[rusk]

I have a shining counterexample to your thesis:

    https://arstechnica.com/apple/2015/01/why-dns-in-os-x-10-10-is-broken-and-what-you-can-do-to-fix-it/

In almost all my experiences reimplementing established software in a commercial environment "building a better wheel" has met with failure. Or in the very least it took some time to get it back to a level of acceptable that our customers were happy with.

This idea that it's easier to start from scratch than maintain old code is almost always borne of hubris.

The thing that many people miss is that software in active use is a "living thing" that has undergone many evolutionary iterations between developer and user before it's been gotten right.

There is so much implicit knowledge & experience embedded in the code itself. When you say you want to replace something with a "new" version you're effectively doing something similar to sacking an experienced engineer and replacing them with a graduate.

That's not to say that good enough is good enough. But it's important to remember that improving on "good enough" is hard. If you don't have a commercial mandate or other good reason for improving it it just may not be worth your time.

[markhahn]

Apple is in the vanguard of only one thing: marketing.

[rusk]

What a lame and supercilious comment.

[theoh]

Even the great Butler Lampson has a slide set online which includes the item

Design (Apple's forté)

This is arguably a slightly more defensible version of the GP.

[rusk]

I'm embarrassed to say I hadn't heard of him before now. Reading his Bio he does seem like something of a heavyweight!

I have some sympathy for our friend's point of view here, even if it is orthogonal to what I was saying. Particularly more recent developments but I have no time for this kind of snarky, pugnacious sniping.

I would suggest that Apple's real strength (or should I say Steve Jobs') was "Product Development" which yes includes a large component of marketing and I really don't see that as a bad thing. It's not like what was being marketed was a substandard product? People paid a premium and got a premium device.

That you don't get the same quality any more is no reason to decry the brand itself as only being good at marketing. Their devices are even today physically manufactured to the highest standards, but historically they have developed superbly engineered products. Yes this cannot be credited to Jobs, but he did identify and harness the talent.

This topic isn't black and white and perhaps there are many shortcomings to Apple, and to Jobs, but this kind of single-line snark does nobody any justice, in particular the commenter himself.