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1. Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Tuesday, 02-Jan-2024 20:43:42 JST Aral Balkan

   Whenever anyone says “Apple stuff Just Works™”, tell them you can’t use the backspace key in iCloud in Firefox.

   Then laugh in their faces.

   #apple #justWorks #iCloud #firefox #web #dev #trillionDollarIncompetence

   • Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Tuesday, 02-Jan-2024 20:55:10 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     • maegul

     @maegul In Firefox?

     e.g., Go to calendar and create a new entry and start typing the title of it and press backspace. Does it work for you?

     (Because it doesn’t for me on latest Firefox on Fedora Silverblue at least.)

   • maegul (maegul@hachyderm.io)'s status on Tuesday, 02-Jan-2024 20:55:11 JST maegul

     in reply to

     @aral

     Huh ... was curious (also about icloud in the browser). Just tried and backspace worked fine?

     Also, ignorant of the whole thing (and as someone that doesn't touch these browser app suites) ... it does seem (surprisingly) like they've built out something decent?

   • Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Tuesday, 02-Jan-2024 20:56:01 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     • maegul

     @maegul (Yeah, otherwise, it is an excellent achievement and a testament to what you can do when you have a trillion dollars.)

   • anparker (anparker@techhub.social)'s status on Tuesday, 02-Jan-2024 21:08:24 JST anparker

     in reply to

     @aral@ar.al Works for me in iCloud Notes and Pages. At least on mac, dodn't have linux at hand to try. Firefox 121.

   • Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Tuesday, 02-Jan-2024 21:08:24 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     • anparker

     @anparker Apparently only an issue in Calendar. Updated post to reflect this.

   • Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Tuesday, 02-Jan-2024 21:09:03 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     • maegul

     @maegul It’s the first time in four decades of using a computer that I’ve encountered an application where the backspace key doesn’t work – Type Differently™, I guess :)

   • maegul (maegul@hachyderm.io)'s status on Tuesday, 02-Jan-2024 21:09:04 JST maegul

     in reply to

     @aral

     Yea I'm on firefox ... tried this and yea no backspace for me ... but forward-delete works ... hilariously bad!

   • Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Tuesday, 02-Jan-2024 21:34:13 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     • Stevens R Miller

     @stevensrmiller I’m sure you’ve heard the recent(ish) news, but I’d stay away from Unity in general :)

   • Stevens R Miller (stevensrmiller@mastodon.sdf.org)'s status on Tuesday, 02-Jan-2024 21:34:14 JST Stevens R Miller

     in reply to

     @aral

     Or create a Unity app that tries to access the Webcam.

     Or just try to install Unity.

     Honestly, what kind of personal computer still tells the user to contact someone called an "administrator" in 2024?

   • Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Wednesday, 03-Jan-2024 02:32:03 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     • WRKS.ART

     @wrksart Oh, trust me, I’m aware :)

     https://ar.al/talks/#superheroes-and-villains-in-design

   • WRKS.ART (wrksart@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 03-Jan-2024 02:32:04 JST WRKS.ART

     in reply to

     @aral There are lots of issues, but lots of things are polished to a level you can't imagine how your friends can live without it.

     *I'm not using Apple calendar

   • Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Wednesday, 03-Jan-2024 02:32:43 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     • Stevens R Miller

     @stevensrmiller Yep.

   • Stevens R Miller (stevensrmiller@mastodon.sdf.org)'s status on Wednesday, 03-Jan-2024 02:32:44 JST Stevens R Miller

     in reply to

     @aral

     Which news? The aborted royalty scheme?

   • Metafrastis (dgavin@mastodon.online)'s status on Wednesday, 03-Jan-2024 07:59:09 JST Metafrastis

     in reply to

     @aral Why the hell would I want to use Firefox on a Mac, when there are so many better, way faster und more intuitive and elegant alternatives (like Safari or Arc). That all work with iCloud. Which makes me wonder: perhaps it’s Firefox that is to blame?

   • Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Wednesday, 03-Jan-2024 07:59:09 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     • Metafrastis

     @dgavin It’s a web app made by web developers at Apple who – get this – broke the backspace key.

     Now that takes talent.

     I haven’t encountered a single web app (any web app, not just one made by a trillion-dollar corporation) that managed that since the birth of the web (yes, I’m that old).

     (Also, there’s a world outside of Appleland. I was running the web app in a web browser on my Linux machine.)

   • Metafrastis (dgavin@mastodon.online)'s status on Wednesday, 03-Jan-2024 08:06:15 JST Metafrastis

     in reply to

     @aral Funny you mention that. I regularly get that kind of error in SharePoint or in office365 web. And I‘m old enough to have debugged HTML code in 1994. I know a bit about the matter. If something doesn’t work in only one browser it’s usually the browsers fault. If it doesn’t work in most browser engines it’s the website’s fault.

   • Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Wednesday, 03-Jan-2024 08:06:15 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     • Metafrastis

     @dgavin Oh, I wouldn’t know about Microsoft stuff. I’m not a masochist :)

   • Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Wednesday, 03-Jan-2024 08:14:59 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     • Metafrastis

     @dgavin Yep. Was on Windows for far too long (because started with DOS and is stubborn). Hopefully there hasn’t been any lasting damage :)

   • Metafrastis (dgavin@mastodon.online)'s status on Wednesday, 03-Jan-2024 08:15:00 JST Metafrastis

     in reply to

     @aral I avoid it where I can too, but unfortunately when you work at an university you have to sometimes use MS shit. It feels like everytime I have to my life span is cut by a few days…

   • Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Wednesday, 03-Jan-2024 18:01:27 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     • Stevens R Miller

     @stevensrmiller They rolled back when it became evident that they had no other option. But also, not my circus, not my monkeys and definitely not the hill I wish to die on. Best of luck with whatever it is you’re building :)

   • Stevens R Miller (stevensrmiller@mastodon.sdf.org)'s status on Wednesday, 03-Jan-2024 18:01:28 JST Stevens R Miller

     in reply to

     @aral

     Oh, my goodness. If I dropped a product whenever its maker blundered that badly, I'd be down to nothing but Tinker Toys.

     Fact is, the reports of their errors were far beyond the actual mistakes they made. Nonetheless, they rewound the entire thing in response to public backlash. They even stated, for all to read, that they had erred.

     All corporations make mistakes. Not all undo them. Even fewer admit they made them.

     With prudent caution, I forgive them.

   • Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Wednesday, 03-Jan-2024 18:04:29 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     • yianiris

     @yianiris I’d disagree. They’re owned by folks who don’t have the time to tinker with their everyday technology. And folks who want their phone and computer and watch and house and whatnot to just talk to one another. It’s everyday tech that empowers everyday people to do things. The problem is that it’s proprietary and closed source and by a trillion-dollar corporation. The free/open, small tech version of what they have is what we should be aiming for.

   • yianiris (yianiris@kafeneio.social)'s status on Wednesday, 03-Jan-2024 18:04:30 JST yianiris

     in reply to

     Usually they are owned by arrogant f....s who no matter what you say, they will return with a cliche that they couldn't care less about open source or freedom, they can afford to have the best and their advisors tell them that is the best, and so they buy it. Any of their time wasted in anything less than the best costs them more than what the machine costs.

     So rationalizing anything with them is a waste of time, and their wasted money couldn't really hurt our feelings.

     @aral

   • Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Wednesday, 03-Jan-2024 18:05:13 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     • yianiris

     @yianiris (OK, and a few arrogant fucks.) ;)

   • Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Wednesday, 03-Jan-2024 23:41:44 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     • Moss (the τεχie)

     @Moss_the_TeXie Go to icloud.com :)

   • Moss (the τεχie) (moss_the_texie@rheinneckar.social)'s status on Wednesday, 03-Jan-2024 23:41:46 JST Moss (the τεχie)

     in reply to

     @aral
     What is „iCloud Calendar on Firefox“? I have Calendar which uses iCloud to synchronize but that involves neither Firefox nor any backspaces …

   • Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Thursday, 04-Jan-2024 00:59:19 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     • Stevens R Miller

     @stevensrmiller Until next time… ;)

     Big Tech gonna Big Tech.

   • Stevens R Miller (stevensrmiller@mastodon.sdf.org)'s status on Thursday, 04-Jan-2024 00:59:20 JST Stevens R Miller

     in reply to

     @aral

     Oh, they could have forged ahead. The actual impact of what they planned on 98% of the outraged community would have been utterly nothing. People forget quickly.

     But, you are quite right: the public insisted on a reversal, and got it.

     I can tell you it was a panicky few days on my campus. I had students coming to me to ask if their careers had already been ruined before they started. Today, it's as though the whole thing was just a bad dream.