Writer and Apple User Thinks Apple Has A Serious Problem

[RV_]

Before anyone takes this as a shot at Apple, perhaps folks whose dander gets disturbed by any criticism of Apple from a Windows user especially need to read the article. It is written by a very well respected tech writer, whose intent is to flag Apple and try to help. He still thinks that MS has recently messed up big time with their patches to patch buggy patches. Not just as an Apple user but one who's used them both and switched to Apple.

 

This author has gone over to Apple systems in full two years ago, knowing full well as he says, that the "It just works" campaign was nothing more than marketing hype. He was not naïve enough to think it was perfect. But as an experienced Apple user now, he raises some issues that other Apple users might want to get behind.

 

I was surprised when he switched because of Windows 8, shocked you might say. So this is NOT an article from Windows or Apple ignorant users. But raises some issues that could, and should, in his opinion, be fixed.

 

Excerpt:

 

"It looks like Apple has a serious problem when it comes to software quality, and it is something that the company needs to address if it wants to avoid a backlash.

 

It looks like Apple has a serious problem when it comes to software quality, and it is something that the company needs to address if it wants to avoid a backlash.

 

It's been a couple of years now since I moved away from Windows. Not only did I feel that Microsoft was taking the platform in a direction that wasn't compatible with what I wanted from it, but I also felt that stability issues were turning it into too much of a time-suck. People told me things were different on OS X, and for a while that was true.

But not anymore.

 

I agree with writer and developer Marco Arment when he says "software quality has fallen so much in the last few years that I'm deeply concerned for its future." It has. And I've seen that happen to both iOS and OS X over the past couple of years. The iOS 8.0.1 update that neutered my brand new iPhone 6 Plus was particularly exasperating.

 

For an excellent breakdown of the sorts of problems that OS X and iOS users are experiencing, take a look at this post by tech journalist Glenn Fleishman. He succinctly outlines the majority of the major issues currently afflicting OS X, iOS, and Apple services users. Some of these problems are trivial, while others are huge and egregious. They all need fixing.

 

What started out as robust and stable ecosystems have increasingly become buggy and problematic. For me the problems don't appear to be anywhere near as bad as they became on the Windows platform, but they are getting there. If things continue as they are, I can foresee a future where an iOS or OS X release is as buggy as Windows Vista was when it was released.

 

Ironically, Microsoft has been working hard to clean up its act, although the current situation, where patches are being pushed out to fix problems caused by earlier patches is horrendously messy.

 

And while we are on the subject of patches, Apple is slow when it comes to delivering fixes for problems, and far too many never get fixed and end up being rolled forward to the next major release, which is just unacceptable. What makes things worse is the fact that Apple is still very much a communications black hole, so we as users get little or no feedback, and have no idea whether issues affecting us are being dealt with or just ignored.

 

And to be absolutely frank, I as a consumer am getting tired of being ignored."

 

More in the article. There is a comment section under the article where those with strong feelings can vent directly at the author, just click here for the rest of the article:

http://www.zdnet.com/article/apple-has-a-serious-problem-with-software-quality/?tag=nl.e589&s_cid=e589&ttag=e589&ftag=TREc64629f

[Barbaraok]

You didn't post the writers comments the next day, which appeared in the comments section:

 

 

"This morning, my words were everywhere, chopped up and twisted by sensational opportunists to fuel the tired 'Apple is doomed!' narrative with my name on them. ... Instead, I looked back at what I wrote with regret, guilt, and embarrassment. The sensationalism was my fault — I started it with the headline and many poor word choices, which were overly harsh and extreme. I was being much nastier and more alarmist than I intended. I edited some words to be more fair and accurate, but it was too late. I can’t blame the opportunists for taking the bait that I hastily left for them."

 

http://www.marco.org/2015/01/05/popular-for-a-day

[RV_]

Barb,

You might want to take a deep breath and read that comment again. The article I quoted was by Adrian Kingsley Hughes, a long time well respected tech writer.

 

In Adrian's article he quoted four sentences from the article of another writer, Marco Arment, an Apple Tech writer I presume. The comment you quoted partially, was asking Adrian, the author of the article I quoted, if he felt next day remorse like Marco suffered.

 

Adrian Kingsley Hughes never said he regretted his article. That was the guy that he quoted a few lines in his much longer article.

 

Here is the whole comment for context, instead of it being read as If Adrian was recanting his article, in full it wasn't about this article, or author, at all.

Full comment:

 

""buddhistMonkey
6 hours ago

 

((( "I agree with writer and developer Marco Arment when he says 'software quality has fallen so much in the last few years that I'm deeply concerned for its future.'" )))

Do you still agree with Marco Arment now that, a day later, he regrets having written what you quoted? Here's his update (excerpted):

"This morning, my words were everywhere, chopped up and twisted by sensational opportunists to fuel the tired 'Apple is doomed!' narrative with my name on them. ... Instead, I looked back at what I wrote with regret, guilt, and embarrassment. The sensationalism was my fault — I started it with the headline and many poor word choices, which were overly harsh and extreme. I was being much nastier and more alarmist than I intended. I edited some words to be more fair and accurate, but it was too late. I can’t blame the opportunists for taking the bait that I hastily left for them."

Marco might not blame the opportunists, but I sure do.

http://www.marco.org/2015/01/05/popular-for-a-day "

 

Let's not read into it what isn't there.

 

Barb, Marcos, the writer who had remorse wrote his article on the fourth of Jan. He wrote his remorse comments on 5 Jan. Marco' so article is dated at the top.

 

Adrian's article is dated too, 8 Jan, four days after the article he used a quote from, and three days after Marcos railed at the non-tech pubs hyping it and said he regretted the wording but not the intent to be critical.

 

Just click on Marcos link and see that he was referring to the Huffington Post and a lot of other non tech pubs that were not being constructively critical, as many might think Adrian's article was. Adrian isn't anti Apple. He converted completely two years ago. Instead of quoting all the comments that also have had serious software issues with OSX, and defend the article. Just weigh in with your opinion. Didn't you just recently tell someone to hold off as prudent on a new upgrade?

 

Instead, let's discuss it. Has Apple gone from an automatic download with no worry, to being more like Windows where users advise folks wait to see what other users experience before trying a new patch or release? That was the premise.

 

If you advise just downloading everything new from Apple without a thought, because they have had no software issues just say so.

 

But Adrian Kingsley Hughes was not the writer with regrets that buddhist monkey was referring to in his comment. Read it again.

 

Adrian's article were his own experiences with quotes. And Marco did not regret his article per se, he at the end says he intended it to be constructive criticism, but criticism nevertheless.

 

Do feel Apple software is as good as it was ten years ago? Or not. I can only comment on the Windows getting their stuff together finally but they are not there yet. I have to rely on articles from tech writers who use OSX and are not against them. My goodness, the man got rid of all his primary machines and software and replaced them with Apple. He wants them to get back to the quality he bought into. You might agree or disagree. Hey I like Windows 8 and other Window users hate it. So? I can live with not agreeing without going for a blood feud! <grin> It is OK to criticize Apple or Windows, sometimes they listen.

[RV_]

You didn't post the writers comments the next day, which appeared in the comments section:

 

 

"This morning, my words were everywhere, chopped up and twisted by sensational opportunists to fuel the tired 'Apple is doomed!' narrative with my name on them. ... Instead, I looked back at what I wrote with regret, guilt, and embarrassment. The sensationalism was my fault — I started it with the headline and many poor word choices, which were overly harsh and extreme. I was being much nastier and more alarmist than I intended. I edited some words to be more fair and accurate, but it was too late. I can’t blame the opportunists for taking the bait that I hastily left for them."

 

http://www.marco.org/2015/01/05/popular-for-a-day

Oh and Barb, had you clicked on the links Adrian also quoted Glenn Fleischman's article, which addresses Marcos beating up by the press for his article, wherein he says on the 7th of Jan, three days after Marco's article:

 

Excerpt:

 

"Marco Arment's excellent post on Apple's current state of development has this pithy sentence:

 

…the software quality has fallen so much in the last few years that I’m deeply concerned for its future.

 

Apple has huge cash reserves, is massively profitable, and none of that seems likely to falter, nor is that by any means what Marco meant. None of us think Apple will go out of business. Rather, that we will lose the reasons we have selected using Apple's products over those of other companies. We don't pick only or primarily Apple gear because we loooooooove Apple. It's because we find its hardware and software makes it easier to do our jobs more efficiently and enjoyably; or, for personal use, that we like the experience and that they fit into our lives.

 

Marco has since written that he regrets having created this post because it was blown up and distorted far beyond his intent. The rest of the world views Marco, John Gruber, and a number of other prominent people who write about Apple and code software for its platforms as super fanboys, people who uncritically accept everything Cupertino says. This is patently false, as any brief examination of their writing and podcasts reveals endless critique alongside the praise. (I am occasionally labeled this way, too.)

 

Marco's critique was intended for those of us within the community of veteran Mac and iOS users who nod knowingly; it wasn't anything new, but rather a summarization of his frustration as a user and iOS developer. Peter Cohen wrote a similar plaint for iMore in November.

 

Many of us have been grumbling quite publicly since iOS 7 and Mavericks shipped that the fit and finish we expect either on release or shortly afterwards for Mac OS X and iOS has slipped. That we spent a lot of time dealing with bugs or, if we write about Apple, teaching people how to avoid them or work around them. That software and OS problems, once they occur, are rarely fixed in part or full; features we need are removed rather than matured; and new features are added that aren't fully baked.

 

To my recollection, Mac OS X 10.6.3 through 10.8 provided stability and new features, and they just mostly worked, as did most of the software released by Apple during that period for OS X. iOS is a different beast, in which people spend a lot of time in third-party apps. But even so, iOS 5 and 6 are, to my memory, more stable and reliable versions than iOS 7 and 8."

That link was in the article by Adrian too, it is here:

http://glog.glennf.com/blog/2015/1/6/the-software-and-services-apple-needs-to-fix ?

 

I don't see the overreaction by the Apple users to criticism at all, especially not these articles written by not just Apple users, but Apple techies and developers. C'mon, don't take your OS so seriously. If you disagree where are your comments in all three of those blogs and feedbacks?

 

It is only ones and zeros.

[Barbaraok]

You can't compare what software was like 10 years ago with today - - so much more complex, we all expect so much more.

 

I don't take any of it seriously. I really had trouble following all of it - - my husband had surgery yesterday for a scalp skin lesion that turns out when clear down to the bone and he is going to have to have radiation to make sure they got it all, so I wasn't reading as carefully as I should have been. But the article was pretty obtuse - especially since I don't remember any thing in the article that was specific as to what problems everyone seems to be having. Aside from the problem that people have with iTunes when they are using a PC, and that isn't something that bothers me in the least. I've always figured if you want iTunes, you should realize that it is by Apple and, originally, for Apple iPod users.

 

Barb

[Kirk W]

..... But the article was pretty obtuse - especially since I don't remember any thing in the article that was specific as to what problems everyone seems to be having.

That is the most attractive feature to some readers, along with the things admitted in the author's remarks. Sometimes one must consider the intent of the author and of those who quote it.

[RV_]

Barb,

I'm sorry your husband is having health challenges. I do hope his lesion has been remediated and you both get some peace again.

 

If you are interested in the subject and want to engage the topic constructively, when you've the time, I've provided all the links that you can read and respond directly to by some of Apples top knowledgeable developers and users. You could help improve Apple overall by understanding the issues raised fully. Attacking the authors is something many feel is an acceptable response when they don't understand, or want to understand the issues, and flat don't care or have rational counter arguments. On our national level we see that in the recent Ebola reaction and the non discourse about climate change because it is restricting polluters who repeat over and over there is no science facts, they are all theory.

 

I think that criticism of companies that very well should have their stuff together, especially ones like Apple and Microsoft, that need to respond to their customers issues, is healthy, in fact necessary. As you now see, if you want specifics you can go back to all three Apple authors under discussion because their blog links were written and considered by Adrian before he wrote his criticism which was constructive. I again provided all the links so anyone can read the last few weeks of their published articles. You might even want to get involved at the source, those blogs specifically if you have some reasoning they overlooked, and comment there for clarification. I don't use Apple but just from reading have a feel for how frustrated their technically proficient customers and developer have become. These are not easily dismissed ignorant users. Nor Windows fanatics trying to pass a Apple literati. All three authors have years of work you can read to see they are credible. The responses in the feedbacks are what are in-credible.

 

Reading the comments, I can also see folks taking anything they can out of context rather than engage the topic on those feedbacks, and folks grabbing those erroneous feedbacks completely out of context once more removed. If you really want specifics engage the authors directly, read their blogs, and those of their peers. These are not noobs to Apple, nor to rational approaches to problems they see as cracks increasingly widening in the Apple software products delivered. They do a service for Apple users. And remind Apple corporate that people are noticing, and there is competition. Folks will move to a software environment they perceive as easier to use, with open company support. Wouldn't you rather Apple fix the problems they very well can?

 

The articles are not vague mudslinging on poor old Apple. Apple tech writers are entitled to write their critiques just as you are entitled to disagree with them.

 

Let me repeat the first paragraph I wrote in this thread that said:

 

"Before anyone takes this as a shot at Apple, perhaps folks whose dander gets disturbed by any criticism of Apple from a Windows user especially need to read the article. It is written by a very well respected tech writer, whose intent is to flag Apple and try to help. He still thinks that MS has recently messed up big time with their patches to patch buggy patches. Not just as an Apple user but one who's used them both and switched to Apple."

 

Barb,

I agree about iTunes and all software written by Apple for Windows. I use zero Apple software on my PCs. There is better much less bloated music programs for storing, sorting, ripping, and playing music both open source, freeware, and already included with Windows. I still like Android use Windows Media Player and I have more than 30k songs ripped from my DJ collection from 20 years of professionally gigging as a mobile DJ/emcee on weekends. I got paid to party. Xbox music and their old Zune iPod competitor went away just like the iPod will soon. No one is willing to pay several hundred bucks for what they can buy cheap and use in all our tablets and phones. My newer Windows phone has just a bit under 64GB of music on it's 64GB micro SD card. 64GB micro cards from the top manufacturers are less than 30 bucks on sales regularly. Windows comes with Media Player, XBox music and Windows Media Center. I prefer plain old Media player, and when I need more codecs or capabilities I use VLC media player, which is awesome and free.

 

Like you go all Apple, I go all MS, and MS specific software from paid sources and open source. I post articles critical of Microsoft and Windows. I post articles that praise their products. Same with Linux. And get some of the same reflex responses. Folks nee to understand that I have a life and they reflex responders are not my focus in life.

 

I also agree with you that you can't compare the products of ten years ago with the products of today. Adrian did not use Apple ten years ago. He switched in good faith to years ago, and has noticed a distinct decline in quality in that time. Two years not ten.

 

Imagine what would happen if they had to deal with hundreds of different hardware and software external vendor products too. They control all aspects of their ecosystem. Problems are to be expected I agree. That does not excuse hiding them, or not fixing them. That was the topic Adrian addressed after the two others wrote and got attacked not for content but for saying anything at all critical of Apple.

 

But none of the topics the Apple users were batting about in all three articles, were about Windows folks using Apple software like iTunes, were they?

[RV_]

That is the most attractive feature to some readers, along with the things admitted in the author's remarks. Sometimes one must consider the intent of the author and of those who quote it.

 

Barb,

You can explain it to Kirk. He just did the same thing except jumped on your comment jumping on the feedback comment that was about a different author than the one in the link.

[Barbaraok]

All most all of the problems I read about involve 3rd party software trying to work with the OS system. And yes, somewhere in the replays was the PC complaint about iTunes. Since we've always used Apple devices, we've never had a problem with iTunes, and most of the complaints involve those not using an Apple product.

 

The other problem is that early adopters, of any new software, often run into trouble. I always wait and see.

 

BTW, I still have no idea what specific problem(s) the writer is having, do you?

 

Barb

[RV_]

Barb, which complaints below as you said "All most all of the problems I read about involve 3rd party software trying to work with the OS system."?

 

And which of the specifics below as you said "involve those not using an Apple product."?

 

You can read the ones in the comments after the referenced article.

 

Glenn is not a noob nor is Adrian who both had and have realistic expectations of all software. Yeah Barb, he referenced Glenn's article for those interested. It was not necessary to repeat such a long list since he referenced it, and you went there long enough to see iTunes mentioned. as a mishmash in OSX computers not Windows machines. But since you asked here is the answer from the article Glenn wrote that Adrian referenced you to clearly, for the specifics. Adrian said:

 

"For an excellent breakdown of the sorts of problems that OS X and iOS users are experiencing, take a look at this post by tech journalist Glenn Fleishman. He succinctly outlines the majority of the major issues currently afflicting OS X, iOS, and Apple services users. Some of these problems are trivial, while others are huge and egregious. They all need fixing."

 

That from the original article above. And that particular sentence I included in my original Excerpt above. Three sentences, no tech. Obtuse? He referenced the specifics were in Glenn Fleischman's article, as did I in my excerpt in my first post in this thread, the OP.

 

 

And the specifics in Glenn's article, since you ask and insist, are these, red color mine added:

 

"Even while it leaps forward with features in its operating systems, Apple has a huge installed base it drags with it. And even if, for instance, iTunes has been a terrible mishmash for a decade, the fact that it continues to be one with a major new release in 2015 is beyond the pale: Apple should be learning, not starting over and re-inventing when it comes to stability and experience. They can evolve to add Continuity and fix iPhoto, for instance; or ensure that months after release, its flagship Handoff feature works reliably.

 

Part of what makes these sorts of statements reasonable, though, is to enumerate the problems, whether they're long-running or unique to Yosemite or iOS 8 (or to the last two releases of each system). Here's a list of regularly recurring issues or fundamental problems I've seen supplemented by those provided by others. Post your quirks in the comments.

 

Derek note: He gets more specifics added to the list in the comments at the end of his article here: http://glog.glennf.com/blog/2015/1/6/the-software-and-services-apple-needs-to-fix

 

Mac OS X
•General reliability. The point of owning a Mac is to not have to reboot it regularly. There have been times in the past between OS X updates where I've gone weeks to months without a restart. With Yosemite, I typically have to reboot my laptop at least once a day, and my desktop every few days of use. Rene Ritchie of iMore notes that no two machines he owns have the same issues, even. Apps will spontaneously quit for no reason, sometimes in cascades, requiring a restart.

•Massive accumulation of paging files. Mavericks rejuvenated my mid-2011 MacBook Air, which is limited to 4 GB of RAM, by adding memory compression. However, Yosemite set me back on this machine and a late-2011 Mac mini with 16 GB of RAM. (Physical memory is also often shown as fully consumed when the processes' memory use doesn't add up to that, and quitting high-memory-using processes doesn't release memory.) Over time, virtual memory or other related "paging" files (swapping in bits of memory to and from disk) accumulate to the tune of 20 to 30 GB. With a 250 GB internal drive on both computers, this starts to push me towards a full drive. Rebooting clears these files. Mavericks may have had a similar problem, but it's certainly more pronounced.

•User interface slowdowns until reboot. Marco reported this problem, a common one among Yosemite users, and somewhat unprecedented in Mac OS X. It may be related to swapping.

•Network shares and printers disappear.

•The attack of the 50-foot save sheet. Jason Snell named this phenomenon, in which Yosemite's save sheet (or save dialog) grows by 22 pixels every time you invoke it until you lose your mind.

•Incremental Bonjour network names. The name of your computer as it appears in the Sharing preferences pane is broadcast using Bonjour over the local network. However, with File Sharing or other features enabled, Yosemite regularly decides that the name is in conflict with

itself, and increments the number. So you see "Glenn's MacBook Air (2)", "3", and so on.

•Screen Sharing either slows down, isn't available, or becomes unreliable. Recently, Yosemite stopped showing me local network and Back to My Mac availability of screen sharing on computers I've used for years in this way. Some report incredibly slow performance between

Yosemite and older systems. The automatic pan for a remote screen larger than the local screen's window sometimes works then fails after the screen has been up for a while. Sometimes it fails to work at all.

•Messages has many different problems. The failure to sync across platforms and devices remains terrible. It is impossible to predict when and where an alert will appear, or whether it will appear on all devices, or whether it will be accessible in the history of all devices. Badging is erratic (showing a number when there are no unread messages). The number of times Messages dies on me and tells me an internal error occurs is very large. Some users report having their Messages and FaceTime accounts lock up, and have to call Apple (call them on the phone, yes!) to tell them a code, which unlocks access.

•Spaces, the feature that lets you have multiple desktops, works horribly across both my regular systems. One has two screens always connected; the other is a laptop that is sometimes supplemented with an external monitor. On one system, it's broken entirely, possibly because it was upgraded from Mavericks, and a wonky bit of preference editing might help (but might break things further). The other shows all appropriate options and fails to remember and place windows. Sometimes the screen scrolls as if moving to another Space, but it shows the same space.

 

•Mail probably produces more anger than any other piece of Apple's software because it's so critical. One colleague notes "SMTP refusals with no clear resolution"; I've had the app suddenly tell me all connections are broken and refuse to fix them. Quitting and launching sometimes helps; other times, a system reboot is required.

•Wi-Fi remains inconsistent and unreliable for many Yosemite users, and is the number one complaint that I hear from others. In my house, roaming no longer works as it did in Mavericks, and I often have to turn Wi-Fi off and back on, or force disconnect from a base station (Option > click Wi-Fi menu, choose Disconnect in the menu) and then reconnect to regain a connection.

•iPhoto has been underpowered and wonky from the start, including how it organizes photos for storage, and while it initially improved in features and functionality, it's years now that it's been of unacceptably low quality and stability. Apple promises a new Photos app will replace it, but it's not out yet. iOS 8 no longer reliably syncs with iPhoto, according to some reports.

•Aperture was never brought to its full potential, and is now abandoned, even though Apple continues to sell it. One colleague wrote, "long time non-pro Aperture user. Stopping Aperture development before having the new Photos for Mac ready was absolutely cuckoo."

•iTunes has been a dog's lunch of unrelated features crammed into the same sack for years; iTunes 12 is the worst release yet, rearranging where we find things without actually improving the experience. My wife was nearly red with anger recently trying to perform a task in iTunes she's done for years.

•iWork ’12 was a giant step back from iWork ’09, although a refresh was needed. Too many features were removed and the interface is poor. The ability import files older than ’09 was removed. Even after many updates, full functionality and utility hasn't been restored.

•iBooks reliability issues abound, including a failure to sync annotations.

•Spontaneous logout of all users. I haven't seen this, but one colleague has this new problem under Yosemite (on a system on which people regularly switch among users), and no solution on Apple's discussion forums.

•Failure to support 4K at 60 Hz reliably. This will be an increasing issue as 4K displays enter the market and Macs are available that support them.

iOS software

•Bad performance on older devices: Apple is between a rock and a hard place. If it drops support for older iOS hardware, it angers users and deters future purchases, as people lose patience with obsolescence. If it offers full, optimized support, it fails to let its newest hardware shine to its best advantage. However, even relatively well-powered devices not at the far end of backward compatibility for iOS 8 suffer under the new releases.

•AirDrop, even in iOS 8, remains scattershot and unreliable even when all system requirements are met. (I did just discover that AirDrop between iOS 8 and Yosemite imposes the same requirements as Handoff to work, even if a Mac is well within the AirDrop system requirements.)

•Podcast app stalls on downloads and requires a system restart to begin downloads again.

•App search routinely fails in Spotlight after a restart. It appears later, sometimes much later, for no apparent reason.

•Bluetooth pairing is unreliable, whether that's an OS X or iOS feature problem, I'm not sure. It recently took several tries with no variation in what I was doing, testing with different Macs and iOS devices, to get a pairing that wasn't then removed for being incompatible.

•Third-party keyboards crash in Apple apps. I rarely have them crash in other apps, but Messages, Mail, and Safari consistently "crash" the keyboards, which requires switching to another app, choosing another keyboard, returning to the Apple app, then switching away and back again to finally get them working again. (This may be a third-party development problem, but given that it happens almost exclusively with those three Apple apps, it's hard to know who to blame.)

Services

•Apple IDs can't be merged. Long-time Apple users often have two or more Apple IDs because this was either of necessity or it didn't matter. Now that Apple has centralized the Apple ID as the hub of identity, you would expect it would be possible to merge purchases and other data into a single master account. It is not. May I remind you this is 2015. (Some may be related to contractual issues for media licensing, but I doubt that's anything like the whole story.)

•Family Sharing isn't ready for prime time. Apple has never been good with letting more than one person in a grouping share stuff, and Family Sharing is an attempt to fix that. However, its arbitrary limits and its wonkiness have led some, like David Sparks, to walk away from it. Jason Snell and Myke Hurley on a recent Upgrade podcast episode suggested that Family Sharing feels designed by people without families, given how poor some options and behaviors are.

•Apple can choose to unlock Apple ID accounts locked for security purposes and generally chooses not to. (There's some confusion in the comments: this is when Apple locks an account, preventing the use of the currently valid password; it has nothing to do with Apple knowing the unencrypted password, which it doesn't have access to. Update: an anonymous commenter says this kind of lock is irreversible; certain kinds of iTunes account lockouts are.) When Owen Williams was recently locked out for security reasons from his two-factor protected Apple ID—someone may have been attempting to gain access to his account—Apple customer support repeatedly refused to unlock his account no matter what information he could provide. Ultimately, he found his Recovery Key and was able to reset his account. Had he not, his account purchases and associated data would have been permanently lost. I understand the security side of this, but given that he had trusted devices and other identity components, this is baffling."

 

And from this point on I will leave it up to you to read the articles posted, and the referenced and included links in them. Once again, the article Adrian referenced for the specifics they are all three writing about, with more "specifics" added by everyday users in Glenn's article's comments. That link is still in the original article, and before being asked, I will put it here again: http://glog.glennf.com/blog/2015/1/6/the-software-and-services-apple-needs-to-fix

 

Now would you specifically refute each or agree? Don't forget the Apple user comments at the end of the article where they add more specifics.

 

Now I am done. You have more valid info than you had before my article. I've achieved my goal. Information not attacks. Your goal is?

[RV_]

BTW

Who is this upstart who dares to criticize Apple with specifics? Why his brief bio is on the top left of his article which link is above:

 

"Journalist Glenn Fleishman occupies both the editor and publisher roles at The Magazine, hosted the podcast The New Disruptors, and contributes regularly to the Economist, Boing Boing, and Macworld. Banner picture of Carl Montford's hand, taken by yours truly in his home letterpress shop. Subscribe via RSS or Twitter to a feed of most of my articles published everywhere."

[Barbaraok]

As the eyes glaze over, all I can say is the poor guy needs to buy something else. But then most of the comments are what others say. If I had all those complaints I'd go to something else.

 

I should know better than to reply to your updates because they all require hours of following links, etc. and I don't have the time nor the inclination. It interferes with time enjoying the warm weather in the desert.

 

Barb