The insane amounts of Apple hatred online - normal?

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
See, ever since the iPad was unveiled I've seen a huge amount of Apple hatred on the net. And I mean huge, HUGE. Every article on Engadget nowadays is about how much the iPad fails, the comments consist of 95% hatred, lame jokes about the name and about 5% downranked posts that are neutral or slightly optimistic about their new gadget.



Same deal on Gizmodo and many other places.



It's just hate hate hate, downrank whoever is slightly optimistic about the iPad, make more jokes, hate hate hate, whine about the lack of Flash and it goes on and on. Apples stock has gone down a little, so people naturally see this as "the beginning of the end" and they're very happy about that.



Is this normal? Because it's insanely annoying. I normally enjoy reading comments, but right now it's just painful. I think there's nothing wrong presenting your own opinion in a mature manner, weighing the pros and cons of the device. But hating on something is just annoying.



I see none of that on this particular forum, so far anyway, but it's an Apple forum after all.



What was it like when the iPhone launched? I bought an iPhone 3G half a year ago, so I have no idea what it was like back then. Please enlighten me.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 31
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by WiseDuck View Post


    See, ever since the iPad was unveiled I've seen a huge amount of Apple hatred on the net. And I mean huge, HUGE. Every article on Engadget nowadays is about how much the iPad fails, the comments consist of 95% hatred, lame jokes about the name and about 5% downranked posts that are neutral or slightly optimistic about their new gadget.



    Same deal on Gizmodo and many other places.



    It's just hate hate hate, downrank whoever is slightly optimistic about the iPad, make more jokes, hate hate hate, whine about the lack of Flash and it goes on and on. Apples stock has gone down a little, so people naturally see this as "the beginning of the end" and they're very happy about that.



    Is this normal? Because it's insanely annoying. I normally enjoy reading comments, but right now it's just painful. I think there's nothing wrong presenting your own opinion in a mature manner, weighing the pros and cons of the device. But hating on something is just annoying.



    I see none of that on this particular forum, so far anyway, but it's an Apple forum after all.



    What was it like when the iPhone launched? I bought an iPhone 3G half a year ago, so I have no idea what it was like back then. Please enlighten me.



    At least as far as the comments sections on tech sites, extreme hostility to all things Apple are pretty much the norm. Every time someone runs an article even moderately favorable of Apple or its hardware, you can pretty much guarantee that at least 50% of the comments will people flipping out about how that site is an absolute cesspool of Apple fellating, Jobs's worshipping kool-aid guzzling, how the author in question is obviously being paid by Apple, etc.



    Same posters are also absolutely sure that the real problem are legions of fan boys who must defend the Mothership at all costs, so you can be reasonably sure that if, after wading through 100 posts savaging Apple as a haven for scum, you venture an opinion that perhaps the product or software is of some use, they'll immediately start braying "here they come, rushing to defend their lord and master."



    These people are simply majoritarian bullies. There will always be more PC users than Mac users on general interest tech sites, and the internet is famously conducive to mob rule. Myself, I just stopped looking at the comments, anywhere, because except for a few fairly focused special interest sites the signal to noise ratio is just too low.
  • Reply 2 of 31
    There is a real outside world, fortunately, and my MacBook Air gets far more attention than an Acer Netbook. And here (the netherlands) I often see more Apple MacBooks than other laptops while commuting. And it never happened to me that someone starting yelling at me because I use an Apple computer. It's a safe place out there.
  • Reply 3 of 31
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    The online world is full of geeks, the real world probably outnumbers the geeks 500/1. So for every person giving out about the iPad there are many others saying: "wow, that looks cool". It's so obvious the iPad will be a hit it's not funny, every one I know of that's not a geek talks about the thing. In three years time it will seem inevitable that it was to be a hit, and all the geeks will have moved on from all their bitching.
  • Reply 4 of 31
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,309moderator
    I see it in the real world. I see some people angrily asserting that you must justify beyond all reasonable doubt why you'd have a Mac and if you can't you're just retarded for being conned into buying one. It's quite funny to watch really because they claim we're fanboys but they get so worked up about it.



    What I find especially funny is that when Apple does something, they want it to fail and anything close to failure they blow it out of proportion. But when any other PC manufacturer comes along and even rips Apple off, suddenly the design is amazing, the software so intuitive etc but with a fruit logo on it, it somehow wasn't.



    It's hard to find genuinely unbiased people and poor people make up the majority so not being able to afford Apple products, they lash out. They don't lash out on people with private jets though - it's only items that are just outside their financial reach they get annoyed about.



    The entire PC industry can't wait until the Mac has a real virus spreading round the internet. Then it becomes 100,000:1 and that single point means the platform is just as bad. You just have to try and ignore these people.



    Sites like Engadget don't help matters though - they posted a picture of an Asus slate or something and said it was like iPad but both it and the HP Slate, which it resembles more came out first. That kind of 'Apple invented everything' mentality really pisses people off and rightly so.
  • Reply 5 of 31
    hill60hill60 Posts: 6,992member
    Only since Bill Gates "discovered" the Internet with Windows 95.



    It was pretty good before then.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by WiseDuck View Post


    Is this normal? Because it's insanely annoying.



  • Reply 6 of 31
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Marvin View Post




    Sites like Engadget don't help matters though - they posted a picture of an Asus slate or something and said it was like iPad but both it and the HP Slate, which it resembles more came out first. That kind of 'Apple invented everything' mentality really pisses people off and rightly so.



    The tone of Engadget stories vary with the writer-- some of them are bristling with anti-Apple snark, some of them are guardedly neutral, some probably qualify as Apple enthusiasts.

    What never changes, however, is that whenever they run a story that even mentions Apple without shooting for some kind bellowing "FAIL" attitude, the commenters pretty much act like of bunch of bible belt rednecks confronted with explicit pictures of gay sex.



    I think it's kind of interesting that nobody ever talks about "pissing people off" with overt Apple snark and incessant sarcasm-- it's just assumed that the default position is that you think Apple sucks, and if you think any different you'd better be prepared to back it up extensively, all the while wringing your hands and saying "I'm no fanboy, but...."



    The firestorm of Apple hatred that ensued in the wake of the iPad announcement has meant Engadget has actually had to go so far as to shut off comments, for the time being. And before anyone leaps in to explain that that was no doubt because of all the dreadful fanboys, can anyone point me to a tech blog that turned off comments in the wake of, say, an MS or Android or Nokia release?
  • Reply 7 of 31
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,309moderator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by addabox View Post


    The firestorm of Apple hatred that ensued in the wake of the iPad announcement has meant Engadget has actually had to go so far as to shut off comments, for the time being. And before anyone leaps in to explain that that was no doubt because of all the dreadful fanboys, can anyone point me to a tech blog that turned off comments in the wake of, say, an MS or Android or Nokia release?



    Someone pointed out that there were 30+ articles posted about the iPad on Engadget vs 6 for another product launch.



    Plus Topolsky posted a video comparing the Nexus One and 3GS loading Engadget. The Nexus One is faster than the 3GS in almost everything (it's 1GHz 512MB RAM vs 600MHz 256MB RAM) and he was mocking the Nexus One saying owners should be embarrassed that it's so slow and he tested one site.



    Then we get to the iPad. The HP Slate was criticized as being poor because it just runs Windows 7 and articles about the iPad justify why it's designed like a big ipod. There are reasons to justify the choices made in the HP Slate.



    News sites are expected to be unbiased and liking Apple is not an issue so long as it doesn't compromise your journalistic integrity. Engadget crossed the line and they are unapologetic for it.
  • Reply 8 of 31
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Marvin View Post


    Someone pointed out that there were 30+ articles posted about the iPad on Engadget vs 6 for another product launch.



    Plus Topolsky posted a video comparing the Nexus One and 3GS loading Engadget. The Nexus One is faster than the 3GS in almost everything (it's 1GHz 512MB RAM vs 600MHz 256MB RAM) and he was mocking the Nexus One saying owners should be embarrassed that it's so slow and he tested one site.



    Then we get to the iPad. The HP Slate was criticized as being poor because it just runs Windows 7 and articles about the iPad justify why it's designed like a big ipod. There are reasons to justify the choices made in the HP Slate.



    News sites are expected to be unbiased and liking Apple is not an issue so long as it doesn't compromise your journalistic integrity. Engadget crossed the line and they are unapologetic for it.



    First of all, talking about "journalistic integrity" and "news sites" is an obvious red herring-- sites like Engadget and Gizmodo are clearly enthusiast sites, with a frequently casual, conversational tone closer to blogging than CNN. Enthusiasts are going to be subject to enthusiasms, which don't strictly parse according to some journalistic notion of "balance."



    Secondly, you seem to be saying that if a site commits the unforgivable sin of being excessively enthusiastic about an Apple product (or insufficiently enthusiastic about some other product), then it's perfectly reasonable for its commenters to become unhinged to the point that the site is obliged to suspend comments.



    Step back for a minute and imagine a tech site that tends to oversell the qualities of another platform (and there are plenty) being so besieged by enraged Apple partisans that they took a similar measure. Instead of patiently explaining why it was justified, I'm pretty sure you'd be on the side of "this is why people hate Apple users."



    Again, the double standard. Open MS or Android cheerleading doesn't even register, and the idea that Apple people would rise up in the face of same and cause a big stir would simply drive further hostility towards those users. Whereas an orgy of ugly attacks upon the release of an Apple product somehow proves the same. Heads you win, tails I lose.
  • Reply 9 of 31
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,309moderator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by addabox View Post


    Secondly, you seem to be saying that if a site commits the unforgivable sin of being excessively enthusiastic about an Apple product (or insufficiently enthusiastic about some other product), then it's perfectly reasonable for its commenters to become unhinged to the point that the site is obliged to suspend comments.



    I don't know what the comments were that led to the section being blocked but the ones leading to the Apple news exclusion option were perfectly reasonable. They were saying why were there so many articles about a product no one even knew existed. They don't do that for any other company. The PS3 Slim didn't get nearly as much coverage as the iPad.



    Even after its underwhelming release, it was article after article and then summaries of those articles. I think it was more a case of fans of the site seeing the level of bias so clearly and being annoyed by it.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by addabox View Post


    Again, the double standard. Open MS or Android cheerleading doesn't even register, and the idea that Apple people would rise up in the face of same and cause a big stir would simply drive further hostility towards those users. Whereas an orgy of ugly attacks upon the release of an Apple product somehow proves the same. Heads you win, tails I lose.



    In some cases, I've seen the behavior you mean but shouldn't we criticize both types?
  • Reply 10 of 31
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Marvin View Post


    I don't know what the comments were that led to the section being blocked but the ones leading to the Apple news exclusion option were perfectly reasonable. They were saying why were there so many articles about a product no one even knew existed. They don't do that for any other company. The PS3 Slim didn't get nearly as much coverage as the iPad.



    Perhaps we were reading different comments. The ones I saw were vitriolic in the extreme, and went from excoriating Engadget for being Steve Jobs' butt boy to shrieking hysterics if anyone expressed continued interest in anything Apple.



    And, dude: of course the PS3 Slim didn't get as much coverage as the iPad-- does anyone think the PS3 Slim is going to lead to some kind of epochal shift in the personal computing environment? I sorta can hardly believe you'd be muttering about this as is it were an example of some kind of injustice. Good lord.



    I get that a lot of geeks are real meh about the iPad. But you'd have to be dumb deaf and blind to not notice that Apple has a pretty good track record with disruptive technologies, and product introductions that resonate far beyond geek enthusiasm or market share. Denying that isn't being a level headed or non-fan boyish, it's being blinkered. I would certainly expect a site like Endgadget to lavish attention on the iPad compared to another, somewhat smaller PS 3. Maybe the problem is that their readership extends beyond the kind of irritable geek that thinks failure to sufficiently celebrate a slightly improved game console is an attack on normative values.



    Also, just what do you imagine is going on with the editors of Engadget that they need to be brought to heel? They run a bunch of Apple stuff because...... they're bad? Fan boys? On the take? Easily duped?



    Here's a fun little fact: virtually every general interest tech site runs a lot of Apple stuff because it drives traffic. Why? Because Apple has buzz and passionate users and actual interesting products. The rest of the time they're left with articles about the next 20 netbooks, or an Intel bump, or the latest box that kinda plays your stuff on TV. You'll notice there was a pretty big swell in coverage for the Droid, then the Nexus, because at least those things weren't dead boring, which after all the flogging of specs and hyped up language the vast majority of CE goods are, in fact.



    And on every one of those sites there is a permanent pissed off commentariat bellyaching about being "forced" to look at filthy, filthy Apple propaganda, and demanding it stop. Now, you have to figure all of those tech sites don't actually want to alienate their readership by swimming upstream against the Apple hating tide, so what gives? Maybe, just maybe, they have an idea about who is visiting those sites, and it extends beyond the people who are driven to post, all the time and all over the net, about how much they really, really hate Apple.



    Quote:

    In some cases, I've seen the behavior you mean but shouldn't we criticize both types?



    Wait, what "both types"? You mean, on the one hand, a gadget site having the temerity to run a bunch of posts about an Apple device, presumably because they understand the demographics of their own site, and on the other a bullying mob that thinks doing so is an attack on their most cherished values?



    Or do you mean all those times that crazy Apple people have flooded onto a gadget site when they ran an article about Win 7 or Android or Kindle or Nokia and made the comments virtually unreadable with their shrill attacks? Because maybe you can point one of those times out to me, so I can criticize it.
  • Reply 11 of 31
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,309moderator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by addabox View Post


    Apple has a pretty good track record with disruptive technologies, and product introductions that resonate far beyond geek enthusiasm or market share.



    Track records are only good for the races they won. It's like saying you had a winning streak at roulette so you can't lose this time round - there's generally more certainty in products but it can still be very unpredictable. Sales figures will reveal all when the finished product arrives.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by addabox View Post


    I would certainly expect a site like Endgadget to lavish attention on the iPad compared to another, somewhat smaller PS 3.



    So, a bigger, more expensive ipod touch is more important than a smaller, more affordable PS3? Those seem pretty much equally important to an unbiased observer. The PS3 acts as a media server and Blu-Ray player. Having a more affordable one is a big deal to some.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by addabox View Post


    Also, just what do you imagine is going on with the editors of Engadget that they need to be brought to heel? They run a bunch of Apple stuff because...... they're bad? Fan boys? On the take? Easily duped?



    It would be as if the Top Gear presenters in every show started out with a report on how Volkswagen is doing. They could do it if they are fans and it's up to them but they can't be surprised when the fans get upset. Successful reporting of any kind is most credible when it's unbiased.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by addabox View Post


    Here's a fun little fact: virtually every general interest tech site runs a lot of Apple stuff because it drives traffic. Why?



    Because most of the comments are from people fed up with hearing about Apple news. It's cyclical reasoning. You are justifying that Apple news drives traffic but in reality, it's arguments between Mac and Windows users. The arguments increase the comments, the comment number is deemed to be the popularity so the article gets pushed more to the front page so more people see it and click on it.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by addabox View Post


    Or do you mean all those times that crazy Apple people have flooded onto a gadget site when they ran an article about Win 7 or Android or Kindle or Nokia and made the comments virtually unreadable with their shrill attacks? Because maybe you can point one of those times out to me, so I can criticize it.



    The complaints weren't about one article but a deluge of Apple articles. That doesn't happen with PC products so Mac users would have no right to complain.
  • Reply 12 of 31
    I had the privy of overhearing a casual conversation about the ipad at a coffee shop today. It sounded much like the cries, rants, hate found all over the internet of late. I think Apple has finally touched a nerve among the technorati. Paraphraing here: "Apple has gone too far this time. Dismissed as a maker to toy devices. They're shoving this crap down our throuts! They're taking money out of my pockets!"



    The IT wizards are threatened by apple's philisophy of making computing easy. We'll be reduced to mere mortals without the fat salaries. There is a real disconnect and denial that computing is still too hard. Mac users are too dumb to use a real pc. The mac has eased things. But the ipad and its decendants is the next revolution. It's the "un-computer". The writing is on the wall. IT wizards are in denial, hence all the kicking and screaming.
  • Reply 13 of 31
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Marvin View Post


    Track records are only good for the races they won. It's like saying you had a winning streak at roulette so you can't lose this time round - there's generally more certainty in products but it can still be very unpredictable. Sales figures will reveal all when the finished product arrives.



    That's an odd analogy. Apple hasn't had its string of successes because of luck, it's because they've been really smart about how to make and market things that people want. As such, the iPad represents an at least intriguing venture from The People That Brought You The iPod and iPhone, and very obviously it was extremely anticipated and endlessly talked about, not just by Endgadget. I guess we could get mad at the entirety of the media for their tedious obsessions, or we could possibly acknowledge that there's a reason for the level of interest.



    Quote:

    So, a bigger, more expensive ipod touch is more important than a smaller, more affordable PS3? Those seem pretty much equally important to an unbiased observer. The PS3 acts as a media server and Blu-Ray player. Having a more affordable one is a big deal to some.



    If you think it's "unbiased" to imagine that the PS3 Slim and the iPad represent similar levels of significance for the consumer electronics industry, or that the iPad is "just a big iPod Touch", I have no idea what to tell you. I guess I'm a little shocked that a person who moderates an Apple enthusiast site would have such a tenuous grasp of what Apple is doing or why anybody should care. You really think it's all bout specs, don't you?



    Quote:

    It would be as if the Top Gear presenters in every show started out with a report on how Volkswagen is doing. They could do it if they are fans and it's up to them but they can't be surprised when the fans get upset. Successful reporting of any kind is most credible when it's unbiased.



    No, it would be as if Top Gear tended to feature more stories on the cars that were the most interesting, in an industry that did little to distinguish one car from another, and got good ratings in doing so. I think it's important to again distinguish between "fans" (or people who go to the Engadget site to read the stories) and "commentators" (which tends to be a self selecting bunch of cranks).



    Again, you're going to have to explain to me what you think Engadget is up to. You are arguing that they're implacably alienating their "fans" by some sort of unseemly Apple obsession. Why? Why? Why?



    Quote:

    Because most of the comments are from people fed up with hearing about Apple news. It's cyclical reasoning. You are justifying that Apple news drives traffic but in reality, it's arguments between Mac and Windows users. The arguments increase the comments, the comment number is deemed to be the popularity so the article gets pushed more to the front page so more people see it and click on it.



    So..... it's in Engadget's financial interests to continue to run a lot of Apple stories, since this will drive comments which will push stories which will be more popular. What? And why are they doing this again?



    And anyway, Engadget gives you a simple way to block Apple stories , so the people bitching are apparently just pissed off that Apple is getting exposure, on general principles. Much like the posters here that refuse to put people on their ignore list and endlessly do battle



    Quote:

    The complaints weren't about one article but a deluge of Apple articles. That doesn't happen with PC products so Mac users would have no right to complain.



    Of course it does, it's just that "PC stories" are strung out over multiple manufacturers. Everything Apple does is Apple, everything MS/the PC industry does is everything else. And in the computer industry, that's pretty much it. Go and count the Apple stories against every PC netbook, PC tablet, PC laptop, PC desktop, Windows Mobile and Windows 7 story. Just as of late we've had to add Android into the mix, and there have been a ton of Android stories.



    And, yet again, what do you think is going on? Does Engadget run Apple stories because they're stupid, or hypnotized, or fan boys, or what?
  • Reply 14 of 31
    piotpiot Posts: 1,346member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by WiseDuck View Post


    The insane amounts of Apple hatred online - normal?



    In my opinion... no.



    It seems to be completely out of hand, bordering on the hysterical. I have never seen this level of outrage before.



    This is my first post re. iPad (here or anywhere else) because it just didn't seem worth it. Like trying to light a cigarette in the middle of a hurricane.



    I understand that a lot of people just don't get Apple, but people didn't get the original iMac, or the iPod or the iPhone. Mistakenly, I thought that the Interwebs might just have grown up a little. But no, the geeky techno web still seems to be locked in their playground.
  • Reply 15 of 31
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Kung Fu Guy View Post


    I had the privy of overhearing a casual conversation about the ipad at a coffee shop today. It sounded much like the cries, rants, hate found all over the internet of late. I think Apple has finally touched a nerve among the technorati. Paraphraing here: "Apple has gone too far this time. Dismissed as a maker to toy devices. They're shoving this crap down our throuts! They're taking money out of my pockets!"



    The IT wizards are threatened by apple's philisophy of making computing easy. We'll be reduced to mere mortals without the fat salaries. There is a real disconnect and denial that computing is still too hard. Mac users are too dumb to use a real pc. The mac has eased things. But the ipad and its decendants is the next revolution. It's the "un-computer". The writing is on the wall. IT wizards are in denial, hence all the kicking and screaming.



    You mean, they're feeling threatened again? The first time was from 1984 through at least the mid-1990s, at which point many in the technorati just assumed that Apple was dead and irrelevant and unworthy of threatening status. Not that some of them still didn't show up in places like this just to gloat about why they thought Apple was dead and irrelevant. They were the grave dancers -- a whole subspecies of the genus cretin.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by piot View Post


    It seems to be completely out of hand, bordering on the hysterical. I have never seen this level of outrage before.



    As a Mac user "since the beginning" I could tell you some stories -- right off the stupidly scale well into spiteful. It has gotten remarkably shrill lately, but most of what we hear today pales in comparison, truly. Over the past ten years I have come to enjoy watching the beanie copter crowd pumping their little fists jumping up and down and blowing steam out of their ears. Some people just never get tired of being wrong. I guess somebody has to do it. As the old saying goes, success is the best revenge
  • Reply 16 of 31
    People are afraid of change. Look at two inventions that appear to be our way to the future as Star Trek TNG. The isolinear chip resembles our sim cards and data cards. Take a look at the new iPad, does it not look like the pad Picard uses in Star Trek TNG?



    By removing optical drives and using only cards and the cloud system of the internet, with only small portable fixed drives, we are seeing that future unfold through Apple and not through Microsoft or IBM. Still today I see Microsoft making computers relying on 8 and 16 pin connectors and not the very versatile USB.



    Yes, People are very angry of this, because they did not think of it first, Apple did, or didn't but made it a reality first. Look at the Air Book no optical drive and no mechanized driver. Yes, this is our cool future. Haters out there get used to it!



    P.S. Why do all Apple Haters seem to own an iPod or iPhone if they soooo hate all that Apple is.
  • Reply 17 of 31
    Well my 2¢ is that most of the people online and interested in computer stuff are geek types.



    Geeks are upset that the iPad is not a tablet computer, rather a larger iPod Touch with a closed UI and no ports, no access and tied to the App Store.



    It even has a different processor, so that's got geeks in a tizzy until more is found out about that.



    Also as a complement device to a computer, it's rather frigging expensive and seems to be designed for the sole purpose of lining Apple's pockets with the App Store and whatnot. People won't be able to run what they wish too easily on the device.





    Even though I talk negative about Apple time to time, to give them feedback, especially those god awful glossy screens (matte on MBP's via build to order's!!), they make really good stuff most of the time and I'm certain that if nobody moaned, Apple wouldn't be as successful as they are.



    Steve Jobs has done a wonderful job since he has returned to Apple, just nothing short of miraculous.
  • Reply 18 of 31
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MacTripper View Post


    Well my 2¢ is that most of the people online and interested in computer stuff are geek types.



    Geeks are upset that the iPad is not a tablet computer, rather a larger iPod Touch with a closed UI and no ports, no access and tied to the App Store.



    It even has a different processor, so that's got geeks in a tizzy until more is found out about that.



    Also as a complement device to a computer, it's rather frigging expensive and seems to be designed for the sole purpose of lining Apple's pockets with the App Store and whatnot. People won't be able to run what they wish too easily on the device.





    Even though I talk negative about Apple time to time, to give them feedback, especially those god awful glossy screens (matte on MBP's via build to order's!!), they make really good stuff most of the time and I'm certain that if nobody moaned, Apple wouldn't be as successful as they are.



    Steve Jobs has done a wonderful job since he has returned to Apple, just nothing short of miraculous.



    Even the pad in Star Trek TNG is linked to the main computer as a complement device, right?



    Starting a new Thread for this off topic subject.
  • Reply 19 of 31
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,309moderator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Kung Fu Guy View Post


    The IT wizards are threatened by apple's philisophy of making computing easy.



    The ipad and its decendants is the next revolution. It's the "un-computer". The writing is on the wall. IT wizards are in denial, hence all the kicking and screaming.



    That's not the issue at all. The issue is simply that people are claiming the iPad to be the next evolution in computing despite the fact it's not a controlling device. It requires you to use a traditional computer to manage the content on the device. The next evolution in computing should have no such dependency.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by addabox


    Apple hasn't had its string of successes because of luck, it's because they've been really smart about how to make and market things that people want.



    You can't control how people feel towards a product and Apple has had its failures in the past. Recent successes don't mean they've figured out a formula for guaranteed success. Sometimes it works, like how the X-Factor has had the Christmas number 1 for a few years running but people tire quickly of formulaic success hence the rebellion against the X-Factor and the successful campaign to make Rage Against the Machine number 1 last Christmas.



    I think the iPad has hit a nerve because there was a progression that Apple hasn't followed.



    First Mac - computers can be simple with a nice UI

    iMac - appliance model for computers

    Mac OS X - shows how a very powerful OS can be simple to use

    iphone - very intuitive UI

    netbook - realising most people only need a certain performance level and then it's about price



    There were two ways to go - a big ipod or a small Macbook. I don't see people hacking iphones to be used in laptop or slate shells but I see people trying to run OS X on a netbook, even OS X on a Nokia ( http://www.pcworld.com/article/18827...okia_n900.html ). It's clear what people wanted and Apple failed to deliver. Instead, Apple went down the formulaic route - iphone design, iphone OS, iphone apps - basically capitalizing on the iphone success rather than redefining comfort computing.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by addabox


    You really think it's all bout specs, don't you?



    I think it's about capability. Computers and devices are here to do tasks. The more they can do and the better they can do them, the better. I've listed as many things the iPad in its current form doesn't do.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by addabox


    You are arguing that they're implacably alienating their "fans" by some sort of unseemly Apple obsession. Why? Why? Why?



    They aren't alienating them, just annoying them. They know the fans won't go anywhere else because it's one of the best sites for tech news.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by addabox


    And anyway, Engadget gives you a simple way to block Apple stories



    They only added that after the iPad fiasco and the commenters responded that it's not that they hate Apple at all, they just don't want to see so many posts about a single product:



    http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/30/d...te-apple-news/



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by addabox


    Of course it does, it's just that "PC stories" are strung out over multiple manufacturers.



    That's where the problem lies - treating Apple like they are more than just another manufacturer. HP have made good products too and have style, Sony have made some really great products and have been doing ultra-portables very well and long before Apple. They shouldn't be huddled into a mass of 'everyone else' with Apple on a pedestal by themselves.
  • Reply 20 of 31
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Marvin View Post


    That's not the issue at all. The issue is simply that people are claiming the iPad to be the next evolution in computing despite the fact it's not a controlling device. It requires you to use a traditional computer to manage the content on the device. The next evolution in computing should have no such dependency.



    The more I think of it, the more I think you are seriously overplaying this point. Even based on what we know today (which is incomplete), how many of the iPad's basic functions are "dependent" on another computer? Web browsing? No. E-mail? No. Application installation? No. E-reading? No. Productivity? No. Photos, video and music? Not really. The only thing I can think of that actually might be dependent is OS updates, or at least it is now -- and this too can be changed.
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