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Aaron Greenspan
If only gains in productivity were linearly correlated... Software bloat and lousy programming negates most of these improvements in processing speed.
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August 1, 2022 at 1:03 PM EDT •  Reply |
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Aaron Greenspan
I spent the day dealing with Apple, Inc. (AAPL). Here's how that went.
My MacBook Pro's battery started to expand for the second time a few months back. You can always tell because your keyboard starts to no longer lay flat, and bloated Li-ion batteries are never a good thing (see "fire risk," "explosions," etc.). I learned after taking it in for service that you're not supposed to leave a laptop plugged in all the time, so I'll start unplugging the machine at night—simple enough. But this entire experience has left a lot to be desired, starting with the fact that they could have told me that when I had the exact same problem two years ago. Better yet, put it in the manual or an insert in the packaging. Avoiding exploding batteries seems important!
Also, Apple has recalled other laptop models from adjacent timeframes to the one I have to resolve this very issue. Sadly, my model isn't covered.
Due to the pandemic-related supply chain issues, it took Apple about a month and a half to complete the service on the battery, instead of the expected six days. I dropped off my laptop at the Apple Store on April 18th and got it back today. They were nice enough to comp the repair, but only because I finally got in touch with their executive escalation team when a couple weeks in, on the fourth try or so, I couldn't reach anyone at the Store, or at the call center, who could tell me what was actually going on. When I asked the call center for details, they'd simply call the store, and then report that no one picked up. This, from an (at the time) $3 trillion company that literally invented something called iMessage.
Fortunately, I have a backup machine for exactly this type of situation, so the delay didn't have any impact on my work. But it did mean that all of the software licenses that check your CPU ID went a bit hayware, and I had to re-register Microsoft Office over the phone using a 54-digit code. These days, software companies have a tendency to disconnect their licensing servers after a while to force you to upgrade. (Yes, I'm looking at you, Adobe Systems, Inc. (ADBE) and Microsoft Corporation (MSFT).)
In the Apple Store, which had been warned well in advance that I would be bringing in my backup machine to get its battery fixed as well for the same reason, all I had to do was swap the SSD modules in each to hand over the system in need of repair with nothing important on it. But merely unscrewing the bottom of two laptops on an otherwise empty table where I was in no other customer's way was enough to make the manager upset. Apple can't possibly be seen to have sold computers in need of repair, can it? The manager, who I'm pretty sure didn't offer his name, walked over and insisted that I stop just before I was nearly done. He suggested that I leave the store with my two disassembled laptops and finish outside. An employee told me I could break my computer or give it a static shock. I told her I wasn't worried—they were my computers, not Apple's—and that attempting to repair two disassembled units outside in shopping mall (this is California, so outside means outside) sounded like a pretty good way to break them. After some back-and-forth and a call to the executive escalation team handling my case (which didn't pick up), I told the manager he could escort me out or do whatever he needed to do, but I was swapping the SSDs in my laptops whether he liked it or not. And so I did, after which he simply went away. I may have pointed out that the FTC is interested in right to repair issues around which there are now federal regulations, or at least drafts of them. I get that Apple doesn't want messy repairs going on all over its store, but this was more akin to plugging a USB key into a port. To the manager's credit, he did eventually offer to have a technician handle the swap in the back, which would have been fine had he suggested it in the first place, but by the time he offered I was so upset that I just wanted to finish what I had started. As I pointed out to the manager, his escalation of the issue meant that it took about five times longer to get the laptops closed up.
Finally, I went home with the first laptop and Apple sent the second off to be repaired.
Of course, now that I have my original machine back, one would hope that the original software license file for Office would recognize the original CPU ID and everyone would happily go on their way. Sadly, no. I had to try another 54-digit code, only to be told that Microsoft could no longer validate my license, probably because they don't like it when you try to register it twice in the span of two months. So fine, I've been putting off upgrading Office for a while. I guess it's time.
This is where it gets tricky. New Office requires new Mac OS.
New Mac OS doesn't run 32-bit applications. A lot of my software is 32-bit. This raises the interesting question of whether software vendors should be required to provide software you paid for in 32-bit and 64-bit versions. Interestingly, on Windows, Adobe provides both versions for Creative Suite 5.5. But on Mac, you're out of luck. (Has there ever been a lawsuit alleging that consumers are owed this?)
Whatever, I told myself, I guess I'll upgrade that old stuff too. But you can't, really. The new versions are all rentals on the "cloud" and I'd really just prefer to pay for my software once, thank you very much. (Am I a hypocrite because I run a software subscription service? Not really. PlainSite is constantly updated with new content from courts nationwide, so it's a lot more like a newspaper than a metal machine that does a set task. Photoshop is a machine in software form.)
So I go to install Mac OS Monterey. I barely have enough time to read "29 minutes remaining..." before the screen goes black and I get an error message saying that a firmware update can't been installed because I'm not using the original Apple SSD. Well, no, I'm not. Apple's 1TB SSDs were extremely overpriced when I bought this computer. But also, who cares? Why do I need to in order to upgrade the computer's firmware when that has nothing to do with the SSD anyway? Google results say that the solution is literally to swap out your SSD for an Apple one. That's annoying, but I get it over with, the OS upgrade installs, I get Mac OS Monterey on the blank system on that SSD, and then put mine back. Now the firmware update is already complete.
Then I get to install Monterey for the second time. This proves more complicated that I'm expecting. Although I get past the firmware step now, it takes about an hour to install and then it finally gets to "Less than a minute remaining..." It says that for about 30 minutes. Since nothing is happening, and there are reports on the internet of the installer freezing there, I decide to turn off the computer and try again. But it just starts the process over and gets stuck there a second time. This time I leave it alone and finally, after 50 minutes, it budges.
50 minutes of "Less than a minute remaining..." is not good user interface design!
After watching the white progress bar move arbitrarily against the black background another 3-4 times, the computer finally boots into the purple OS installer, but then it sits there for another 20 minutes with a spinning wheel that tells me nothing. Finally, a notification appears saying that my Mac is being "optimized," whatever that means. Apple doesn't say.
It's basically another hour before I can even see my desktop and even then it's totally non-responsive. In the background, the system is doing about a dozen things that are all CPU intensive at the same time that I didn't ask it to do and that it never told me it needed to. So all the user (in this case, me) sees is a super laggy computer that doesn't appear to work. It's going through my photo album and upgrading the database. It's re-indexing my entire hard drive. It's upgrading the Mail database. It's doing something with kernel extensions. It's running the Malware Removal Tool that fails to find all kinds of malware. All in secret for some reason.
Would an OS upgrade checklist that gets updated as progress is made really kill the designers at Apple?
The cherry on top is that after all of this, the clock in the top right corner of the menu bar disappeared for no reason, because apparently that's a known bug with the Monterey installer. Also, the "Battery" System Preferences panel won't open at all. So Apple has deployed software that is both not great from a UX perspective and annoyingly buggy, while zeroing out my investment in software that was working just fine for years because it has the wrong number of bits.
At this point I think I have a usable computer again that won't blow up unexpectedly. I'm certainly thankful for that. But getting to this point really should not have been this difficult. The FTC should look into some of this. We shouldn't have to live in a world of forced obsolescence where people get yelled at for attempting to prepare their defective computers for repair in the computer store.
Update: the next morning, Mail is still parsing my e-mail database, and Music, the replacement application for iTunes, has lost all of my music. Another known bug. Sure, you can hold down Option and find your old iTunes library to have it converted, but why didn't the installer figure this out and just convert it? There are tons of others on the internet asking what happened to their music after upgrading. Thanks, Apple!
Another update: the morning after that, Mac OS Monterey reports that I have no audio input or output devices in System Preferences, so I can't participate in a video conference. I have to run sudo killall coreaudiod to fix that (which I learned after the meeting), but then they are listed twice in the audio menu. All totally inexplicable. |
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June 7, 2022 at 3:52 AM EDT • Reply |
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