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Something I learned a while ago is that there's a particular brand of very vocal person online who has a bone to pick with Apple. Sometimes it's for a good reas

Something I learned a while ago is that there's a particular brand of very vocal person online who has a bone to pick with Apple. Sometimes it's for a good reason, sometimes less so, but the point is that they come to discussions of any Apple topic with a conclusion ready in hand and then work backwards from that. In this case the conclusion is, "Apple is wicked, perfidious, and monopolistic." Truthfully there isn't much you can say to people in that mindset.

avidiax 2y ago
"We should not discuss how much of a monopoly Apple is. It's impossible to convince some people that it's actually not a monopoly."
commakozzi 2y ago
it's tiring isn't it?
- sunshowers 2y ago
  The fucking article is about this, so it's very relevant.
- recursive 2y ago
  Yes. Probably in approximately the same way I find that there's nothing you can say to Apple fans that find a way to justify anything the Apple does.
sunshowers 2y ago
I think trillion dollar companies should not exist. They are inherently destructive to humanity.
- EA-3167 2y ago
  Case in point. If the topic was that, then I'd welcome the discussion, but when you simply bring that to every discussion about Apple... it gets old. After all your statement only really needs to be said once for people to understand it, which makes the repetition over the years very grating. "Single issue posters" are generally the least engaging on the internet.
  - sunshowers 2y ago
    I'm not a single-issue poster. I'm an established engineer with a large amount of public writing, much of which has been on the HN front page!
  - worik 2y ago
    Apple is a poster child for why there should be limits on the power of wealth Closing your mind to the possibility that Apple is throughly rotton is probably soothing, but the possibility remains that we are right, you are wrong, and each time the conclusion is the same, and correct Big Tech monopolies sniffle innovation and hord resources
    - 9rx 2y ago
      Apple and the like are only worth as much as they are because of intellectual property laws. Without that, you'd have a million iPhone clones (perfect copies, minus the dumb stuff) on the market a few days later and Apple would soon be worthless. Intellectual property laws is not some natural law of the universe. It only exists because the people (i.e. the general public) want it to exist. They could do away with it on a whim, but choose not to. Which isn't irrational as it may first seem. Their own careers probably rely on the status quo, and their retirement savings no doubt rest on companies like Apple being worth a fortune, so there is a lot of incentive to not rock the boat.
      - worik 2y ago
        IP laws are not all or nothing. It is possible to have property law that allows the good things (personal property, rewards for innovation) without the bad (market domination, monopoly and oligopoly) We have not tried, and it is not due to "we the people" it is due to "them our overlords"
        9rx 2y ago
        > it is due to "them our overlords" Funny enough, the state of intellectual property tends to be much more relaxed where overlords are actually found (e.g. China). It's easy when one guy can make things so. Far less easy when you have millions upon millions of people afraid that any change will impact them personally.
- ch4s3 2y ago
  This seems arbitrary. What is the limiting principle here? Should there be no 100 billion dollar company? How about after 50 years of inflation?
  - saagarjha 2y ago
    You’re more than welcome to adjust for inflation on that number.
dns_snek 2y ago
Interesting conclusion given that pro-Apple comments with provably incorrect claims routinely end up at the top of the HN's comment section, this thread included. Information directly refuting those claims often gets downvoted and suppressed. Why is that?
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
guelo 2y ago
Aren't all you apple defenders with very similar opinions also "a particular brand of very vocal person online"?
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]

avidiax 2y ago

"We should not discuss how much of a monopoly Apple is. It's impossible to convince some people that it's actually not a monopoly."

commakozzi 2y ago

it's tiring isn't it?

sunshowers 2y ago
The fucking article is about this, so it's very relevant.
recursive 2y ago
Yes. Probably in approximately the same way I find that there's nothing you can say to Apple fans that find a way to justify anything the Apple does.

sunshowers 2y ago

I think trillion dollar companies should not exist. They are inherently destructive to humanity.

EA-3167 2y ago
Case in point. If the topic was that, then I'd welcome the discussion, but when you simply bring that to every discussion about Apple... it gets old. After all your statement only really needs to be said once for people to understand it, which makes the repetition over the years very grating. "Single issue posters" are generally the least engaging on the internet.
- sunshowers 2y ago
  I'm not a single-issue poster. I'm an established engineer with a large amount of public writing, much of which has been on the HN front page!
- worik 2y ago
  Apple is a poster child for why there should be limits on the power of wealth Closing your mind to the possibility that Apple is throughly rotton is probably soothing, but the possibility remains that we are right, you are wrong, and each time the conclusion is the same, and correct Big Tech monopolies sniffle innovation and hord resources
  - 9rx 2y ago
    Apple and the like are only worth as much as they are because of intellectual property laws. Without that, you'd have a million iPhone clones (perfect copies, minus the dumb stuff) on the market a few days later and Apple would soon be worthless. Intellectual property laws is not some natural law of the universe. It only exists because the people (i.e. the general public) want it to exist. They could do away with it on a whim, but choose not to. Which isn't irrational as it may first seem. Their own careers probably rely on the status quo, and their retirement savings no doubt rest on companies like Apple being worth a fortune, so there is a lot of incentive to not rock the boat.
    - worik 2y ago
      IP laws are not all or nothing. It is possible to have property law that allows the good things (personal property, rewards for innovation) without the bad (market domination, monopoly and oligopoly) We have not tried, and it is not due to "we the people" it is due to "them our overlords"
      - 9rx 2y ago
        > it is due to "them our overlords" Funny enough, the state of intellectual property tends to be much more relaxed where overlords are actually found (e.g. China). It's easy when one guy can make things so. Far less easy when you have millions upon millions of people afraid that any change will impact them personally.
ch4s3 2y ago
This seems arbitrary. What is the limiting principle here? Should there be no 100 billion dollar company? How about after 50 years of inflation?
- saagarjha 2y ago
  You’re more than welcome to adjust for inflation on that number.

dns_snek 2y ago

Interesting conclusion given that pro-Apple comments with provably incorrect claims routinely end up at the top of the HN's comment section, this thread included. Information directly refuting those claims often gets downvoted and suppressed. Why is that?

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

guelo 2y ago

Aren't all you apple defenders with very similar opinions also "a particular brand of very vocal person online"?

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]