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I really want to like Apple (but they don't like us)

dieblinkenlights.com

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Re: I really want to like Apple (but they don't like us)

#21

Post by Kadin »

alex_c wrote: post #10

I got my first Apple product - a MacBook - in December. The only way to connect it to an external monitor turned out to be purchasing an additional Mini DisplayPort[1] adapter for something like $45 - from Apple, of course, since no one else was selling it. The ONLY product in the entire world at the time that used the Mini DisplayPort, as far as I could tell, was the MacBook. (well, maybe some of Apple's new display…

I don't think that's Apple being evil, that's Apple being ahead of the curve. They've always done that and I've thought it was generally admirable, although sometimes it puts you as a customer further out on the bleeding edge than you'd like. (E.g., I was very much unready to give up PCI when Apple decided to ditch PCI-X for PCI Express. However, it was clearly where the world was headed.)

They've done the "lead, don't follow" thing consistently since Jobs came back. Ditching ADB and serial for USB; ditching SCSI for FireWire---I groaned at each one of those calls, but they turned out to generally be the right ones, just a year or two in some cases before the market was quite ready.

However, all that is quite different from the bullshit with the iPod video cable discussed in the article. That's just outright consumer-hostile behavior, and it's not traditional Apple ... it seems to be something new, which has only started to happen in the last few years, and mostly in the markets where they are dominant.

I still like a lot of Apple's products (I'm writing this on a 15" MacBook), but it's as much evidence as I need to not want to ever have Apple dominate the PC market. They're a wonderful company when they're the underdog, but a harsh mistress when they're in charge.

Re: I really want to like Apple (but they don't like us)

#23

Post by baddox »

jstevens85 wrote: post #11
baddox wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except for the 15" Macbook Pro, the only MBP that anyone actually would want to buy. ;)

The 15" MacBook Pro has Firewire.

Yeah, I got mixed up. The Macbook (not pro) is lacking firewire, right? And the 15" MacbookPro lost expresscard.

Re: I really want to like Apple (but they don't like us)

#24

Post by dbz »

freetard wrote: post #3

Why would anyone want to like a company?

That's a pretty neat question. It's not "Why would anyone like a company," but "Why would anyone want to like a company". An example of why one might want to like a company is for when he or she is buying stock. One doesn't have to like the company, but it can influence the decision of buying if one doesn't like the company. I'm not saying that I would never buy stock for a company I don't like, but the decision of spending my money comes much easier if I like the company. However, there are flaws with that argument seeing as my liking the company could potentially cause me to over-invest and lost my money because I thought I would buy stock for the company I liked. There are pros to why someone would like a company; however, like in the example I showed above, there are equal cons. But if you own the company. I see reason to want to like it =]

Re: I really want to like Apple (but they don't like us)

#26

Post by jstevens85 »

baddox wrote: post #23
jstevens85 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The 15" MacBook Pro has Firewire.

Yeah, I got mixed up. The Macbook (not pro) is lacking firewire, right? And the 15" MacbookPro lost expresscard.

All Apple laptops (except the Air) have Firewire. The 13" Macbook was briefly without Firewire, but that was reinstated at WWDC.

Re: I really want to like Apple (but they don't like us)

#27

Post by rbanffy »

rbanffy wrote: post #15
jstevens85 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The 15" MacBook Pro has Firewire.

Every current Macbook Pro has Firewire, according to http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/specs.html The white ones always had Firewire 400 too ( http://www.apple.com/macbook/specs.html ). There was a brief period when the 15 inch Macbook (later renamed Pro) had no Firewire. The Air, predictably, doesn't have Firewire. It barely has USB...

Oops... Jstevens85 got it right. It was the 13 inch that had no FireWire before being renamed a "pro".

Re: I really want to like Apple (but they don't like us)

#28

Post by tome »

Kadin wrote: post #21
alex_c wrote: post #10

I got my first Apple product - a MacBook - in December. The only way to connect it to an external monitor turned out to be purchasing an additional Mini DisplayPort[1] adapter for something like $45 - from Apple, of course, since no one else was selling it. The ONLY product in the entire world at the time that used the Mini DisplayPort, as far as I could tell, was the MacBook. (well, maybe some of Apple's new display…

I don't think that's Apple being evil, that's Apple being ahead of the curve. They've always done that and I've thought it was generally admirable, although sometimes it puts you as a customer further out on the bleeding edge than you'd like. (E.g., I was very much unready to give up PCI when Apple decided to ditch PCI-X for PCI Express. However, it was clearly where the world was headed.) They've done the "lead, don…

They ditched floppy drives years before anyone in the PC world too, and it did us a lot of good. There were far more useful replacements at the time (Zip drive, CD-R etc.) and the floppy really was something that needed to be abandoned.

Re: I really want to like Apple (but they don't like us)

#29

Post by praptak »

freetard wrote: post #3

Why would anyone want to like a company?

I suppose it's to avoid the conflict between short-term personal gain (X is making a good product) and the more general long-term global loss (X actions go against my personal principles; X makes the world a worse place to live).

Re: I really want to like Apple (but they don't like us)

#30

Post by RyanMcGreal »

FTA:

The point is, as much as I like Apple's attention to detail, its outstanding industrial design, I can't justify buying a product that's not really mine. Call me spoiled, but using stuff like Linux made me feel I am really in control. The netbook is mine, and nobody will make my computer do something I don't approve. If it ceases to work, it will be my fault.

This is exactly why I switched from XP to Linux rather than to OSX. I'd rather tinker with my own system than be passively impressed with the feature set of Apple's system.

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