| >> However it was the rabid anti-Apple faction which has decried the
| >> action Apple took to protect users of Apple OSX from the immediate
| >> potential Java security issues.
| >
| > Why people who don't own Apple products complain about them?
| For the same reason people who don't own MS products compain about
them???
|
For me it's because I have loved ones in the cult
and I can't deprogram them.
Also, one just hates to see people get away with
taking advantage of others. I've used Macs. The first
PC I learned on was a Mac. I think they're breathtakingly
beautiful, in some cases. ...And I wouldn't buy one even
if it were offered at 90% off.
I use MS products *and* I complain about them. I
see no reason that I should be devoted to MS just
because I use Windows. MS is not devoted to me.
But in a way I trust MS more: I see the MS motive
as simple, primitive greed, which is somewhat predictable.
I see the Apple motive as a perverse, New Age pseudo
-spirituality (Macs are compared to Zen!) and megolomania...
combined with the usual corporate greed. A greedy person
is more honest with themselves than is someone who
views themselves as an Avatar of Universal Goodness,
spreading God's blessing at full retail.
So the big difference is that using Windows is
generally not an emotional/romantic choice. It's just
a practical choice.
Even though we joke about it, I really don't
think it's going too far to characterize Apple fandom
as a cult, given the irrational, quasi-religious devotion.
Apple does a good job with design, despite the numerous
problems with their products (restrictions, cost, extreme
planned obsolescence), but good design doesn't account
for people standing in long lines for hours just to be the
first in their clique to buy a particular brand of phone.
Nor does it account for the irrational defensiveness. My
favorite example was when Apple discontinued floppy
drives. I read an article that said Jobs could have left
them in for a total cost of $7.50 per overpriced Mac.
I expressed disbelief to friends using Macs. How could
they stand for such outrageous mistreatment?! Every one
of them parroted the Apple party line: Floppies were
outdated and Jobs was brilliant to get rid of them. Yet
for months during that period, Microcenter was advertising
a hot item: USB floppy drives for $100. My Mac-loving
friends all bought USB floppy drives while still maintaining
their defense of Steve Jobs's alleged brilliance. And like
all Apple fans, they viewed my criticism as the sour grapes
of the uninitiated.