THE quality of Apple products is not as high as perceived by some. This is not just a hardware issue but a software issue too. As The Inquirer put it last week:
SELLER OF SHINY TOYS Apple has pulled its Mac OS X Lion 10.7.3 delta update after its legendary quality control procedures failed to discover that it causes applications to crash.
Last week Apple released a large security update for its two most recent operating systems, but it seems both have pretty big bugs forcing Apple to withdraw the updates. First up was Apple's delta update for Mac OS X Lion 10.7.3 which had to be pulled after users complained of applications crashing, with Apple now recommending that users download a 1.3GB file instead, avoiding the Mac OS X Software Update facility.
News Flash: Apple Products Are Not IT Friendly
Last week, we talked about the impact of the bring your own device phenomenon on IT. It’s become accepted practice in many organizations to let users bring their devices and many are choosing iOS much to the chagrin of IT.
While Android comes with its own set of potential mine fields, a Network World report from MacIT, the IT track of the Macworld conference, indicated there were complaints aplenty from IT folks who are stuck supporting devices that are clearly designed for consumers.
IT is left to deal with iTunes and Apple IDs and how to bill back app purchases. This is probably not what you had in mind when you decided to go for a career in IT, but it’s part of the brave new world of IT support.
Network World puts it in more blunt terms: “adapt or die.” And from what so-called Apple experts were saying, you’re left with little recourse, because well, Apple doesn’t seem to listen to anyone. They don’t have to.
Comments
Michael
2012-02-14 20:02:44
Another example is your reference to their tools as "toys". If anything, Macs are not as suitable as game machines are are Windows machines - in that way they are less "toys" then their major competitor. This is not to say that there is not a reasonable way to talk about tech people and their "toys", but your context is clearly demeaning - you cannot bring yourself to think of Apple's products as being the exceptional *tools* many of them are.
Apple's success, of course, do not in any way take away from the success of open source software: OSS has shown itself to be amazing in many areas (servers, embedded devices, etc.). In face, Apple's success is *in part* based on open source components - both those they have used from others largely as they are and those they have taken over and / or largely improved. Apple is not a sign of open source doing poorly; Apple is a sign of of open source can be a *part* of a solution to making some of the best technological devices the world has ever seen - tools that serve people better than any other competitors in many, many cases.