I have felt compelled to write this blog for some time now, and I don't exactly know why. Apple has officially announced its demise at the developers conference today.
Struggling to compete in a world of advancing technology they no longer are able to inspire young creative professionals to use their products as they once did.
Their latest catastrophe the new "Mac Pro" resembles a diaper genie/Trash can and provides nothing real professionals want or need in the world we live in today.
It is painstakingly obvious that professionals who have made their living because of apples ingenuity and amazing products are now dumbfounded at what has happened and are left grasping for straws trying to find any alternative to fill the void that apple has created.
NUMBER 1.
The death of Final Cut Pro 7.
Sadly the greatest editing software with the most potential for growth was killed by apple, and replaced by it's younger more annoying little brother "iMovie" who grew up spoiled and with an attitude to try and set "new trends" in the video editing world by doing everything his "own way." And ignoring years of professional experience, training and tradition to become something entirely different and unwanted... "Final Cut Pro X."
This leaves us with no other option then to find a familiar friend, one we know and like to invest the next 10 years with. Sadly this software won't be coming from Apple, but from Adobe, one of the last companies making professional products for the Pro Market and Supporting us day in and day out.
Premiere Pro is the video editing software of the future. One doesn't need to even have vision to know where things are heading. Apple has truly abandoned the Pro Market and left working professionals to fend for themselves and find better alternatives to the once great editing software.
NUMBER 2.
OSX Mavericks
Apple must truly be clueless to Jump from a series of incredible software updates (Jaguar, Leopard, Snow Leapard, Lion) represented by Incredibe and ferocious large Cats, to "Mavericks" a surf location in california. Have they lost their minds? How can you go from Mountain Lion to Mavericks? Something so rare and wild and intense to something so common, and so mundane?
After snow leopard many features which were inherent in Mac OSX began to disappear and many pointless, annoying, and plain stupid features took their place. Scroll bars began to disappear, Functionality was removed in Disk Utility, 'Save As' was replaced with 'Duplicate' and if you want to reinstall the OS, even the install disk was removed. Has anyone every tried formatting mountain Lion and reinstalling it clean? It is one of the most annoying things I have ever experienced. iTunes is also the most annoying software on the planet. Why would anyone want to have an itunes account to install their operating system? I can't stand iTunes, the only useful thing it has ever done has been to convert audio formats, but even that has been a challenge.
NUMBER 3.
Apples computers have long been slower and crappier then any alternative that exists. I had real hope for apple the moment they stopped developing their crappy PowerPC processors and finally switched to intel chips. I saw a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel and I knew the dark winding path apple was on had finally come to an end and the future was bright and clear. I knew then that apple would only grow in their success as they listened to professionals and met their demands.
Today things are not so, the gloom which once plagued apple has returned, and in their madness and blindness they are once again heading towards the darkness with no one left to pull them from the terror they are heading towards. They are truly blind at this point, they cannot see what direction they are heading, and they are deaf to the voices trying to lead them back towards the light. Apple once made great products, and that alone has kept them alive and thriving in the world we live in. People use apple products day in and day out, and they love using them.
The iphone is the prime example, and should be Apples sole primary focus. Sadly the Android devices have gained more ground in the last three years then apple has grown as a whole in the last 10 years. Android devices are outpacing the iPhone and that gap is growing every day.
Therefore where does that leave Apple?
Why aren't they listening to what we want?
Apple claims with the release of the new mac pro that sometimes if you want to take a major step forward you have to change direction. How wrong they are. If you are already heading in the right direction, you don't need to CHANGE where you are going, you just need to adapt for the journey and keep progressing until you reach your destination.
You NEVER CHANGE destinations or you will never get to where you were heading in the first place. WE DO NOT want a garbage can computer with no upgradability with outdated ram and no internal hard drives. If there are no Thunderbolt Devices which will replace the IO that was inside the computer then it is NOT A GOOD IDEA to remove them completely until those solutions are already available for us to transition to. Why is there an entire community of hackintoshers building computers and installing mac software on them? Doesn't it make sense to just MAKE THE COMPUTER upgradable and expandable in the first place? Stop doing what YOU WANT, and start making computers for the people who ACTUALLY use them.
There are three things apple needs to do if they want to stay alive in the next 10 years.
1. Expandability.
Apple needs to understand people want to have "Unlocked" iPhones, that we want to buy our own SD cards and install them in our phones and not to pay a ridiculous amount of money just to have a 32 or 64 GB iPhone which cannot be upgraded. We want computers that can be upgraded, technology is constantly changing, and we need to change with it. Giving us a garbage can with Old components is only good for a year or two and buying another garbage can is NOT a SOLUTION to this problem.
2. Support for Great Software.
Abandoning Final Cut Pro 7 was the stupidest decision apple has made in a long time. Once again GOING A DIFFERENT direction does not give you progress, and starting from scratch is the opposite of progress. You need to USE the years of development you have already invested in and KEEP MAKING IT BETTER. You don't ABANDON it and start over with something different? Why re-invent the wheel? THE WHEEL doesn't EVER need to be re-invented its a WHEEL it works, it always will work, it can be improved but you do NOT need to recreate it!
3. Listening to your client
Believe it or not you are not making computers for yourself, there are real people out there who make their living on your products. Apple is a business, it caters to its clients, but recently instead of listening to what its customers want, you are simply creating what you want. If you continue on this path you will not have very many customers and you won't have a very bright future. GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF THE ICLOUDS and start listening to what your users needs are. In a marriage you need to constantly be listening to your partners needs and MEETING those needs. IF you fail to do that every day, eventually you won't be married for very long. ADOBE is the one meeting our needs today, because they are listening to what we want and working hard to fulfill those desires.
In Closing...
There are only two choices you can make Apple... You either serve yourself or serve others. Please read what I have written to you, and think long and hard about the path you have taken and where it leads. You still have time to amend your ways. There is light once again at the end of the tunnel, but you must be willing to find it and pursue it.
We all depend on you,
Sincerely,
Anonymous
