Design UI well enough? I guess it depends on what you are used to.
For me, Google will always be the company that high-jacked scrolling to use for zoom. That still trips me up every time I have to use Google Maps or any other mapping service that copied them on a laptop with a trackpad.
They could keep that default (misguided as I personally think it is) if they just provided an option to let scroll be scroll but they don't.
I'd much rather pay a premium for Apple's UI. I think they do a better job and it's worth paying for.
> For me, Google will always be the company that high-jacked scrolling to use for zoom. That still trips me up every time I have to use Google Maps or any other mapping service that copied them on a laptop with a trackpad.
So you use that for vertical scrolling. How would you do horizontal scrolling on a typical mouse then?
The default of holding left click and dragging the map across to move the viewport is far more intuitive.
I don't have an opinion on how this should be done on a "typical mouse", I haven't used a "typical mouse" for about 15 years.
Unless you have some supporting evidence that clicking and dragging is more intuitive I would suggest that it's not and that you're just used to doing it because you use a mouse and not a trackpad.
Two finger scrolling is used everywhere else on laptops. It handles horizontal scrolling perfectly.
It shouldn't be hijacked by Google for zoom without even the option to restore the default behaviour.
If Google were "good" at UI they would offer the option of pinch zoom on laptops and just leave scrolling alone.
While I completely agree, implementing pinch-to-zoom on desktop devices in the browser is next to impossible with current web apis (It _is_ viable on mobile devices). Source: I tried.
EDIT: I guess Google Chrome could go all `el.addEventListener('-webkit-pinch-zoom')` on us.
And design ? Google can design well enough. Their interfaces are easy and fun to use. Beyond that, regular people don't care.
I'm coming to the conclusion that some people are more sensitive to design issues than others. If you are then there isn't much choice, Google certainly isn't an option.
Apple has been selling computers that cost more than their competitors for over 40 years. Do you think they have been that successful just based on a “status symbol”?
The average person doesn’t even care about computers that much anymore.
Besides, computer sales are only 11% of their revenue.
Second is their customer lock-in.
Those can carry lots of value. And even strength, maybe. But growth ?
And design ? Google can design well enough. Their interfaces are easy and fun to use. Beyond that, regular people don't care.