An open letter to Tim Cook and his senior staff

There was a time 30 years ago that lasted for around 15 years when I was a passionate evangelist for all things Apple. If Apple had sold underwear, I would have proudly worn it. After all, you supported pro users with products that just worked.

But times have changed. Over the past 15 years, my love for Apple has steadily eroded, and last week’s events were the final straw. Let’s call it the last straw.

The password nightmare

Early this week I was changed for a subscription that I had cancelled. I immediately clicked ‘report a problem’ to dispute the charge. Not remembering my password, I clicked ‘forgot password.’ But instead of a simple process, I was met with a maze of device-specific instructions. Frustrated, I decided to call Apple Support for help.

The support representative was polite and genuinely tried to help me, but she seemed as puzzled by Apple’s password reset process as I was. After several attempts to follow instructions that led nowhere, she put me on hold to consult a senior tech. When she returned, she guided me through a series of confusing steps before I could finally reset my password. She actually admitted that Apple’s official instructions for changing a password were outdated and needed an update.

You broke my machine

I woke up this morning to dozens of pop-up messages on my iMac Pro confirming various applications and utilities connections to external drives. Messages asking for permission to access my own internal drives.

I thought perhaps I had lost power during the storm last  night and the machine rebooted and somehow lost its mind. But that was not it.

I soon realized that my iMac had been upgraded to the new Sequoia OS. How could this have happened? After all I’ve learned through the years NEVER to upgrade to a new OS until at least a year of proven compatibility with my software and audio hardware, which is slow to catch up. 

I knew what was in store for me. I no longer had access to my audio gear or software. I wouldn’t be able to record, mix, or compose. I called Apple support and was transferred to a senior support guy who was very nice, but told me in no uncertain terms that I had turned on auto-updates and Apple was doing what I had asked. No.

He confirmed that I will need to wipe my machine clean in order to revert back to the previous OS Sonoma. I would now face the daunting task of rebuilding a machine from scratch – every application and utility, reconnecting all my dozens of sound generators from various software manufacturers. Days and days of tedious work.

I called back and found a gal who had a different take. She told me that after an upgrade to any new OS, Apple makes the default setting for Auto Update “ON.”

Drifting from customer focus to Apple focus