You’ve all seen the ads and bloated hype. Apple, Inc. thinks it is pretty hot stuff these days. How do I as a computer user interpret all this? Enough already! We all know you dominate the fringe and fanboy market well enough. Yes, we know you sell the iPod, iPhone, Mac this and Mac that, but hopefully you will stay an underdog for a very long time.
I’ll admit, I do admire Apple’s creativity and marketing tactics. They are pretty effective in getting their message accross for the most part, even if it is based on unwarranted bias (though some of their products are good for certain artists). They can even get you to purchase a product that is inferior to other, cheaper ones, because they make you think they’re the best (example, many digital audio players have had more features and open accessibility than iPods for years)! Macs are not perfect machines, the ”Alpha and Omega,” or the one-stop solution (well, unless you want your wallet unjustifiably cleared with bloated prices). They have problems too, just like Windows and Linux-based PCs.
Another thing I dislike about Apple is their controlling, manipulative manner. In this regard they are far worse than Microsoft. Want to add a song to your iPoo? You must use our software and give us detailed personal information, or else. Want to buy a song? Sorry, we want you to think that the expensive iTunes store is the only source! Dreaming of building your own Mac or using our software on hardware not manufactured or licensed by us? Nope, too bad. Got a problem and valid complaint about our software (*cough* original Leopard OS copy/paste bug)? Your comments will be blocked and deleted from our message boards as you are mercilessly assailed by Mac fanboys. Thank you and have a nice day.
These are just a few of my complaints against the somewhat fascist company that names itself after perfectly good fruit. You know why their apple logo has a bite taken out of it? Because it is the evil witch’s poisoned apple that takes over your mind and wipes it of all tech common sense!
May free open-source live forever!
NOTE: Please comment on this and any other article! I greatly welcome debate and other discussion!
EDIT (26 AUG 2008): Check out these well-written Slate articles on Apple, Inc. and some of its bad habits: Is Something Rotten at Apple? & The Apple Polishers
Palmer, this is a solid post. I must admit that deep down, I want a macbook. Anyway, I like the post. Also, I have decided against an AIG account and I am instead going to start an assult on Wall Street via tradeking.com.
Your blog is legit.
You’re an idiot…. have you ever actually used OS X for any extended amount of time? Clearly not.
Conrad, thanks for the compliments. If you ever change your mind about the ING account let me know… they also own Sharebuilder.com which offers very low fees for trading both stocks and mutual funds. As far as the Macbook goes, from what I’ve seen with it, it is a solid machine, but still overpriced in my opinion and definitely not a serious option for me at least as a gamer.
Mr. Ritterman, thanks also for visiting (send me a link sometime as I’d love to visit your site, too). I’ll admit my post is a little “gung-ho” and on the zealous side, but it is therapeutic nonetheless =). No I have not used OS X for a serious amount of time, but I was only bashing the Leopard version (not OS X in general), specifically about when it was first released and had issues with unwanted file deletion during cut/paste commands, among other things, and blue screens (as I read from multiple tech sites), and comments about the complaint posts on Apple’s message boards being locked and deleted. Overblown or not, it still serves as effective fuel for my Mac-bashing (purely opinionated, I’ll admit) on this blog, and was only a very small part of the post at large anyway.
I wrote this article to help spice things up as far as the blog posts and to help fuel some debate and discussion (looks like I succeeded!), so please continue reading and commenting! I greatly encourage everyone’s opinions, thoughts, complaints, debate, etc. It’s what makes this all fun in the first place!
Nige, I’m hurt. After all those hours spent in deep discussion in Paraguay, you still have to go and publicly denounce what you still don’t understand… After using Linux every day for the last 5 months, as well as being the proud papa of a Macbook, I’d say you’re wrong. Apple is quite less controlling than Microsoft, vis. the retarded desktop-search thing that gets installed without users knowing with any XP service pack! But that’s beside the point. You’re still ranting without knowing, complaining about an OS you’re never used, when the alternative Vista fares far poorer. I like to think that I’m fairly unbiased; I use all three OSes on a regular basis, and see advantages in all. However, at the end of the day, OS X is still my personal preference. You, of course, as a gamer, won’t ever want one in the near future. That’s just a fact. I do believe, however, that there’ s a good reason that PC Mag recently gave the Macbook Pro their Editor’s Choice rating for laptops.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2279376,00.asp
Rohayhu!
First off thanks for visiting and posting John!
My primary complaint within the post in question is against Apple in itself as a company and how they handle certain situations and unreasonably obligate their consumers, in my view, to comply to controlling standards. Microsoft is most definitely not innocent in this regard, but it gets enough flack as it is, and I just find all the charades toward Apple a tad annoying if not undeserved.
My post also says very little if anything about Apple operating systems, namely OS X, and I did not say that it is a terrible or inferior OS. I merely mentioned Leopard (not OS X in general, as I said in my previous comment) and how Apple’s PR handled the situation regarding some initial bugs and problems (again, Microsoft is not innocent here either as far as bugs and kinks go, but you don’t see them closing and deleting threads about complaints).
In any case I suggest anyone who still thinks I said that OS X is a terrible OS to kindly re-read my original post and cease jumping to unwarranted assumptions.
Thanks! =)
no love for the fruit here. on argument the apple heads can never get away from is the fact that apple builds obselecence into their machines. example.. you can take some windows 98 machines, load them up with memory and still run XP on them. yes its by no means a speed demon but enough for the casual websurfer. try running the latest mac OS on a g4. it aint happening.
Thanks for your comment, Planetarium. I wasn’t aware that they did that to their machines! Another annoyance I ran into recently that with the newest “update” to my iPhone 3G (2.0.2) is that my third-party universal iPod dock suddenly lost most of its abilities (syncing, charging via AC power, etc.) when used with my phone. Worked fine with the previous firmware, and of course I can’t downgrade or I’ll lose my all of my telephony features. Thanks Apple. *Sigh*.
I completely agree. Having bought a MacBook, I am now bitterly disappointed – it simply doesn’t stand against PC in terms of value for money. Plus, you have to remember that MacBook is made in China – my one has bad electrical grounding which gives me electric shocks. When I looked on the net, turned out other people had these problems too. Manufacturing is just as shoddy as anywhere else.
As to the way Apple treats its customers, well, I don’t know, but the way it treats developers, you just want to say “Apple is Fascist” because there’s no other words to describe it. Still, people buy this overpriced crap. Luckily, it is not possible to install Mac OS on PCs (e.g., leo4all), so in order to make money on the iPhone, our company doesn’t use Macs to develop on – we just use PCs. Works well enough
so I guess Apple can be outsmarted, after all.
Finally, an article that states my position on Apple more concisely and eloquently than I could ever imagine writing (my article would spiral into ugly obscenities about fanboys and lemmings). Thanks for exposing the evil monopoly that is Apple. I won’t own one until I can legally build one. Period.
I have a Mac and they are better then PC in many ways. A few reason I choose Mac computer over PC is:
-Better Looks
-Better Applications
-Better quality hardware
-Great service from Apple
I have to admit that Apple overprices there product, but maybe you guys should get off your butts, and get a real computer. Just because you can’t affored a better computer doesn’t mean that they suck. Stop make excuses.
I would also like to laugh at Windows new ads “Life Without Walls”. They are reverting to trying to sell there computers to people who simply can’t afford a decent one. It make me laugh. You are a real nut. A “Fascist Company” At least Apple employs North Americans and does not take advantage of cheap labour in a forgein county. Your argument is very one-sided. I find it funny how you single out one of Leopords copy and paste error when the only keys you need to know on Windows Vista is Control-Alt Delete to end the eternal problem of programs quiting and the never ending lag on high powered computer. You need to look and the pros and cons of both systems before making unfair judgements.
@Misleading Article
-Better Looks
Just because something looks good in your eyes doesn’t make it look good in everyone’s eyes
-Better Applications
There are many alternatives to Apple’s software, many out doing Apple’s own.
-Better quality hardware
Just because your Macbook is 2x the price of mine doesn’t make it better
-Great service from Apple
I wouldn’t know this one, since I mostly solve all my problems, so I will leave no comment here.
Lol
By the way a calculator can be called a computer. In addition, some of us are price conscious and do not want to spend tons of money just to surf the web with.
“At least Apple employs North Americans and does not take advantage of cheap labour in a forgein county.”
You have to take into account all the factories that Apple outsource from.
The insults you make make me laugh too.
da best. Keep it going! Thank you
This is the first time I’ve commented here and I must say you give genuine, and quality information for bloggers! Great job.
p.s. You have an awesome template for your blog. Is it a free template or did you have it designed especially for you, I’d love to talk to your designer !?
Hi James, I really appreciate your compliment. Though I consider this particular post of mine nothing more than a rant for fun, I try to bring good material to the table, so to speak.
To answer your question, I use the “Contempt” CSS theme by Vault9 (available through WordPress), though I provided the graphic at the top of the page. Thanks for visiting!
I completely agree with your opinion. While fanboys usually flame one another over issues such as what has better looks, applications, service, value, design, etc. those issues are entirely subjective. With the exception about about Apple having better quality hardware than PCs. The Intel Core 2 Duos and ATI/nVidia graphics cards used in Macs are no better than the Intel Core 2 Duos and ATI/nVidia graphics card being used in PCs, despite a Mac being more costly, and if you believe otherwise, you’re simply a fool. However, Apple’s fascist behavior is an absolute truth. As a long time Windows user who recently started using Linux a few years ago, I’ve always wanted to experiment with Macs (and I’m sure there’s a lot of computer enthusiasts out there who would love to as well) but the restriction Apple imposes is too much of a turn off. As a free thinking individual, I like having choices.
Apple is fascist. There are many supporting documents from many sources on this point, but there’s always some fan boy that will defend them no matter what… Usually they don’t know how a computer works, but they will tell you Apple is better anyway no matter what Apple has done, etc. They really treat their customers like crap too especially when it comes to service. Sure you can go to the overworked, underpaid, Genius bar, but basically just to be told that you’re screwed on some fine print, and oh yeah that overpriced Apple Care Warranty you bought doesn’t really cover anything that Apple shouldn’t cover already since their products are so expensive anyway (the sales people often don’t tell you this but it doesn’t cover accidental damage, in fact they don’t even offer one that does). Sorry, I’m about to rant. I’ve posted some real specifics based on my own experiences, and some other things, on baceman007.blogspot.com to backup some of the points made on this post. In the end I don’t understand why any of us put up with MS or Apple. Sure I can make excuses like we all do, I like the games on Microshaft Winblows, or I like to use Creative Suite on OS Excrement, but in the end 3rd parties would do fine distributing on GNU/Linux and we would have a better selection of software and more control in the long run. The transition wouldn’t be any more difficult than what Windows users go through when they switch to Mac, in fact it would probably be easier. The real difference that greedy companies don’t like is that if their stuff was over priced, or sucked, we could just use a free product (for most things anyway) instead. It means better software, better hardware, and lower prices but only if we stop rewarding Apple and MS for treating us like crap and price gouging us whenever they can. Anyway, again I can expand on all of this but I’m trying to keep this short. Good post. Live long and prosper.
Good article. Nice to see other people standing up to Apple and their fans and calling them out. Call shenanigans when you see shenanigans.
You should also add in the fact that Apple rejected a Pulitzer Prize winning cartoon satirist from the Apple store because his cartoons “Made fun of important world leaders in violation of Apple code blah blah blah”.
Apple is on very thin ice here. Even their own fanboys are beginning to call them out. It’s just a sad situation of the blind leading the blind and it’s only going to get worse when the tablet market starts taking off and people who don’t know any better are sucked into buying iPads.
Long live open source!
Right to the point.
Over the years I have used macs. windows, linux. And of all, Apple has the most fascist way of doing things.
Is impossible to convince an Apple zealot. They have religious faith on Apples cult. And there is no room for reasoning where there is faith.
Faith without truth leads to destruction, I pity them. But I am no masochist and will not go down with them.
True.
Especially with Apple’s new licence for their SDK that restricts SO much…
P.S. Did you know that wordpress recognizes N900′s browser as mobile and sets mac-style theme?)