[pzwick]

I didn't even finish reading the article. I hate iTunes now. I want to switch to a different player. Endless rethinking of a widely used app is idiotic. One lives in fear of what and when the next change will occur. An audio player is a simple app. This has even undermined my feeling for Apple computers. I have no loyalty to Apple and could care less about its future which I don't want to be a part of.

[waltband]

Change is he only constant -- been saying that for awhile -- pretty much a lifetime -- been through the whole apple run -- so far -- born in the 50s -- bought a Mac the first year -- taught myself to type with Mavis over that first weekend --haven't looked back -- just forward -- have gotten used to being a dinosaur on a regular basis as Apple "Evolved" things on a regular basis every few months -- been through every systems arrival and departure as a user -- not really understanding what was under the hood but appreciating the changes for their innovations and the so called Wow Factor -- was there through the struggling years when it was common to have arguments with those that favored other systems -- having said all that --- the creativity that grew out of stress was amazing -- it was kept in flow -- not in check by Jobs -- moving forward was a given -- his vision of excellence and forwardness in everything is what has brought the company along -- sure I grew to hate having to shell out $2000 every few years to keep up -- but I did -- and would probably have done so to my end -- BUT -- things they are a changing -- still -- the changes are fundamental at Apple -- this change appears to be to some sort of stasis of personality in the work place -- without Jobs around I can see the need -- BUT -- there have been some bad moments recently with products, software and systems -- one would hope that the drive to change that drove Steve with his unflinching parallel drive to get it right will re-appear at Apple -- in haste to move on from their past the current Administrators appear to have turned the ship downwind from whence they came - it is easier that way -- but in the doing you are turning backwards --- Good Luck with that !! RIP Apple as we knew it ---

[Paul]

Unfortunately, change doesn't always drive innovation. I have no insight into what Apple's internal modes of operation are, so I can only talk about my experiences have been in a big company designing technical products.

Changes in the management chain are sometimes good. Other times it results in turmoil, because the focus on the product gets diluted into looking at the way things are done rather than what is being designed. The great managers and designers are dragged off onto projects to improve the design process, rather than the design itself. This would be fine, except that many times the process really wasn't in need of much change. The new management team was thinking more about how to improve yield (make more money) rather than how to make the product better. This often happens when intermediate management didn't really understand what went on in their organization, or the product itself, before making changes and putting their stamp on things. In the end, their efforts were a detriment because the great designers were left with a substantial amount of their time devoted to creating people performance measuring tools. Once implemented, the tools ended up as a tax on all the designers, as they took time away from product design just so management could analyze yield.

Not-so-great periods in a company (in my experience) were also the direct result of a lack of reward for great design. Great managers have an ability to get great results from people, and inspire them to excel. Others have the ability to frustrate and stifle. Rather than promoting from within for great performance, outside managers with little or no knowledge of the product are brought in because of their willingness to go along with the upper level management. When the company gets to the state that both the upper level and the lower level managers don't have any real product design experience, the stage is set for mediocrity.

We'll have to see how Apple is doing on all of this. They've historically had new and great innovative products every 4-7 years. They've been known for excellence in their software design, both OS and application software. The 4-7 year clock for ground breaking design (iMac, iPod, iPhone) is due to toll. I consider the iPad a derivative of the iPhone (2007), so 2012-2014 is the period where they need to roll out the next big thing. If we don't see great new innovation within the next 2 years, we'll know there's a management problem.

There's evidence in that application software design isn't getting the attention it needs. iMovie, iPhoto, and iTunes are evidence of this. There have been disturbing changes mixed in with the improvements. The results show a loss of standard basic features that have made the Mac great. Like having similar features in the same place, and window designs that all do things in a similar way. Losing the Save-As in iMovie was disturbing and horrible. Not being able to open multiple windows in iTunes is horrible. The changes made to their flagship video software Final Cut Pro to make it more iMovie-like were a disaster. iOS-ifying OS X is another source of great frustration. They must focus on what is great about OS X and OSXify iOS, not the reverse. Issue an OS X lite dumbed down if you must, but don't compromise what's great.

Enough rambling. Nice article Jason. Change truly is inevitable, and we will find out whether Apple will improve things or just change things.

[romad]

It is interesting that, after firing Forstall, Apple delayed the release of ITunes Store 11 almost 2 months to fix problems caused by Forstall's determination to make it exactly like the app in iOS. Unfortunately it was/is still an abortion; at least Maps it iOS 6 was usable enough. ITS 11.x is not, especially when it deletes music that was not purchased from the iTunes store. I'm staying with iTunes 10.7 pretty much forever.

Also, after almost 30 years of being a customer, I've bought my last Apple computer. The iMac is being made into a totally closed product; if you want more RAM than the ridiculous small amount that Apple provides standard, you can no longer up it after purchase. Apple is forcing you to pay 200% more for the larger amount of RAM at purchase.

Looks like it will be nothing but 2011 Macs and earlier bought used for me, or move on to Windows.

[Batdan]

Change certainly is inevitable, but the pace of change in the tech industry is so fast that some, including me, cannot financially keep up.
I think iOS is/was a good marketing venture to lure more people to Apple desktops and laptops, but I also think the operating systems for handhelds and desktops and probably laptops too, should be separate entities. Yes it's more work for some developers, but they already make sites and browsers different for handheld devices and desktops. And it seems to me that we the consumers do a lot of the final testing, through feedback, for the developers to tweak anyway. I've seen far too many people getting prescription glasses after some years of staring at their small screens. I'll stay with my 23" dual monitor setup until I can afford dual 27" or larger IPS monitors.

After reading romad's comments, I'm getting closer to cementing my thoughts on going to Linux. Too much forcing of people to do what Apple wants at our expense.
With each OS change I've lost workflow items to more steps to get where I wanted to be. They still leave the options in contextual menus, but are grayed out, so I have to make other choices to get where I'm going.

And Paul's statement, below, in his comment rings true with my dissatisfaction.
"This would be fine, except that many times the process really wasn't in need of much change. The new management team was thinking more about how to improve yield (make more money) rather than how to make the product better. This often happens when intermediate management didn't really understand what went on in their organization, or the product itself,"
Apple hired one of Camino browser's best developers to work on Safari and that didn't help Safari, in my opinion, but it sure hurt the development of Camino, which I still use as my main browser just because it does most all of what I want, handles cookies better and uses way less memory (than any browser).
I'm still using Snow Leopard on my main Mini, Leopard on my MacBook and, yes I still have this working, Panther on an eMac. I didn't like all the seemingly valid complaints about Tiger, so never switched until well after Leopard came out and was mostly debugged. Bit the financial bullet when Snow Leopard arrived, because I had to have an Intel machine.
Maybe, but I doubt it, this new replacement and direction will get me what I want. Separate operating systems for handheld gadgets and desktops.
I had to use Sea Monkey browser just to post this as Safari, Camino, Opera nor Omniweb would allow a click through on the Add your comment button.

Thanks for your article.