5 ms·

Sigh. I've been planning on getting a new notebook and was leaning toward one of Apple's products... but this has shifted me away. I know, I know: no one cares

by scarmig 14y ago

Sigh. I've been planning on getting a new notebook and was leaning toward one of Apple's products... but this has shifted me away. I know, I know: no one cares about nerd ideologies. But I'll do my part and lower their monthly revenues by 0.00001%.

vibrunazo 14y ago
Same for me. Been looking to replace my dell notebook and was looking into the Macbook Air with ubuntu as the alternative. Was just comparing prices and specs on the Apple's website last week. I used to think Apple's success was great for us consumers because it's more choice, and competition is why companies are innovating in the first place, right? But this latest injunction made me realize, if I give money to Apple, there will be less competition and not more. They're unfairly anti-competitive and will use any immoral hole in legislation to make sure consumers have no options. To make sure there is no competition. That is driving innovation backwards, not forward. Summing the pros and cons. Their own technological innovation is not worth their effort to stop the whole rest of the world from innovating. Their balance to the world is on the negative. I'm not gonna give money to a company that is driving humanity backwards. My 0.00001% missing contribution will have the same value as my vote for the country's president. I'm voting with my wallet.
- davedx 14y ago
  I'm planning on buying a second hand Macbook Air. Best of both worlds, right?
  - rbranson 14y ago
    Not likely. The second hand market, which you will be sustaining, is part of why Apple can demand higher prices and make higher margins.
- hugoc 14y ago
  Fortunately now there are serious alternatives to the Macbook Air http://www.anandtech.com/show/5843/asus-zenbook-prime-ux21a-review http://www.anandtech.com/show/5843/asus-zenbook-prime-ux21a-...
  - moe 14y ago
    Just skimmed the review and that does indeed look like a fine device. Completely unrelated: Why do vendors (including Apple) insist on plastering their ugly company logos on the back? Both the macbook and the zenbook would look much better without that white scar.
    - vibrunazo 14y ago
      Branding in the strongest selling point of Apple products. They may have their flaws, but they're genius in their branding. They put an Apple logo in the back, for the same reason they give out Apple stickers for your car. For the same reason they put "sent from my iphone" at the end of an email. For the same reason their billionaire campaign insisted to "think different". Even their pixel placement choice has branding in mind. Apple engineering sacrificed multi-tasking to make sure scrolling could be displayed at 60fps, just so that holding a competing product "just doesn't feel like an Apple". That's ingenious branding being consistent at every layer of the company. They want to you feel emotionally and better than others, and proud to show off the Apple logo. And they're the best in the world at doing this. That's why you saw all those posts angry at instagram when they launched for Android, claiming it wouldn't be as great now that the unwashed masses could touch it.
      - novalis 14y ago
        There is a cut off for that, the moment the market hits a reasonable tipping point on that understanding, they will have to come up with something fantastic. Can't wait.
      - tikhonj 14y ago
        Maybe that's great for getting people to like the brand, but it's incredibly annoying to non-Apple users. Frankly, I think the whole "sent from my iPhone thing" is extremely obnoxious. My roommate had a macbook freshman year. Whenever he used it at night (with the screen turned away from me), the stupid logo would light up the whole room. Really? Not only is it garish, but it's actively inconvenient. I like what Thinkpad does here--they have a relatively unobtrusive logo in the corner with a red led for the dot over the i. It's cute and unobtrusive. My Vaio is also good in this regard--it has an elegant logo made up of metal on a matte blue background. Quite importantly, it does not light up. It might be a little pretentious, but it is elegant. It also has too many vowels, but that's not really related to the discussion :P.
- mrslx 14y ago
  More choice is why companies are innovating? All the windows/Linux machines pretty much look the same, some are even now trying to look like macs... Big business likes to replicate because it's safer than risk/innovation.
  - tikhonj 14y ago
    There are plenty of innovative laptops if you don't mind spending some money. Most of the options you see at stores like Best Buy are cheap consumer devices--of course they're not going to be innovative! Take an example--I have a Vaio Z-series (and I've had it for a while now). It's lighter than an MBA (yay for carbon fiber), has two SSDs in Raid 0 and up to 1080p on a 13" screen. It also has a good touchpad and a dock with an external graphics card connected via a light peak port. That part is admittedly wonky without drivers (that is, it doesn't work great on Linux or Windows 8), but it is really cool nonetheless. It also looks just great, and nothing like a mac. If that isn't innovative, I don't know what is. You just don't see it competing with the $600-$800 Windows laptops at Best Buy. There are some other similarly innovative laptops like Thinkpads that you can get. Apple is not the only company with interesting notebooks!
eagsalazar 14y ago
I'm in the same boat although I'm thinking about a used 17" MBP and running Ubuntu. Not sure if that absolves me.
arpit 14y ago
I am adding to that 0.00001%. Ciao Apple
rimantas 14y ago
Well, you chose to avoid good product because of the stupid ideology. Why stupid? Because you can easily find a reason to hate Google the same or even more (the whole FRAND thing e.g.). OTOH, people are not rational, nothing new here so this love/hate boils down to subjective preferences rationalized a lot. I like Apple because they make damn good products. Damn good products make them damn good money. Google makes money from ads. I hate ads. But strangely enough I feel neutral about Google. As for the patents and this case: it was said more than once there—hate the game, not the player.
- scarmig 14y ago
  Sure, the MBA is a good product. But most of its competitors are also good products: there's not clearly a best one, at least for my needs. Indeed, I've been wavering back and forth for over a month over what I should choose: each has its own set of pros and cons. These recent events have emphasized one of Apple's cons and pushed me to other choices. I won't lose any sleep over the switch: I don't feel that I'm missing out on some life changing experience just for the sake of ideology. Now I'll likely end up with an ultrabook with a better screen but inferior battery life and build quality. A definite trade-off, but the amount it will affect my day to day life probably isn't significant.
- napoleoncomplex 14y ago
  I don't think it's in any way unreasonable or stupid for people to avoid products of a certain company based on disagreement with that company's business policy, no matter the quality of those products. I can't come up with something catchier than hate the game, not the player, but I think the game is always going to stay shitty if people support players who show no interest in changing the game.
  - rimantas 14y ago
    I am not saying it is unreasonable, just that it is not rational. The whole disagreement thing is just what wee chose to pay attention to and what to ignore. You can take any tech company and paint it however you want just by cherry-picking.
wollw 14y ago
I've been using Macs since the 80s and I'm with you. I've felt so ashamed of what Apple has become I covered the Apple logo on my MacBook Pro. I use Linux instead of Mac OS already but that's more of a preference thing than anything else.
loceng 14y ago
I'm getting Galaxy S3 instead of iPhone - easy decision now. Just more proof that shows that patents slow innovation, increase costs, and reduces/limits the amount of people who can get access to the technology; Innovation will occur if people have the tools they need to build the innovation, design new tools, and reach the public who would 'vote' on the technology by mechanisms like pre-buying. Patents need to go. People need to stop fearing competition. Controlled ecosystems are bad for everyone, including the people stressing over maintaining the control.
fidotron 14y ago
I'm doing this too. My current Mac is dying and it's going to be replaced with a PC. (If only ARM based laptops were available already). I moved to Apple with OS X back in the G4 era on the basis of OS X, and it is going to be a pain to leave, but with the trends in OS X development being what they are it had to happen at some point.
- tikhonj 14y ago
  Happily, there are some very compelling options on Linux these days. If you happen not to like Unity and Ubuntu, I suggest you check out KDE--the later iterations of KDE 4 are marvelous. I've been extremely happy with it.
acchow 14y ago
Ideologies are important. Look at our victory over ACTA.

by scarmig 14y ago

vibrunazo 14y ago

Same for me. Been looking to replace my dell notebook and was looking into the Macbook Air with ubuntu as the alternative. Was just comparing prices and specs on the Apple's website last week. I used to think Apple's success was great for us consumers because it's more choice, and competition is why companies are innovating in the first place, right? But this latest injunction made me realize, if I give money to Apple, there will be less competition and not more. They're unfairly anti-competitive and will use any immoral hole in legislation to make sure consumers have no options. To make sure there is no competition. That is driving innovation backwards, not forward. Summing the pros and cons. Their own technological innovation is not worth their effort to stop the whole rest of the world from innovating. Their balance to the world is on the negative. I'm not gonna give money to a company that is driving humanity backwards. My 0.00001% missing contribution will have the same value as my vote for the country's president. I'm voting with my wallet.

davedx 14y ago
I'm planning on buying a second hand Macbook Air. Best of both worlds, right?
- rbranson 14y ago
  Not likely. The second hand market, which you will be sustaining, is part of why Apple can demand higher prices and make higher margins.
hugoc 14y ago
Fortunately now there are serious alternatives to the Macbook Air http://www.anandtech.com/show/5843/asus-zenbook-prime-ux21a-review http://www.anandtech.com/show/5843/asus-zenbook-prime-ux21a-...
- moe 14y ago
  Just skimmed the review and that does indeed look like a fine device. Completely unrelated: Why do vendors (including Apple) insist on plastering their ugly company logos on the back? Both the macbook and the zenbook would look much better without that white scar.
  - vibrunazo 14y ago
    Branding in the strongest selling point of Apple products. They may have their flaws, but they're genius in their branding. They put an Apple logo in the back, for the same reason they give out Apple stickers for your car. For the same reason they put "sent from my iphone" at the end of an email. For the same reason their billionaire campaign insisted to "think different". Even their pixel placement choice has branding in mind. Apple engineering sacrificed multi-tasking to make sure scrolling could be displayed at 60fps, just so that holding a competing product "just doesn't feel like an Apple". That's ingenious branding being consistent at every layer of the company. They want to you feel emotionally and better than others, and proud to show off the Apple logo. And they're the best in the world at doing this. That's why you saw all those posts angry at instagram when they launched for Android, claiming it wouldn't be as great now that the unwashed masses could touch it.
    - novalis 14y ago
      There is a cut off for that, the moment the market hits a reasonable tipping point on that understanding, they will have to come up with something fantastic. Can't wait.
    - tikhonj 14y ago
      Maybe that's great for getting people to like the brand, but it's incredibly annoying to non-Apple users. Frankly, I think the whole "sent from my iPhone thing" is extremely obnoxious. My roommate had a macbook freshman year. Whenever he used it at night (with the screen turned away from me), the stupid logo would light up the whole room. Really? Not only is it garish, but it's actively inconvenient. I like what Thinkpad does here--they have a relatively unobtrusive logo in the corner with a red led for the dot over the i. It's cute and unobtrusive. My Vaio is also good in this regard--it has an elegant logo made up of metal on a matte blue background. Quite importantly, it does not light up. It might be a little pretentious, but it is elegant. It also has too many vowels, but that's not really related to the discussion :P.
mrslx 14y ago
More choice is why companies are innovating? All the windows/Linux machines pretty much look the same, some are even now trying to look like macs... Big business likes to replicate because it's safer than risk/innovation.
- tikhonj 14y ago
  There are plenty of innovative laptops if you don't mind spending some money. Most of the options you see at stores like Best Buy are cheap consumer devices--of course they're not going to be innovative! Take an example--I have a Vaio Z-series (and I've had it for a while now). It's lighter than an MBA (yay for carbon fiber), has two SSDs in Raid 0 and up to 1080p on a 13" screen. It also has a good touchpad and a dock with an external graphics card connected via a light peak port. That part is admittedly wonky without drivers (that is, it doesn't work great on Linux or Windows 8), but it is really cool nonetheless. It also looks just great, and nothing like a mac. If that isn't innovative, I don't know what is. You just don't see it competing with the $600-$800 Windows laptops at Best Buy. There are some other similarly innovative laptops like Thinkpads that you can get. Apple is not the only company with interesting notebooks!

eagsalazar 14y ago

I'm in the same boat although I'm thinking about a used 17" MBP and running Ubuntu. Not sure if that absolves me.

arpit 14y ago

I am adding to that 0.00001%. Ciao Apple

rimantas 14y ago

Well, you chose to avoid good product because of the stupid ideology. Why stupid? Because you can easily find a reason to hate Google the same or even more (the whole FRAND thing e.g.). OTOH, people are not rational, nothing new here so this love/hate boils down to subjective preferences rationalized a lot. I like Apple because they make damn good products. Damn good products make them damn good money. Google makes money from ads. I hate ads. But strangely enough I feel neutral about Google. As for the patents and this case: it was said more than once there—hate the game, not the player.

scarmig 14y ago
Sure, the MBA is a good product. But most of its competitors are also good products: there's not clearly a best one, at least for my needs. Indeed, I've been wavering back and forth for over a month over what I should choose: each has its own set of pros and cons. These recent events have emphasized one of Apple's cons and pushed me to other choices. I won't lose any sleep over the switch: I don't feel that I'm missing out on some life changing experience just for the sake of ideology. Now I'll likely end up with an ultrabook with a better screen but inferior battery life and build quality. A definite trade-off, but the amount it will affect my day to day life probably isn't significant.
napoleoncomplex 14y ago
I don't think it's in any way unreasonable or stupid for people to avoid products of a certain company based on disagreement with that company's business policy, no matter the quality of those products. I can't come up with something catchier than hate the game, not the player, but I think the game is always going to stay shitty if people support players who show no interest in changing the game.
- rimantas 14y ago
  I am not saying it is unreasonable, just that it is not rational. The whole disagreement thing is just what wee chose to pay attention to and what to ignore. You can take any tech company and paint it however you want just by cherry-picking.

wollw 14y ago

I've been using Macs since the 80s and I'm with you. I've felt so ashamed of what Apple has become I covered the Apple logo on my MacBook Pro. I use Linux instead of Mac OS already but that's more of a preference thing than anything else.

loceng 14y ago

I'm getting Galaxy S3 instead of iPhone - easy decision now. Just more proof that shows that patents slow innovation, increase costs, and reduces/limits the amount of people who can get access to the technology; Innovation will occur if people have the tools they need to build the innovation, design new tools, and reach the public who would 'vote' on the technology by mechanisms like pre-buying. Patents need to go. People need to stop fearing competition. Controlled ecosystems are bad for everyone, including the people stressing over maintaining the control.

fidotron 14y ago

I'm doing this too. My current Mac is dying and it's going to be replaced with a PC. (If only ARM based laptops were available already). I moved to Apple with OS X back in the G4 era on the basis of OS X, and it is going to be a pain to leave, but with the trends in OS X development being what they are it had to happen at some point.

tikhonj 14y ago
Happily, there are some very compelling options on Linux these days. If you happen not to like Unity and Ubuntu, I suggest you check out KDE--the later iterations of KDE 4 are marvelous. I've been extremely happy with it.

acchow 14y ago

Ideologies are important. Look at our victory over ACTA.