Why Apple is Kicking Everyone’s Ass – The Real Cost of Software Development is Usability

The Naked Entrepreneurs ^ | 04/08/2010 | Chris the Brain

[Swordmaker]

What does Apple get that Sony, HP, Microsoft, Dell, Samsung, and LG don’t?…. Usability in software. All these other geeks out there making hardware love packing on “specs”, stuffing big numbers like RAM, gigahertz, and hard drive space into small or cool looking gadgets. It all looks good on paper, but after you use one of their gadgets for more than a few weeks, you just want to throw it out a window. Thousands of new gadgets released every year all using the same-old crappy unfriendly, unintuitive, unattractive software. It’s no wonder so many are flocking to Apple when we can just pickup one of their simplistic products, start taping and swiping our fingers, and lo and behold… it just does what we want it to do. Of course, it isn’t easy, or cheap, to make software this user friendly, which is why everyone is having such a hard time keeping up.

As a software developer, I hear the phrase “I just want it to…”. Which, as any experienced software developer knows, is the most expensive phrase we ever hear. People have software needs all the time, which may require vast complicated effort to achieve, but they want it to hide all that complication behind a simple and user-friendly interface. What most people don’t know is that making software do just about anything doesn’t cost nearly as much as making it easy and intuitive for them to use. This lack of cost awareness is what ruins so many “brilliant” product ideas.

Sony is, in my opinion, the worst offender. In the past decade, I have seen Sony release cutting-edge gadgets to the market before anyone else. The PSP was an amazing gadget when it came out, in theory. It played music, videos, viewed photos, surfed the web, and of course, played games. The problem was that, excluding the last feature, it didn’t do any of them well. In fact, all the claimed features were so hard to use that almost no one could figure it out. Then, even more idiotically, Sony received reports that users were not using the extra features and stopped improving them! Sony could have been the what the iPod Touch is today, but lost the chance with bad software.

But I don’t just write this to rant, I write this as a warning to other business owners and entrepreneurs out there. Developing software and technology is one thing, but making it user friendly is another. In fact, usability can consume up to 80% of a project’s time and resources. That is, if your actually going to make something people will want to use. You have to build it, review it, fix it, test it, fix it, beta release, fix it, get feedback, fix it, get more feedback, fix it… and maybe… just maybe… people will be able to actually use it.

This is why the only mobile platform even close to keeping up with Apple is Google’s Android. Google is the only one in the fight with the know-how and resources to keep up. Even RIM, makers if the Blackberry, can’t keep their mobile software up to par, they have to invest in starting from scratch or spending huge resources in fixing what they have.

If you or your company has a “great idea” for an application or gadget, just remember, once you price the development… multiply it a couple times for usability.

[Swordmaker]

So Apple could not do what every other manufacturer who uses LiPo batteries can do. Good to know they're not as good, and cannot make a simple, removable package like all other manufacturers!

Apple's engineers made different choices... choices to maximize hours and minimize weight and size. To do so, the omitted hardware required to make the battery removable, like a battery case, a door, latching mechanisms, springs, non permanent contacts (which are failure points due to corrosion), etc. By making this choice, batteries do not have to be a monolithic block but can be placed where ever there is convenient space left by other design considerations dictated by form factors of the device, not the requirements dictated by the necessity of having to have a conveniently removable battery package. Even if the battery is built to integrate to appear almost as part of the external casing of the unit, there will still be a joint that allows access to dust and other foreign matter in the back of the device.

There is also a secondary inside wall, as well as four side walls in the battery's protective casing, adding weight that is unnecessary in Apple's design. How much thicker, wider, longer, and heavier would the unit have to be to accommodate an equal watt/hour capacity removable battery, Puget? What compromises on placements of internal components would have to be made to include such a choice?

They also extended the life and number of charge cycles of those batteries beyond what the other manufacturers have done... if the iPad batteries are the equal of the batteries in the newer MacBooks, they have an expected service life of 5 years before they reach 50% depletion under normal usage.

The HP Slate shown by Microsoft's Steve Balmer this month weighs in at 2.2 pounds... compared to the iPad's 1.5, yet the width and length dimensions are pretty much the same... perhaps the difference is in the removable 5-6 hour (reported) battery???? At 1.5 Lbs, the iPad is about the same weight as a hard back bestselling book... at 2.2 lbs, the HP is possibly too heavy to hold for any length of time.

[dangerdoc]

Look at my reply to Swordmaker above. On his advice, I bought my wife a macbook about a year and half ago. I paid 3 times as much as the notebook I was using at the time. Her computer’s battery has crapped out. I have no idea how much they are going to charge me to crack the case and remove it.

I still got pulled into midnight tech emergencies. I do have to admit that the number of requests have gone down, she will actually press the attach document button on her web email instead of having me attach her documents when on the Mac. This is a mystery to me as she is using Yahoo mail and it is the same button whether using Safari or Firefox.

My old notebook lasted three years before the fan started making noise. It still works, but I got to buy a shiny new laptop, frankly after a couple of years, I want to upgrade. I have a 500 gig hard drive and a processor that is about 10 times faster. I also got Win 7 which I like better than XP.

Don’t get me started on the hours of torture I’ve had trying to help my wife manage 5 various iPod devices for her and the kids. Why can’t I just drag and drop the songs they want directly onto the device?

I’m hoping that the Mac will give her the confidence to learn how to use her Win 7 notebook. When she has a problem, it is much easier for me to fix it on a PC.

[Swordmaker]

OSX/Leap-A was a real, in-the-wild virus from 2006. Apple itself recommends virus scanning software because viruses and trojans exist in the real world, in the wild.

No, it was not. OSX/Leap A, also called Oompa-Loompa.A, was a proof of concept virus. It was the one that took the engineers all that effort just to get it to copy from one Mac to another. It was sent to two computer security companies by its author, one named it Leap.A and the other named it Oompa-Loompa.A. Again, I remind you, I posted all the news about these contemporaneously when they came out... and followed the research and the follow-up that DID NOT GET THE WIDE SPREAD HOOPLA the hype did when first they were first announced... and I posted the actual facts as they came out on FR. EVERY ONE of them was a three day wonder, usually announced by a security company wanting to sell their Mac anti-virus software. The only way that OSX/Leap.A could be described as being "in the wild" is that someone, probably the author, posted the uncompiled code up on a hackers website for people to examine... including the comment, "so much code, so little results" that its author had put in it. As a result, Leap.B and Leap.C were soon posted to the same site... different only in the proposed payloads included. Secunia reports Leap.A incidence of infection as being between 0 and 49... true only because that statistic includes ZERO in its metric. As I stated, Leap.A did not work. Nor did Inqtana, or Macarena, or any of the others... they failed because they could not find a vector to spread from Mac to Mac.

The Trojans are the only ones any one has to worry about...which require social engineering to persuade the user to download and install... and OS X Leopard and Snow Leopard will warn you when you download any of the ones in the three identified families. And Apple will update their security for any new ones that pop up.

Apple retracted the long standing recommendation that had been on their website since before OS X was released. After a long OS X Security Page that starts out by stating categorically "Mac OS X doesn’t get PC viruses. And its built-in defenses help keep you safe from other malware without the hassle of constant alerts and sweeps." Apple does add this small paragraph, instead of the one that used to strongly recommend running anti-virus software left over from MacOS 9 and before (stress is mine). :

"Security Advice
The Mac is designed with built-in technologies that provide protection against malicious software and security threats right out of the box. However, since no system can be 100 percent immune from every threat, antivirus software may offer additional protection."

That's a pretty mild recommendation... and was only put back on the page when the various anti-virus publishers complained to Apple that their previous recommendation that anti-virus software was unnecessary was hurting their business... a few days after Apple removed the original, old, legacy message. At the same time as the changed the recommendation, Apple discontinued offering VireX (?) anti-virus software with their Mobile me accounts as unnecessary.

[WVKayaker]

I know what you mean (sarasm off).

My APPL products have given me lots of profits and saved me tons of money as a general contractor (3.5 million annual sales of small to medium homes), and in sales of rural land. I now wear shorts, and walk on mountaintops for a living,. with my dog. I drive an old Explorer daily, with 225k on it. 4wd still works fine on these WV hills. It's paid for, like the other 5 vehicles in the driveway and garage.

I am president of a small 501c3 foundation that builds hospitals in Africa. It gives me something to do with those profits! My kids are well provided. I do wear sandals, and look at most carhart guys as lazy wannabes with an attitude. My friends build bridges and airports.

As for swapping out windows, I have been a GC since the 80's. my newest sideline is solar hot water heat... sales and installs, with a few million units to sell! All profits are designated into the 501, for job funding.

I am preparing to sell Chinese units at half the price of domestic systems. Most domestic producers are buying components from China, assembling them here, and say "Buy American". It furnishes the ONLY sensible usage of the sun's energy. It actually pays for itself. China is almost 70% solar for water heating, and on the way for whole house heat.

I intend to hire 10,000-20,000 installers instead! We will also be developing another 20-100,000 jobs in WV this year, with three other projects, hopefully also to be funded by China. I'll gladly use their money to make jobs here. We will pay interest on their loans to us, unlike our government. We will also be funding more African projects..

The Chinese can already over run us any time they want. They don't want war! They just need work there, too!!! I am a Christian, and the factories I intend to deal with are run by Christians IN CHINA.

How about you? How's life outside of working for somebody else???

I prefer to do something useful with my days. At night I dream up more... My friends take care of the details.

My dog's name is Spot. My computers are always made by Apple. I own their stock, too!

[PreciousLiberty]

“No they can’t. For example, the data logging software with the Imada force gauges. Any software that talks directly to the serial or parallel ports (which you can still do in Windows 7).”

I suppose I should have said “current Windows software”. Are you aware of how long serial and parallel ports have been absent from the reference PC specification? (Also, are you sure that software won’t work with the USB to RS-232 adapters?) Plus, on the PowerMacs you could plug in any PCI RS-232 or parallel port board you wish.

“You can run OSX on generic PCs, and they run UNIX, Linux, and POSIX too. Natively, no boot-camp or VM needed. Of course, Steve Jobs doesn’t want you doing that, but it can be done.”

Just because you CAN do something doesn’t mean you SHOULD do something. Running MacOS on non-Mac hardware is both illegal and unethical. I’m sure you wouldn’t really advocate anything like that... Further, you lose a lot, including software updates such as security updates.

The reason Apple’s products are successful is the R&D, and the profits pay for the R&D. It’s called “capitalism”, perhaps a little understood idea these days.

[PreciousLiberty]

“Actually all of my pointing has been right on.”

A legend in your own mind, eh?

“But I understand that someone who has spent $500 on a paperweight might not like someone pointing it out.”

First of all, I’ve not yet bought an iPad. Secondly, as Swordmaker pointed out the iPad has a lot going for it compared to the comparable (and comparably priced) Kindle.

Interestingly, I’ve never seen a MS fan bash a Kindle...

[zeugma]

What is it with you guys? On these threads you sound like jealous preteens.

 It's on every thread, is repetitious, amd childish, but it's something that seems to be a fixture of these threads.

[Leisler]

"You can't even admit that Mac users derive their satisfaction with their computers through actual use. "

Onanism, of a type. Hey, it's all yours.

[Leisler]

Yeah, I heard that drill with AIG, GM.....vs a bird in hand.

It’s not ...weird that a supposedly premier company, can not cut a check in 40 quarters. Not one, single penny. Nothing to see folks, move along..

[Leisler]

China is such a great property rights BRIC.

[WVKayaker]

China is such a great property rights BRIC.

...almost as much as America. China has more freedom these days than much of America! Obambi just wants you to die!

[Leisler]

That’s why Chinese that have a 20% growth economy park their wealth in Vancouver or 4% T notes, because they feel so safe in China.

Think about it. China is the place to invest, capital or human, and the Chinese invest out side the country. That, as they say in poker, is a tell.

[Leisler]

'...They don't want war! They just need work the...

They will get both.

[WVKayaker]

no war, FRiend. Just skirmishes...

[Swordmaker]

The Mac is less than a year old and the battery is shot. From what I see, it is not user servicable, I’ll have to drive an hour to the service center when I get a chance.

doc, I am sorry you are having a problem. That is certainly not typical. Your laptop is still within warranty so take it to an Apple Store ASAP and have them check it out. If it's one of the sealed units it should last five years before needing replacement.

My wife won’t let the kids use her Mac because she is afraid they will screw up her iTunes account. That means the kids run iTunes off the PCs in the house. Apple may write great software for Macs, but they write horrible software for PCs. Every PC I have that had iTunes installed started having problems, I suspect it is a “feature” that Steve put in the software to screw with PC users.

Doc, set up standard user accounts for the kids on your wife's Mac and she won't have to worry about her iTunes account. They will not be able to touch it. Incidentally, your wife's account should also be a standard account. You should have a separate administrator account you use just for updates and software installation. Just create a new admin account. Then change hers to standard. It's easy to do. It guarantees that if anything ever does get in, it doesn't have administrator privileges.

[Leisler]

The Cultural Revolution was a 60 million dead skirmish.

[Oceander]

Hmmm, but with this sort of WYSIWYG “usability” comes opacity, which means that the user has no real idea what’s going on under the hood, and thus is quite easy to lead by the nose. MS uses opacity, too, but not nearly so much as Apple does. Most *nix-based systems do not, of course, have the same sort of opacity problems.

[WVKayaker]

have you ever watched old cowboy movies?
Studied history through the Bible?
Hmmm... nothing new, just another round!

[Leisler]

I like westerns. Very soothing.

I like the King James, and dream about reading Aramaic.

[Swordmaker]

Hmmm, but with this sort of WYSIWYG “usability” comes opacity, which means that the user has no real idea what’s going on under the hood, and thus is quite easy to lead by the nose. MS uses opacity, too, but not nearly so much as Apple does. Most *nix-based systems do not, of course, have the same sort of opacity problems.

I am not certain what you are getting at here. The Mac gave you controls of almost every aspect of the typographical process... which is what made it easy to do things that were very difficult to accomplish on other platforms. Secondly, Mac OS X, IS UNIX™, one of the four certified to claim that. . . so in one breath you claim it's opacity, and the next you deny it?