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You are here: MacNN Forums > News > Mac News > The Feature Thief: Apple taketh away, sometimes giveth back

The Feature Thief: Apple taketh away, sometimes giveth back
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NewsPoster
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Apr 24, 2015, 03:29 PM
 
Stop us if you've heard this one: Apple takes one of its key software applications, radically changes it, losing important features along the way. Existing users say Apple has dumbed down an app that was perfect, while new users say this is fantastic, they can finally understand the application. Flash forward a few months, and Apple has stealthily added back some or all of the features. We've seen this with iMovie and Final Cut Pro, we saw it with Pages, we are seeing it now with iPhoto turning into Photos. It is a well-worn path by Apple, and if we're not fans of the way they go about it, we are often fans of how these new applications turn out ... eventually.

Plus, whether we like it or not, we have been around the block on this one a few times. Yet if we're inured to it and even blasé, it is still the case that each time it happens, it's a problem for someone who was dependent on the old software. This has been going on at least as far back as when Apple suddenly switched gears and promoted the Macintosh at the expense of the Apple III, and in both hardware and software it has happened innumerable times since: veterans will recall the awkward switch from 680x0 processors to PowerPC, the rocky disruption of OS 9 giving way to OS X, and the (relatively) smoother change from PowerPC to Intel processors (and the later dropping of support for PowerPC software, still a sore point with some people), just for starters.

So it seems that to choose the Apple path is to choose a lifestyle where periodically, Apple breaks in to the nice little home you've constructed out of their offerings, and either re-arranges the furniture in some bewildering fashion, or occasionally sets the entire house on fire, with the promise of building you a new and better house later. It's a bit like working with a contractor -- for six months your kitchen is all but non-functional, but given time and updates you eventually want to kiss the fellow square on the lips for the final results, forgetting the hell of change and renewal that preceded it.

Let's not get carried away here. This is not like those online greeting card firms that work solely in Flash, and so are going to have a very bad day in their near future when even Adobe has given up on that. However, there is a problem in that Apple software can have this tendency to update itself. So you might read here on MacNN.com that Pages, for instance, has lost its outlining view, and you might make the decision to skip the new version -- and then find your Mac has installed it already, because you turned on automatic downloads a year ago.

Then there is also the fact that as much as we like a lot or most of Apple's software, there are alternatives, and it is true that they are sometimes better. Maybe you'd never get around to checking them out if you weren't pushed and prodded, but sometimes these feature-breaking updates are plenty enough push and prod. Take, for example, Aperture users -- who must be a pretty unhappy lot just at the moment.



Over the next few days in this "mini-series" column, MacNN will take a look at some of the recent and current upheavals Apple has thrown at us all in the name of progress. In some cases, you can carry on using the older versions for a while, but must eventually jump ship. In some cases, like system updates, there is an imposed change (however modest or not), and there is little to no going back -- and occasionally, Apple just gives up on an idea and shuts it down, dumping the users who'd invested their time and effort like politicians dump promises once they're elected.

On Monday, we'll have a look at an example of an app that has been given the "velvet glove" treatment, allowing you to carry on using the old version for the time being, but making the later one the default -- Pages. From there, each weekday we'll present a new example of a beloved Apple app that has gotten revamped, pushed aside, or shown the door, and what your options are: now, and going forward.

Tuesday will feature Apple's love-hate relationship with video software; Wednesday will focus on the abandonment of iWeb, mid-revolution; on Thursday we'll have a look at iPhoto, Aperture, and the new Photos; and on Friday, we'll deal with one of the grandfathers of the forward-resistance movement, and find solutions so you can finally quit AppleWorks for good.

-- William Gallagher (@WGallagher) and Charles Martin (@Editor_MacNN)
( Last edited by NewsPoster; Apr 28, 2015 at 02:00 PM. )
     
bobolicious
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Apr 24, 2015, 04:00 PM
 
...I keep hoping some reincarnation of iWeb may reappear - to me this was one of the most brilliant results of all the genius in Cupertino... It replaced PageMill (for me) which was the only other stand alone web authoring software I found truly easy to just update content, and iWeb remarkably optimized images automatically for the web, accessing the iPhoto et al libraries seamlessly... Photos isn't accessible (as far as I can tell) so Aperture now seems the (by switching libraries) legacy option... Otherwise it still seems to work relatively well in Yosemite for independent FTP loading, and still an all time favourite of mine...
     
Charles Martin
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Apr 24, 2015, 04:20 PM
 
If you really enjoyed the way iWeb worked, you might want to check out Everweb, which we'll mention in again in a future installment. But yes, iWeb is -- four years since being discontinued, finally starting to "break down." It was a pioneering app that opened a lot of doors for me, but for my needs Wordpress has worked out to be a much more elegant option with only a slight bit more of a learning curve.
Charles Martin
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durosity
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Apr 24, 2015, 05:18 PM
 
"veterans will recall the awkward switch from 680x0 processors to PowerPC"

No.. The move from 68k to PPC was utterly see less for the end user.. Only a handful of applications didn't just work without a patch, and most people upgrading to a PPC machine at that point found the emulation of 68k code was as fast as their old systems.
     
phaedrus68
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Apr 24, 2015, 05:30 PM
 
Thank you for doing this series - it is sorely needed!! (even got me to sign in after 20 years of lurking).
Apple has been doing this for years as you point out, and the latest reason seems to be to make the app work on IOS. But it's symptomatic of a larger problem at Apple: pandering to the lowest common denominator. It's too bad they don't take Einstein's advice: "as simple as possible, but not simpler". Removing features fails on the side of too simple.
     
Charles Martin
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Apr 24, 2015, 05:48 PM
 
durosity: as someone who was there at the time, and working closely with Apple as part of a developer team, I'm glad you thought it was seamless ... but those of us who were affected by those "handful of apps" that didn't work right, or were working with the development tools of the day, might beg to differ. You're correct that most users probably didn't have too much of a time with that particular transition, apart from the need to buy a new machine to run the forthcoming new software ...
Charles Martin
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Mike Wuerthele
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Apr 24, 2015, 05:50 PM
 
And the drive space on those double-digit MB drives required for fat binary apps during the transition.
     
panjandrum
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Apr 24, 2015, 06:54 PM
 
I'm really looking forward to this. I very much hope that MacNN takes an unbiased approach and closely looks at the software as objectively as possible (I realize that's sometimes hard to do). You might consider interviewing others for their opinions, and I don't mean "people waiting in line at the Apple Store." Go to local schools and ask the staff and students what they think. Ask people working in small offices, or home-offices, or just your average home users. As someone who has worked in (almost 100% Apple) support since the Mac II era, I have to say that the only time I saw the general user base more disappointed, confused, and angry is the black-years surrounding the infinite-loop of crashtasticness that was System 7.5. (For example: My days since the release of 10.10.3 have been half-filled helping people revert back to iPhoto... The comments regarding "Photos" from these users haven't been exactly complimentary...) It would be wonderful to see an unbiased look at these issues; a look that avoids the usual Apple hyperbole, and instead looks at these issues as the average "non-Apple-fanboy" would.
     
Charles Martin
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Apr 24, 2015, 07:04 PM
 
"unbiased" in your post sounds a lot like "agrees with my point of view" to me ... we do try, in most of our coverage, to be truthful but constructive, and we're veteran Apple users who have been with the company through many ups and downs, and that will be reflected in the series. (EDIT: forgot to mention that we are talking to schools and user groups as part of the foundation of the series, lots of feedback on this topic will be incorporated)

As for iPhoto, there's no "reverting" one needs to do ... it's still there, it still works. If you're not ready for Photos yet (which is actually an outstanding replacement, albeit needs getting used to), take it out of the dock and replace the iPhoto icon there. That's it, you're "reverted."

Also, very dangerous to pretend to speak for the "user base." Apple sold more iPhones in the previous quarter than all the Mac owners who currently exist. The "user base" isn't who you might think it is these days (and incidentally, the Mac user base by and large seems pretty happy with the Mac -- more are sold now in a single quarter than used to be sold in entire years just a few years ago).
( Last edited by Charles Martin; Apr 24, 2015 at 07:46 PM. )
Charles Martin
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The Next Wave
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Apr 24, 2015, 09:40 PM
 
Keynote used to allow websites to be displayed in a presentation. Gone.
Keynote used to allow you to export a Quicktime video- using timings of your prezo- AWESOME down and dirty animation tool. Gone.
Two functions that made Keynote awesome.... oh well.
     
ptklenk
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Apr 24, 2015, 11:06 PM
 
I am one of the users who is extremely disenchanted with the demise of Aperture. As a professional photographer, this was my bread and butter in conjunction with NIK, On1, and DXO. I didn't particularly like Lightroom and do not to this day. Also, I had the opportunity to beta test Photos and have it installed with the release of OS 10.10.3. In short, it's junk. Even iPhoto was better. In any case, it does nothing for me and never will.
     
Charles Martin
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Apr 24, 2015, 11:19 PM
 
The Next Wave: as I noted with iPhoto my earlier comment, my "old" copy of Keynote continues to work just fine in 10.10.3 -- not a long-term solution, no, but it still works for now and may continue to do so for a while. In the meantime, send feedback to Apple about the missing features in Keynote: there is a feedback tool right in the program.

ptklenk: Purely speculating here, but I'm wondering if Ubillo's retirement had something to do with Aperture's discontinuation. As above it still works for now. We'll have more to say about this next week, stay tuned.
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Boise Ed
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Apr 24, 2015, 11:50 PM
 
I wish they would bring back Cron and, with it, the Cronix program that gave it such a great GUI. There was (and still is) no substitute for scheduling AppleScripts or other tasks.
     
applesean
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Apr 25, 2015, 01:55 AM
 
How about we add RSS back into Safari, Apple!?

http://bit.ly/PattersonRSS4Safari
     
Spheric Harlot
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Apr 25, 2015, 04:32 AM
 
Originally Posted by durosity View Post
"veterans will recall the awkward switch from 680x0 processors to PowerPC"

No.. The move from 68k to PPC was utterly see less for the end user.. Only a handful of applications didn't just work without a patch, and most people upgrading to a PPC machine at that point found the emulation of 68k code was as fast as their old systems.
It's fascinating how memory works.

The INITIAL transitions was not seamless, neither in hardware nor in software. The Power Mac 6100 was notoriously slower than the 68040 machines that preceded it.

Nor was the PPC-Intel transition entirely seamless.

These transitions worked well enough - if you gave them time. Stuff got worked out and features added to make everything smooth for the user.

JUST like today, and always.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.
     
Spheric Harlot
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Apr 25, 2015, 04:38 AM
 
Originally Posted by panjandrum View Post
I'm really looking forward to this. I very much hope that MacNN takes an unbiased approach and closely looks at the software as objectively as possible (I realize that's sometimes hard to do). You might consider interviewing others for their opinions, and I don't mean "people waiting in line at the Apple Store." Go to local schools and ask the staff and students what they think. Ask people working in small offices, or home-offices, or just your average home users. As someone who has worked in (almost 100% Apple) support since the Mac II era, I have to say that the only time I saw the general user base more disappointed, confused, and angry is the black-years surrounding the infinite-loop of crashtasticness that was System 7.5. (For example: My days since the release of 10.10.3 have been half-filled helping people revert back to iPhoto... The comments regarding "Photos" from these users haven't been exactly complimentary...) It would be wonderful to see an unbiased look at these issues; a look that avoids the usual Apple hyperbole, and instead looks at these issues as the average "non-Apple-fanboy" would.
As somebody who worked in Mac support for a decade myself, I might suggest that the better approach would be to comfort those users and help them get used to Photos, which isn't going anywhere, is already better than iPhoto in some (few) regards, and whose new sorting structure is going to be The Way Things Are for the next decade and more.

Either that, or simply replace the icon on their Dock. Five seconds. Done.
     
Stuke
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Apr 25, 2015, 05:45 PM
 
Aperture...Aperture...Aperture. I won't stop using it until the solder starts dripping out of my obsoleted Mac OS X machine!
--
Stuke
     
ptklenk
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Apr 26, 2015, 10:41 AM
 
As noted, I am still using Aperture and some developers have not considered it dead. For example, I just bought Noiseless Pro and was given the opportunity to install it as a plugin rather than a stand alone application. It works great. Why? Because it is a plugin and does not disturb workflow; it has a variety of presets.
     
just a poster
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Apr 26, 2015, 01:11 PM
 
@Stuke I know what you mean. I buy spares of old, obsoleted MacPros and xServes to connect my DACs to their firewire interfaces. I have no interest in spending $10k+ to upgrade for a new cable interconnect. Not all progress is beneficial, I see a lot of money-is-no-object recording studios running computer equipment from as far back as 2006 in critical workflows.
     
Spheric Harlot
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Apr 26, 2015, 01:45 PM
 
AFAIK, FireWire-to-Thunderbolt adapters work flawlessly out of the box. For <$30.

My own Metric Halo FW interface is hooked up through a Belkin Thunderbolt hub.

Have you heard of any difficulties? I'm not aware of any problems in the audio community.
     
Chongo
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Apr 26, 2015, 02:26 PM
 
Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot View Post
AFAIK, FireWire-to-Thunderbolt adapters work flawlessly out of the box. For <$30.

My own Metric Halo FW interface is hooked up through a Belkin Thunderbolt hub.

Have you heard of any difficulties? I'm not aware of any problems in the audio community.
I'm using a TB to FW800 adapter with a bilingual FW800>4 pin cable to pull DV from my JVC camcorder. I bought the bilingual FW800>4 pin cable from Monoprice (via Amazon) for $9

My brother made a large purchase from Amazon and as a reward, was given a free copy of FCPX 10.1.4 which he gave to me. This is one of the apps mentioned in the OP that Apple took and returned features lost in transition from FCP to FCPX. I've yet to make use of it. What did it lose, and what has been restored?
( Last edited by Chongo; Apr 26, 2015 at 02:36 PM. )
45/47
     
Mike Wuerthele
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Apr 26, 2015, 03:29 PM
 
Originally Posted by Chongo View Post
My brother made a large purchase from Amazon and as a reward, was given a free copy of FCPX 10.1.4 which he gave to me. This is one of the apps mentioned in the OP that Apple took and returned features lost in transition from FCP to FCPX. I've yet to make use of it. What did it lose, and what has been restored?
We'll get there!
     
panjandrum
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Apr 26, 2015, 08:56 PM
 
It's nice to hear that you are interviewing others about this. I'll admit it's always possible that the dissatisfaction I'm seeing is regional, (although I don't really understand *why* that would be). The vast, (and I do mean vast, I'm not trying to exaggerate here,) majority of users I work with are, quite simply, unhappy, or unhappy and frustrated, or unhappy and angry. And I work with a wide-array of people, from the K-8 education system (I manage networks and work with students, educators and staff on a daily basis) to home-users, to small businesses, to large businesses; architecture, real-estate, graphics-design, a small university tv-station, etc. etc. So I do feel that I can say that my sample-size is fairly good, and represents a wide-variety of people. A few years back nearly all the feedback I received was positive, but that trend has reversed. It will be interesting to see if you hear any of those same reactions where your staff are located. I would suggest that it's difficult to avoid "the fanboy effect", and that you may have to consciously and carefully consider your arguments. For example, Charles mentions, regarding Macs, that "more are sold now in a single quarter than used to be sold in entire years just a few years ago." And yet this is *exactly* the kind of thing that Mac users have always said meant nearly nothing. I mean, if we take popularity and sales as an indicator of quality, then obviously we should all just be buying Windows PCs, right? Alternately, if that argument is valid only for Apple products, then that's not objectivity... You can't have it both ways. See? (Not trying to be offensive here, just trying to make a point that I hope you understand.) Again, it will be interesting to see how this series pans-out. (And while I would encourage people towards using Photos, I've never seen that as my job. I try to help my users work the way they want to work, not push specific software, workflows, methods of organization, etc. So I'll keep helping people move back to iPhoto if they wish. Hopefully Photos will evolve into something they will love. If not, and if iPhoto goes away completely, then I'll help them migrate what works best for them; whether or not that's what Apple is pushing at the time. I should also mention that for many users, reverting to iPhoto is not so easy. You can look for the details online; but the vast majority of calls I've gotten are from users who upgraded to 10.10.3 and then lost access to iPhoto completely because Apple's update servers are not pushing out the proper iPhoto update either prior-to, during, or after the 10.10.3 update. There are work-arounds, but not just "stick the iPhoto icon back in the dock.")
     
JohnofVA
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Apr 27, 2015, 09:39 AM
 
I am also one still smarting over Apple's abandonment of iWeb. With the zillions of $$ in profit they were then and now raking in, the continued support of iWeb would have been a small price to pay to support a loyal fan base.
     
Thorzdad
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Apr 27, 2015, 09:47 AM
 
Pages under Yosemite is still a mess. My wife's office uses Pages quite a bit, and when they updated to 10.10, the new Pages was quite a shock and disappointment. As far as I can tell from her, it's still a degraded app compared to its former version.
     
Mike Wuerthele
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Apr 27, 2015, 12:53 PM
 
Originally Posted by Thorzdad View Post
Pages under Yosemite is still a mess. My wife's office uses Pages quite a bit, and when they updated to 10.10, the new Pages was quite a shock and disappointment. As far as I can tell from her, it's still a degraded app compared to its former version.
Hey, look at what we led with today!

The Feature Thief, part one: Pages | MacNN
     
kobrienmv
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May 2, 2015, 07:28 PM
 
Okay. I'm a dinosaur. I still miss AppleWorks. For most users, I think AW had everything that they needed. Plus AW included a simple to use database and draw program. Office is expensive and bloated with more features than most home users will ever need (and no database). When I taught computer lab, I could introduce 2nd Graders to a word processing program with AW. Its simplicity made the learning curve much easier. Same was true for Keynote vs. PowerPoint. I had 3rd and 4th graders making Keynote projects and then transitioning to PowerPoint. After they learned the concepts, transitioning to the elements of MS Office was much easier.

iDVD still remains the easiest way to present slideshows or iMovies away from home. Airplay and Apple TV work great, but are not always available. I understand Apple's move to having all your data and media available on iCloud, but at this point it is not always practical. I don't want to switch to a "non Apple" product to burn DVDs. I like the seamless integration that was part of iPhoto, iDVD, iMovie, and iTunes. I wish the end user had more clout when Apple decides to update its apps. I certainly have nothing against improvements, but sometimes I think Apple is a little premature when it decides to make some of their software obsolete.
     
   
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