Apple Quashes pBop

mojotunes writes "The pBop (nee pPod) MP3 player mentioned on Slashdot a while back has been officially pulled by its creator StarBrite Solutions, apparently because of legal pressure from Apple. Well, duh. Who didn't see that coming?"

Comments

The Peoples' Hate Affair with Apple

[Crash Culligan]

Then it gets immediate bashing from both pro-Apple and anti-Apple camps - how ugly, dysfunctional and stupid it is! Then we see an avalanche of various clones of the new Apple gizmo for Linux or Windows. And finally we hear a common outrage when Apple sends its famous "cease & desist" letters and the avalanche indeed ceases and desists.

Yeah... says something, doesn't it?

So the sequence is:

1. Apple creates something
2. People claim that the design [sucks | is ugly | is useless | is stupid | won't sell | clashes with my duvet]
3. The thing in question sprouts wings and takes off (metaphorically)
4. People copy the crap out of it
5. Apple sends in the lawyers
6. People stop copying

...right?

Step 1 is natural; they design stuff. Step 3 isn't guaranteed, but they seem to come up with quite a few hits, now don't they? Step 4 is also quite natural; if one of something is good, then a copy of it will work almost as well with a fraction of the effort! Step 5 is natural given step 4; if they don't protect their designs, then everybody will make money off of the popular ones. And step 6 is natural because, hey, lawyers are involved.

That leaves step 2: people saying that Apple's designs are bad. It farts liberally in the face of step 3, so it must have something to do with step 1: the fact that Apple made it.

And now I'm scratching my head and wondering why.

What does Apple do that makes them so evil that people will decry their products without even a second glance? Why do certain journalists feel the need to predict its imminent downfall for verging on 30 years? How do so many become so thoroughly programmed to be so hostile?

And no, I don't have the answer. That's why I'm asking.

Re:The Peoples' Hate Affair with Apple

[oneofthemany]

Good question, I suspect that apple get no more criticism for its new products than any other company, it just tends to be that apple's launches are higher profile and so, as a consequence, is the criticism.

Perhaps another answer is that apple takes more risks with its products and produces genuinely 'different' things, and new 'different' things are (almost) always challenged before they are accepted.

Re:The Peoples' Hate Affair with Apple

[JGski]

Apple strives for an elite, artistic aesthetic standard, and on top of that much (I won't say all) of their technology matches that aesthetic. They have excellent industrial design. They think about the user experience (unlike many Windows & Linux developers).

For USians in particular, our history doesn't lend itself to adulation of the elites or of people that are perceived to have airs of being the elite. There is a grudging acknowledgment, once Apples has proven its products, that appeals to the practical appreciation of the technology, but there's a subcurrent of feelings of inadequacy which manifests itself when companies like Microsoft boldly state that they invented when it's obvious Apple was there first. The Microsoft appeal is probably at least partly "yeah it sucks, but Windows is one of the boys, at least - not prissy or artsy dilettante".

Beyond the outward cultural aspect, there is also the personal demons element. Apple (due to Steve's personality and reality-distortion-field) sort of acts like the smart, popular and good looking kid who knows exactly how smart, popular and good looking he is - yeah, that triggers all sorts of adolescent insecurities, even with people how haven't been adolescents for decades. Apple seems to seduce and some folks feel unconfortable with being seduced like that. (I happen to like but I'm a bit of hedonist! :-) )

Watching how Mr. Bill, and Microsoft in general, respond to things Apple leads me to think that these factors are at play. I'd put many Linux folks who hate Apple into the same bucket though, only in different proportions. Rationally Apple is Unix and a closer cousin now, most of the issues raised always seems to be more emotional than rational. (The proof will come from how people reply/moderate this I guess :-) )

Re:The Peoples' Hate Affair with Apple

[Midnight Thunder]

That leaves step 2: people saying that Apple's designs are bad. It farts liberally in the face of step 3, so it must have something to do with step 1: the fact that Apple made it.

It is well known that any design that stands out enough is going to create a reaction. The more it stands out, the greater the reaction. The only thing is that this draws from both ends of the spectrum: those who say it is the worst thing ever and those who say it is the greatest. You can't please everyone, and it is foolish to think you can. Your average PC maker causes no reaction, simply because they produce the same stuff as the other company. Only the absurd and the different stand out.

Re:The Peoples' Hate Affair with Apple

[Midnight Thunder]

Bullshit. OS X has over 10,000 apps, many of them equivalent to or even better than comparable Windows versions.

I always like to give the following answer to the people who argue there is less software on the Mac: there probably is, though if there is so much choice on the PC, why is everyone still using MS-Office?

The answer is that people appreciate quality.

Re:History Repeating

[Rick the Red]

While a facinating history, none of those stories tell of Xerox investing in Apple or of Jobs paying Xerox for the Mac's user interface.

Techie vs. Designer

[Baumi]

Sure, from a technical POV you're right - it's still the same old PDA underneath and it doesn't play anthing it didn't play before. However, not only software engineers spend (or should spend) ages perfecting their part of the product, designers do the same thing.
And if you asked a product designer, they probably wouldn't care whether it can play back AACs or all the other stuff: It has the same look & feel, it uses exactly the techniques and designs perfected by the people who came up with the iPod.

There's more to a device than just its functionality - the failure to understand that is exactly what has lead to a flood of software with unintuitive UIs.

Re:History Repeating

[BobTheLawyer]

it's because most geeks have no concept of style, or even an understanding that other people have a concept of style.