Tag: apple

Apple is terrible at enterprise

in case you were confused: yes, apple stuff sucks just as much as any other os.

So, Yosemite is out. It has some bugs, and we (Google) couldn’t deploy it on the day it was released.

I followed the instructions in this support article and created a profile that sets the App Store to “Restrict App Store to software updates only” mode, since we don’t want users to self-upgrade to Yosemite until we are ready.

But since Apple has terrible enterprise management tools, this puts the App Store in a confusing state for users.

1) Only the Updates pane is accessible, with no indication that the other panes have been administratively disabled

2) The “OS X Yosemite” advertising banner is still shown in the Updates pane

3) Despite showing the banner, clicking on “Free” to try to download it prompts the user to sign-in, but the sign in button does nothing, confusingly.

4) Third-party software updates are disallowed, even for previously-installed software. This is especially confusing.

Annoying. This is a bit weird but at least it’s not actively prompting users to upgrade.

A Wild Security Update Appears!

A security update for 10.9 is released! Good news, it fixes security issues. We push it out ASAP with munki/simian, with a force-by date because it’s important.

Now our users are getting really confused. We just sent them all a note saying to not install Yosemite! And the App Store is in an odd state! But now they have a prompt to install something! But didn’t they just get an email about not installing something? I guess I’ll just ignore!

This is frustrating, but it seems to have generally died down.

Until this morning, when Apple, via what I presume is the App Store, sends a fucking notification to everyone

Which, of course, just sends them to the App Store where they are disabled from actually doing anything.

So I send another note to everyone – thanks, Apple! – which of course just confuses things.

Christ.

Naturally now our users have no goddamned idea what to do, because why should the have to even care about this? If they get prompted, we’ve taught them to install, because security and bug fixes. But now! They’re getting prompted for something they’re blocked from installing, and we’re telling them to not install something, but how are they supposed to know the difference between a security update and Yosemite? I mean it’s super clear to us, the management team, what’s what, but that’s for us to deal with and the users should not have to worry about.

But, now, thanks to this clusterfuck of App Store banner ads, weird update-only modes, and notifications for things they can’t install, everything is in a terrible confused state.

Thanks, Apple.

PS: I can also rant a while about Yosemite itself.

Privacy vs. User Experience

Apple is going to realize very soon that it has made a grave mistake by positioning itself as a bastion of privacy against Google, the evil invader of everyone’s secrets. The truth is that collecting information about people allows you to make significantly better products, and the more information you collect, the better products you can build. Apple can barely sync iMessage across devices because it uses an encryption system that prevents it from being able to read the actual messages.