The flurry of iOS releases continues with the latest 13.2.3 patch. This marks the eleventh iOS release in less than two months.
By Chand Bellur
November 18, 2019 at 12:14 p.m. PDT
Apple Continues to Struggle with Search
Searching large sets of data is something Apple does poorly. For example, when searching for an artist and album in Apple Music, no search results are produced. Users must search for the artist and then drill down into the album, or search for the album title.
Apple has also, from time to time, broken search functionality in iOS. Numerous releases have either introduced defects or poor design decisions which have hampered search. One iOS release, in particular, hid all apps from Spotlight Search. Users are still required to turn on search for each individual app. It’s hard to find an example of Apple doing search well, unlike their big data competitor, Google.
Once again, iOS 13 finds Apple struggling with basic search functionality. The iOS 13.2.3 patch fixes yet another search bug, which prevented users from searching mail and other essential documents.
Apple has an exceptional ability to create amazing devices. They don’t seem to have the engineering talent to deal with big data or even music libraries.
The red hot Silicon Valley economy necessitates that big companies like Apple, with no pre-IPO equity, hire mediocre engineers. The proof is in the pudding — incompetent code makes its way into every release, often regressing product quality.
Beyond search, iOS has always had glitchy select/copy/paste functionality. This basic and essential technology — a fixture in computing since the late 1970s — is still seemingly beyond Apple’s expertise. It’s amazing how a company can excel at creating devices, yet basic operating system features are implemented haphazardly. Such blindness is usually caused by group-think and sycophantic brand adoration.
iOS 13.2.3 Fixes Issue with Missing Images in Messages
Text messaging is an essential form of communication. Asynchronous in nature, text messaging allows people to communicate when they’re available, unlike a phone call.
Unfortunately, Apple’s Messaging app harbors a defect causing messages to be stripped of photos, links and other rich content. iOS 13.2.3 fixes this issue.
You Can Do Worse Than Apple
iOS 13 is a highly defective release, however, one must put this in perspective. All technology is defective these days. It’s a consequence of a red hot technology economy, which is starving for engineering talent. In the absence of qualified engineers, even the biggest tech companies are settling for poor quality developers.
Although no one is hoping for a recession, they tend to be inevitable. After all, do you really think that app that sells socks is going to be profitable? What about all the other boondoggles investors are throwing money at?
The current tech bubble is the biggest in history. When the bubble bursts, it may unleash a tech recession far worse than anything the Valley has ever seen. There is a silver lining. The few companies that remain, such as Apple, will have the pick of the litter when it comes to developers and QA engineers. They may even be able to hire an engineering manager who is an actual engineer, instead of an MBA.
Don’t expect to see any improvements in technology quality in the next few months. It’s a consequence of the economy. Large companies have nothing to offer talented developers. They want pre-IPO equity, not a fixed salary and a studio apartment they can barely afford.
The lapse in quality goes far beyond Apple. Windows 10 should be mature, however, Microsoft continues to break the operating system with patches that should have never made it past QAT. Only recently, my Windows machine got an update that broke printing, and it can’t be fixed. Only a future Windows 10 update can fix the issue. The best solution is to replace this machine with an iMac. Windows 10 has failed so spectacularly that it ended up costing us far more than a Macintosh.
Windows 10 is, by far, the most horrible operating system I have ever used in my life. It makes iOS 13 seem flawless. We had to use an iPad with iPadOS 13 to print the documents that Windows 10 can no longer print. The best one can do, for now, is to find the least defective tech products. Warts and all, Apple is still far more stable and solid than the competition. iOS 13 is a disaster, but a comparatively minor one. You can do much worse.