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Rockstar in my mind is symbolic of everything wrong in the tech industry these days. I love Apple products, but I love Apple just a little less for getting its

Rockstar in my mind is symbolic of everything wrong in the tech industry these days. I love Apple products, but I love Apple just a little less for getting its hands dirty in this. Obviously there are other companies as well, but I'm not as attached to them. If this ends up speeding up patent reform, I guess it's worth the bitter pill. I'm tempted to switch to Android the next time I get a phone.

psbp 13y ago
This is the case that gets you pissed off at Apple's use of patent litigation?
- alextingle 13y ago
  Even the most devoted fans must have their breaking points.
guelo 13y ago
Totally off topic but you just triggered a mini rant in me. Apple products are awful. Just today I was cursing Apple over the ridiculous "lightning" connector scandal. It's incomprehensible to me how Apple users keep taking the abuse to the point that they blame themselves for Apple's shenanigans. It's some kind of stockholm syndrome.
- jpttsn 13y ago
  I'll bite. What's wrong with the connector?
  - collyw 13y ago
    Its non standard.
    - jstsch 13y ago
      It's also the nicest cable out there. It really is a pleasure to use.
      - thedrbrian 13y ago
        And it'll probably fit all your iOS devices for the next 8 years
    - DanBC 13y ago
      It is standard. It's just a locked standard that other people can't use without permission. Are there flaws with the connector? Mag-Safe is a nice idea, but poorly executed. Everyone knows that cables have a significant failure point at the place where wires are soldered to pins, so it's disappointing when a company with excellence in design and attention to detail makes a connector that fails so often at that same place.
      - collyw 13y ago
        > It's just a locked standard that other people can't use without permission. You could describe anything non standard and proprietary in that way.
        jpttsn 13y ago
        I'd say something that uses a USB connector but violates the standard is an example of non-standard. A Lightning plug that doesn't work according to spec might also be non-standard. Lightning is probably standardized by some reasonable definition of "standardized." It's proprietary, it's not an open standard, but it's a standard. All this is splitting hairs. The criticism against lightning doesn't depend on the distinction non-standard v. not-an-open-standard.
    - mikhailt 13y ago
      How is that a negative? It really isn't and also, it still uses the standard USB connector at one end. It's the de-facto standard for all recent iOS devices and upcoming devices for the next 5 years, and a lot of people love the reversible connector. The only ones not liking it are the ones that invested a lot in the 30-pin iOS accessories. Just as the 30-pin connector has been the de-facto standard the first several years for iOS devices and it wasn't a standard either.
    - jpttsn 13y ago
      The alluded-to scandal is that devices shipped with a not-open-standard connector?
- tluyben2 13y ago
  I have modern android, wp8, win8, os x and ios machines here; looking only at hardware, sorry but what is better than Apple? I'm in the market here for a better laptop that the haswell air; the windows ones, twice as expensive, seriously feel like bad ripoffs. Talking hardware;not OS. Phones I tried to like but if you sit a long time with a 5s, I dont know how they do it but it feels always miles ahead. And I am no fanboy but I am getting there; the competition is just simply crap. But you tell me what to get ; I will get it and live with it in Q1; I want to like something different here. About the cable; you mean its no standard? I agree with that the EU will force them now so thats fine.
  - bushido 13y ago
    > I have modern android, wp8, win8, os x and ios machines here; Me too, which ones do you have? Without the identifying the models, this discussion has no basis really. There are way too many android and win manufacturers there to decide which manufacturer, store or bad decision making ripped you off. An Haswell(i7) Air, costs about $1550, the only notebooks that compare are the ultrabooks, the exact spec at acer (s7 series) costs about $1500-1600, the other manufacturers cost $1600-1800. Not quite "twice as expensive". They may be ripoffs of the mac air design(aesthetic), not bad ripoffs tho.
- sneak 13y ago
  It's not a scandal at all. Apple realized that switching connectors every 5-7 years is stupid and wasteful so they designed an excellent physical connector with a dynamically reprogrammable pinout, and a pin assignment protocol to run on it. It's excellent design, necessary, and improves on everything else presently extant. The use of any other connector would be worse than using the lightning connector. You can be mad at change for the status quo's sake, but you may wish to reexamine your irrational anger surrounding this specific change, which is a clear improvement in all measurable dimensions.

psbp 13y ago

This is the case that gets you pissed off at Apple's use of patent litigation?

alextingle 13y ago
Even the most devoted fans must have their breaking points.

guelo 13y ago

Totally off topic but you just triggered a mini rant in me. Apple products are awful. Just today I was cursing Apple over the ridiculous "lightning" connector scandal. It's incomprehensible to me how Apple users keep taking the abuse to the point that they blame themselves for Apple's shenanigans. It's some kind of stockholm syndrome.

jpttsn 13y ago
I'll bite. What's wrong with the connector?
- collyw 13y ago
  Its non standard.
  - jstsch 13y ago
    It's also the nicest cable out there. It really is a pleasure to use.
    - thedrbrian 13y ago
      And it'll probably fit all your iOS devices for the next 8 years
  - DanBC 13y ago
    It is standard. It's just a locked standard that other people can't use without permission. Are there flaws with the connector? Mag-Safe is a nice idea, but poorly executed. Everyone knows that cables have a significant failure point at the place where wires are soldered to pins, so it's disappointing when a company with excellence in design and attention to detail makes a connector that fails so often at that same place.
    - collyw 13y ago
      > It's just a locked standard that other people can't use without permission. You could describe anything non standard and proprietary in that way.
      - jpttsn 13y ago
        I'd say something that uses a USB connector but violates the standard is an example of non-standard. A Lightning plug that doesn't work according to spec might also be non-standard. Lightning is probably standardized by some reasonable definition of "standardized." It's proprietary, it's not an open standard, but it's a standard. All this is splitting hairs. The criticism against lightning doesn't depend on the distinction non-standard v. not-an-open-standard.
  - mikhailt 13y ago
    How is that a negative? It really isn't and also, it still uses the standard USB connector at one end. It's the de-facto standard for all recent iOS devices and upcoming devices for the next 5 years, and a lot of people love the reversible connector. The only ones not liking it are the ones that invested a lot in the 30-pin iOS accessories. Just as the 30-pin connector has been the de-facto standard the first several years for iOS devices and it wasn't a standard either.
  - jpttsn 13y ago
    The alluded-to scandal is that devices shipped with a not-open-standard connector?
tluyben2 13y ago
I have modern android, wp8, win8, os x and ios machines here; looking only at hardware, sorry but what is better than Apple? I'm in the market here for a better laptop that the haswell air; the windows ones, twice as expensive, seriously feel like bad ripoffs. Talking hardware;not OS. Phones I tried to like but if you sit a long time with a 5s, I dont know how they do it but it feels always miles ahead. And I am no fanboy but I am getting there; the competition is just simply crap. But you tell me what to get ; I will get it and live with it in Q1; I want to like something different here. About the cable; you mean its no standard? I agree with that the EU will force them now so thats fine.
- bushido 13y ago
  > I have modern android, wp8, win8, os x and ios machines here; Me too, which ones do you have? Without the identifying the models, this discussion has no basis really. There are way too many android and win manufacturers there to decide which manufacturer, store or bad decision making ripped you off. An Haswell(i7) Air, costs about $1550, the only notebooks that compare are the ultrabooks, the exact spec at acer (s7 series) costs about $1500-1600, the other manufacturers cost $1600-1800. Not quite "twice as expensive". They may be ripoffs of the mac air design(aesthetic), not bad ripoffs tho.
sneak 13y ago
It's not a scandal at all. Apple realized that switching connectors every 5-7 years is stupid and wasteful so they designed an excellent physical connector with a dynamically reprogrammable pinout, and a pin assignment protocol to run on it. It's excellent design, necessary, and improves on everything else presently extant. The use of any other connector would be worse than using the lightning connector. You can be mad at change for the status quo's sake, but you may wish to reexamine your irrational anger surrounding this specific change, which is a clear improvement in all measurable dimensions.