Don’t Be Apple

[Megalith]

I think we can all agree that Apple makes elegant products. They feel good in your hands, and their software tends to provide a smooth experience. But like this writer, I think their walled-garden approach is a huge turn-off.

It’s because they have, I think, an almost Shakespearean tragic flaw: their obsession with centralized corporate control of the devices they sell. Apple sells fantastic hardware, and excellent software … and tries to maintain an iron-fisted grip on both, throughout their lifespan. Even its defenders tend to admit: “Apple is always arrogant, controlling, and inflexible, and sometimes stingy.”

 

[mps]

I think we can all agree that Apple makes elegant products. They feel good in your hands, and their software tends to provide a smooth experience.

I don't agree with that. While they have developed some brilliant hardware, Apple software is some of the most ill-conceived brain-numbing pieces of crap that has ever been developed on any platform. Example: iTunes, after all of these years, continues to be a mishmash of unusable patchwork with ZERO cohesion. To top that off, the "fit & finish" of Apple software in recent years has been awful. The constantly release software that is buggy that causes serious problems for their devices. Look at the iPhone 6 & IOS 8.01 debacle for a prime example.

Apple is consistently the slowest in releasing patches & updates to correct their problems. Anyone who wants to knock Microsoft for the speed of their patch releases needs to take a serious look at the way Apple does things.

 

[rezerekted]

“Apple is always arrogant, controlling, and inflexible, and sometimes stingy.”

With Win10 Microsoft is no better.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/08/21/microsoft_will_explain_only_significant_windows_10_updates/

Microsoft will explain only 'significant' Windows 10 updates

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/0..._ground_for_the_data_slurpers_cesspit/?page=2

Microsoft vacates moral high ground for the data slurpers' cesspit

 

[Ocellaris]

I don't agree with that. While they have developed some brilliant hardware, Apple software is some of the most ill-conceived brain-numbing pieces of crap that has ever been developed on any platform. Example: iTunes, after all of these years, continues to be a mishmash of unusable patchwork with ZERO cohesion. To top that off, the "fit & finish" of Apple software in recent years has been awful. The constantly release software that is buggy that causes serious problems for their devices. Look at the iPhone 6 & IOS 8.01 debacle for a prime example.

Apple is consistently the slowest in releasing patches & updates to correct their problems. Anyone who wants to knock Microsoft for the speed of their patch releases needs to take a serious look at the way Apple does things.

Apple is the slowest at releasing patches? Have you checked out Android?

 

[mi7chy]

Apple is the slowest at releasing patches? Have you checked out Android?

Apple is copying Android features at a furious pace so it makes sense that they release more frequent updates. The upcoming iOS 9 will finally copy Samsung's split view and picture-in-picture from 3 years ago but it'll only run on iPad Air 2 and newer devices so go buy another device and make Apple profitable.

 

[rezerekted]

Don't be Apple, don't be google, don't be Microsoft, don't be Samsung, don't be Lenovo. Are there any good guys left?

 

[timta2]

Rabble Rabble Rabble. Haters gonna hate.

 

[trparky]

If you ask me... when it comes to mobile phones, being Apple is better. They have absolute control over the hardware and the software of the devices and Apple has basically told the carriers to go piss up a rope. If you get the idea that I think that the US cellular carriers have too much control, then you would be right.

Google on the other hand has little to no control over Android. They can patch it all they want but if the Android OEMs and carriers don't bother to actually release those patches, then nobody gets those patches. In a lot of ways, Google has no control over Android's destiny; the carriers and OEMs do. Google can make all the changes to Android that they want but there's nothing in the Android licencing that states that the OEMs and carriers have to do a damn thing with those changes.

I have said it before and I'll say it again... the OEMs and carriers don't want to update your old device, they would much rather you buy a new device. That's how the OEMs and carriers make money. They don't make money when noone upgrades/buys new devices.

 

[Terpfen]

Don't be the leading technology company. OK then. Great advice.

 

[Knight_of_BAAWA]

I don't think that Apple products are the least bit elegant in the first place. They look like shit. And the walled-off ecosystem is shit. They took a big strained shit on the idea of the original mac commercial (breaking free from Big Brother).

 

[rat]

“Apple is always arrogant, controlling, and inflexible, and sometimes stingy.”

With Win10 Microsoft is no better.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/08/21/microsoft_will_explain_only_significant_windows_10_updates/

Microsoft will explain only 'significant' Windows 10 updates

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/0..._ground_for_the_data_slurpers_cesspit/?page=2

Microsoft vacates moral high ground for the data slurpers' cesspit

What is it with Apple fanboys and their obsessive need to point fingers elsewhere whenever faced with criticism about their Holy Empire?

YOU DO NOT MITIGATE VALID CRITICISMS AGAINST APPLE BY DOING SO. You're basically saying "Apple does bad things just like Microsoft does, too."

Fucking christ, dude. You have done nothing BUT confirm what this whole article has been trying to say.

 

[rezerekted]

I'm not an Apple fanboy, don't even own any Apple devices. Was just saying Microsoft sucks too and not just Apple.

 

[rat]

I'm not an Apple fanboy, don't even own any Apple devices. Was just saying Microsoft sucks too and not just Apple.

Your 'just saying' then is purely off topic drivel. Why bring up another company as a point of comparison if you're not trying to make Apple look less bad?

 

[kbrickley]

always arrogant, controlling, and inflexible, and sometimes stingy.

Didn't you just describe almost every tech company ever

Although one can have a valid dispute with what the iPhone became, the initial releases helped break the control of the carriers over phone software (which Google still mostly supports with Android) ... all companies have good and bad points ... there is no moral high ground in tech (AMD isn't a Mother Teresa to Intel's Scrooge anymore than Apple is a Scrooge to Google's Mother Teresa) ... all companies are in business to make money (if that is not their goal then they shouldn't be in business) ... Apple makes money more efficiently than many other companies and it gives rise to resentment ... can they make improvements to their products and customer service (probably) but they are hardly the Anti-Christ of Tech that people sometimes try to make them out to be

 

[Godmachine]

“Apple is always arrogant, controlling, and inflexible, and sometimes stingy.”

With Win10 Microsoft is no better.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/08/21/microsoft_will_explain_only_significant_windows_10_updates/

Microsoft will explain only 'significant' Windows 10 updates

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/0..._ground_for_the_data_slurpers_cesspit/?page=2

Microsoft vacates moral high ground for the data slurpers' cesspit

Pointing to Microsoft to somehow validate Apple Fanboyism is a straw man counter argument. Stop doing it.

Apple Fanboy's are without question the biggest of sheep. Apple makes solid products but they have a huge cost and its far greater than MS. But the fact that people use MS to deflect critical thoughts about Apple is getting really tiring.

 

[Dan_D]

I don't agree with that. While they have developed some brilliant hardware, Apple software is some of the most ill-conceived brain-numbing pieces of crap that has ever been developed on any platform. Example: iTunes, after all of these years, continues to be a mishmash of unusable patchwork with ZERO cohesion. To top that off, the "fit & finish" of Apple software in recent years has been awful. The constantly release software that is buggy that causes serious problems for their devices. Look at the iPhone 6 & IOS 8.01 debacle for a prime example.

Apple is consistently the slowest in releasing patches & updates to correct their problems. Anyone who wants to knock Microsoft for the speed of their patch releases needs to take a serious look at the way Apple does things.

The iPod and iPhone are really nice from an OS perspective providing a pretty solid user experience. Unfortunately as you pointed out iTunes is a huge fucking piece of shit. I'm also not a fan of Mac OS but that's another matter entirely.

 

[daglesj]

Android could solve a lot of problems if all the phones physically died after 3.5 years. Would cut out worrying about long term legacy legacy. Plus it would be refreshingly honest.

The phone dies and you hand it in for 20% discount on your next one.

 

[daglesj]

The iPod and iPhone are really nice from an OS perspective providing a pretty solid user experience. Unfortunately as you pointed out iTunes is a huge fucking piece of shit. I'm also not a fan of Mac OS but that's another matter entirely.

I haven't used a Mac since I had my classic 512K fat Mac back in 1988. I was round a friends who has had a Mac for some time. He was going away and wanted to make a copy of all his documents and copy them to a new external USB HDD he had bought. He didn't know how to do it. I sorted out copying the data on his wife's Windows laptop in about 15 seconds.

Then I sat down at the Mac and found there was no simple select, right click, copy, right click paste option. Other options I'd usually use were not there either.

I looked at him and he just shrugged.

"Interesting functionality!" I said.

 

[daglesj]

Pointing to Microsoft to somehow validate Apple Fanboyism is a straw man counter argument. Stop doing it.

Apple Fanboy's are without question the biggest of sheep. Apple makes solid products but they have a huge cost and its far greater than MS. But the fact that people use MS to deflect critical thoughts about Apple is getting really tiring.

But nearly every Mac owner I know...uses Windows.

I get asked so many times by people that buy Macs if I have "a spare free copy of Windows going?"

To which I reply, "If you can spend £1300.00 on a new toy you can spend a further £100 to make it actually useful!"

 

[dandirk]

Quite honestly Apple thinks more about the user experience and generally creates one that most find easy and useful. Apple focuses on the 80-90% and simplicity which has its problems but if you buy into the Apple way at least you will get effortless results.

The article talked about cloud solutions... Apple had a seamless and easy cloud solution years ahead of everyone else.

Google just this year started to actually integrate their phone, cloud and image organization software to something similar. It shocked me how a bunch of geniuses finally figured out people want to seemlessly and effortlessly take pictures, edit and store them. AND I am talking about using all google products.. previously you had to integrate them with 3rd party sync apps and junk.

I don't mind Apples walled garden approach for their OS, store and apps. I don't even mind their limited procedures for doing "something". Meaning I could live with only having one single store to get software if they were safe and easy to use.

I do have a problem that their wall have no windows what so ever. What ever windows the wall has is one way glass... in. They have no problem supporting MS Outlook on their device but they would NEVER think of making the facetime format available to other clients (or create a cross platform client).

For that reason only I will never support an apple product. At least with google/windows I can use their apps/service on other devices and OSes (With some limitations I can live with). I have options if I want, with apple you don't have options unless you forgo many of the reason why Apple products are good (reliability and ease of use).

 

[daglesj]

My photos never knowingly go up to the cloud. All that gets switched off.

 

[WaltC]

I outgrew MP3 players @ 16, and the only cell phone I want is a dumb one. All of the lovely $$$ I therefore save (substantial) is plowed right back into my non-Apple computers, in hardware & software--or other things. OS X is a horrid anachronism which Apple still exclusively ties to its own brand of x86 clones, "Macs"--if you know much about the computer industry you'll give Apple a wide berth. Basically, Apple product appeal is strongest in those who have difficulty explaining the difference between a ram chip & a mouse, imo...

 

[Aireoth]

Haters will hate. Apple software is suffering lately, they can't seem to do anything right.

You do have to give props where props are due, they are the biggest single reason you have both a portable smart phone and portable media player in your pocket. In a time where the leading phone companies where saying this is as good as it gets (blackberry, samsung) apple came in swinging.

They also enabled a large percentage of the population to access technology, hell even my grandmother can use an iPhone, and prior to that all she had was a landline and no computer.

That being said, they have a lot of blind followers, and advertise to idiots (but it works).

 

[Nytegard]

Quite honestly Apple thinks more about the user experience and generally creates one that most find easy and useful. Apple focuses on the 80-90% and simplicity which has its problems but if you buy into the Apple way at least you will get effortless results.

This is the major reason I don't want Apple to go away. Way too many computer products treat the user experience as a secret society. To learn what to do, you first need to know how to do it. It's like no company but Apple has ever tried to think, how can we make this useable?

 

[Knight_of_BAAWA]

This is the major reason I don't want Apple to go away. Way too many computer products treat the user experience as a secret society. To learn what to do, you first need to know how to do it. It's like no company but Apple has ever tried to think, how can we make this useable?

And Apple consistently FAILS at that. The UI is horrid for iAnything. And dealing with the "app store" (no trademark, because to hell with IP) is nightmarish if you want to do anything with as few clicks as possible. Contrast that with how Android is (and I don't even consider the Windows app store, as programs are things you buy from a retailer or e-tailer, not an app store), and Android Just Works.

 

[Deleted whining member 223597]

I don't think that Apple products are the least bit elegant in the first place. They look like shit. And the walled-off ecosystem is shit. They took a big strained shit on the idea of the original mac commercial (breaking free from Big Brother).

And Apple consistently FAILS at that. The UI is horrid for iAnything. And dealing with the "app store" (no trademark, because to hell with IP) is nightmarish if you want to do anything with as few clicks as possible. Contrast that with how Android is (and I don't even consider the Windows app store, as programs are things you buy from a retailer or e-tailer, not an app store), and Android Just Works.

Tell us how you really feel though.

 

[rezerekted]

Your 'just saying' then is purely off topic drivel. Why bring up another company as a point of comparison if you're not trying to make Apple look less bad?

No, I am not trying to make Apple look less bad, just saying they all suck, which is not off topic. If I want to make a comparison, I can. If you don't like it, well, here's a Kleenex.

 

[foxnews]

I don't agree with that. While they have developed some brilliant hardware, Apple software is some of the most ill-conceived brain-numbing pieces of crap that has ever been developed on any platform. Example: iTunes, after all of these years, continues to be a mishmash of unusable patchwork with ZERO cohesion. To top that off, the "fit & finish" of Apple software in recent years has been awful. The constantly release software that is buggy that causes serious problems for their devices. Look at the iPhone 6 & IOS 8.01 debacle for a prime example.

Apple is consistently the slowest in releasing patches & updates to correct their problems. Anyone who wants to knock Microsoft for the speed of their patch releases needs to take a serious look at the way Apple does things.

I have products from all three companies: ATV 3, iphone 6 plus from apple; Nexus player and Shield TV with Google TV; Window 10 from Microsoft.

those things you said above are the opposite of what I experienced. No software from any companies are bug free. but out of all those three companies, Apple software/hardware is the most user friendly, the least bug, polished with quick update.

Nexus Player has Netflix deactivate issue (while Shield does not) that took over a month to be fixed. I have ATV 2 and 3 for over 4 years, and issue got resolved within days.

Each app on Google TV are controlled differently, such as closed caption, Fast forward, etc. There are no consistency in the Google TV system. It is very confusing, and not user friendly at all. With ATV 3, all app are controlled the same. Fast forwarding is the same in Netflix or HBO or youtube. Closed caption style and control are also the same in all apps.

I don't have Samsung phone so I can't speak to that. but my coworker had iphone, and then he bought Samsung Galaxy so that he can have "freedom" to do whatever with his phone. well after 6 months, he went back to iphone. He told me that Galaxy is laggy, and its apps were unstable. He had to use an app to clean up his phone memory. at the end of the day, He is tired of managing his phone, flashing ROM. He just wants a phone that works.

 

[foxnews]

I outgrew MP3 players @ 16, and the only cell phone I want is a dumb one. All of the lovely $$$ I therefore save (substantial) is plowed right back into my non-Apple computers, in hardware & software--or other things. OS X is a horrid anachronism which Apple still exclusively ties to its own brand of x86 clones, "Macs"--if you know much about the computer industry you'll give Apple a wide berth. Basically, Apple product appeal is strongest in those who have difficulty explaining the difference between a ram chip & a mouse, imo...

why should they have to know about RAM and chip? if an artist, a teacher, a mother, or a kid owns a phone, why should he/she need know about RAM and chip? it is just a tool after all. they rather spend their time on something more important in life than Ram and chip.

do you know about everything you buy? your car, blueray player, modem, etc?

 

[Nytegard]

I have products from all three companies: ATV 3, iphone 6 plus from apple; Nexus player and Shield TV with Google TV; Window 10 from Microsoft.

those things you said above are the opposite of what I experienced. No software from any companies are bug free. but out of all those three companies, Apple software/hardware is the most user friendly, the least bug, polished with quick update.

Nexus Player has Netflix deactivate issue (while Shield does not) that took over a month to be fixed. I have ATV 2 and 3 for over 4 years, and issue got resolved within days.

Each app on Google TV are controlled differently, such as closed caption, Fast forward, etc. There are no consistency in the Google TV system. It is very confusing, and not user friendly at all. With ATV 3, all app are controlled the same. Fast forwarding is the same in Netflix or HBO or youtube. Closed caption style and control are also the same in all apps.

I don't have Samsung phone so I can't speak to that. but my coworker had iphone, and then he bought Samsung Galaxy so that he can have "freedom" to do whatever with his phone. well after 6 months, he went back to iphone. He told me that Galaxy is laggy, and its apps were unstable. He had to use an app to clean up his phone memory. at the end of the day, He is tired of managing his phone, flashing ROM. He just wants a phone that works.

That's the main problem with Android. There's very little quality control. It doesn't just work, and is not user friendly in the slightest, because you don't know who's doing what. And though Google doesn't have real control of Android, I think that's a problem, as it comes down to the company.

I recently had to port over some code at work for the Android, Windows Phone, and iPhone. Android Studio, XCode, and Visual Studio. It was the first time I ever used Android Studio, and I have to say, it looks like it was designed by programmers, which is not a good thing. Apple certainly has issues, but their tight control gives it consistency. I mean, it's unfair to compare either to Visual Studio, as VS is thousands of times better than either Android Studio or XCode, but it took me maybe 2 hours to get our library working in iOS, and about 2 weeks to get it working with Android Studio.

Android offers tons of customization, far greater than the iPhone, but it comes at a severe cost of a lack of quality design. It's like a mishmash of everything anyone could want without asking if that makes any sense.

 

[foxnews]

hell even my grandmother can use an iPhone, and prior to that all she had was a landline and no computer.

That being said, they have a lot of blind followers, and advertise to idiots (but it works).

your argument is conflicting. or you really mean it?

if you are a business owner, would you make a product that targets 90% of the population (mom, pop, grandma, kids). or would you rather make your product just for 10% of geeko here?

 

[foxnews]

"Don’t Be Apple"

if you ask Wall Street to pick Samsung or Apple now, I bet they would pick Apple as a better investment.

 

[mope54]

I do have a problem that their wall have no windows what so ever. What ever windows the wall has is one way glass... in. They have no problem supporting MS Outlook on their device but they would NEVER think of making the facetime format available to other clients (or create a cross platform client).

For that reason only I will never support an apple product. At least with google/windows I can use their apps/service on other devices and OSes (With some limitations I can live with).

Apple had planned on opening FaceTime to 3rd parties but they lost a patent lawsuit to VirnetX. http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-20236114

You're probably reading this post on a webkit browser.

 

[raz-0]

I don't agree with that. While they have developed some brilliant hardware, Apple software is some of the most ill-conceived brain-numbing pieces of crap that has ever been developed on any platform. Example: iTunes, after all of these years, continues to be a mishmash of unusable patchwork with ZERO cohesion. To top that off, the "fit & finish" of Apple software in recent years has been awful. The constantly release software that is buggy that causes serious problems for their devices. Look at the iPhone 6 & IOS 8.01 debacle for a prime example.

Apple is consistently the slowest in releasing patches & updates to correct their problems. Anyone who wants to knock Microsoft for the speed of their patch releases needs to take a serious look at the way Apple does things.

Although nothing on the planet could make me defend itunes, anyone pointing at apple regarding buggy os releases that cause serious problems, and the time it takes to get them patched must never have met android. I have a drawer full of android devices that are well and permanently fucked without jailbreaking them (assessing compatibility issues is part of my job). While that may not be all google's fault (tons of it is though), it is the state of android as implemented in the real world. Apple fares much, much better in terms of practical deployment to the end user. With roughly 100k users wandering in and out of our network with what is essentially a BYOD policy, we spend SO much more time getting android to behave properly than iOS.