My Twitter followers (haha) already could’ve seen it on my Twitter account, but I’m “officially” quitting Apple (just like Adam).

I will no longer buy any of their products. I will no longer use any of their computers, mobile devices, or software.

Some Mac zealots on OSNews often think I’m an anti-Apple zealot, but I’m not. I like Apple’s products. I’ve owned (and own) a lot of Apple products. I bought my first iMac somewhere in 2004, and ever since, I’ve had numerous Macintosh machines in my home. iBooks, PowerBooks, PowerMacs, iMacs, you name it. I’ve bought lots and lots of their software. I’ve been to their press events. As OSNews’ managing editor, I have a review agreement with them.

But I’ve had enough. They treat their developers like ass. They lock down their platform to insane levels. They treat their users like shit. They actually try to enforce their silly, unlawful EULAs.

I still think Apple makes the best general purpose laptops. I still think the iMac is the best desktop money can buy (I bought one for my parents only a few months ago). I still think Mac OS X is a nice - albeit highly overrated - piece of software. Oh, and iWork is still fcuking awesome. But I cannot use their products knowing their anti-consumer and anti-developer attitude.

Apple is rotten. To the core.

It takes blood, sweat, and tears to build an image, Apple. It takes only a second to tear it down. It’s the geek crowd that got you where you are today. Lose them, and you will lose everything.

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Sometimes, the internet is just AWESOME.

quote:
Originally posted by stanrich:
“Blu-Ray???

A dead-end technology so why would Apple bother to offer it?

Figures M$ would be touting it.”

At some point in the future, Apple will offer built-in Blu-Ray drives. Of course, by that time the story will be that the dead-end technology has been resurrected and that Apple did the smart thing of abiding their time. And then a few years later, the Mac fan’s history will have been revisioned such that it was actually Apple entering the market that forced everybody else to pick up Blu-Ray support, and thus rescued Blu-Ray and turned it from a disaster into a great success.

And a bit further down:

Hmm, I think this insightful and engaging discussion is omitting a key point which out to be more adequately considered. Lisa is cute. I’ll believe anything she tells me.

Like, totally. My first thought was… Well, let’s just say that whenever I need to leave town (and thus drive past the school) I make sure it’s at either 12:00, 13:00, or 15:30. Do the math.

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Let’s talk Apple. My problems with Apple - aside from it being a rather dictatorial and anti-consumer company - lie mostly in the lousy hardware it has the guts to market as “high end”, complete with matching price tags. Software-wise, I have a lot of respect for Apple. Mac OS X is a very sexy, well-designed, and stable operating system, with tons of features that make using my computers a lot easier. However, I am forced into buying their crap hardware in order to run their software - which sucks balls.

Here’s my track record with Apple hardware. Read it and weep.

• iMac G4 700Mhz 15″. Died after a few years due to massive logic board failure.
• iBook G4 1Ghz 12.1″. Case became cracked and started falling apart within a few months. Was only used at home.
• PowerBook G4 1.25Ghz 15″. Hard drive exploded for no reason, and suffered from the infamous upper memory bank failure that Apple refuses to fix.
• PowerMac G4 dual 450Mhz. Resuming from sleep leaves one processor inactive, and usually leads to kernel panics.
• PowerMac G4 Cube 450Mhz. Power button doesn’t work, case cracked.
• The only Mac that hasn’t died on me yet is my iMac G3.

Apple zealots claim that you’re not only paying for design and brand, but also for quality; Apple is a premium brand, much like some car and high-end audio brands. I’m sorry, but looking back upon my own Apple product track record, how on earth can I take those zealots seriously? My non-Apple machines NEVER die on me. Te only thing that ever died was a 40GB drive after servicing me for 8 years.

It’s bogus. Apple isn’t a premium company, and never has been either. Premium means buying speakers that last for 35 years. Premium means servicing your products for decades, and fixing any issue that pops up beyond the user’s control, without question. Apple doesn’t do that. You have to drag them kicking and screaming into the limelight with class action lawsuits before those fcuks up in Cupertino will instate a replacement program for anything.

Apple hardware is junk. Pretty junk, yes, but I much rather pay 1/6th of the price of a Mac Pro, and have the same performance, with higher quality, but with a less attractive case and no Apple logo. Cupertino’s hardware division can suck a big fat cockcicle.

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To all those people who claim that Apple is already in the netbook market because of the iPhone/Touch:

Bwahahahahhahahaha.

Seriously now.

Bwahahhahahahahahhahahahahahhahhahahahahahaha.

Bye now.

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I bought an XBox 360 today, hooked it up to my 32″ HDTV via HDMI, and I’ve been playing Fallout 3 ever since. There is no way to explain in words just how beautiful this game is in high definition on such a TV. You really have to see it to believe it.

I sold my PowerBook to get the money, seeing after I bought my Aspire One, added a normal hard disk to it, and installed Vista on it, I never really looked back to the PowerBook - it was collecting dust. I have a PowerMac G4 for my Mac OS X needs now, so the PowerBook was just a useless piece of 15″ metal to me.

I’m really happy with the 360. Just to be safe, I bought 3 years of full insurance for the device, for just EUR 44.95. I can pee on it and they still have to replace it. HA HA.

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May I introduce the latest addition to my computer family? After waiting for months and months for a decent offer, I’ve bought a PowerMac with Dual G4 450Mhz processors, 1MB L2 cache each, 1GB of memory, 80GB HDD, and a dual layer DVD burner (oh, and a ZIP drive - automatically I dug up my old [...]
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My parents bought their first mp3 player today. They bought the new iPod Nano. I was - obviously - tasked with buying it for them, setting it up, and uploading the first few CDs. This is my first hands-on experience with an iPod that lasted longer than 3 seconds (I’m the world’s worst geek). Two [...]
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The hard drive in my PowerBook G4 just died.

I have hard drives happily at work that pre-date the first coming of Christ, but of course, Apple had to put in a cheap, crappy drive and now I’m fcuked.

The funny thing? System Profiler sees the drive, but Disk Utility doesn’t. I’m - naturally - out of warranty, so, uhm, yeah.

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PowerBook:~ thomholwerda$ sudo lsof | grep ExplainingBBLeadership.pdf
Password:
Finder 94 thomholwerda txt REG 14,2 82162 2482912 /Users/thomholwerda/.Trash/ExplainingBBLeadership.pdf

What I dont understand is why the goddamn “File in use” error dialog doesn’t tell me WHAT process is using it.

“The world’s most advanced operating system” MY ASS.

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I want an iPhone.

There, I said it. The recent SDK, no matter how limited it might be, will allow the full force of Mac developers to descend upon the iPhone. And let’s face it, application developers for the Mac know how to make great, functional applications. I prefer them over any other platforms’.

Sadly, my two-year contract was renewed only a few months ago, and of course, the iPhone will be way too expensive over here. In addition, Apple will obviously partner with any carrier except my own (T-Mobile). In other words, I won’t be having one any time soon.

Curse the control freaks in Cupertino.

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“With 300+ new features, Leopard is the most impressive Mac OS X version yet.”

We can go back in time, edit photos while making a cure for cancer, and of course, we look cool and hip while doing it.

AND YET STILL NO ARROW KEY NAVIGATION IN DIALOGS.

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For Christmas, my wife gave me the new Airport Extreme. As a result, as of yesterday, we are now officially 802.11n in our house. Unfortunately, the iPhone degrades it back to 802.11g. However, I must say, the speed before I connected it was immediately noticeably faster. This was not "it feels snappier." Right away, the effect was staggering. Web pages loaded in a tiny fraction of the time they used to. Made me wonder if there wasn't something wrong with the old D-Link g router.

Anyway, I highly recommend 802.11n to anyone thinking about taking the plunge. Incredible difference.

Tags: Apple, 802.11, Wireless, Networking
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It’s sold. The Cube is no longer in my possession. I really didn’t like parting with it, but as a parting gift (besides the 300 EUR, that is), consider the following conversation with the buyer.

“I have to say though, the Cube is an American Cube, so it has an American power plug. I’m giving you an adapter with it, though, and of course, you can replace the American power cord with a Dutch one.”

“No problem. It’s replacing an American Cube as well. My NeXTcube browser was starting to annoy me, old and all.”

The guy was using a NeXTcube as his main computer. I can assure you, my Cube is in good hands.

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You want good Mac for good price? You come to Thom, I sell good Cube for good price!

In goede staat verkerende PowerMac G4 Cube te koop wegens overstap naar Intel Mac. Met alle originele toebehoren, inclusief de originele doos. Uiteraard werkend te zien, en draait Tiger heerlijk.

Specs:
- PowerMac G4 Cube 450Mhz
- 768MB RAM
- 128GB HDD
- GeForce 2MX 32MB videokaart uitbreiding (dus Quartz Extreme)
- Originele bolletje speakers, keyboard, muis, en doos
- Externe USB geluidskaart bijgeleverd zodat je externe speakers kunt aansluiten

EUR 350. Take it or leave it.

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I just bought the new aluminium Apple keyboard - wired, of course. Nice piece of machinery. I always preferred laptop keyboards over traditional ones, as they feel more natural. Let’s hope it doesn’t get restricted to 867Mhz+ machines when Leopard comes out.

And it has that new-Apple-gear-smell. I love that smell.

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