Apple is at least twice doomed and
probably more, say all of the tech hacks
Poor OS X Mavericks and iOS 7 - but they
had a pretty decent run, all things considered. It was a good hour or so after
they were jointly announced at WWDC 2013 before the first overt criticism
spewed on to tech websites and at least a week until the first damning in-depth
review sat and festered online, like a piece of rotten meat lurking under the
fridge.
In case you've not read any of these
whatever the opposites are of 'pearls of wisdom', let me sum up: Apple is
doomed. Apple is doomed because iOS 7 is the worst operating system ever
created in the history of mankind. Apple is also doomed because OS X Mavericks
is (somehow) also the worst operating system ever created in the history of mankind.
I'm not sure how that works, but, if quite a few tech pundits are to be
believed, it's pretty clear everything is now really bad for Apple. The end.
Poor
OS X Mavericks and iOS 7 but they had a pretty decent run, all things
considered.
Only it isn't the end - we're not even at
the start yet. I'm not going to sit here and review OS X Mavericks and iOS 7,
on the basis they're not done. I can certainly provide gut reactions to various
aspects of the systems. I've seen in videos and screen grabs, such as iOS 7's
brighter icons and seemingly elegant interaction, new features in OS X
Mavericks such as iBooks, Maps and multiple display support in full-screen mode
or iCIoud Keychain, which saves and syncs passwords - but that would all be
little more than guesswork. Until I've got iOS 7 on my iOS devices and OS X
Mavericks on my Macs and until I can use them at length, what's the point in
attempting to 'review' them, let alone signaling they're some kind of proof of
the death of Apple?
Apple
is doomed because iOS 7 is the worst operating system ever created in the
history of mankind
I've previously
grumbled about tech industry analysts being little more than guessers. Every
day, we hear new claims that Windows Phone will somehow blaze past iOS in 2013
or 2014. Or definitely 201 5. 2016 at the latest! They point at the iPad losing
ground to companies that never provide sales figures. And they suggest Apple
won't fare well against smaller, cheaper PC rivals, such as Chromebooks.
(Previously, it was 'because netbooks', which were also the reason the iPad
would fail, but everyone's conveniently forgotten about those, because
history's for history books, not articles about technology.)
Now, though, 'guesser' also seems a
perfectly appropriate label for so many people talking about Apple. There are
so few facts and so much assumption; often, there's outright deception and
misdirection, and this does no one any good. Perhaps iOS 7 really will be a
misstep for Apple; maybe OS X Mavericks isn't what the desktop needs. However,
I'd rather wait and see what they're like once fully baked, rather than writing
off Apple months before either of its systems are set to ship.
Perhaps
iOS 7 really will be a misstep for Apple; maybe OS X Mavericks isn't what the
desktop needs.
App Spotlight:
Keyboard Maestro
The best add-ons for any system enable you
to get things done more efficiently Keyboard Maestro (keyboardmaestro.com) has
long been a leading (if ugly) Mac app for writing macros that provide a huge
amount of control over the system. Keyboard Maestro 6 has some smart new
options, notably a wireless network trigger, enabling you to totally change
your system setup on connecting to specific named networks. USB device triggers
and Safari/Chrome actions join the already large number of existing features.
Without doubt, this remains an app squarely aimed at power users, but if you
fall into that camp, it's a bargain at $36.
