Time to Act
To the AppleVis Board: please feel free to hijack this post if you will conduct a better poll and report the results.
To applevis members:
Do you want to let Apple know how many of us refuse to update for fear of bitterly regretting it? Do you want to let Apple know how unhappy we are with the accessibility problems their major IOS and MacOS upgrades are causing us?
I did not upgrade to IOS 14.5 or MacOS 11.3. Why? Because I've had too many unhappy upgrade experiences in the past. Now, reading on applevis.com about all the unhappy experiences everyone is having with the latest upgrades, I'm thinking it's time to tell Apple what they're doing to us, and what they're doing to their company.
Please vote.
1. I do not trust major Apple IOS and/or MacOS upgrades because of the accessibility problems they too often create:
yes/no?
2. I have regretted upgrading:
yes/no?
3. I have decided to avoid major upgrades until after the major accessibility bugs they create have been resolved:
yes/no?
4. As a result of the accessibility problems major IOS and/or MacOS upgrades have caused, my opinion of Apple has changed for the:
better/unchanged/worse?
Thank you for participating in this poll. I intend to send the results to Apple Accessibility. If you have suggestions for rephrasing my questions or adding to them, please let me know. I can edit this post to include them if helpful. If this poll improves our lives in the future, I'm happy. If no one responds, I'll be happy thinking it's just me. smile
Thank you,
Bruce Harrell
Comments
Debunking a myth
I have seen several comments now stating that there will always be bugs. This is at best misleading.
The field of computer programming is known formally as "software engineering". When software is approached as an engineering problem, and undertaken with accepted engineering standards and practices, it is indeed possible to produce software products that are free of bugs. But the extensive planning, development of prototypes and specifications, and thorough testing necessary to accomplish this increase the cost dramatically.
More importantly, engineering restricts a company from making future modifications to their product. Not just Apple is at fault here. Every company must weigh the cost of rigorous engineering practices against marketing-driven feature creep, and their decision is driven largely by watching what their competition is doing. When everyone else is driving new sales with flashy new features that also introduce bugs, then there's little incentive to put out that long-awaited bug fix release.
I am fully aware that the current state of smartphone development might lead many of you to believe that I am a nutcase for even suggesting more rigorous engineering standards. To be clear, I am merely pointing out the root cause of why we see so many bugs. While better development standards would go a long way toward improving quality, I realize that adopting them would be akin to steering an aircraft carrier in a new heading.
All that being said, let me change the topic slightly.
I used computers and smartphones as a sighted user up until about 2014, and at that point switched to using primarily screen readers. And I think it's important to note that I noticed much fewer bugs before 2014 and a lot more after I switched. It has been my experience that sighted use is well-tested while blind use receives significantly less attention in the QA department.
If a company is unlikely to implement rigorous engineering standards for their sighted users, how much less likely are they to incur that cost for a much smaller group of niche users with special needs? This is the reality we face, and the challenge in bringing about substantial industry change.
No one said bug proof that I noticed
Hi Dennis,
I am sure you will agree, for example, that IOS 15.0 has a great deal more bugs than IOS 14.8? In fact, I believe you will agree the final version always has lots fewer bugs than the first? You agree with that, right?
Now that we're on the same page, I repeat that I am happy (yes, you heard VoiceOver right -- I said happy) that I didn't upgrade to IOS 15 or MacOS 12. One of many reasons is that when I upgraded to Big Sur in 2020, I had to deal with a problem that prevented me from using my music studio digital interface until this past August. The interface makes recording and playback possible. No interface; no recording or playback.
So, I'm happy I'm not upgrading now. I'll wait until the final version next Summer. Then maybe I'll upgrade. We'll see.
As for everyone else, if you're happy with your first version upgrades, I am happy for you. (Looking around suspiciously.). You heard that word again? Happy?
I sure hope no one thinks this is a negative post. It's amazing how some folks can turn positive into negative, isn't it?
Joy!
Bruce
Well said, Paul!
Thank you, Paul, for stating the matter so clearly and accurately. Well said.