As you can probably guess from the title this one's going to be about Apple, and why I don't get it. What is it by the way, for me "it" is the somehow miraculous climb to pop culture phenom they've become, and why, at least to me it make no sense.
Let me be fair here, I will say that I'm not biased against Apple because they are "popular" I'm not one of those people who hates something because everyone else loves it. I simply can't see anything special about Apple's offerings.
Let me air out my laundry list of complaints.
1. Proprietary Boot Chip. What's the deal, they have the boot record not as a section on the Hard drive, but on a separate chip. This limits me to Apple hardware unless I want to build a "Hackintosh" which while doable is a total pain to set up by comparison. I also like the option of not having to rely on one manufacturers hardware. I can do my own custom build to suit my needs not what HP or Dell decides is "Best for me".
2. Numerous Law Suits over Apple Stolen then Patented Technology. What are the big "perks" for Apple owners? The App Store, Apple didn't have it first numerous Linux users had them well before Apple, the Dock, nope borrowed from Arthur OS, ahh Multi Touch for the iPhone! wait.. Apple patented that in 2009 yet with the power of the internet we can find it being demonstrated at a TED convention in 2006, and Microsoft had their "Milan" computer which supported Multi-touch demonstrated in 2007 and admitted it had been 5 years in the works. Doesn't look to me like Apple was creating this technology, yet they claimed patents on it and have sued Motorola over it, but you don't hear about all the suits against Apple for it's patents.
3. Rigid Control over 3rd party Development and Compatibility. Yes I can hear it now "But that helps prevent virus' from infecting Apple products!". Guess what skippy, no it doesn't the only thing that can prevent virus' intrusions is the end user. If you get get a virus on your computer it is 100% your fault for not having a good anti-virus program, and not practicing safe browsing habits. The truth is the only thing keeping Apple products from being plagued by malicious software is market share. Virus' writers want to do the most damage with the least amount of code, that's the entire philosophy so why target around 10% of the market when Windows has around 88%. Truth be told Mac OSX is one of the least secure operating systems on the market, coming in last place in several security competitions. Last one I read up on, a remote "hacker" took control of a Apple Macbook in under 3 minutes, using the same method he used to win the competition as he did the year before. Apple hadn't patched it even though they knew of it.
4. Apples desperate desire to save face. Mac-Defender put them in the spotlight, it showed that OSX was as virus proof as they tried to convince everyone. What does Apple do? Instruct their tech support not to assist customers with the issue and to deny it existed. Seriously is that what you expect for paying the prices Apple wants for their hardware?
5. Sub-par Configurations. Ok you've got two choices in laptops laid in front of you. Both have equal RAM and Processor Speeds, the same Video technology, the same size screen etc. One is a Macbook the other a Laptop from Asus. The Asus laptop comes with a Blueray player that doubles as a DVD/CD reader/writer, a larger hard drive, and Windows. The Macbook, it has OSX, Thunderbolt, and a $1000 higher price tag. Seriously $2500 for a laptop that doesn't even play DVD's? Oh but it's got Thunderbolt a technology no one else has really adopted yet, making it practically useless for the end user. Where does Apple get off charging these prices for their little Apple logo on the box? There equipment configurations are sub-par at best and modifying their equipment is almost impossible so what gives? And how come people will continually pay twice the price for half the product?
I'm sorry but for me Apple's only good product is the iPod and not the fancy touch screen one's. I'll stick to my iPod Nano thank you very much. For raw computing I'll stick with Linux and Windows. Windows for my gaming and Linux for just about everything else, I get the best of both worlds this way. Linux provides me with a more secure Operating System, that's rarely the target of the script kiddies pumping out virus' (and yes I have a anti-virus program even for it), and Windows allows me to enjoy all my favorite games on their native platform.
Let me be fair here, I will say that I'm not biased against Apple because they are "popular" I'm not one of those people who hates something because everyone else loves it. I simply can't see anything special about Apple's offerings.
Let me air out my laundry list of complaints.
- Proprietary Boot Chip - You can't install OSX on a non-Apple product without a ton of work thus the name for such a beast "Hackintosh".
- Numerous law suits by Apple over technology they stole then patented. - Yes this is a very true statement, Multi-touch comes to mind quite readily.
- Rigid control 3rd party development and compatibility.
- The extreme lengths Apple will go to in order to maintain appearances that aren't true. Mac-defender anyone.. read about it they instructed their tech support to deny it's existence.
- Sub-par Configurations of their hardware yet they charge premium prices.
1. Proprietary Boot Chip. What's the deal, they have the boot record not as a section on the Hard drive, but on a separate chip. This limits me to Apple hardware unless I want to build a "Hackintosh" which while doable is a total pain to set up by comparison. I also like the option of not having to rely on one manufacturers hardware. I can do my own custom build to suit my needs not what HP or Dell decides is "Best for me".
2. Numerous Law Suits over Apple Stolen then Patented Technology. What are the big "perks" for Apple owners? The App Store, Apple didn't have it first numerous Linux users had them well before Apple, the Dock, nope borrowed from Arthur OS, ahh Multi Touch for the iPhone! wait.. Apple patented that in 2009 yet with the power of the internet we can find it being demonstrated at a TED convention in 2006, and Microsoft had their "Milan" computer which supported Multi-touch demonstrated in 2007 and admitted it had been 5 years in the works. Doesn't look to me like Apple was creating this technology, yet they claimed patents on it and have sued Motorola over it, but you don't hear about all the suits against Apple for it's patents.
3. Rigid Control over 3rd party Development and Compatibility. Yes I can hear it now "But that helps prevent virus' from infecting Apple products!". Guess what skippy, no it doesn't the only thing that can prevent virus' intrusions is the end user. If you get get a virus on your computer it is 100% your fault for not having a good anti-virus program, and not practicing safe browsing habits. The truth is the only thing keeping Apple products from being plagued by malicious software is market share. Virus' writers want to do the most damage with the least amount of code, that's the entire philosophy so why target around 10% of the market when Windows has around 88%. Truth be told Mac OSX is one of the least secure operating systems on the market, coming in last place in several security competitions. Last one I read up on, a remote "hacker" took control of a Apple Macbook in under 3 minutes, using the same method he used to win the competition as he did the year before. Apple hadn't patched it even though they knew of it.
4. Apples desperate desire to save face. Mac-Defender put them in the spotlight, it showed that OSX was as virus proof as they tried to convince everyone. What does Apple do? Instruct their tech support not to assist customers with the issue and to deny it existed. Seriously is that what you expect for paying the prices Apple wants for their hardware?
5. Sub-par Configurations. Ok you've got two choices in laptops laid in front of you. Both have equal RAM and Processor Speeds, the same Video technology, the same size screen etc. One is a Macbook the other a Laptop from Asus. The Asus laptop comes with a Blueray player that doubles as a DVD/CD reader/writer, a larger hard drive, and Windows. The Macbook, it has OSX, Thunderbolt, and a $1000 higher price tag. Seriously $2500 for a laptop that doesn't even play DVD's? Oh but it's got Thunderbolt a technology no one else has really adopted yet, making it practically useless for the end user. Where does Apple get off charging these prices for their little Apple logo on the box? There equipment configurations are sub-par at best and modifying their equipment is almost impossible so what gives? And how come people will continually pay twice the price for half the product?
I'm sorry but for me Apple's only good product is the iPod and not the fancy touch screen one's. I'll stick to my iPod Nano thank you very much. For raw computing I'll stick with Linux and Windows. Windows for my gaming and Linux for just about everything else, I get the best of both worlds this way. Linux provides me with a more secure Operating System, that's rarely the target of the script kiddies pumping out virus' (and yes I have a anti-virus program even for it), and Windows allows me to enjoy all my favorite games on their native platform.
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