Many people assume I hate Apple because I am technology minded person who does not own any Apple products.
Let me be clear, I think Apple makes fine products, and I feel that Steve Jobs was a brilliant man with a vision who positively changed our lives.
What I do hate, though, are Apple fan-boys. You know the type, the snooty Mac owners who turn their noses at the notion of owning anything else and cite the same old misconceptions over and over about their dear products.
If you don’t know a whole lot about the history of computers, or more specifically about Steve Jobs’ contributions, I recommend you read his biography, or at the very least check out the movie “Pirates of Silicon Valey“. Keeping in mind that Pirates… is a made for TV movie that glosses over many topics, however I will say that the majority of the movie is accurate.
Steve Jobs had a vision for computers and technology and was not willing to compromise at all. He had the mentality of ‘my way or the highway’. That mentality still permeates Apple to this day. If you want a Macintosh, you buy an Apple Macintosh. If you want an iPod or an iPhone, you buy one made by Apple. There are no clones (at least not outside of China) and if you want to make an accessory for an Apple product you have to receive specific permission and pay steep royalties to the company.
Apple goes as far as to actually thwart progress in their products. They are never first the market with any new technology, they don’t announce new products until days before their actual product releases, and they make very little effort to keep their prices low. I never took any formal business classes, but I would be shocked if Apple is not discussed in any entry level business class at colleges across the country because their practices are often opposite of what would make sense.
The reason that I don’t personally own any Apple products is that I don’t like restraints. I want to tweak, modify, and hack the stuff I buy. Apple does everything in their power to prevent this. My Android phone is infinitely customizable, my Windows PC can dual boot into Linux and back with ease and I am free to upgrade any hardware component to any of the millions that I wish.
Apple caters their products to people who want a specific type of experience with their technology. Not everyone wants the same things out of technology as I do, and for those people, Apple has ideal products. The iPhone just works. A Mac works. If my grandma wanted to get a smartphone, I would probably recommend an iPhone. Don’t let the fan-boys fool you, yes, there are viruses, and there are things that iPhones cannot do. No one single product out there is everything to everyone and everything certainly has its flaws.
Apple is a good company that makes high quality and easy to use products that work well. No, they’re not cheap, and they’re not as easy to upgrade or tweak, but that’s not always a bad thing. The reason I don’t own a single Apple product is because I expect more out of my technology, and you should too. But if you do not, then be prepared to plunk down more money than I did, but at least you’ll be getting a quality product that will do it’s job well.
