Really? You make a post like that and accuse ME of being the whiner?
You know what happened the last time I bought a cheap cable? It shorted out the power circuit on two of my iPads, so no. Fuck *YOU* for suggesting this bullshit. I will *not* buy a cheap adapter and risk damaging my very expensive equipment just to satisfy your hysterical nervous breakdown.
If I was connecting to something legacy like VGA, then you would have a point. But I'm not. I'm talking about people that just want to connect their laptops to any of the displays that have been manufacturered in the past 10ish years, as well as the next 10ish years. Even todays current generation MBPs will be obsolete and piling up on landfills long before HDMI stops being actively used. There is not one. single. TV. that support mini-displayport. I haven't googled exhaustively, but I doubt there is one that supports regular displayport either. Projectors at least have some chance of having DP, depending on model.
You can go into hysterics all you want, but the fact of the matter is that Apple promised a premium "just works" experience and charge prices accordingly. But their design choices for their hardware AND their software are clearly demonstrating that they now only care about the latter. The ONLY saving grace is that despite all their bullshit, they're still better than Microsoft's ecosystem. But that's not saying much.
And frothing-at-the-mouth fanboys like you do absolutely nothing to help matters. Honestly, do you really understand just how psychotic you sound in your posts? Apple is a company, not an extremist religious institution, and you are most definitely not their pastor.
So, that's why you read user reviews, and Don't buy the absolute-cheapest adapter/cable/widget from Happy All Day Super Winner Fun Ball Electronics and Dog Food Company.
or, you can take the safer route, and buy the "dealer" adapter for more money, that you know won't cook your mobo. Just like you can go to AutoZone and get an alternator that was made in some **hole country (just kidding!) for $70, or go to the dealer and get the gen-u-wine OEM alternator for $200. Take your pick.
Don't Slashtards value CHOICE above all else? Well, there are your CHOICES.
And BTW, that is EXACTLY why Apple did a study, and pitched a FIT at Amazon, for selling shitty AC adapters that were killing motherboards.
And at this point I think you must be rabid and/or strikingly/willingly desperate to maintain that reality distortion field you cloak yourself with.
Have you considered seeing a psychologist? Based on your posting history, I would be willing to bet that if Apple told you to drink cyanide-laced koolaid, you would.
Did you actually read that privacy policy there, Jr?
You're presented with two companies. One tells you in writing that they sell your data, but feed you advertising telling you that they're very very Virtuous when it comes to handling your data. The other tells you that they don't sell your data at all, they only use it themselves to decide which advertising to show you, but they neglect to feed you propaganda telling you how Virtuous they are.
And you walk away from that with no knowledge at all about who sells your data, even though everybody told you. All you remember is who is Virtuous, but even then you don't really remember why you think so. You just presume it must be a good reason, since they're so Virtuous!
Apple has learned that respecting users' privacy is a MARKETABLE and DISTINGUISHING feature of their products and services.
So, it is in their best interests to make their money where they SAY they make it, and NOT by sucking-down and reselling their Customers' data.
iOS has supported "sideloading" officially since 2014.
Do try to keep up, Hater.
Installing developer tools and going through a shit-ton of unnecessary hoops is not officially supporting anything. This places functionality well outside the reach of normal users.
Contrast this with Android. Copy the file and run it. No worthless hoops.
See the difference?
Of course you don't... your a hopeless Apple Fanboy. Apple is great and their shit doesn't stink.
I'm sorry but at some point we have to drop old legacy connections.
The headphone jack is not a legacy connection. Nor is the escape key, especially if you're a programmer.
The charging port might be considered a legacy connection, if you don't mind spending a USB-C connection on charging. But MagSafe did solve a real problem that is now unsolved again.
The MacBook Pro has a 3.5 mm audio jack; so STFU.
If you MUST have a "real" escape key, use an external keyboard. Other than developers, most users seldom use the Escape key more than a few times per week.
If you are so filled-up on your USB-C ports that you are in danger of not having a charging port, then make sure you have a USB-C dock that has a USB-C "charging port" pass-through.
I guess I should have been more precise. Some monitors provide HDMI for backwards compatibility, but you'll need a faster connection to use their highest resolution modes. And many of them don't offer HDMI at all.
Currently, HDMI-based displays are limited to 4K resolutions in HDMI mode. We've had 5K monitors since 2014, and 8K monitors are available on store shelves today. At the current pace, by the time actual HDMI 2.1 hardware (8K/10K support, finalized last November) arrives in stores, we'll probably have a Thunderbolt 4 standard that leaves it in the dust again.
You started with a "hotel room" example. Wake me when you see a hotel room with a 5k or higher display.
Call me when even 1% of all hotel TV sets have a USB-C port. Go ahead. I'll wait. I expect to hear from you by 2030 or so.
The problem is, the people making the decisions about these things are assuming that people are buying computers to use with monitors, and dropped the feature because most recent monitors don't even have HDMI. What they forgot is that most people who use the port do so for hooking up to TVs while traveling, and that the Apple TV is useless on most hotel wireless networks because it has no captive portal support.
TVs have a much longer replacement cycle, so it will be a very long time before USB-C is ubiquitous, mostly happening through attrition as old TVs die after 20+ years or new hotels get built. Couple that with the inconvenience of having to remember to pack a pricey specialty adapter that you probably won't be able to find locally, and you have all the necessary pieces for generating some serious long-term ill-will towards Apple. It's like dropping the headphone jacks on iPhones. It won't cause a huge drop in sales, because most people won't think too much about it. But as you use it, you'll keep running into corner cases where you can't do something because of that decision. And every time you do, it erodes the brand in your mind—and all because somebody at Apple thought it was more important to save a couple of bucks per machine on HDMI/HDCP hardware than to give customers a good experience.
At this point, you have to be willfully blind to not take literally 5 seconds on Amazon.com, and see the DOZENS of USB-C to HDMI adapters available in the $12 to $20 range.
FFS. Do a little research before you make an ass of yourself. It's unseemly.
Limited Features? Like FOUR USB-C Ports on a Laptop, for an aggregate 80 Gb/s I/O bandwidth, and which can be easily and inexpensively broken-out into a MYRIAD of different configurations, up to FIFTY-TWO SIMULTANEOUS "Legacy" Ports?
So that you can carry a dongle for everything that your device ought to do built-in, like the $70 dongle just to get HDMI output for watching movies in your hotel room.
For just an HDMI Adapter? More like less than $20.
In fact, For LESS than $70, you can get a USB-C DOCK, with 3 USB 3.0 Ports, GIGABIT Ethernet Port, SD/MicroSD slot, Audio I/O Jack, USB-C Charging Port, and, oh yes, a 4K HDMI Port.
Highly Controlling? Like for example, the fact that, since iOS 8, Apple has officially allowed "Sideloading" of Apps on iOS Devices, both through Open Source XCode Application-Building, and through the loading of precompiled.ipa files using Cydia Impactor, which runs on every desktop platform?
Like the fact that we had to scream for an entire decade to get that capability.
Who gives a shit? You still cited it as an example, over three years since it was no longer true. That makes you either a fool, or a liar. Pick one.
Abandoned Product Lines? Every OEM drops products and sometimes whole product-lines. So?
Every vendor doesn't build the only products compatible with their OS, or require that all iOS apps be compiled on Macs. Ever try to set up a build/test farm now that the XServe is discontinued? See also "Highly Controlling".
Xcode has had the ability to do multi-computer compile/build sharing BUILT-IN for several versions now. So again: fool or liar: Which is it?
There is a lot of Windows Development you can only do in a Windows environment. So what?
Erratic Decision-Making? As compared with, say, Microsoft? Yeahrightsure...
I'm not sure what the GP was thinking about here. Apple's decision-making is pretty self-consistent. As of late, it has resulted in some rather bizarre outcomes, but the logic resulting in those bizarre outcomes was self-consistent, and thus not erratic.
Finally! A few words of reason! Give the man a biscuit!
Anyway: The whole point about Apple is that anyone gets it within a few minutes of using their devices. That's Apple. If you don't get Apple, no amount of explaining will help. Even people who have solid reasons to steer clear of Apple appreciate Apple.
This question is awkward and pointless in so many ways it's almost metaphysical.
Tim is right that Apple considers technology to be simply the tool that enables them to do the actual thing that needs to be done. For a nerd, that is at first difficult to get, but more normal people get it immediately. They don't buy a phone for the CPU or the graphics performance or the memory size. They buy it to make calls, take pictures, check their calendar (and today, to use whatever app is hip this week).
Yet, isn't it funny that iPhones regularly trounce the competition in exactly those performance metrics?
...but you gotta understand why Apple is still a player:
What alternative do you have today? Android? Pc? If that was left - there's really no competition to drive innovation forward.
Apple appeals to people who wants their technology to be not only functional, but pretty. It's like you're buying a lifestyle choice, you're not only purchasing a computer or yet another phone - you're buying a fashion statement, and you can still do what others do - but with less fuss and less nerding around drivers, updates, viruses etc.
The virus part is partly due to the fact that 90% of the world still owns a PC, so the viruses on Apple die a natural death of starvation...aka...it's not that easy to spread them because they're depending on an infrastructure to support them, which is poor (for them) to say the least. Same with Linux - Linux is as prone to viruses as Apple and PC would ever be, but they're so rare amongst desktop users that this is rarely an issue. Android "linux" however...is an entirely different story.
I work at IT-helpdesk in an organization with 200K+ workers, and we know this by heart, because we support Apple IOS, Android, Windows AND Linux.
You're so full of shit I literally don't even know where to start.
Case in point: I was just given an iPad (company anniversary gift). It's my first Apple device. After a month of trying to get it to work for me, I'm probably going to have to turn it into a streaming/gaming device for my kids. Why?
Apple's trust model is broken. On iOS, apps are assumed to be not trustworthy, so they put them in a sandbox. This means one app can't access another app's local files. On the other hand, for some reason, the cloud is assumed to be trustworthy. If I use iCloud, Dropbox, OneDrive, or any other cloud provider, I can open and save files to any cloud folder.
I've spent a couple years de-cloudifying myself because as we all know, the cloud is just somebody else's computer. According to my philosophy, therefore, the cloud is inherently untrustworthy, and I don't want my data on somebody else's computer. This is why my devices have local storage: to hold my data. If I want to share it, I use Syncthing (https://syncthing.net) and I can then access it on the local storage of one of my other devices. I'm therefore not sharing todos, notes, files, or anything else I choose not to share with Apple, Google, Amazon, or anybody else who may decide at some point to mine my data.
On Android, I have the choice to configure my device this way. On my iPad, I do not. It is, essentially, then, not my device. It's Apple's. It's bound to their trust model, which says Apple is trustworthy (their apps can access the new "On my iPad" file selector), but 3rd party apps are not (even sync apps like Resilio Sync or Syncthing). Their trust model, therefore, makes the device useless to me.
Sure, what Tim Cook says has some truth to it: if I were willing to share all my stuff on other people's computers, I would be able to use the iPad without thinking about "bits and bytes and feeds and speeds." But their "whole system" means sharing personal life data to an unprecedented extent with Apple. That's not bringing humanity to computing. That's giving over our humanity to be stored by one or more corporations. It's a classic example of forging an easy path for Lemmings to go--where? And that's the problem. We don't know if we're heading for the safe exit or dropping off the cliff.
You're a moron.
1. Apple does end-to-end encryption on anything sent to/from iCloud. Even Apple cannot access it.
2. Sandboxes are GOOD for security, you fucking DOLT!!!
4. Ever hear of FTP? You can peer-peer transfer pretty much any iOS data to/from the outside world with one of several FTP or "File Transfer" Apps. And this was even BEFORE the "Files" App!
Apple makes a lot of money by removing freedom. People are not free to fix their devices. People are not free to use any platform to develop for iOS. People are not free to install apps from anywhere. People are not free to access a filesystem directly on iOS. People are not free to find a complete replacement for iTunes, you will always have to come back to it for some purpose. Never has any company been able to apply so much manipulation to users of their products. On top of that, they are doing everything they can to rob people of income through taxes which is something societies desperately need. It makes me sick to tell you the truth.
You're the one who's already sick; or at least a LIAR.
1. Apple removes NO Freedom. You are always free to buy someone else's products. So your basic premise is flawed, right out of the gate!
2. People are ALWAYS free to fix their own devices. But most people don't have SMT rework stations, nor the knowledge to use them. And of course, SOME of the parts are proprietary, JUST LIKE IN EVERY PRODUCT IMAGINABLE!!!
3. People are not free to develop for iOS using any Platform. That is true. So what? Go develop for Android. And with the Open Sourcing of Swift, I'm not exactly sure if that is the case anymore.
4. People are not free to install Apps from anywhere. Never true for macOS, not true for iOS since 2014. Do try to keep up, LIAR.
5. People are not free to access the Filesystem on iOS. FALSE. iOS 11 has the "Files" App, which allows a lot of direct Filesystem manipulation. It's not a "Finder" Replacement yet; but it is a huge step forward.
6. People are not free to use something other than iTunes (blah, blah)... False. Now that there is iCloud Backup, the last remaining tie to iTunes is GONE. BTW, I haven't hooked either my iPad nor iPhone to iTunes for ANYTHING in about 3 years, and if I had an iCloud Backup account, I wouldn't have needed it then, either.
7. Robbing taxes. See "Repatriating 300 BEEELION dollars". STFU.
...There is a standard called USB why don't you use it?.
Apple uses USB where it makes sense like on their computers, but isn't afraid to use better technology when available. Now that USB has caught up with Thunderbolt, (Thunderbolt 3 is USB-C) it was the first computer company to use it exclusively on a computer. You may or may not appreciate that, but saying Apple doesn't support USB is wrong.
Not to disagree with your basic premise; but a couple of minor corrections:
1. Lightning PRECEDED USB-C, which is why Apple has held onto it for iOS devices.
2. Thunderbolt 3 is NOT USB-C. They are separate interfaces that just HAPPEN to share a Connector. Pretty cool, actually!
We don't want people to have to go to multiple [systems] or live with a device that's not integrated
When your device doesn't integrate with anything else then your device sucks. There is a standard called USB why don't you use it? Apple is an extremely annoying company with the "not invented here" mentality. If I have to bring a different cable for every iDevice everywhere I go I will not buy your product.
might think that Apple "is good at making money." But he says "that's not who we are
It's easy to make money when you don't pay any taxes.
What's a cable?
Different cables? Go ask Microsoft about that.
Hmmm. Didn't Apple just announce bringing $350 BEEELION dollars back to the U.S.?
I'd want a J3 over any iPhone made today. J3 has a headphone jack, removable cloudfree SD storage, and user replaceable battery. Easy to root/jailbreak/sideload unapproved apps too. I don't have to hand in my phone with my data to a bunch of "Genii" or void the warranty just to change the fuckin battery.
iOS has supported "sideloading" officially since 2014.
1. It's much harder to create good industrial design than it is to copy it. When the Macbook Air was released, it was breathtaking. So were the first few iterations of the iPad and the iPhone. After the first big wins, it gets much harder to play the "smaller, faster, more storage and sleeker" game.
2. Technology matures. Many people rant that Apple's innovation around the iPhone and iPad has slowed. Of course it has, because all of the obvious things have been done over the last decade. It's like automobile technology -- once manufacturers figured out where all the basic components needed to go, they have cheerfully chugged along for decades with gradual improvement.
3. If you're the market leader, there is no value in going down-market. Apple does an outstanding job of maintaining margins without resorting to selling a bewildering array of phones at all price points in a desperate attempt to gain market share. Nobody wants a Samsung J3 or an LG K4. They're cheap pieces of junk that you only buy if you can't afford a decent phone.
4. Maintaining and developing iOS is a massive undertaking that Apple's competitors (with the exception of Google) don't have to undertake. We've seen Samsung's attempt at a third-party OS, and it was dismal.
In a world dominated by Facebook and Google, Apple is hands-down the most privacy and security-focused major vendor. There's something important to be said for that.
Yup. And they have long-ago realized that that position is actually a MARKETABLE FEATURE. Thus, they have every reason in the world to CONTINUE to hold onto that DIFFERENTIATION.
I just wish the Slashtard Apple-Haters would see that.
I know what it's like to be misunderstood and underappreciated. Like Apple, people often fail to grasp just how awesome I am. BECAUSE THEY JUST DON'T LISTEN.
Anyway, I hope Apple perseveres and doesn't give up because some day they'll get their due and the haters and losers will have to come crawling back on their knees and admit they were always wrong about Apple - that scrappy little underdog company that just never gave up.
Honestly, since I know you have Apple gear, I can't tell if you just forgot the sarcasm tag, or if that's how you GENUINELY feel...
What applications just work? I use Inkscape a lot and it is brutal to use on osx, yet it works on windows and linux just fine. It's the same with almost any open source application I buy. Sure I could pay $50 for a text editor on osx and it would work, but in that case I would expect an expensive application to work anywhere.
Slashdot Mirror
Really? You make a post like that and accuse ME of being the whiner?
You know what happened the last time I bought a cheap cable? It shorted out the power circuit on two of my iPads, so no. Fuck *YOU* for suggesting this bullshit. I will *not* buy a cheap adapter and risk damaging my very expensive equipment just to satisfy your hysterical nervous breakdown.
If I was connecting to something legacy like VGA, then you would have a point. But I'm not. I'm talking about people that just want to connect their laptops to any of the displays that have been manufacturered in the past 10ish years, as well as the next 10ish years. Even todays current generation MBPs will be obsolete and piling up on landfills long before HDMI stops being actively used. There is not one. single. TV. that support mini-displayport. I haven't googled exhaustively, but I doubt there is one that supports regular displayport either. Projectors at least have some chance of having DP, depending on model.
You can go into hysterics all you want, but the fact of the matter is that Apple promised a premium "just works" experience and charge prices accordingly. But their design choices for their hardware AND their software are clearly demonstrating that they now only care about the latter. The ONLY saving grace is that despite all their bullshit, they're still better than Microsoft's ecosystem. But that's not saying much.
And frothing-at-the-mouth fanboys like you do absolutely nothing to help matters. Honestly, do you really understand just how psychotic you sound in your posts? Apple is a company, not an extremist religious institution, and you are most definitely not their pastor.
So, that's why you read user reviews, and Don't buy the absolute-cheapest adapter/cable/widget from Happy All Day Super Winner Fun Ball Electronics and Dog Food Company.
or, you can take the safer route, and buy the "dealer" adapter for more money, that you know won't cook your mobo. Just like you can go to AutoZone and get an alternator that was made in some **hole country (just kidding!) for $70, or go to the dealer and get the gen-u-wine OEM alternator for $200. Take your pick.
Don't Slashtards value CHOICE above all else? Well, there are your CHOICES.
And BTW, that is EXACTLY why Apple did a study, and pitched a FIT at Amazon, for selling shitty AC adapters that were killing motherboards.
And at this point I think you must be rabid and/or strikingly/willingly desperate to maintain that reality distortion field you cloak yourself with.
Have you considered seeing a psychologist? Based on your posting history, I would be willing to bet that if Apple told you to drink cyanide-laced koolaid, you would.
So, IOW, your "argument" is a null-set.
Got it.
Bingo, Boingo, Bongo!
Did you actually read that privacy policy there, Jr?
You're presented with two companies. One tells you in writing that they sell your data, but feed you advertising telling you that they're very very Virtuous when it comes to handling your data. The other tells you that they don't sell your data at all, they only use it themselves to decide which advertising to show you, but they neglect to feed you propaganda telling you how Virtuous they are.
And you walk away from that with no knowledge at all about who sells your data, even though everybody told you. All you remember is who is Virtuous, but even then you don't really remember why you think so. You just presume it must be a good reason, since they're so Virtuous!
Apple has learned that respecting users' privacy is a MARKETABLE and DISTINGUISHING feature of their products and services.
So, it is in their best interests to make their money where they SAY they make it, and NOT by sucking-down and reselling their Customers' data.
iOS has supported "sideloading" officially since 2014.
Do try to keep up, Hater.
Installing developer tools and going through a shit-ton of unnecessary hoops is not officially supporting anything. This places functionality well outside the reach of normal users.
Contrast this with Android. Copy the file and run it. No worthless hoops.
See the difference?
Of course you don't... your a hopeless Apple Fanboy. Apple is great and their shit doesn't stink.
Two words: Cydia Impactor.
Look into it, Hater.
I'm sorry but at some point we have to drop old legacy connections.
The headphone jack is not a legacy connection. Nor is the escape key, especially if you're a programmer.
The charging port might be considered a legacy connection, if you don't mind spending a USB-C connection on charging. But MagSafe did solve a real problem that is now unsolved again.
The MacBook Pro has a 3.5 mm audio jack; so STFU.
If you MUST have a "real" escape key, use an external keyboard. Other than developers, most users seldom use the Escape key more than a few times per week.
If you are so filled-up on your USB-C ports that you are in danger of not having a charging port, then make sure you have a USB-C dock that has a USB-C "charging port" pass-through.
There is an aftermarket "mag-safe" for USB-C.
I guess I should have been more precise. Some monitors provide HDMI for backwards compatibility, but you'll need a faster connection to use their highest resolution modes. And many of them don't offer HDMI at all.
Currently, HDMI-based displays are limited to 4K resolutions in HDMI mode. We've had 5K monitors since 2014, and 8K monitors are available on store shelves today. At the current pace, by the time actual HDMI 2.1 hardware (8K/10K support, finalized last November) arrives in stores, we'll probably have a Thunderbolt 4 standard that leaves it in the dust again.
You started with a "hotel room" example. Wake me when you see a hotel room with a 5k or higher display.
Nice moving of goalposts.
Call me when even 1% of all hotel TV sets have a USB-C port. Go ahead. I'll wait. I expect to hear from you by 2030 or so.
The problem is, the people making the decisions about these things are assuming that people are buying computers to use with monitors, and dropped the feature because most recent monitors don't even have HDMI. What they forgot is that most people who use the port do so for hooking up to TVs while traveling, and that the Apple TV is useless on most hotel wireless networks because it has no captive portal support.
TVs have a much longer replacement cycle, so it will be a very long time before USB-C is ubiquitous, mostly happening through attrition as old TVs die after 20+ years or new hotels get built. Couple that with the inconvenience of having to remember to pack a pricey specialty adapter that you probably won't be able to find locally, and you have all the necessary pieces for generating some serious long-term ill-will towards Apple. It's like dropping the headphone jacks on iPhones. It won't cause a huge drop in sales, because most people won't think too much about it. But as you use it, you'll keep running into corner cases where you can't do something because of that decision. And every time you do, it erodes the brand in your mind—and all because somebody at Apple thought it was more important to save a couple of bucks per machine on HDMI/HDCP hardware than to give customers a good experience.
At this point, you have to be willfully blind to not take literally 5 seconds on Amazon.com, and see the DOZENS of USB-C to HDMI adapters available in the $12 to $20 range.
FFS. Do a little research before you make an ass of yourself. It's unseemly.
So that you can carry a dongle for everything that your device ought to do built-in, like the $70 dongle just to get HDMI output for watching movies in your hotel room.
For just an HDMI Adapter? More like less than $20.
Here's one for $14:
https://www.amazon.com/Adapter...
Here's one built into a 6 ft. Cable for $17.50; so you don.'t even have to carry a separate HDMI cable to do your fapping:
https://www.amazon.com/Cable-M...
In fact, For LESS than $70, you can get a USB-C DOCK, with 3 USB 3.0 Ports, GIGABIT Ethernet Port, SD/MicroSD slot, Audio I/O Jack, USB-C Charging Port, and, oh yes, a 4K HDMI Port.
https://www.amazon.com/Adapter...
Limited features.
Like the fact that we had to scream for an entire decade to get that capability.
Who gives a shit? You still cited it as an example, over three years since it was no longer true. That makes you either a fool, or a liar. Pick one.
Every vendor doesn't build the only products compatible with their OS, or require that all iOS apps be compiled on Macs. Ever try to set up a build/test farm now that the XServe is discontinued? See also "Highly Controlling".
Xcode has had the ability to do multi-computer compile/build sharing BUILT-IN for several versions now. So again: fool or liar: Which is it?
There is a lot of Windows Development you can only do in a Windows environment. So what?
I'm not sure what the GP was thinking about here. Apple's decision-making is pretty self-consistent. As of late, it has resulted in some rather bizarre outcomes, but the logic resulting in those bizarre outcomes was self-consistent, and thus not erratic.
Finally! A few words of reason! Give the man a biscuit!
What a bizarre meta article ...
Anyway:
The whole point about Apple is that anyone gets it within a few minutes of using their devices. That's Apple. If you don't get Apple, no amount of explaining will help. Even people who have solid reasons to steer clear of Apple appreciate Apple.
This question is awkward and pointless in so many ways it's almost metaphysical.
Precisely!
Tim is right that Apple considers technology to be simply the tool that enables them to do the actual thing that needs to be done. For a nerd, that is at first difficult to get, but more normal people get it immediately. They don't buy a phone for the CPU or the graphics performance or the memory size. They buy it to make calls, take pictures, check their calendar (and today, to use whatever app is hip this week).
Yet, isn't it funny that iPhones regularly trounce the competition in exactly those performance metrics?
...but you gotta understand why Apple is still a player:
What alternative do you have today? Android? Pc? If that was left - there's really no competition to drive innovation forward.
Apple appeals to people who wants their technology to be not only functional, but pretty. It's like you're buying a lifestyle choice, you're not only purchasing a computer or yet another phone - you're buying a fashion statement, and you can still do what others do - but with less fuss and less nerding around drivers, updates, viruses etc.
The virus part is partly due to the fact that 90% of the world still owns a PC, so the viruses on Apple die a natural death of starvation...aka...it's not that easy to spread them because they're depending on an infrastructure to support them, which is poor (for them) to say the least. Same with Linux - Linux is as prone to viruses as Apple and PC would ever be, but they're so rare amongst desktop users that this is rarely an issue. Android "linux" however ...is an entirely different story.
I work at IT-helpdesk in an organization with 200K+ workers, and we know this by heart, because we support Apple IOS, Android, Windows AND Linux.
You're so full of shit I literally don't even know where to start.
So I won't.
They don't use systemd, do they? At least not yet.
Use it?!?
Man, they INVENTED it!!! LONG before there was systemd, Apple had... launchd !!!
Way back in OS X 10.4-land. And they've been using THEIR "systemd" (launchd) ever since then, without incident.
Lance Potty-ring just fucked it ALL up for you guys, DESPITE the fact that Apple Open Sourced launchd and gave it to the WORLD!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
BTW, launchd precededs systemd by 5 years:
https://blog.darknedgy.net/tec...
Case in point: I was just given an iPad (company anniversary gift). It's my first Apple device. After a month of trying to get it to work for me, I'm probably going to have to turn it into a streaming/gaming device for my kids. Why?
Apple's trust model is broken. On iOS, apps are assumed to be not trustworthy, so they put them in a sandbox. This means one app can't access another app's local files. On the other hand, for some reason, the cloud is assumed to be trustworthy. If I use iCloud, Dropbox, OneDrive, or any other cloud provider, I can open and save files to any cloud folder.
I've spent a couple years de-cloudifying myself because as we all know, the cloud is just somebody else's computer. According to my philosophy, therefore, the cloud is inherently untrustworthy, and I don't want my data on somebody else's computer. This is why my devices have local storage: to hold my data. If I want to share it, I use Syncthing (https://syncthing.net) and I can then access it on the local storage of one of my other devices. I'm therefore not sharing todos, notes, files, or anything else I choose not to share with Apple, Google, Amazon, or anybody else who may decide at some point to mine my data.
On Android, I have the choice to configure my device this way. On my iPad, I do not. It is, essentially, then, not my device. It's Apple's. It's bound to their trust model, which says Apple is trustworthy (their apps can access the new "On my iPad" file selector), but 3rd party apps are not (even sync apps like Resilio Sync or Syncthing). Their trust model, therefore, makes the device useless to me.
Sure, what Tim Cook says has some truth to it: if I were willing to share all my stuff on other people's computers, I would be able to use the iPad without thinking about "bits and bytes and feeds and speeds." But their "whole system" means sharing personal life data to an unprecedented extent with Apple. That's not bringing humanity to computing. That's giving over our humanity to be stored by one or more corporations. It's a classic example of forging an easy path for Lemmings to go--where? And that's the problem. We don't know if we're heading for the safe exit or dropping off the cliff.
You're a moron.
1. Apple does end-to-end encryption on anything sent to/from iCloud. Even Apple cannot access it.
2. Sandboxes are GOOD for security, you fucking DOLT!!!
4. Ever hear of FTP? You can peer-peer transfer pretty much any iOS data to/from the outside world with one of several FTP or "File Transfer" Apps. And this was even BEFORE the "Files" App!
Jesus, but you're an ignoramous...
Heck, they even made it impossible for people to buy a $10 pair of headphones.
I assume that is a snide insinuation to the removal of the obsolete, leaky 3.5mm audio jack?
1. Apple included an adapter, so you can use your existing, precious $10 headphones.
2. Apple included a Lightning-based version of their Earpods earbud-headset.
3. Apple priced additional Lightning to 3.5mm adapters at $9, so you could keep a spare or two around to use with your precious $10 headphones.
Apple makes a lot of money by removing freedom. People are not free to fix their devices. People are not free to use any platform to develop for iOS. People are not free to install apps from anywhere. People are not free to access a filesystem directly on iOS. People are not free to find a complete replacement for iTunes, you will always have to come back to it for some purpose. Never has any company been able to apply so much manipulation to users of their products. On top of that, they are doing everything they can to rob people of income through taxes which is something societies desperately need. It makes me sick to tell you the truth.
You're the one who's already sick; or at least a LIAR.
1. Apple removes NO Freedom. You are always free to buy someone else's products. So your basic premise is flawed, right out of the gate!
2. People are ALWAYS free to fix their own devices. But most people don't have SMT rework stations, nor the knowledge to use them. And of course, SOME of the parts are proprietary, JUST LIKE IN EVERY PRODUCT IMAGINABLE!!!
3. People are not free to develop for iOS using any Platform. That is true. So what? Go develop for Android. And with the Open Sourcing of Swift, I'm not exactly sure if that is the case anymore.
4. People are not free to install Apps from anywhere. Never true for macOS, not true for iOS since 2014. Do try to keep up, LIAR.
5. People are not free to access the Filesystem on iOS. FALSE. iOS 11 has the "Files" App, which allows a lot of direct Filesystem manipulation. It's not a "Finder" Replacement yet; but it is a huge step forward.
6. People are not free to use something other than iTunes (blah, blah)... False. Now that there is iCloud Backup, the last remaining tie to iTunes is GONE. BTW, I haven't hooked either my iPad nor iPhone to iTunes for ANYTHING in about 3 years, and if I had an iCloud Backup account, I wouldn't have needed it then, either.
7. Robbing taxes. See "Repatriating 300 BEEELION dollars". STFU.
...There is a standard called USB why don't you use it? .
Apple uses USB where it makes sense like on their computers, but isn't afraid to use better technology when available. Now that USB has caught up with Thunderbolt, (Thunderbolt 3 is USB-C) it was the first computer company to use it exclusively on a computer. You may or may not appreciate that, but saying Apple doesn't support USB is wrong.
Not to disagree with your basic premise; but a couple of minor corrections:
1. Lightning PRECEDED USB-C, which is why Apple has held onto it for iOS devices.
2. Thunderbolt 3 is NOT USB-C. They are separate interfaces that just HAPPEN to share a Connector. Pretty cool, actually!
How do we mark the article +1 flamebait?
The same way we mark a USER as -1 Slashtard.
We don't want people to have to go to multiple [systems] or live with a device that's not integrated
When your device doesn't integrate with anything else then your device sucks. There is a standard called USB why don't you use it? Apple is an extremely annoying company with the "not invented here" mentality. If I have to bring a different cable for every iDevice everywhere I go I will not buy your product.
might think that Apple "is good at making money." But he says "that's not who we are
It's easy to make money when you don't pay any taxes.
What's a cable?
Different cables? Go ask Microsoft about that.
Hmmm. Didn't Apple just announce bringing $350 BEEELION dollars back to the U.S.?
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/1...
I'd want a J3 over any iPhone made today. J3 has a headphone jack, removable cloudfree SD storage, and user replaceable battery. Easy to root/jailbreak/sideload unapproved apps too. I don't have to hand in my phone with my data to a bunch of "Genii" or void the warranty just to change the fuckin battery.
iOS has supported "sideloading" officially since 2014.
Do try to keep up, Hater.
People don't appreciate that:
1. It's much harder to create good industrial design than it is to copy it. When the Macbook Air was released, it was breathtaking. So were the first few iterations of the iPad and the iPhone. After the first big wins, it gets much harder to play the "smaller, faster, more storage and sleeker" game.
2. Technology matures. Many people rant that Apple's innovation around the iPhone and iPad has slowed. Of course it has, because all of the obvious things have been done over the last decade. It's like automobile technology -- once manufacturers figured out where all the basic components needed to go, they have cheerfully chugged along for decades with gradual improvement.
3. If you're the market leader, there is no value in going down-market. Apple does an outstanding job of maintaining margins without resorting to selling a bewildering array of phones at all price points in a desperate attempt to gain market share. Nobody wants a Samsung J3 or an LG K4. They're cheap pieces of junk that you only buy if you can't afford a decent phone.
4. Maintaining and developing iOS is a massive undertaking that Apple's competitors (with the exception of Google) don't have to undertake. We've seen Samsung's attempt at a third-party OS, and it was dismal.
MOD THIS TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!!!!!!
PERFECT!!!
when I was learning electronics Apple was closed to all and IBM PCs were open to experimenting and 3rd party software. I've hated Apple ever since.
Never had an Apple ][ then, I suppose.
In a world dominated by Facebook and Google, Apple is hands-down the most privacy and security-focused major vendor. There's something important to be said for that.
Yup. And they have long-ago realized that that position is actually a MARKETABLE FEATURE. Thus, they have every reason in the world to CONTINUE to hold onto that DIFFERENTIATION.
I just wish the Slashtard Apple-Haters would see that.
I know what it's like to be misunderstood and underappreciated. Like Apple, people often fail to grasp just how awesome I am. BECAUSE THEY JUST DON'T LISTEN.
Anyway, I hope Apple perseveres and doesn't give up because some day they'll get their due and the haters and losers will have to come crawling back on their knees and admit they were always wrong about Apple - that scrappy little underdog company that just never gave up.
Honestly, since I know you have Apple gear, I can't tell if you just forgot the sarcasm tag, or if that's how you GENUINELY feel...
Man, posting a story like this to the Slashdot of today, all I can say is:
It's a Trap!
I haven't noticed a recognizable change in the average Slashtard Apple-Hater in the past 5 years here.
What do you see that's different?
What applications just work? I use Inkscape a lot and it is brutal to use on osx, yet it works on windows and linux just fine. It's the same with almost any open source application I buy. Sure I could pay $50 for a text editor on osx and it would work, but in that case I would expect an expensive application to work anywhere.
And so that's APPLE's fault?
How, exactly?