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Reasons Not to Use Apple (2018)

stallman.org

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Re: Reasons Not to Use Apple (2018)

#71

Post by ksec »

jpdus wrote: post #24

Wow - regardless of whether one agrees with RMS, alone the fact that this submission has been heavily flagged already (and will thus drop from the frontpage soon) tells you a lot about the power of Apple and their fans here. HN urgently needs to address the flagging problems, this has been the case for many important but controversial topics recently and leads to a degraded quality of frontpage submissions in my view…

So what are we suppose to do other than flagging for utter nonsense like this one?

I can give you a pass what whatever ideological view in Stallman's own little world. But things like

>Apple pioneered techniques for avoiding the US corporate tax (even though it is far too low) in order to pay next to no tax.

Apple is the largest Tax payer in the US by far. Given how other company dodge tax I sometimes wish ( as an Apple Shareholder ) Apple did that too, but they didn't. Apple Pay every single bit of Tax, and until the money are being bought back to US they don't have to pay profits earn offshore. You can argue about whether Apple should pay tax in EU. But that is a completely different Topic.

>Apple turns a blind eye to environment in China.

>Worker abuse

Apple didn't build Sweatshop. Plain and Simple. And neither did Foxconn. No one was forced to work Overtime. People wanted to do it because they make Money. And for people coming out from village in China, getting into Foxconn was the first step into City. And if you are wondering why there are people suicide, there were no more than a 100 people over the years in total out of a peak of 2 Million employees by Foxconn.

And then you thought he was against Apple, and you start looking at all the other parts like Amazon. And the first line:

>Amazon has so much power over the US retail economy that it imposes its power over all participants.

I would have expected anybody doing any sort of programming to be half decent with logic. And since anyone doing programming would have know how to use a computer, and doing a little Google Search on Government Official Data, he would have known Amazon, despite being a household name is actually not quite a dominant player in the whole US retail revenue segment.

And countless other examples, bashing for the purpose of bashing.

If this is not Spreading FUD I don't know what is. And if we don't flag FUD and I don't know what where we should begin. FUD is FUD, I am not giving a free pass to RMS.

Edit. And this reply has 5 up vote and 5 down vote in the space of 5 min.

Re: Reasons Not to Use Apple (2018)

#73

Post by mch82 »

tokyodude wrote: post #26
gowld wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's interesting about stallman is that he is zealous about his philosophy, but like all philosophies, his philosophy is inconsistent when you take it to its logical extremes. (See the paradox of closed source microwaves). Stallman's philosophy is a veneer over utilitarianism and assumption that the computer is a unique construct in society -- software should be libre because libre software provides the most value…

I know of no security benefits to closed platforms. I know many people believe one platform that happens to be closed, iOS, is more secure than some other platforms but I've seen no evidence that it's more secure because it's closed. In fact, the platform that's generally considered the least secure, Windows, is also closed.

There was an entire controversy about how hard Apple made it for law enforcement to access iPhones, which indicates security benefits.

Apple’s business model also aligns with user privacy (so far).

It’s also worth considering Apple’s CEO personally values privacy because he had to keep his sexuality a secret his entire life until he reached such a prominent position he felt safe to speak out.

I agree that the strongest evidence is the source code, compiler code, and electronics schematics. However, there are other forms of evidence.

Re: Reasons Not to Use Apple (2018)

#75

Post by krn »

mark_l_watson wrote: post #45

+1 Richard Sure, he is cherry picking examples, but there are a lot of examples to choose from. I used mostly Linux at home for about 15 years, then switched to a decade of MacOS. My new laptop is a Linux laptop and I think I will go back to Linux as my main driver. I am really conflicted about cellphones. I was unhappy with the crap ware preloaded on my Verizon Android phones. I am happier with a Verizon iPhone, as…

> I am really conflicted about cellphones. I was unhappy with the crap ware preloaded on my Verizon Android phones. I am happier with a Verizon iPhone, as far as not having a lot of junk preinstalled.

I personally prefer SIM-free Android One smartphones[1], which come without any bloatware and with monthly security updates.

Not only they offer the best price / performance ratio, but they are also easy to keep private by uninstalling / disabling those few apps that come with the device.

[1] https://www.android.com/one/

Re: Reasons Not to Use Apple (2018)

#76

Post by zenexer »

Let’s not water down the major issues with a long list of grievances. Apple’s anticompetitive practices are hugely problematic, and it’s the one area in which Apple refuses to budge. That’s where we need to focus, starting with the App Store.

Re: Reasons Not to Use Apple (2018)

#77

Post by saagarjha »

talkingtab wrote: post #65

The #1 reason not to use Apple is their arrogance toward their users. I don't want them to lie to me about my battery, nor make me choose their music over spotify and engage in other customer-hostile policies to make money. If it were only that simple, sigh. Google is much worse. Apple at least lip sync's privacy, I suspect when it is to their advantage. I believe Apple just has no clue as to how to create products a…

Apple does neither of these things.

Re: Reasons Not to Use Apple (2018)

#78

Post by dmitryminkovsky »

mark_l_watson wrote: post #45

+1 Richard Sure, he is cherry picking examples, but there are a lot of examples to choose from. I used mostly Linux at home for about 15 years, then switched to a decade of MacOS. My new laptop is a Linux laptop and I think I will go back to Linux as my main driver. I am really conflicted about cellphones. I was unhappy with the crap ware preloaded on my Verizon Android phones. I am happier with a Verizon iPhone, as…

> I am reading Cal Newport’s new book Digital Minimalism that is making me realize that I need to be more focused in how I spend any screen time.

To this end I am launching an email service that sends and receives messages once a day. The idea is that with one delivery each day, you don’t need to regulate or discipline yourself as much, and you get a lot more space to think and enjoy your communication. It’s called Pony https://www.pony.gg

Re: Reasons Not to Use Apple (2018)

#79

Post by how-rude »

ksec wrote: post #71
jpdus wrote: post #24

Wow - regardless of whether one agrees with RMS, alone the fact that this submission has been heavily flagged already (and will thus drop from the frontpage soon) tells you a lot about the power of Apple and their fans here. HN urgently needs to address the flagging problems, this has been the case for many important but controversial topics recently and leads to a degraded quality of frontpage submissions in my view…

So what are we suppose to do other than flagging for utter nonsense like this one? I can give you a pass what whatever ideological view in Stallman's own little world. But things like > Apple pioneered techniques for avoiding the US corporate tax (even though it is far too low) in order to pay next to no tax. Apple is the largest Tax payer in the US by far. Given how other company dodge tax I sometimes wish ( as an A…

Yeah, and for people like you who invested in oil companies global warming is an "utter nonsense".

Re: Reasons Not to Use Apple (2018)

#80

Post by badpun »

heavenlyblue wrote: post #68
badpun wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are free public restrooms (at least in my country), which are equivalent of the soup kitchens in your example. What he's proposing though is to NEVER pay for the restroom, even if you can afford it - you should always look for free one instead. He hopes that this form of boycott, if it becomes popular enough, will convince toilet owners to not charge for the use. In the food context, it would mean always eating…

Stallman doesn’t propose not paying for the toilet.

From his https://stallman.org/pay-toilets.html :

> I have concluded that the least we can do, to eliminate pay toilets, is to avoid giving them money. Instead of paying them, I go to great lengths to find some other toilet.

> Please join me in rejecting pay toilets firmly.

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