Manage your expenses via Email, SMS, Twitter, Voice (Jott: Call and say your expense), IM (Yahoo, AIM, MSN), or Web.
My Apple Rant
I finally did it. I joined the evil empire. Crossed over to the dark side. A few hours ago I got myself … a brand new Apple MacBook Pro.
It is with trepidation and fear that I take this step.
Fear that in a week, maybe two, I’ll be one of them. I’ll be kneeling at the altar of Jobs, singing his eternal praises, hoping, in a deep, dark part of my heart, that he’ll take me backstage and show me just what he’s got under that turtleneck.
That I’ll join the legions of Apple fanboys.
So as I prepare to lose my innocence to Father Jobs, I let out this final rant.
…
I don’t get it. I just don’t get how self respecting geeks can fall so deeply, so blindly in love with Apple.
Apple is the definition of closed. The diametric opposite of open.
We are geeks. We take pride in choice. In independence. We rail against closed, proprietary systems.
And what does Apple give us? Systems that are as proprietary and closed as it can possibly make them.
The “Trusted Platform Module,” or TPM, is a computer chip embedded inside Intel-based Macs to prevent the Intel-based version of Mac OS X from running on non-Apple hardware.
They’re putting in chips into their computers to make sure you can’t run their OS on hardware they don’t sell you. Closed.
But they’re running BSD under OS X. Isn’t that cool? They took a unix base, made it significantly better, and kept the improvements to themselves. They didn’t share. They kept it Closed. Not true - Darwin is open source, as pointed out by the commenters.
But what about their apps? Closed.
The iPod is cool though. You have to admit that. Too bad it comes with its own proprietary DRM system. Closed.
How about that exciting new iPhone? Here’s Mr. Jobs on openness:
You don’t want your phone to be an open platform.
Sweet. Closed. Why would you want an open platform for a phone anyway? That would be … like … madness. And you sure don’t want any of those dirty open source guys getting their hands on it, they might actually do something innovative with it.
…
Apple is a closed, proprietary company. That’s fine. I don’t actually have much of a problem with that. What I do have a problem with is all the open source rah-rah cheerleaders so head-over-heels in love with Apple while hating Microsoft. It’s just hypocritical.
Have you talked to Mac guys? It’s a religion. Mac Can Do No Wrong. Mac Is the Savior.
Windows users? Except for the few nutcases, they’ll tell you, Windows sucks. This is broken, that’s broken, it’s a piece of crap. But it gets things done. Much less religion.
The Linux folks? Lots of religion there. But at least they’re following some sort of belief in a better world, instead of the glean of Jobs’ head poking out of his turtleneck.
…
And let me tell you one last thing while I’ve got you. You know those cool Apple ads? With the young, hip Mac and the old fat PC? Isn’t that cute? Well, guess what jack ass. Take a look in the mirror. Do you know which one you are?
Were you the cool, hip kid that everybody idolized? Or were you the loser geek that didn’t quite look right?
You don’t need an Apple to tell you you’re cool. Be a geek. Be proud.
Welcome to the cult. When I switched sides, their were some in the audio world who likened it to Paul converting to Christ after having killed so many Jews in his lifetime. The scales fell from my eyes when OS X (NeXT, really) became the Apple platform. I hated OS 9 and below. Hated them.
The reason we love it, in spite of the closed system, is that it is based on UNIX, so we “get it” and enjoy its stability. Plus, the system these days allows us to run any software system we want to on the Apple hardware. I have OS X natively, and can also open WindowsXP, and Fedora Core Linux all at the same time on the same machine. I get the best of all worlds, the OS X interface is cleaner, easier to program for using the wonderful tools Apple gives you, and its never had a spyware, virus.
So I live in OS X, run WindowsXP if I HAVE TO for some reason, use Fedora Core to poke around on, and use open source software to build our site. All on an Apple with one very happy Apple-owner.
The majority always seeks further marginalize the minority, especially when $$$-based choices are involved. The whole Apple-cult thing is a ridiculous label applied by those looking at the Apple ecosystem from the outside:
“Apple customers are happy and speak very positively of Apple. If they are THAT happy, perhaps I made a mistake in my computer choice! But, no, I made no mistake, because the majority uses Windows, therefore Apple’s customers are simply brainwashed fools, enmeshed in a marketing-created cult!”
Yeah right. Simple, elegant, thoughtful products that encapsulate incredibly complex tech make for happy tech customers. Good marketing may lure new users, but only quality products can keep them.
To get a detailed, knowledgeable, history of Apple and Microsoft, from an Apple programmer’s perspective, go to RoughlyDrafted.com. His insightful and informed articles on the past, present, and future will entertain and inform those who feel Apple is the “dark side”. I look forward to your posts in the future.
So I am confused. If you bought a Mac, why all the rant without any report on impressions of the Mac and its OS. It does, after all, run Windows as a PC would if you want, so you can always return to your comfort zone. Did someone force you, or did you do it of free will? Perhaps your explaining why you bought said Mac, and why you need to vent so, would help the discussion here.
First, you really don’t get the metaphor if you view Apple as the dark side. The Death Star wasn’t built by the rebellious minority.
Second, long-time Mac users also have “some sort of belief in a better world.” I’m a Mac advocate. Why? Because I hate computers. I don’t have time or interest in dealing with their complexity. I just want to harness their power. Apple products have a tradition of simplifying the complex so that ordinary users can harness the power previously available only to geeks.
Linux has a noble objective, but that religion (or, to use a more accurate term, philosophy) doesn’t speak to the many people like me.
Windows is closed and proprietary too. Just ask Lotus or the Justice Dept. or the EU regulators and the many many companies out there, which only get a subset of the Windows API while MS keeps to itself a private one.
At least Apple is honest about it. They make it clear its closed.
I just don’t get the whole open/closed thing. Sure, you can’t run out and build a Mac from spare parts at Fry’s. You CAN work on the OS X kernel (”Darwin”). That’s way more “open” than Microsoft. Apple ships OS X with Apache– does MSFT do that? Apple’s AAC audio format (but not the DRM) and their video standard, MP4, are open. Neither Mac nor PC are wholly open or closed; they are a mix.
For my part, I’ve used Macs since ‘89 and PC’s since ‘95. It was amazing watching the transition to OS X. I had a machine that could boot into OS 9 and OS 10.1 and I was astounded how quickly I came to the point where I just didn’t want to see OS 9 ever again, though I had liked it previously. I am a scientist, so I put my computers to a lot of varied tasks. My experiences under Windows continue to be less than pleasant. I frequently find Windows refusing to carry out simple tasks because of some secret check box I couldn’t find after 11 years experience.
From the text above…
“… TPM, is a computer chip embedded inside Intel-based Macs to prevent the Intel-based version of Mac OS X from running on non-Apple hardware.”
Maybe you should think before you rant. The above quote is absolutely irrational. Do you really imagine that a chip inside an Intel-based Mac will somehow prevent the Mac OS from running in some other non-Apple hardware? Is it some kind of remote control chip?
Not so sure about that. It appears that Darwin actually is Open Source. At least, according to Wikipedia it is.
As far as I know Apple has open sourced the BSD Unix under OS X. For sure they did it for the Power PC version. The Intel version will be open sourced soon if it hasn’t been already. They give back the improvements they make. It’s part of the license.
All DRM is proprietary. If it was open sourced it would be easily broken. Real, Sony, Microsoft and Apple all have proprietary DRM for music files. Microsoft has more than one flavor.
Have you used Vista? Cancel or Allow? Those ads personify the two systems to a T.
You’ll understand it all soon. What most Windows users don’t understand is that most Mac users are very familiar with Windows and know that using a Mac is far more productive.
You’ll see.
Welcome Mac guys!
Dennis: I wrote about my first impressions in the next post. I got it because people I trust tell me it’s great that I’ll soon be a convert. I have no reason to doubt that.
jdb: Fair point, apple has always embraced simplicity and good user experience. I’m writing from a geek’s point of view.
Paul: Yes, windows is closed too. The difference is advocates of openness hate windows but like Mac. I find that hypocritical.
brotherStefan: please read the link on the TPM page. It’s from the OSx86 project, the project that allows you to run OS X on non Apple hardware. They discuss TPM and the obstacles involved with it.
Avi: Fair point. However, I don’t think anybody is buying the Mac for Darwin; they’re buying it for the UI. The UI is proprietary.
Overall, I should explain that I’m not anti-Mac. I just got one, as I mentioned. Nor do I think it’s unreasonable for Apple to keep much of its system closed. I just find it hypocritical that people let Apple get away with the same practices that Microsoft gets skewered for.
Also, those ads really get on my nerves. I thought we were done with making fun of the awkward guy in high school…
Bluddy hell.. how old are you? If you want to rant at least get your f**king facts straight.
Sell that MBP and go back to a happier ignorant wintel existence
Damn I forgot — don’t feed trolls
I think you missed the point of the ads.
John Hodgman is a PC, not a PC user. Justin Long is a Mac, not a Mac user. The ads are saying the PC is a misfit, because they are ugly, they don’t work just right nor are they easy to use, etc. The Mac is cool, because they look good, they work just right and are easy to use.
Beauty, simplicity, elegance, intelligence are virtues that anybody (whether pretty, ugly, geeky, jock, etc) should want to choose over ugliness, complexity, sloppiness, stupidity. So why choose to use a tool that doesn’t have those virtues when you can choose something that does? (Note we are not choosing people, just tools).
One more point: Since Jobs return, Apple has chosen to implement many more open standards, and put much of their technology into standards bodies than ever before.
Example: Apple widgets are based on Web standards. MS gadgets are based on .NET. Apple’s iChat uses Web standards.
Example: Apple made Rendezvous (now Bonjour) available to just about anyone. Apple’s Quicktime is the standard container for MPEG-4. Firewire was made available cheaply.
Example: Apple chose to replace its proprietary elements with the PC standards: USB, EIDE (and subsequent HD standards), etc. Unlike MS, Apple implemented IPv6 a long time ago. Apple also supported 802.11b. 11g, and 11n earlier than most. And Apple used H.264 instead of making their own proprietary solution.
“The “Trusted Platform Module,†or TPM, is a computer chip embedded inside Intel-based Macs to prevent the Intel-based version of Mac OS X from running on non-Apple hardware.”
FYI, this has been proven to be absolutely false by Amit Singh (author of Mac OS X Internals) but for some reason, OSX86Project finds a need to perpetuate this inaccuracy in their wiki as well as online community (aka Insanely Mac). OS X instead uses binary protection.
http://osxbook.com/book/bonus/chapter10/tpm/ (skip to the executive summary if you don’t want to read the whole thing)
My Mac Pro for example does not even contain an Infineon TPM chip (verified by running ioreg).
You are wrong! Apple is “closed”, but its your mind that is locked, I’m afraid!
What’s the matter, do you really think Windows is open? Its a matter of perception…
It boils down to this: Mediocrity vs. quality! (you see, I avoided excellence!) As someone said: When you have 90% of the market you don’t have to be good, good enough will do” Well, I know where I’ll put my money! And I hate cult and fanboys! But I also hate microsoft’s pathetic mediocrity, bussines practices and their “entire DNA” Have fun with your new macbook! I’ll be back in a month…I’m sure you’ll be back on windows by then!
It’s Ok to rant a bit. I see it as one of the usual symptoms of a MS-detox program, where one has to get all the bad stuff out of the system first, before starting to feel better.
Microsoft Windows on a computer means proprietary (very) OS on open hardware = a flaky, buggy system because the software isn’t integrated with the hardware well.
Liunux on a computer means open OS on open hardware = you need a degree in geekism just to get any serious work or play done.
Mac OS X on a computer means proprietary (sort of) OS on closed hardware = a reliable, bug free system where you can actually be productive and enjoy your computing experience.
I know which I’d choose.
Funny, I always thought of MS Windows as the “evil empire”… though I don’t think they’re really THAT evil. They have brilliant people working for them– just no cohesive vision. Apple’s cohesive vision has always been simplicity and elegance. I switched over from Linux and Windows in 2001. I had 20 machines running various flavors of Windows and Linux distros– and an old Sun Sparqstation running SunOS (not the Solaris moniker at the time it was built). I got rid of them all after a year on the Mac. It was just so liberating not to -have- to go under the hood all the time. Don’t get me wrong, I read security and technology whitepapers quite often, but the Mac actually lets you get your work done so that you can have a life.
And as for being a geek. I was. But I was still popular with the girls (though kind of unaccepted by most of the guys). Who cares anyway? It’s a tool, not a lifestyle.
The Dark Side has always been Microsoft. They are the ones wanting to take over the entire empire. The Rebel Mac users are the one with the force headed by Luke “Steve Jobs” Skywalker.
Seriously, Gigi go post you rant on a M$ site. My 19 year old daughter will be getting a Macbook soon after spending the last 10 years in the Camp. She has come to hate Windows, viruses, awful Dell service, her computer freezing and crashing, and other malware problems associated with Windows PCs. My 21 year old son says that his next computer will be a Mac (after using Dells for the last 10 years too!).
If Windows is so great, why are so many college students coming over to Mac? I ask them if they like their Mac and their typical response is “I love it!”
Does the average user really care about open vs. closed systems? Are Apple or M$ really open systems? I doubt that either company who has poured millions/billions will give away their trade secrets. Mac OS 10.4 is great, 10.5 should be even better. I hear that Vista is very bloated at around 30 GB while, Mac OS will run on a machine needing about 3-4 GB at the most.
Gigi, my mind is very open. I just choose a system that works elegeantly and with reliability.
Cheers
The more you KNOW about Microsoft their motives and actions the more impossible it is to avoid the conclusion that Microsoft the company, particularly it’s leadership and many of it’s people, ARE PURE EVIL personified! No pure soul survives this organization.
If you have been KNOWLEDGEABLE about all things Apple for the past 25 years the list of pure evil, predatory, scheming, malefic plans and illegal actions of Microsoft just towards Apple would leave you with absolute certitude of Microsoft’s pure evil nature. Microsoft IS satan in form of a company acting through it’s wholly owned and absolutely committed minions.
# mark Says:
March 15th, 2007 at 9:40 pm
?I think you missed the point of the ads.
John Hodgman is a PC, not a PC user. Justin Long is a Mac, not a Mac user. The ads are saying the PC is a misfit, because they are ugly, they don’t work just right nor are they easy to use, etc. The Mac is cool, because they look good, they work just right and are easy to use.?
No, your point is flawed. Both characters are representative of the users. The ads are also extremely biased and one-sided. They bend the facts to draw in INEXPERIENCED users. In example: The advertisements always go on about how Windows are for work and Macs are for fun. This is not only flawed, but opposite. Windows grasp on the necks of millions of gamers is windows huge game selection. If anything Mac is the one used for working. Even if the main work used on Macs is creative and involves art and music it is still work for someone.
I am neither an advocate for Windows or Macs (I do, however, use both frequently and am training for my A+ certification). I much prefer Linux and Ubuntu.
All of the current talks of OS X and Vista (Microsoft’s demise) mean nothing as Ubuntu is becoming more user friendly and developed each day.
There is no resource stronger in programming than the effective use of an open source community.
[...] you may know those Apple ads annoy the crap out of me. And I actually like the new Windows [...]