I don’t, quite honestly. What Apple’s trying to avoid is the situation folks are running into on Android (or Windows): a half-dozen software versions that need to be catered to and supported. Having to make apps that work on six-year-old software as well as brand-new OS versions cripples their functionality, the same way that developing websites that work on new Firefox as well as ancient IE does. Apple’s trying to keep as many users as possible on a limited number of new iOS/OS versions and keep them upgrading to keep the software top-notch, secure, and easy to develop.
9 Likes
But the design philosophy of Apple has changed now that they are one of the biggest and most profitable corporations in the world.
I agree with your post, and I too am migrating. But I disagree with what has changed at Apple. I believe it has a lot more to do with Steve Jobs not being in charge, and Apple returning to the design by committee approach of the early 90s. Which sucked then and does again now.
5 Likes
I built a computer in 2007, set it up to dual boot Windows 7 and Ubuntu. Only hardware changes were a new video card in 2010 and bigger HDD’s.
With the exception of the very latest twitch games, everything, and I mean everything, runs fine in both OS’s.
So it’s not a hardware thing, it’s an Apple thing.
15 Likes
Jasmin, just buy your Dell or Toshiba or whatever you like, enjoy it, and go do something productive. Ranting about fonts and power supplies and computers as fascist authoritarianism is as pointless as it is absurd.
3 Likes
That is totally how to get your opinion taken seriously. Sorry for YOUR loss.
14 Likes
Thinkpads tend to play very nicely, if you can ignore the fact they’re made by Lenovo. I’m biased because I’ve just bought one, my first new laptop in ten years. [Downside to running Linux: hard to justify New And Shiny, when the Old And Worn still does what you want.] I’m planning to keep dual-booting, at least until some Windows update decides to play rough with my Linux install.
5 Likes
Bit surprised a small amount of liquid would kill it. I thought keyboards could take some liquid and be ok. I won’t test this theory out with my Dell or my Mac Book Pro.
I too hate when they totally screw with the UI. I wish they would keep a “classic” look and feel. Adobe did this a few times when they upgraded their UI.
2 Likes
As a very long time exclusively Apple user (used ][+, bought //c), I can agree with much of this statement. Still using iPhone 5 and 2007 MBP. But things move forward and Apple must be able to sell new hardware to survive. Part of their problem is making hardware too good so the old machines can still run the newer OSes. SO they cripple the old hardware by preventing upgrades and locking out software. Yes it is sleazy but you are also asking the company to either support very old hardware or push the envelope on new technology and kill support for old devices. Apple has ALWAYS BEEN ABOUT THE LATTER. When you buy into the Apple Ecosystem, you get the latest and greatest at the time and you can’t expect to be able to upgrade infinitely. It is just the Apple Way. Nothing has changed over the last 30 years. When you make the software to work intimately with the hardware, sacrifices must be made. IF that sacrifices customers in the process, Apple is willing to let those customers go. Whether it is a good policy or not is immaterial. It is the Apple Way.
3 Likes
Really? Mine works just fine and has for years now. Better than my iPhone5, in fact. I downgraded about 18 months ago and have had no phone problems since, personally.
3 Likes
My parents still use a 1st gen iPod Touch (which is just an iPhone without the phone part) every day for web, Skype, email, weather, messages, stocks, all of that sort of thing. Eight years old and still working just fine.
5 Likes
Not always:
Empathy
We will truly understand their needs better than any other company.
Focus
In order to do a good job of those things that we decide to do, we must eliminate all of the unimportant opportunities.
Impute
People DO judge a book by its cover. We may have the best product, the highest quality, the most useful software etc.; if we present them in a slipshod manner, they will be perceived as slipshod; if we present them in a creative, professional manner, we will impute the desired qualities.
— Mike Markkula January 3, 1977
5 Likes
my 8 year old iPod touch is still my go to “walkman”! 
And until last year my Quadra605 still booted. That obsoleted it.
go buy your parents a nice iPad, btw. Their eyes aren’t as good as they once were 
5 Likes
This is about the silliest serious essay I’ve read on BB.
To think that Apple is fascistic and that “an Apple cloud eager to suck up every stray scrap of my data” because it has a cloud service is ridiculous and uninformed. You know you don’t have to use it, right? It’s not obligatory. Does the author know to what lengths Apple goes to in order to AVOID having access to its users data? It stands almost alone in the tech field in this regard. Plus I bet “Apple’s imperious applications” she refers to are really Microsoft’s. Seems like BB has hosted a tech rant by someone who isn’t actually able to tell who makes Microsoft Word for Mac.
Those “new senselessly expensive plugs” are faster and smaller than what went before, faster and smaller than the USB equivalent.
And I note that the author makes no hints about where she’s going to go if she leaves the Apple Ecosystem. Will she jump to Microsoft, who forces OS upgrades on you? (She’s probably naive enough to think she’ll still recognize Windows these days.) To a Chromebook, which, being Google, straight up mines your data every way possible?
I laugh to think that someone who can’t get used to icons being a different size (or take the trouble to find out how to make them larger) will successfully adapt to a new and different OS.
This article might as well be illustrated by the Old Woman Peering Over Her Glasses at the Computer meme.
7 Likes
Try the Chromebook Pixel. Amazingly effortless.
2 Likes
Oh yeah, I hear ya, HER rant was totally off base. Surely your points can stand without the insults?
8 Likes
I tried! They would probably love one. But they decided they wanted smartphones and went the Android phablet route with big Samsungs instead. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
3 Likes
Comparing a custom-built, upgradeable desktop to a smartphone is not going to get you much traction in arguing that Apple conspires obsolescence.
That Apple allowed iOS 4.3 to be installed on the iPhone 3G— a model that had absolutely no business running anything beyond 3.1, thus effectively coercing a large portion of its user base to upgrade to the iPhone 4 —is an example of the damning evidence you’re looking for.
4 Likes
Agreed. If you don’t like the machine you have, switch.
2 Likes
are there many waterproof laptops out there?
‘planned obsolesce’ is basically a conspiracy theory. things get old, and they don’t support newer software. welcome to technology.
yeah, sounds awesome: Chromebook Pixel review (2015): less expensive, still impractical
4 Likes
Never had much problem with Apple’s software. I love it. It is by far the most intuitive, powerful, cost-effective way I’ve found to do semi-pro audio and video.
It’s the hardware- At least for the last 15 years. Some of the shittiest, most useless industrial design ever. I honestly don’t give two shits about how heavy or thick my laptop is- I care that I can bring it to a gig and not have to worry about it getting knocked off the stage or having beer spilled on it. I need a screen that’s big enough to do music and video on, and still have room for transport controls, editing tools, plugins, and a notepad with the changes and notes on it. And I need as many ports as can possibly be crammed into it. I also want the ability to UPGRADE the drive and memory at some point.
But I can’t use my Garageband>Logic>Mainstage chain on a Windows machine, and Linux is basically useless for audio. So, Apple it is, although I still won’t buy one of their new laptops- I’d literally rather throw a Mini and a monitor into a road case and drag THAT along.
3 Likes
