Since its founding over 30 years ago, Apple has been one of the most important companies in the tech industry. Having defined the personal computer, mainstream GUI-based operating systems and an arsenal of other gear, Apple has been instrumental in advancing technologies. But for all its accomplishments, Apple also manages continually to be one of the most inflammatory companies trading today.
When this piece was presented to me, I was feeling a good deal of animosity toward Cupertino and so, I eagerly agreed to write it. After suffering through the catastrophic failures of two Powerbooks in as many years, I found it impossible not to feel vindictive. So I slighted Apple left-and-right and swore up-and-down that I’d never purchase another Mac. I flung myself into the market in search of a notebook capable of appeasing my requirements, but my search was like firing in the dark.
And so, my temper simmered, as tempers will, and I soon found myself quietly perusing the MacBook Pro specs—for educational purposes, I told myself. Then in some automatic action, I found myself making a purchase and waiting for Fed Ex with a diligence I haven’t observed since my childhood, stationing myself to pummel Santa on Christmas Eve (long story).
I had just undergone the techie equivalent of a make-up-break-up relationship. The experience compelled me to reexamine my inclinations. My self-analysis forced me to confront some demons that lay fat and happy deep within the bowels of my unconscious. Namely a prejudice toward Apple products dating back to the late ’80s.
What I realized is that, despite all of those aforementioned technological achievements, Apple is easy to hate. The Apple Vs. Microsoft dichotomy has cut rift between the mass of computer users that has created the equivalent of tech-racists. There is genuine rancor on each side that frequently gets heated and out of line.
Despite drifting back to a state of cautious admiration (my MacBook Pro really better not blow up), I’ve decided to proceed with this piece, because the polarizing nature of Apple is an interesting topic that deserves to be examined further. To be fair, there are two parts to this puzzle: Microsoft and Apple. Everyone knows why Microsoft is widely hated (see: evil organization intent on crushing competition in a play for world domination, etc.), but it’s hard to fathom why Apple draws so much flak.
At first I set out to understand why Apple, this seemingly benign company, gets thrown so much hate. It was an ambitious objective. As I started, I quickly realized that the task would require advanced psychoanalytical skills and I was forced to abandon that course of attack (for you see I’m only an intermediate psychoanalytical hobbyist). Dejected, but not despondent, I set to developing a more realistic route for answers.
At last I settled on a list. Simply outlining the truths of why we hate Apple. I’ve been told that putting matters into the open is one of the surest means for reconciliation.
And so, with that altruistic philosophy in mind, I give you the Things We Hate About Apple:
Vince
The Mighty Mouse
Apple’s Mighty Mouse sucks. The cord isn’t even a foot long and thedesign is really lame. The fact that I don’t have a physical right-button to click annoys me greatly when I go to play games like World of Warcraft. Plus, it’s overpriced. For $20 cheaper you could get something equally good from Logitech.
You can’t DIY with a Mac
A few years ago, my 12-inch Powerbook G4’s hard drive went kaput. Because my Powerbook had a small ding on one side, it was deemed that it would need a “Tier 3″ repair costing about $1000 (I had AppleCare mind you). So instead of being smart and paying to have it fixed, I went and bought a new hard drive, ripped my Powerbook apart, installed it, and got it working. Only problem is, I damaged my trackpad, had 20 screws leftover, and keys fell off periodically. I should be able to easily replace parts inside my Mac or upgrade them easily if I choose to do so. My iMac I can’t do that with. Open up a little Apple.
Goldman
iTunes
I’m what most normal people would call a music snob. I have a large, large collection of music. (All but a handful of bootlegs of The Clash and The Replacements are what the RIAA deems legal, by the way.) I do download about 10 or so albums a month, but I still buy CDs and the occasional platter of vinyl as well. I’m also a Mac user. And I hate iTunes. I have since the very beginning. I hate it so much that I built a Windows desktop for the specific purpose of downloading, ripping, burning, managing, tweaking and serving up my music collection.
I hate that if I’m listening to an album and go to browse my Library, the music stops when the song currently playing ends instead of continuing to the next song. I hate that there’s no automatic folder watching, so when I download or add a new album from a source other than ITMS it doesn’t just show up in my Library. I hate that I can’t add more than one folder at a time to my library. I hate that there are almost no audio plug-ins for it. (I only know of OSS 3D, which isn’t really a plug-in, and Volume Logic. If there are more out there, please let me know.) I hate that it’s not skinnable. I hate that I’m forced to have my music mixed with my video. I hate that if I import a CD I have to go to Preferences to change any little fracking thing. Most of all, I hate that no one seems to be making a competitive Mac OS X product for music collectors like me.
Matt
When Apple Acts Like Microsoft
There is some sour irony to the notion, but Apple tends to push aside or even rip-off key third-party vendors. Because of Final Cut, Adobe quit making Premiere. With iWork maturing, the future of Office on the Mac is questionable (I mean long term; we know there’s a new Office on the way later this year). And Dashboard, with it’s Widgets, is a near carbon copy of an application called Konfabulator. We understand Apple’s argument that a closed environment leads to better interoperability and stability, but pushing aside the work of others (fanboys, even) is really a Redmondy way to do business. (Yes, I used the word Redmondy.)
Blake
Apple Fanatics
I once had a conversation with a guy who insisted to me that Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was better than any album Pink Floyd ever made. He was also a Mac user who mindlessly adhered to anything from the mouth of Jobs like he was the second coming. I consider this to be a good character analysis of the typical Apple Fanatic, the key component being delusion.
As I mentioned above, I believe Apple makes some decent products from time-to-time. Jobs and pals are not, however, infallible, ineffable or any other adjective that deflects error. In contrast to its impressive list of successes, there is an equally expansive list of failures—anyone remember Lisa?
The problem is that Mac Fanatics are, well, fanatical. They’re quick to point out errors in everyone else’s products, but are notoriously forgiving of Apple’s shortcomings. It eliminates the checks and balances system created by the relationship between consumer and manufacturer. So even when Apple drops a turd like the iPhone, its fandom will swoon maniacally and declare the product the greatest thing in the history of creation (at least in the history since the previous Apple product was announced).
For Apple to really flourish and become a real alternative, rather than just a lifestyle choice, the community needs to hold Apple more accountable. When something is a letdown, say it. Think for yourself, you’re not a lemming.
Apple vs. The World is a collection of features by the CrunchGear team about the present and future of Apple Inc.
I never used a mac product, because they control and limit everything you can do. I like freedom…
Oh boy, I’m just waiting for the Slashdotters and the like to start flame campaigns agains this post. I better make some popcorn :)
No matter how valid and logical and (even) reserved your comments are, they won’t care, they’ll do exactly what Blake said. :)
… trying to generate a little controversy to get another wack of comments huh? Haven been on both systems, each has their + and -, do I care… nope… I have a life to live and my computer doesn’t define who I am. If microsoft bought apple or apple went under etc… that is the rule of the jungle.
When you position yourself to be either A or B and say they are mutually exclusive, that is how wars begin… this is all nonsense… go back to reviewing phones if you guys are going to keep acting like children with too much time on your hands.
Jon
I guess I can say that I’ve been a long time PC user – started with an 8086AT / CGA graphics, 20 megs HDD and 5 1/4 disk drive (awesome). And for the past three years I’ve been up close and intimate with Macs from work (mostly office type stuff, Final Cut, and DVD Studio Pro). My boss is one of those Mac followers – everything is Mac. Sure Mac has its pluses but I cringe at the price tag. Plus everything has to be done by Apple. Bleh.
I use both my PC lappy with my left hand and Mac with my right. Can’t say that I would give up my either for just one.
Here’s a list to add onto the pile on personal experiences in the past 7 years…
Firewire – ugh, is that officially gonna die or what?
Apple CRT’s – good call on getting out of that business. Learned what Degaussing means, never helped to “Auto Adjust” my monitor, though the GUI sure did make it APPEAR as if it was going to get fixed. Ended up spending a ton on LCD, nice.
DVD-RAM – thanks for launching something DVD before the Superdrive, and then not offering an internal to those of us early adopters when you did.
iPod batteries – come on, almost every consumer electronic device on the planet uses replaceable batteries. Thanks to http://www.iPodJuice.com for an easy tool and a bigger battery.
But, I will say this, I’ve owned the First Generation iPod for the whole ride and have to say its a little tank. It only got better when I could add Podcasts from anywhere in the world on it for free. Nice job, Apple, that’s been a keeper. Even still, I’m not so sure about that Apple TV yet.
How is the iPhone a turd? It’s not even out yet! I don’t disagree that there are potential problems (a $500 price tag and the large size, for a start), but let’s not be too quick to attack in the other direction.
Many people hate their Windows Mobile smartphones, after all.
Grow up people. I’ve used just about every OS out there except the Atari Oses and OS/2. If find windows fanboys more annoying than anything. They are especially annoying when they act like hypocrites complaining about mac users when they don’t see their own fanboyism and arrogance.
Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!
What? Are you guys trying the Dvorak thing? You know you love Apple. Don’t pretend.
This was a very reasonable post that I agree with. Apple, their fans and the whole Apple mysticism is what I feel is really Apple’s biggest enemy. I am a thirty-something who grew up with Apple products like the IIe, IIc, Macintosh etc but once in high school Macs didn’t compete with PCs and I became a PC user. I literally have not used an Apple product in probably twenty years and I have no plans to. Why do you ask when there is so much good Appley hardware and software etc?
First, most Apple products are premium priced. It is simply not worth the price to me.
Second, in the case of the iPod, not only don’t I have an iPod, I don’t have a DAP of any kind. I have been in the market for one for years but my desire to have portable music/video has not outweighed price, features, DRM or crappy software like iTunes, and did I mention digital downloads with DRM. Apple has nothing to offer for any of my gripes. The only thing they have is momentum and the fact that people locked themselves into iTunes Music Store. Oh, yeah I forgot the style/image factor of the iPod. Uh, wait no I didn’t. I actually would go out of my way to avoid the appearance of having an iPod. I don’t know how many other people feel this way or whether Apple considers this but when things reach a certain popularity/trendiness I will avoid them like the plague, and I suspect that there are not a few like me.
Third, gaming sucks on Macs. Nuff said.
Fourth, I in general avoid Apple altogether. I don’t want to associate myself with them in any way, shape or form. Apple fanatics are snobbish, conceited, elitist, self-righteous and flaunt their Appleness whenever they can. They strut their Appley logos on their lids, and their white-wired ear phones so everyone knows that they are sophisticated, discerning and quite frankly better than you. Not only that they are more hip, dress better, and are more concerned about the environment. Ok, yeah, I know that these are gross generalizations but that is the aura that they give off and that really is the biggest obstacle that prevents me from getting an Apple product.
Having said all that I have toyed with the idea of dual booting on a Mac but I doubt it will ever materialize (I do like the black MacBooks though). One final note: I finally broke down and bought a DAP; a Zune.
@ Ari: Wait, there are Windows fanboys!? Since when? Where have I been!?
Oh yah, Seattle. *snort*
I guess patent-monkey doesn’t edit video or want high speed disk access, or he wouldn’t be dissin’ Firewire.
It’s “high speed” USB that should die. I don’t need high-bandwidth peripherals sucking all my CPU.
Interesting post and comments. I have to agree with Blak and biggos…for me it the fanaticism that bothers me most about Apple products. Some are good and others are not. I work in an office dominated by Macs and Mac fanboys. I like my Mac (most of the time) but I also know they are not infallible. But the fanboys continue to campaign and border on followers of Jim Jones. If Steve said the Kool-aid was delicious, the gregarious fans would all drink in mass quantities. Sometimes I find the mantra of Apple, Think Different, very funny…as many fanboys don’t think, they just follow. However, in fairness, this deficiency plagues all fanboys.
For the record, I’m happy with my Mac Pro, Mac Mini, iMac, Sony Vaio Desktop, Sony Vaio Laptop, Red Hat Linux box, Zune, iPod, and Treo (WinMobile). But all have their drawbacks and issues from time to time.
Just a thought… there is one very very early stage competitor to iTunes, Songbird. But otherwise I do wholly agree, there aren’t a lot of other options out there.
its all so true.
The Macs at our school suck ass so badly. When we open MS Word for the first time on our personal accounts it takes at most an HOUR to open.It takes about 20 seconds tops on my PC at home. And it also f*cking pisses me off that they restrict nearly all of the programs. We can’t even touch iTunes or iPhoto. And the dashboard program somehow magically disappeared off the computers. Thats right, they took the dashboard off. it sucks ass.
Songbird doesn’t provide a transactional marketplace for buying songs..yet. its basically just a music player built into a browser.
I use computers for pretty low-level stuff so I’m a PC person for no other reason than price–and low-end HPs have been admirably long-lasting and reliable.
That said, in no particular order of importance, what I don’t like about apple: Jobs going after the bloggers via legal action, Jobs having a hissy fit when an unauthorized bio was published (said he’d yank the publisher’s books out of apple stores); apple not including post-paid boxes for recycling computers; iPod battery issues such as not being able to replace the damn things ourselves (great iPodjuice tip, patent-monkey) and in my experience, the between-charges battery life not being close to its advertised amount; apple/Jobs being very questionable in some of the things they’ve said about the backdating-options mess; the fact that for all the Microsoft/Gates bashing commercials, I don’t see Jobs/apple doing much of anything to help the world or anything close to the Gates Foundation.
And when will we see a post like this about Google? Seems that they walk on air here.
Ok, so yeah I use a macbook at the moment but that’s besides the point. You guys are all just bitching about how apple fans bitch, and noticing tiny things in products that no one really cares about. Every computer manufacturer/OS has its faults, Microsoft is good in some things, Apple in other things. For gods sake stop being little whiney bitches.
Bitches.
Declining traffic? I know, let’s just bash _x_ so that all their salivating fanboys will flood our comments section.
Somewhere along the line, Apple became the darling of the artsy crowd. They like being “different”. I like being different,too, but not when I can’t specify what processor I want, what audio card, what video card, etc.
I like having a wide choice of software. Aist had real time video preview before everyone, but they aren’t even in this market anymore. The more powerful your computer was the more powerful the program became, without having to spring for an update. Very artsy, but not Mac, so it died.
I built an AMD dual processor rig that blew away the Mac in speed(even a pro Mac video review site said the configuration I used was faster at rendering) but the artistes at my job refused to believe it. They also couldn’t believe it was a $1000 less than a Mac.
Declining traffic? I don’t think so.
HEY PEOPLE YOU SHOULD NOT CREATE A WAR BETWEEN THE TWO PLATFORMS (and now we are talking about politics) YOU SHOULD CONSIDER THE ACTUAL PROS AND CONS OF WINDOWS AND OS X. WITH BOTH YOU CAN DO MORE THAT YOU CAN THINK. I PERSONALLY HAVE AN IMAC G5 AND A SONY VAYO LAPTOP THE TWO ARE BASICALLY ONE AS THEY ARE LINKED WITH NO PROBLEM AS YOU KNOW. THE ONLY PROBLEM IS THE S**T BEHIND THE TALK TALK OF BILLIONAIRE COMPANYS TRIYNG TO SELL YOU THE BEST PRODUCT. SO THE TEMPORARY SOLUTION IS MAYBE: INSTALL LINUX IN BOTH OF YOUR LOVED/HATED MACHINES
I HATE MAC!
I’m sorry to the person before me who’s all about politics, but Mac sucks. it really does.
I have always been a windows user but when my sister wanted a new computer she got a Mac and my baby got trashed. So I went to put my copy of Photoshop on it and guess what? MAC DOESNT F***ING TAKE IT! in fact, mac doesnt take the .exe extention at all! I now have none of my old software.
Thanks to Mac my days of graphic design are now over. Thank god that I’m not doing Studio Art this year, or I would be f**ked.
I now have absolutely no art programs whatsoever. Mac sounds wonderful and artsy with its iPhoto but then you look a little closer and realise it doesn’t even have paint. There is no photomanipulation program. I will never make art again, my one form of expression is now gone, thanks to mac.
I hope all Mac computers burn in hell.
Sincerely, Isabella.
P.S- if anyone knows how to run .exe on macs.. i worship you.
Isabella, if you need to run Windows programs try Crossover (Just google Crossover for Mac) or Darwine (Google darwine) which both run .exe files and sort of simulate Windows. Try Darwine first as it’s free, but more technical. Darwine won’t work with some things (I can’t guarantee photoshop support either) so try Crossover if it doesn’t. Crossover takes the Darwine project and turns it into a user friendly application. I’m running an old version of Flash under Darwine but can’t run another program without buying Crossover
If neither work, you could consider picking up a copy of Windows and running it under Boot Camp, Parallels or VMWare (There’s info on Apple’s website).
By the way, OS X is a totally different os so it will use different file formats, as do Linux etc. Adobe make versions of all their products for both Windows and Mac but you can only get one. I feel that Adobe should allow you to switch as you’ve already bought the software once, but that’s probably not gonna happen.
Anyway, good luck in getting photoshop to work! :-)