brakken

I really can't help thinking rhat continuing to give that fellow air time and web space is highly counter productive. 

Stupid jerk. I hope he tries again with an actual business plan, but even if he does, I'm sure TWSJ will completely miss the point. Again. 

As I discovered with G+ after doing MySpace and Facebook- it isn't the platform, it's the connection I can have with family and friends. MySpace was ugly and difficult to use; G+ is for random people to promote their own business interests, and thusly, both failed for me. Facebook allows me to stay in touch with people I actually care about, and to differentiate between this close circle, and wider circles of people that I may need to contact from time to time: FB functions as a personal telephone directly and contact list, and is not platform-specific. Any networking service by Apple will need to aim at this core function to take any power away from FB, and I hope Apple does! I despise the tracking and advertising on FB, and use it reluctantly and with adblockers and FBPurity to tidy up the interface. I'm sure not everyone has similar usage scenarios, but just as with MS Office and GSearch: it is not the brand names that are important, it is the functionality that each of them provide. Apple has a huge fan and consumer base which would love to not have to bother with FB et. al., but the functionality of being able to contact friends and family on any platform is more important - and this is why I still have to use FB.

Cook is definitely a good dancer! I wouldn't want to be in his position. 

Even if no jobs are repatriated, building the customer base in China is still going to benefit TUSA. 

jdgaz said:

I try to avoid the Google in every way shape and form. Duck Duck Go, and iOS apps. Just don't like being followed around.

Ditto! I also tell everyone else about DDG, but many simply don't care about privacy in that way. I don't understand them