Slashdot Mirror
Apple Hides Samsung Apology So It Can't Be Seen Without Scrolling
An anonymous reader writes "Apple today posted its second Samsung apology to its UK website, complying with requests by the UK Court of Appeal to say its original apology was inaccurate and link to a new statement. As users on Hacker News and Reddit point out, however, Apple modified its website recently to ensure the message is never displayed without visitors having to scroll down to the bottom first."
And I have to scroll down one inch to see a VERY large-print paragraph that very clearly states what the court wants. I don't see the issue here. Sounds like Apple haters are just grasping at straws.
Slashdot - news for fandroids, pedantic bullshit that doesn't matter.
Don't have to scroll to see it. http://imgur.com/gwdtH
The summary claims "Apple modified its website recently to ensure the message is never displayed without visitors having to scroll down to the bottom first."
The screenshot proves that to be incorrect. And with the widespread use of tablets and smartphones in portrait mode, it's hardly a fringe case.
Calling people names doesn't help your case. And the chances of you remembering whether or not you scrolled on a page you visited a week ago are just as slim as they are for him.
From Apple's perspective, it is fighting Samsung over these same issues in a number of different countries. In some places it wins, some places it doesn't. For Apple to post a statement that purports to be from Apple stating that Samsung did not copy would be ridiculous, because it's already won judgments in other jurisdictions that say Samsung did copy. People who follow this understand that there are going to be different results in different courts, but the general public (who are the primary audience for Apple's home page) don't understand that. All they see is Apple contradicting itself. They don't realize that a judge is putting words in Apple's corporate mouth. It's judicial ventriloquism, with a judge pulling on strings to make the public believe that Apple is saying something it's not. This alone, regardless of what company or individual we're talking about, is disturbing. What else can a judge force you to say? Who else do they control in this manner? The BBC? The Prime Minister?
The judges' requirement seems at best very juvenile to me (not that either Apple and Samsung have been very mature in these court cases... but from a powdered wig-wearing British judge you'd expect some maturity). It's like asking a 5 year old to apologize to another 5 year old. You'll never get a real apology, you're not changing anything, and the rest of the 5 year olds are sitting there rolling their eyes. What Apple should have done was post a statement as directed but make it absolutely clear that:
By order of the court Apple is required to say "_______." despite the fact that courts in other countries have found that statement to be false. However, in deference to the court we are posting the statement as required and are eager to get back to doing what we do best: making great products for you (and hope that other companies not named Samsung will not offer you inferior attempts at copies of those products).
Comply with the letter of the law, but make it absolutely clear that these are not your words. Let the people know their judges are looking to deceive them.
No, what they did was include code that automatically resizes the hero shot to take up all the available space. This is hardly an unheard of design strategy. They are emphasising their newly launched product. Yes, it has the side-effect of pushing the notice below the fold, but it also pushes other non-essential content like the footer links below the fold as well. The assumption of malice is unwarranted, and spinning this as "they deliberately wrote code to hide it" is silly. There's a clear purpose for that code - to emphasise their new product. You'll note that code also runs on their website in other countries where the notice isn't present.
I'm pretty sure their homepage qualifies.
Why? Scrolling is the norm on the web and he didn't specify a position. Why are people suddenly shocked that you might have to scroll to see something? Why are people suddenly convinced that if it's not above the fold it's invisible? You managed to find my comment alright didn't you?
Bogtha Bogtha Bogtha
Apple still has a PE ratio of 13.06; Google has a PE ratio of 21.55. Apple has a debt to equity ratio of 0; Google has a debt to equity ratio of ~.09.
Apple sells numerous devices to happy customers; Google makes money by violating user privacy for the benefit of its customers, the advertisers.
Which company is the tremendously overvalued one, again?