear technology writers tell the story, Apple is doomed because every tech competitor can do the same thing for less money– and besides, iOS 11 is Apple’s Windows Vista. That’s not a compliment, folks. Vista was much maligned by users and technology critics. What’s the problem with iOS 11?
Same Old Or Not?
Hardware is hard and software is soft. That means that among technology gadgets, the hardware stays much the way it was manufactured, but the software can be changed and improved for that hardware over time. That’s the nature of software; the nature of macOS, iOS, Windows, Android, Linux et al, and every app you’ve ever used. It’s been that way as long as I can remember and I do not foresee a future where it is not (but we can dream, right?).
Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols thinks iOS 11– running on many hundreds of millions of iPhones and iPads around the world– is Apple’s version of Windows Vista. Wikipedia has a whole section of Criticisms of Windows Vista and it wouldn’t take long to find a list of criticisms for iOS 11. Or, iOS 10. Or, iOS 9, iOS 8, iOS 7, and so on. Yes, macOS versions would have a similarly long list of issues because issues are easier to find than lying politicians on the Faux News interviews on state run media.
What is so wrong about iOS that it becomes kin to Vista? Brenda Stolyar added to Vaughan-Nichols’ list:
- Bad batteries
- Keyboard craziness
- Cold keys
- Security holes
- Calculator
- Touch ID
- Disappearing Messages
- Buttons freezing
Wait a minute. Is that it? I counted eight basic issues stemming from two technology writers. I’m sure there are others so it wouldn’t take much effort to turn the Gang of 8 into a Litany List Of Horrors. It’s software, folks. Every year for as long as iPhone or Mac has been around (not to mention Windows, Linux, Android, or whatever else runs hardware) new versions have issues.
What’s the problem? I get a new iPhone each year– from the original Mac OS X-like OS on iPhone in 2007 every year through iPhone X. This year was no different than last year which was similar to the year before. Funny thing. True story, too. I experienced only one of those on the list above. The Calculator had a reproducible bug and I wouldn’t have noticed until someone pointed it out to me at bar one night because I use a different calculator. Seldom do I experience the same issues that show up in digital technology rags. Seldom. I think they suffer from some sort of disease which prevents common sense from being applied to critical analysis.
I’m willing to bet that Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols and Brenda Stolyar did not experience all those so-called issues, either. Some? Perhaps. A few? Maybe. All? Highly unlikely because most iPhone customers did not experience those issues, either. By traversing Apple’s own support website I could come up with 20 such items in 20-minutes but most users just don’t have all those problems at the same time. Ever.
To call iOS 11 Apple’s Vista is to know Vista’s list of issues and how they compare to iOS 11. If all you folks have is eight items, then I declare iOS 11 the Gold Standard among operating systems.
Eight ain’t nothing.
So, what about this writer’s disease? It’s the nature of technology writing– particularly from the anti-Apple crowd and their genetic bias– to find and list negativity of various topics, of which Apple ranks high. Why? Think negativity bias. Yes, that’s a thing and those folks have it in abundance. You probably cannot be employed in their business without a blood test to prove you have the disease.
iOS does have serious competition: Android. If Apple can’t get its software up to snuff, eventually even the most addicted iFans may look elsewhere for their smartphone fix.
Uh huh. Gimme a break.
When it comes to software bugs on hardware, how does Android OS compare to iOS? Wouldn’t that be a better indicator than comparing iOS to Windows Vista? I don’t know what causes this strange negativity bias disease but I can spot who has it by what they write.
Bill Maslen says
You’re right for many different reasons, of course. I acquired a rather nice Android phone recently because I live in two different places and needed something with dual-SIM support. And I liked it, for a very cheap phone it was rather good (a HomTom HT50, for those interested). But I soon found myself missing my Apple integration; the fact that if my family texts me or calls me, I can answer the text or call from any of my Apple machines. The effortless transfer of information from one machine to another. The sheer, quietly elegant convenience.
So the poor old HomTom has been sent back – with some regrets, I admit, but at the end of the day, I really don’t need it, and Android remains too privacy-challenged a platform for me to be able to trust it. I’m back to a dual-iPhone setup (SE and 5C), and to my surprise, it’s a huge relief. I’ve even found a belt case that holds both phones…
Carlton says
That’s the key. Android cannot be trusted. Android is from Google. Google cannot be trusted. Samsung and Google pay technology writers to promote their goods. They cannot be trusted, either.