Bad UI: macOS 10.14’s Software Update Release Notes | Hacker News Reader

Bad UI: macOS 10.14’s Software Update Release Notes

daringfireball.net

24 pointsmttjj10 comments

Fluent resizing used to be non-trivial to implement but that hasn’t been true for about a decade so I think they’re out of excuses. Especially since there is nothing else on screen requiring space. They would have almost had to go out of their way to break this!

I used to see some atrocious UIs (seemingly always in “enterprise software”) that didn’t make scrolling regions resize either. In great irony, these super-abbreviated lists usually appeared in screens that otherwise displayed every conceivable thing in the app, cramming the screen with content but not using any of that space for what I wanted. My list was crammed into 1-3 items in a tiny scrolling box with about 7 characters shown per item.

How long can Apple coast on its reputation? Their hardware is terrible (laptop keyboards, out of date technology inside), their software is getting much worse (discoveryd, Marizipan apps, re-written apps with less functionality like Disk Utility, this article, just to name a few), and their services have yet to be proven.

It's lucky for Apple that most of their users have an outdated idea of what current versions of Windows and Linux are like, otherwise I think they'd be in trouble.

Come on. This is such a minor quibble and it dilutes the list of more important issues like keyboards and the T2 audio bug.

They got the most important information - restart required - passed to the user, I'm never able to see that in Windows Update on my work computer. When macOS updates delete the user's documents directory we can start comparing it to Windows.

You can’t see the big button that says restart required? I’m confused. Don’t people complain that Windows updates nags too often that it needs a restart? I feel like Windows updates have just become a boogeyman for some people, I don’t get the hate.

Here's my update menu: https://imgur.com/a/rlZzKzF

Where does it say whether or not it requires a restart?

Apple used to put effort into the details, that was the main reason their products were great. That attention to detail has been lost.

>When macOS updates delete the user's documents directory we can start comparing it to Windows.

https://tidbits.com/2009/10/13/apple-acknowledges-guest-acco...

>When logging into the guest account, if the computer hangs, it is possible that, upon returning to your primary account, you’ll find that all of the files and folders in your user account have been erased and that your account has been reset to default settings. Your account’s path still exists on the hard drive, but everything has been erased from within it.

https://www.macrumors.com/2018/02/19/apfs-bug-macos-data-los...

>Two related problems are identified by Bombich, above. The first is that the free space on the APFS-formatted sparse disk image doesn't update as it should when the free space on the underlying physical host disk is reduced. The second problem is the lack of error reports when write requests fail to dynamically grow the disk image, resulting in data being "written" into a void.

https://macperformanceguide.com/blog/2019/20190305_1246-macO...

>Copy a folder with dot files to another destination (I used ".icj"). Change one of the dot files. Repeat the copy. When the Finder offers Cancel or Replace, choose Replace.

>PROBLEM: the copied folder contains old data in the invisible ".icj" file.

Apple used to put effort into the details, that was the main reason their products were great. That attention to detail has been lost.

You probably would have had a better reception of your original post if you had opened with that. Is the issue at hand a minor quibble? Yup. Would the issue at hand have shipped seven, eight years ago? Ehhh, probably not. And when I run into such things now, it sends a cold, "Windows" feel down my spine, like someone knew it was wrong but "shipping is a feature, too". (Nothing personal, Windows, you've served many of us well, but attention to detail has never been your strong suit.)

Is it the beginning of the end, where the world throws down their MBPs in disgust? Nah, don't be silly. It does, however, give the feeling that Apple might be slipping a little of late.

It's lucky for Apple that most of their users have an outdated idea of what current versions of Windows

I am painfully reminded of the current state of Windows every time I sit down to my Windows 10 work computer. I have current versions of Linux running at home and in VMs on my work desktop. (Unlike Windows, I think Linux is fine.) macOS would have to get a lot worse before I'd ditch it for either one of those.

I mean, do you seriously think I'm switching operating systems because the release notes are hard to read?

On 10.14.5 beta I can select and copy the text in the dialog. Still not resizable though.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com