“In the wake of a recent damning report, suggesting that Siri is broken, and has pretty much been that way since the start, Siri’s co-founder Dag Kittlaus has hit back at one of the article’s claims,” Luke Dormehl reports for Cult of Mac.
“What he disagrees with is a quote from former Apple executive Richard Williamson, who left the company in 2012 following the disastrous launch of Apple Maps,” Dormehl reports. “‘After launch, Siri was a disaster,’ Williamson was quoted as saying in The Information‘s Siri profile. ‘It was slow, when it worked at all. The software was riddled with serious bugs. Those problems lie entirely with the original Siri team, certainly not me.’ On Twitter, Kittlaus responded…”
This statement, wholly false, was made by the architect and head of the biggest launch disaster in Apple history, Apple Maps. In reality Siri worked great at launch but, like any new platform under unexpectedly massive load, required scaling adjustments and 24 hour workdays.
“While everyone seems to agree that Siri had a few teething problems early on, though, Richard Williamson’s comments raised the ire of notable tech journalist and Apple writer Steven Levy,” Dormehl reports. “‘That quote is kind of amazing,’ he writes. ‘Even if true (and I believe Dag) brazenly pushing blame to someone else for a product you were responsible for is a very bad look.'”
I think everyone is doing better with their AI assistance. Siri just sucks, period. Hate the thing.
I’m constantly blow away at Alexa and how much better it simply works. Makes me frustrated at Apple for squandering a huge lead they had with the release of Siri way earlier than all the competitors.
Worry about where it is now and how it can be improved. Everyone wants SIRI to be the best. Work on making it the best and stop pissing and moaning about the way it was FOUR, FIVE or SIX years ago.
What is the SIRI team doing? Who is in charge? TIM, if the guy or gal in charge isn’t getting it done then get someone who can.
And TIM, this goes for the rest of the company’s efforts. Bring down the hammer on those who enjoy looking at themselves in the mirror more than producing good results. Geez, you’re paying them a fortune. They should all be shitting-golden-goose eggs for products, not cow pies.
Step one: restore all Siri functionality to what it was when they first bought it and before Apple lobotimized Siri due to their security policy at the time. Make those features secure under Apple’s security policy, THEN work on new features. They’re already far behind but it pays to put work in on a stable foundation.
Certainly her understanding is excellent these days and in various tests she has done very well against the opposition the problem more lies in her ability to act upon it, ie the I have found this on the web rather than actively being able to tell you direct though only Google for obvious reasons is markedly better. Where it suffers badly however especially against Alexa, is the narrowness of the services it offers which is inexcusable as its more laziness on the part of the developers/leadership rather than innate intelligence of the product. I think we all know they probably planned to have a big launch of such capabilities in one big presentation set some time in 2019 no doubt, being totally blindsided by any idea that anyone else could possibly do better in the meantime. That’s the problem working out of a garage I guess … Oh wait.
but it has been my experience that complainers are much, much more vocal than satisfied customers. So, take the bitching on this forum with a large grain of salt, because the complainers take many forms, from people with legitimate issues to people who are never satisfied with anything to Android trolls, contrarians, and haters who get their jollies by distributing disparaging propaganda and stirring up Apple loyalists. The truth is almost always somewhere in between.
MDN is clearly bananas…well at least the guy wielding the big anti free-speech, #irony_desert, heavy handed “your personal view subverts our entitlement message” moderation weapon.
Sorta self defeating really.
I am so controversial!
Gotcha on Friday, March 16, 2018 at 1:35 pm Your comment is awaiting moderation.
Siri was a great idea, with technology ahead of the competition. But it was a small start-up . Apple’s job was to turn it into a solid consumer-grade service, and allow it to scale to Apple’s user-base.
The screwed it up, like they did with Maps.
The problem, as we’ve seen, is that once you teach people about the very serious limitations of a product/service (Maps, Siri), it’s very hard to win them back.
I’ve just now started using Maps again (how many years later?) I still don’t trust it as definitive (if I want to be sure, I instinctively reach for Google Map).
I don’t ask Siri for much of anything anymore. Tired of getting useless results. I actually think it’s getting worse, not better.
Fix it, Apple. That’s all I have to say at this point. Even Microsoft is doing better with Cortana, using an actual voice actress, than Apple.
>
I think everyone is doing better with their AI assistance. Siri just sucks, period. Hate the thing.
I’m constantly blow away at Alexa and how much better it simply works. Makes me frustrated at Apple for squandering a huge lead they had with the release of Siri way earlier than all the competitors.
Forget about where SIRI was SIX years ago!
Worry about where it is now and how it can be improved. Everyone wants SIRI to be the best. Work on making it the best and stop pissing and moaning about the way it was FOUR, FIVE or SIX years ago.
What is the SIRI team doing? Who is in charge? TIM, if the guy or gal in charge isn’t getting it done then get someone who can.
And TIM, this goes for the rest of the company’s efforts. Bring down the hammer on those who enjoy looking at themselves in the mirror more than producing good results. Geez, you’re paying them a fortune. They should all be shitting-golden-goose eggs for products, not cow pies.
Step one: restore all Siri functionality to what it was when they first bought it and before Apple lobotimized Siri due to their security policy at the time. Make those features secure under Apple’s security policy, THEN work on new features. They’re already far behind but it pays to put work in on a stable foundation.
Clearly experience with Siri varies greatly. I use AirPods and a HomePod and find them both 90+% reliable.
yeah, same here….but, on the other hand, I’ve not used any of the other platforms.
Certainly her understanding is excellent these days and in various tests she has done very well against the opposition the problem more lies in her ability to act upon it, ie the I have found this on the web rather than actively being able to tell you direct though only Google for obvious reasons is markedly better. Where it suffers badly however especially against Alexa, is the narrowness of the services it offers which is inexcusable as its more laziness on the part of the developers/leadership rather than innate intelligence of the product. I think we all know they probably planned to have a big launch of such capabilities in one big presentation set some time in 2019 no doubt, being totally blindsided by any idea that anyone else could possibly do better in the meantime. That’s the problem working out of a garage I guess … Oh wait.
Siri is dumber than a sack of hammers (but I can look it up on the web for you)
Siri is the voice activated “Let Me Google That For You” on the off chance it actually gets what you said correct.
but it has been my experience that complainers are much, much more vocal than satisfied customers. So, take the bitching on this forum with a large grain of salt, because the complainers take many forms, from people with legitimate issues to people who are never satisfied with anything to Android trolls, contrarians, and haters who get their jollies by distributing disparaging propaganda and stirring up Apple loyalists. The truth is almost always somewhere in between.
MDN is clearly bananas…well at least the guy wielding the big anti free-speech, #irony_desert, heavy handed “your personal view subverts our entitlement message” moderation weapon.
Sorta self defeating really.
I am so controversial!
Gotcha on Friday, March 16, 2018 at 1:35 pm
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
+1
Siri was a great idea, with technology ahead of the competition. But it was a small start-up . Apple’s job was to turn it into a solid consumer-grade service, and allow it to scale to Apple’s user-base.
The screwed it up, like they did with Maps.
The problem, as we’ve seen, is that once you teach people about the very serious limitations of a product/service (Maps, Siri), it’s very hard to win them back.
I’ve just now started using Maps again (how many years later?) I still don’t trust it as definitive (if I want to be sure, I instinctively reach for Google Map).
I don’t ask Siri for much of anything anymore. Tired of getting useless results. I actually think it’s getting worse, not better.
Brazenly pushing blame to someone else is currently a presidential quality.
It sure WAS. Thank goodness we got rid of the clown and his puppet killery rodamned clinton in 2006. America was saved thanks to those with a brain.
It sure WAS. Thank goodness we got rid of the clown and his puppet killery rodamned clinton in 2016. America was saved thanks to those with a brain.
MDN, that looks like our roads in So. Cal now.