Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

#BoycottApple trending on Google plus due to Galaxy Nexus ban

plus.google.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 374 posts

Re: #BoycottApple trending on Google plus due to Galaxy Nexus ban

#131

Post by ralfn »

molmalo wrote: post #65
jrockway wrote: post #62

This is really a non-issue. Tech companies sue each other and get import bans all the time. The victim eventually moves some UI widget three pixels to the right and the import ban is lifted and life moves on. The only real consequence of all this is that lawyers on both sides make a lot of money. Google is not going to stop making Android and Apple is not going to stop making iOS. Both will just advance more slowly b…

Well, yes, you are right with this in that both will continue to manufacture and litigate each other... Surely, efforts would be better directed against the broken system that is being gamed by those companies, instead of dividing consumer forces, you know: Apple fans vs Google fans vs Microsoft fans vs x Other fans.... It would be much better to have everybody in action vs Broken Patent System.

It is generally acknowledged that Apple is at the offense. Google hasnt used IP laws in any way other than defensive.

Microsoft strategy is more interesting: they dont block products but rather use liscense fees that are slightly less than the costs of going to court against Microsoft. Eventhough, their patents are hard to enforce, and likely wouldnt win, its irrelevant.

So, to compare the behavior to other industries: Microsofts strategy is racketeering Italian mob style "we own this town", while Apple is raging a full on war, with any competitor, much like how a mexican drug cartel operates.

Google on the other hand, behaves more like a community bank. The members get free tech, but also take most of the risk, yet if they succeed, end up making Google more profitable.

The notion that all three companies are equally abusive, is ridiculus. They are definately operating with different policies. Whether that is due to convience or moral convinctions, is up for debate, but when looking purely at behavior in this space, Google is the good guy...

Re: #BoycottApple trending on Google plus due to Galaxy Nexus ban

#132

Post by kristofferR »

briandear wrote: post #123
MaysonL wrote: post #104

Perhaps Samsung will consider not slavishly copying Apple design for their next products?

In Korea Samsung sells cars that are almost exact copies if American and German models. Korean businesses have no qualms about straight up stealing others designs. For example looking at this car, by a company called Ssangyang, http://www.jeepfan.com/readersjeeps/ians-korando/ it's an almost perfect clone of a Jeep CJ-7. This is exceptionally common with Korean Chaebols. Samsung getting sympathy over this is laughabl…

Well, to be fair, one of the main reasons for Asia's growth the last decades is exactly the blatant disregard for patents and copyright.

Sure, it may feel unfair to the original creators of the products, but it sure has forced them to continually innovate. I'd actually argue that cloning is a positive (as long as you differentiate it sufficiently, don't clone a BMW and call it a BWV) thing for the world. In my opinion, if you can create a better/cheaper version of something, you should be allowed to.

And if it's possible to easily duplicate your product and make it cheaper/better somehow (if it isn't better somehow nobody'll buy the clone), it's a strong sign that the original product/business isn't good enough and doesn't deserve to be the leader.

Re: #BoycottApple trending on Google plus due to Galaxy Nexus ban

#133

Post by raganesh »

ralfn wrote: post #131
molmalo wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, yes, you are right with this in that both will continue to manufacture and litigate each other... Surely, efforts would be better directed against the broken system that is being gamed by those companies, instead of dividing consumer forces, you know: Apple fans vs Google fans vs Microsoft fans vs x Other fans.... It would be much better to have everybody in action vs Broken Patent System.

It is generally acknowledged that Apple is at the offense. Google hasnt used IP laws in any way other than defensive. Microsoft strategy is more interesting: they dont block products but rather use liscense fees that are slightly less than the costs of going to court against Microsoft. Eventhough, their patents are hard to enforce, and likely wouldnt win, its irrelevant. So, to compare the behavior to other industrie…

Since you are taking Mobster analogy, I'd like to propose one for Google/Motorola: Loan Shark (not a community bank).

They pledged to license certain patents in Fair, Reasonable And Non-Discriminatory terms, when they contributed them to Telecom & H.264 patent pools; but now they are not very keen on keeping their commitment.

Re: #BoycottApple trending on Google plus due to Galaxy Nexus ban

#134

Post by coopdog »

lnanek2 wrote: post #116

Wow, so people who want to buy Samsung instead of Apple anyway are going to boycott Apple? Apple is quaking in their boots, I'm sure.

I was actually thinking of buying a Mac for the first time just last week, even after being outraged by the Galaxy Tab 10.1 thing. They have good hardware and it's Linuxy, but thank you Apple for acting sooner with this Nexus rubbish rather than later..

So there you go, an actual sale lost and I'll remember this for a long, long time

Re: #BoycottApple trending on Google plus due to Galaxy Nexus ban

#135

Post by calinet6 »

tkazec wrote: post #69
ra wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Scrolling down a bit doesn't help at all. Where's the pause button? That is unusable.

There's a big pause button at the very top right of the stream. Once paused, scrolling works great. How is that at all unusable?

"We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face is that, in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is more meaningful than our criticism designating it so."

Re: #BoycottApple trending on Google plus due to Galaxy Nexus ban

#136

Post by ralfn »

raganesh wrote: post #133
ralfn wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is generally acknowledged that Apple is at the offense. Google hasnt used IP laws in any way other than defensive. Microsoft strategy is more interesting: they dont block products but rather use liscense fees that are slightly less than the costs of going to court against Microsoft. Eventhough, their patents are hard to enforce, and likely wouldnt win, its irrelevant. So, to compare the behavior to other industrie…

Since you are taking Mobster analogy, I'd like to propose one for Google/Motorola: Loan Shark (not a community bank). They pledged to license certain patents in Fair, Reasonable And Non-Discriminatory terms, when they contributed them to Telecom & H.264 patent pools; but now they are not very keen on keeping their commitment.

Loan shark. Fair enough.

Although i do want to emphasize that only offensive parties are being hit with the frand patents. I really do think thats the most relevant moral ground here.

Re: #BoycottApple trending on Google plus due to Galaxy Nexus ban

#137

Post by simonbrown »

ralfn wrote: post #108
X-Istence wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If consumers want the device they can simply purchase an Apple device. If Google did indeed violate the patents in question the features the user want are available in Apple's products. You mention first-mover advantage ... that is exactly what patents are supposed to grant, you invent something cool, you get a patent on it, and then YOU get exclusivity on that invention for X years so you can recoup your costs of R&…

This is nonsense. Even when all products are allowed on the market we generally do not get the features we desire. Its the paradox of choice, and how it makes people unhappy. If a shop sells peanut butter that is chunky, but also another brand that is extra spicy. Suddenly, we can imagine a peanut butter that is both chunky and spicy. So, the choice already feels limited with both products on the market and is now ev…

Europe doesn't care about IP laws to the same extent as the US?

Re: #BoycottApple trending on Google plus due to Galaxy Nexus ban

#138

Post by calinet6 »

baby wrote: post #82
zhoutong wrote: post #18

I don't understand why #BoycottSomething should be used for protests. Boycotting an influential company is extremely hard. I'm sure that there are more rational ways to protest, instead of trying to boycott a company that actually delivers some of the best products. No company is perfect and Apple's case is just a tip of an iceberg in the whole industry. http://www.dontmakemesteal.com/ is a good example. We know the…

I extremely disagree with you, a boycott is the perfect weapon again a big brand like apple. People just tell others about it, and it's just really bad for their image.

Anyone who would write or respond to a boycott of Apple is already the sort who gets into flame wars against the company to begin with, so it is, as they say, "preaching to the choir." Not likely to have a big effect.

Re: #BoycottApple trending on Google plus due to Galaxy Nexus ban

#139

Post by dspeyer »

zhoutong wrote: post #52
pg wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are the other ways to protest? I don't mean that as a rhetorical question. I'm genuinely curious.

On a small scale, petitions will work better than a hash tag on a Google-owned website. The person that made the decision is the judge. So a rational way to protest is to protest the decision itself. On a large scale, make something disruptively innovative to fight back. #BoycottApple may work by alarming and reminding Apple of their unethical act (to the crowd). But the effect is small because it has nothing to do w…

Remember Amazon and one-click? There was sufficient backlash that they never tried anything like that again. Could work with Apple.
Post reply on HN