Time to break out of Apple’s reality distortion field?
Wednesday 15 October 2008 at 15:51 UTC
For the past five years or so I’ve been using Apple computers almost exclusively. Apple’s products are overpriced and overhyped, but the hardware is often well-designed and the operating system is rather good. Having an integrated hardware/software solution can save much time and help preserve sanity in the face of a technology that in terms of human usability remains rather primitive, despite what charismatic Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and his fellow salesmen say.
Apple ticks a number of boxes on my list, but forgive me if I decline to sing the praises of Apple Inc. and proclaim Steve Jobs as my Lord and Saviour. Over the years the company has been hugely innovative, and will likely continue to be so. But Apple is a culturally closed entity that demands total loyalty from its customers, locking them down to what the company regards as good for them. Personal choice simply doesn’t come into it, following a product purchase, and neither does market research as we would normally think of it. As for Apple Store sales assistants, some of them remind me of evangelical Christian church “greeters”.
In recent days I’ve been browsing a couple of the rumours websites beloved of Apple product obsessives, as for some time there had been word that Apple was about to release new computers with much improved specifications and lower prices. A crunchy new Apple for credit-lean times, perhaps? Actually, no, going by the press conference held yesterday in the wonderfully-named “Infinite Loop” in Cupertino, California.
I’ve recently been having problems with an Apple bollock-burner that has a number of quite serious engineering design flaws. From aesthetic perspective it is a beautiful machine, but it helps if you don’t have to switch the thing on. Its replacement is unlikely to be an Apple.
The new laptops announced yesterday have – all things considered – lower specifications than the machines they are replacing, and Apple has raised prices at a time when the company’s stock is tanking, and we shopper units are wondering about the safety of our bank deposits. Even the fanboys are weeping after yesterday’s disappointing product announcement.
There appears to be a move by Apple to shed its loyal but demanding “creative professional” customer base, and appeal instead to middle class lifestyle consumers with shedloads of cash. This may be a viable business model, but I have no intention of commenting on the nature of the consumer electronics market as it bores me rigid.
For me now it’s either back to roll-your-own Linux and other free and open-source software on uncool but quality hardware of my choice, or I disregard Apple’s End User License Agreement and install OS X on a non-Apple computer.
See here for Steve Jobs spinning his reality distortion field at yesterday’s product announcement. The man is a marketing genius, but I am largely immune to his charms.
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Wednesday 15 October 2008 at 18:09 UTC
Your little article is so subjective it hardly qualifies as journalism (or is it called Blogging now?).
I guess if you are only a blogger struggling to make ends meet Apple products would seem expensive. I mean really, how much money could a blogger actually make?
Im afraid you wont be missed. Enjoy the wonderful world of windoze.
Wednesday 15 October 2008 at 18:15 UTC
Fanboy Sean clearly has reading difficulties.
Wednesday 15 October 2008 at 18:33 UTC
My MBA says otherwise Francise.
And where is the science in your article? Where’s the Data Mining to support your biased opinions?
Oh, and labeling me a fanboy is a complement in my view. I prefer to use superior products, drive superior cars and live in a superior house. Thanks for the kind words.
Wednesday 15 October 2008 at 18:39 UTC
It is a blog article, an opinion piece.
And you still cannot read, whatever your “MBA” says. Who is that, by the way - your life partner?
Begone, foul creature.
Wednesday 15 October 2008 at 18:42 UTC
“I prefer to use superior products, drive superior cars and live in a superior house.”
This wanker is probably a “motivational speaker” by trade.
Wednesday 15 October 2008 at 19:18 UTC
I prefer setting fire to superior houses, and taking paint stripper to superior cars.
That “Jony Ives” has got a very shiny head.
Wednesday 15 October 2008 at 20:24 UTC
I too have become an Apple dropout. I still have one that I use for connectivity but for my job as a creative professional I’m using a PC.
I first switched because I needed to use some PC only software. It’s now out in Mac version but only for Macs with Intel processors and my G5 has got Motorola.
I could have decided to change it for a new one but the decision to use only proprietary Ram memory really made me realize how much Apple thinks of its customers as cows to milk.
I’m now doing the opposite of what Mitchell and Webb suggested and I’m using a PC for creative work and a Mac for admin and it’s likely to remain like that because I just ordered my second PC that is coming with 8Gb of Ram, something that only the likes of Sean can afford to buy from Steve Jobs.
Wednesday 15 October 2008 at 20:48 UTC
Max - I detest Windows, both XP and Vista, and am glad that my home-based work as a freelance journalist doesn’t force me to use those truly awful operating systems. If I do abandon Apple, it will be to return to GNU/Linux. My only fear is that even the most user-friendly distributions such as Ubuntu still require a considerable amount of tinkering.
As for Apple and proprierary hardware, I have to play devil’s advocate here. Apple uses industry standard RAM modules, and in all but the case of the MacBook Air (and possibly the Mac Mini), users can add memory to their computers without voiding the warranty.
However, with new MacBooks I note that Apple has switched to using DDR3-type memory. The problem here is that a 2GB SODIMM (i.e., laptop form-factor module) costs upwards of €65, so that bumping up a new MacBook to the maximum 4GB memory will cost at least €130. With DDR2 the price would be around €50. As far as I know, Apple includes 2 x 1GB modules in their stock computers, and there are two memory slots in the MacBooks.
Maybe you should think of putting together a desktop system with PC components and more than one hard drive – or mutliple partitions on one hard drive – and installing OSX86 (hacked OS X) and Windows. But if you do decide to go the “Hackintosh” route, be fair; buy a retail copy of OS X, and thereby support Apple and its continued development of a thoroughly decent operating system.
Thursday 16 October 2008 at 00:07 UTC
Oh, the hyperbole! Seriously. Good luck with that! I’d like my 2 1/2 minutes back, please.
Thursday 16 October 2008 at 05:34 UTC
What jolly fun this is, pissing off the Apple-obsessed.
Thursday 16 October 2008 at 09:43 UTC
Damn those glossy screens. Having to look at two Jobs’s is too much to bear.
Thursday 16 October 2008 at 10:06 UTC
Why can’t people just grow up? Everyone has opinions. If you hate Apple, you hate Apple. If you like them, you like them.
I use Apple every day of my life, but that doesn’t make me a ‘fanboy’ - they are a tool to my work, they make great stuff and so I buy them. That’s all.
I don’t like everything about the company, but most of their actions/principles are at least considered in good light compared to the likes of Microsoft.
I’m not arguing with Francis here, I’m talking about Sean’s crying. It’s Francis’ own opinion (which is great), although a little bitter. But nothing wrong with that.
And I thought the German Panzer tank story was fanatical enough!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2008/oct/08/iphone.apple
The only person I truly admire in this company, is Jonathan Ive. I’ve watched him since Tangerine, through all interviews - and he’s such a genuine guy.