Farnaby

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Farnaby
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  • EU presses Apple for details on latest tax arrangements in wake of Paradise Papers

    FarnabyFarnaby
    I think it's fair for a company (and an individual) to try to pay less taxes, but only to a certain point. When the ways of paying less involve such complicated and borderline methods, paying less taxes is not fair anymore, but purely greedy and unfair. 

    What's more embarrassing for Apple is that the "certain point" when fair becomes outrageous is particularly low because Apple has almost always, and even more recently, placed itself on the moral ground : Apple tries to be the good guy in a lot of different fields and Tim Cook never misses an occasion to tell us how good, fair and examplary his company is : race, gender, environment, immigration, sexual harassment... on all these subjects, Apple loves to present itself as the model. And suddenly in the taxes field, Apple could be the greedy guy who would do anything to pay less ? 

    I think that one day all these companies, and Apple first precisely because of its role model, will have to accept to play fair tax-wise, because the public will soon consider tax evasion as morally unacceptable as sending wastes in the oceans because some tiny island in the Pacific said it was legal, according to their law. 
    avon b7

  • Apple cuts prices on USB-C & Thunderbolt 3 gear in response to MacBook Pro backlash

    FarnabyFarnaby
    I use and love Apple since 1988. I would never consider using other products. But today, I have mixed feelings and I'm quite worried about Apple answering my simple needs. It's not these new MBP per se : they seem great machines, I'm very happy about some new features, like the touch bar and the touch ID. And even the USB-C / TB only ports seems a good decision. Apple's bold moves have never been the problem for me. But there's a lack of consistency and direction in the Mac field since years now that the MBP / Iphone 7 just put the light on. 

    So : MBP are for pros, so we keep the minijack... but without the optical port. The USB-C is the only way... but we don't use it for the new Iphone. We help the customers with an adapter for the Lightning only port on the Iphone... but we don't put an USB A/C adapter in MBP boxes. We are proud to impose in a bold move the port of the future and say "Get over it" to the customers... but a week later we make some discounts on some adapters. 

    Aren't there meetings where clear strategies are chosen ? Who thought it would be a good idea to abandon two universal, convenient, easy ports (USB and minijack) at the same time on two major products (iPhone and MBP) WITHOUT making the new solutions compatible (iPhone / USB-C and MBP / lightning) ? I'm not used to Apple sending mixed and contradictory messages. I'd rather have a company that makes errors from time to time but has a vision than this big headless thing that can't decide if it wants to go on with the pro market or to stop, or that explains us that portability justifies the most radical choices… but that makes the exact same choices (thin, thin, thin) on a desktop ? 

    Bottom and concrete line for me : I’m willing to change my early 2009 Mac Pro (a great and robust machine) for 2 or 3 years without finding a product fitting my needs : I considered the 2013 Mac Pro but monitors were too pricey for me at the time. Today the Mac Pro « bin » is too old. The iMac could have been a solution but since the machine is not very flexible, I want it to have the latest port technology, so I’m waiting for TB3… It’s fine because my 2009 Mac Pro works fine, but it’s very frustrating to be willing to buy a new machine, to enjoy the latest OS ans technology and to be unable to do it because Apple is too busy building a car in some warehouse. 

    Surely the new MBP doesn’t deserve such a negative feedback. They must be good machines. But the lack of global strategy, the mixed signals, the hesitations, the severe need for refreshments (iMac, Mac Pro etc.), in one word the context — all this explains the bitterness, the disappointment and sometimes the anger, that a 20% discount on some adapters or some approximative justifications won’t soften. 
    baconstang