BoredDev | 9 years ago | on: Ask HN: Is there a reliable way to put Mac OS X on a non-Apple notebook computer?
BoredDev's comments
BoredDev | 9 years ago | on: Show HN: How bloated is your favorite app?
Maybe someone can clear this up for me.
I'm struggling to understand why it is that size. I'm not going to be silly and say it would it be a simple app because I don't know enough about mobile to make that assumption.
However, I see plenty of other apps that appear to have way more complexity than the Facebook app. They are all significantly smaller. I don't understand what's happening there that requires that much bloat. The UI appears fairly minimal. From an outside perspective (probably an ignorant one), it just appears to be making API calls and throwing out the data.
Genuine question. Where is this bloat coming from? Is it just a pile of thrown on band-aid fixes and kitchen sinks, or is there something that I'm missing. Even third party applications do the same job, yet treat my battery and storage with respect. They seem to be fully capable of the same things that the official app is capable of.
Part of me wants to assume it's the whole, "move fast and break things" approach.
BoredDev | 9 years ago | on: Behind the Pixel: Google’s First Real Threat to Apple’s iPhone
This is why I still see it as a novelty. In time this will most likely change. Currently, my issues with it all boil down to trust and efficiency. Let's use two simple examples. Uber and movie ticket booking.
Let's say I wish to book an Uber. Usually, I open pop open the app and hit the request button. Doesn't take long at all. I get visual confirmation through the map and the little lollipop Uber driver photo. It's fast and I have the feedback to know that what I set out to do has been done. What if I had used the assistant? Well, now I have to waste a lot of time chatting to it. Sometimes it reads my address wrong or it doesn't understand Australian. So after a few mishaps, I finally get told that it's on the way. Okay. Then the twitching starts. The need to check that it was actually entered properly kicks in. So I open up the app to check the lollipop heating-seeking Uber driver is on target. I end up at the same place I attempted to avoid. Yet this avoidance was less efficient. I didn't receive enough feedback so I was unable to trust.
The second example is ordering a movie ticket to go see Batman 27 with my wife. I ask the assistant awkwardly to book for me and give it a time. It tells me that it's all good and dandy. The trust issues then kick in. So I go head off to my e-mail to triple check my confirmation. I wasn't active during the booking process, so the feedback is all I have to work with. It's date night too, so I can't waste it or I'll be sleeping on the couch. I've just wasted time.
Then it occurs to you that by bypassing their system, you may have possibly missed some little announcement or some benefit that is only visible to you during the booking process. For example, doing it manually may show me that there's a time slot that has more ticket availability than the one we were originally headed to. This means an emptier cinema so that I don't get weird looks when she starts telling me about her day mid-movie. The assistant wouldn't have told me that. The assistant also can't toggle around the tick boxes and drop boxes that would have told me I would have been able to do a 2-for-1 deal if we had gone an hour later.
Being there during the actual process isn't always a bad thing. Abstracting away these manual processes would be fine if all processes were identical. They're not though. You're losing too much control and being provided with too little feedback. Now, I can very much see the benefit of the assistant while driving. It makes sense there. You're usually unable to hold the device and that form of interaction is a best fit.
I don't think it's ready yet. I can do everything faster manually. It doesn't add anything at the moment, it just subtracts. It's the same reason I have no use for Cortana on Windows 10 or Siri. Why would I talk to the computer when it's considerably more efficient to just start typing.
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Doing the whole hackintosh thing has improved from previous years. Before it was an absolute nightmare. It's still a lot of pain. Just less. So you have that option as well. Just remember it doesn't play nice with all hardware and you will have to fiddle a lot. Every update you will have to do your research and pray to the god of moving bits that it's a smooth transition.