This week, Apple fired Scott Forstall, its longtime chief of mobile software. In the wake of the shake-up—which reportedly had to do with Forstall’s refusal to sign a public apology for Apple’s troubled Maps app—a strange, one-dimensional narrative has overrun the tech industry. The story goes like this: In addition to presiding over two big failures—Maps and Siri—Forstall was also responsible for the spate of goofy, even “tacky” designs that have wormed their way into Apple’s software.