Scobleizer - Latest Comments in Why are some bloggers turning on Apple?

Re: Why are some bloggers turning on Apple?

jlbtech — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 17:03:24 -0000

Apple: (1) Applecare repairs are hit or miss - sometimes they are really nice and fix it for you right away, sometimes they are evil and blame you for fake water damage.

(2) Apple puts out buggy software in their updates and waits for the complaints to come in. Don't be a chump and upgrade without checking up on it first.
(3) The apple Ipod - in general a good product but too expensive for what it is seems MS and Apple may have switched roles in this regard (Zune is superior product (save the ipod Touch)) and if you bought itunes music you have to risk violating DMCA to get your stuff on another player.

Apple OS X, even 10.4 way ahead of anything on a PC. Period. Windows is extremely frustrating and a time suck. Thus, pure and simple the only reason I stay apple and even continue to convert my machines to apple is the OS. After all of the disappointing experiences, if another flavor of Linux ever becomes consumer friendly I would seriously consider switching. I do not have the time to compile everything I want to install or recompile the Kernal or all the other crap that linuxites think everyone should spend there time doing. Not worth it. But if another supported flavor of unix was available I would definitely consider ditching Apple due to its unfriendly treatment of its customers.

Hey google-put out a unix flavored OS that is a more open!

Re: Why are some bloggers turning on Apple?

Karan — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 15:57:46 -0000

Apple had the same philosophy in the 80's that prevented them from becoming ubiquitous, extreme control. I remember in 1985 going to an apple store to just fix some hard drive problem and being charged $400. Closed systems, limited resellers, exploting customers and bottlenecks are the antithesis of mass market adoption. The reason must be obvious.

Re: Why are some bloggers turning on Apple?

thickslab — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 12:41:24 -0000

It’s totally ridiculous to charge $160 for a drive that costs $90 elsewhere

I'd love to know where to find a $90 portable notebook hard drive for $90, because I can't find one for less than $120 and that's from Tiger Direct.

Re: Why are some bloggers turning on Apple?

Podesta — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 14:41:13 -0000

Well, with Apple's stock above $200 for a time lately, Scoble and Winer's campaign to influence people against the company appears to be faring poorly. Furthermore, Apple is just about the only tech stock above the market average. With enemies like them....

Re: Why are some bloggers turning on Apple?

Amy Strecker — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 13:18:15 -0000

In high school we had to use PowerMacs and then the first imacs for laying out the newspaper in Pagemaker. Freezing was a regular problem, and with no restart button, we were forced to create the iMac repair center: an uncoiled paper clip housed in a place of honor on the chalk rail to jam into the little hole the restarted the cruddy things.

While I own other apples products, my negative apple experience at school (vs. the fully functional PC I had at home) will always make me hesitant to "go mac" for my primary computer.

Re: Why are some bloggers turning on Apple?

joecab — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 12:23:29 -0000

It's just bound to happen as Apple grows in popularity and mindset. And this is true for anybody: the more tech you put in your devices, the more ways things may go wrong. It's the price of advancement as Apple strives to be more cutting edge than anyone else. And what was said above is true: people almost never switch from Mac to Windows, and that speaks volumes.

I think the more interesting argument is how Apple is handling customer service when problems do pop up.

Re: Why are some bloggers turning on Apple?

Gary Adams — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 11:02:31 -0000

I'll use a frikkin' abacus before I buy ANYTHING associated with Apple/Mac/Steve Jobs.

Re: Why are some bloggers turning on Apple?

Roy — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 21:13:10 -0000

On the premise that Apple launches inferior products masquerading as cutting edge, and limits usage primarily to its own software (the iPhone and iPod being prime examples)I will snub and boycott anything from now on which comes out with an "i" in front of a capital letter!

Re: Why are some bloggers turning on Apple?

Technical Writing Geek — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 10:02:27 -0000

If I were Apple, and I were promising to "Think Different," I would work my hardest to avoid acting like those I was supposed to be thinking different from.

That sentence is a grammatical nightmare, but maybe you see my point.

Much has been made of the fact that Dave Winer may not have asked in advance to keep his old drive, or read the fine print, and so on. I think what he has pointed out is that there shouldn't be fine print, and the company should do the asking.

IP, or "data" if it's on a hard drive, is important after all. Even the MPAA agrees.

Re: Why are some bloggers turning on Apple?

Michael — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 04:42:55 -0000

I find it amusing that in all the noise, the signal - that Winer's whole case blows up when you see that it's based on an error (assumed a 2.5" drive is roughly the same price as a 3.5" drive) - has been ignored.

On the other hand, the ignorance seems willful (Winer has yet to even approve my comment on this), so I'll put it down to ego rather than stupidity.

Re: Why are some bloggers turning on Apple?

Mr Roberto — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 02:38:32 -0000

BTW #55:

So when Mac people do it they were just being "bitterly defensive" (how noble and upstanding). But when Windows people do it they are "whiners" (how childish). Got it.

I love it when such brilliance shines through from the murkiest turd.

Re: Why are some bloggers turning on Apple?

Mr Roberto — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 02:33:59 -0000

Ever since they dropped the "Computer" from their name they've been building up a pretty consistent track record of bad karma. Just a biiiit more of this, and Apple will bury itself in the hole it keeps digging up. I think Steve needs his soul aura cleansed.

Re: Why are some bloggers turning on Apple?

Alexander Scoble — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 23:26:36 -0000

Heh yeah, go to repair a BMW out of warranty and see if you think you are getting value for the product.

As for having to go somewhere to get a product fixed? That's just lame.

Dell users don't have to deal with that since they make a phone call and either have someone come to their house/place of business to do the repair or a box arrives next day for them to ship the computer back.

And as far as iPod being the best media player out there? Yeah, right. It's just the most stylish.

I think that the Creative players are every bit of good and are a much better value, you just don't get the "cool" factor of owning the latest "designed in California/built in China" Apple toy.

Re: Why are some bloggers turning on Apple?

Jacquelyn A Jones — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 22:15:43 -0000

I worked briefly for Apple around 1980 and was allowed to test keyboards and that was all, despite a fine resume. All the good line jobs went to revered older Vietnamese ladies who did absolutely nothing. Ever curious I found bad chips but you had be a degreed male engineer to replace them. Hilarity ensued at the grand opening when the much awaited air balloon was overinflated by the drunken operators. Free beer and t-shirts weren't enough to make up for 8 hours a day being paid nothing, hard work and being treated poorly. It left a bad taste in my mouth. I will never spend a dime on any Apple product. Yeah I know Kiddos - bitter old lady in Texas - but I was sole support of my family.

Re: Why are some bloggers turning on Apple?

Gareth — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 18:16:00 -0000

Something a few have mentioned on here and Dave Winer's blog re BMW cars being top quality and priced accordingly: not sure what the view is like in the US but in the UK BMW's definitely do not have that image; there are more BMW 3 series sold than Ford Mondeos. BMW's are not in the slightest bit exclusive, or, in my view stylish/well designed.

Give me an Audi any day.

Re: Why are some bloggers turning on Apple?

Jason Bogovich — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 15:36:39 -0000

Apple still has a lot of cool people working for them. My friend made an appointment with the wanna-be genius bar and they fixed up his iPhone earpieces problem even though he knew it was running T-mobile. He said in a condescending voice, you know, "We don't support these!" and then fixed the thing. :)

What's changing is the democratization of information and people realize that they can get Windows on their Macbook (even though you really need a pro to run Vista well IMHO) There are the 1 percent of people who are the innovators (like, you Dave and Even me to some extent and I Robert who influence the early adopters and those early adopters start influencing the rest.

Of the innovators and the early adopters, many don't feel comfortable using a machine that everyone else is using and so they will seek to differentiate themselves from the crowd. It's a physiological type subject that's beyond my understanding but it does happen ya know.

The next thing you know, we will live in an age where everything is modular and a commodity. Many of the smart people will roll their own OSes and subscribe to the services they trust and need.

The semantic age is upon us. Microsoft probably has a lot of crazy awesome stuff just waiting that they will bust out right when the tide turns. They are a calculating animal, they are still under heavy scrutiny by all sides for Monopoly stuff and once the Mac gets to the point where they are over 10 percent of the share, Microsoft can resort to playing the game of Bill Vs. Steve anyway they want.

For me, I don't sit and argue about what I think is better, I have a Mac Book Pro which runs all os'es. I run a geek data center in my home and I love to learn the pros and cons to each technology, and I try to apply that knowledge in a way that I know someday will help me turn my great new idea into something that will help everyone accomplish something better, and possibly earn a buck or two doing it. Dave Winer always has my respect for the whole sending out RSS to the masses. He doesn't horde it or charge an arm an a leg for its use, which is very important for somethign like RSS.

Okay, I am way off track, if you read this far, Happy Holiday/Merry Christmas to you Robert. A happy new year/end of year as well.

Re: Why are some bloggers turning on Apple?

Deepak — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 13:03:11 -0000

The thing is, Apple is doing what it's always done, except that people are beginning to notice, since their volume and mind share has gone up. For years, I never owned an Apple product due to their closed/proprietary policies (hey I am a Linux guy). Strange thing is, that in a couple of weeks I am selling my desktop PC and buying a mac to complement my Linux box. Fact remains that with Parallels/VMWare, I can enjoy the best of both worlds and for what I a doing these days, a Mac makes more sense. I figure that if I am going to deal with hardware issues, I'd rather do it with a computer that looks cool and has an OS I like (I have never, ever liked Windows, but have learnt to tolerate it)

Re: Why are some bloggers turning on Apple?

Mat Pancha — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 12:49:02 -0000

For me my opinion hasn't changed. I've always built PCs (Windows) myself using the best parts I could afford. I RTFMs, and thus rarely had problems with Windows that were not caused by my own tinkering.

I got my first Apple product, and iBook (dual USB) back in 2001, and had a horrible experience, but after shelling out almost 3 grand I stuck with it and eventually after getting up to OS 10.3 it was a usable machine. However, same rules applied, I rarely had problems with my Apple that were not caused by my own tinkering.

When I got my next iBook, and now my MacBook Pro, mighty mouse and wireless keyboard things have changed. Each product has gone in for hardware related repairs at least once.

As Apple grows we'll see more unhappiness. When fanboys have a product (fanboys of any company) you won't hear complaints, just people asking how to fix an issue and people providing help. Once a product goes mainstream as Apple products have, you'll hear the "regular" user, the mom and pops, start noticing issues and the complaining voices getting louder. That is what we're seeing now.

Re: Why are some bloggers turning on Apple?

Robert Scoble — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 12:27:50 -0000

Podesta: yeah, it's all about us, isn't it? The lines at the genius bar are getting noticeably longer. You just watch the customer satisfaction surveys. My bet is that they start going down where Apple is concerned.

Re: Why are some bloggers turning on Apple?

Mario — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 10:09:37 -0000

My GF has a MacBook that she bought refurbished in the states, so she payed like 500€ for it instead of 1200€ and right before the warranty ran out the mouse wouldn't click anymore, so we got a new top case and even a new logic board totally free.
If I call Apple for my iphone however they always deny service because i dont got an att phone no.

Re: Why are some bloggers turning on Apple?

wmd — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 08:21:14 -0000

My, but that's quite a tempest you've blown up in your teacup.

Re: Why are some bloggers turning on Apple?

Podesta — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 05:43:17 -0000

Why do so few people get it? Neither Scoble nor Winer's blog entry is about Apple really. Both are about the feelings of entitlement these men, who imagine themselves to be much more significant than they are, have. Each thinks he or his offspring should be treated better than the average customer, rules be damned.

I have not seen any rejection of Apple in consumer research or most mass media. The people who complain when invited to do so, as on this thread, tend to be rather dim like the fellow who can't even spell 'genius,' or hostile to Apple because they work for Microsoft like the Zune troll, or out of their minds like the wuss who thinks his built-in Mac camera is spying on him. (Maybe he would rather have an external camera taped on his forehead.) The caliber of the complainers makes their complaints easily dismissible.

Re: Why are some bloggers turning on Apple?

Derrick — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 01:48:01 -0000

For the amount of brains Winer supposedly has, and the amount of innovative technology he's supposedly invented, why the hell did he take his machine into the store in the first place? I would think he would be bright enough to replace the hard drive himself. Seems he was deliberately looking for something to whine about. Just because his last name is Winer doesn't mean he has to live up to it.

Re: Why are some bloggers turning on Apple?

pauroberts — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 00:54:52 -0000

I feel bad for Dave because he seems to be majorly plagued with problems. I am an Apple loyalist, but no fanboy--just because it's a better OS, and for the most part, the hardware is gnerally better (though I like my ThinkPad (not its Windows) too). Overall, the whole user experience blows doors on Windows, and that's why I keep coming back.

Though Macs are a lot more price competitive than they used to be, when it comes to perpherals like HDs, memory and other things, they ream you, and thus I don't buy that stuff from Apple--it's just common sense. I have had two HD crashes in about 15 Macs over 20 years, and I replaced them both, and always add my own extra RAM (Apple really gets you there). You need to be a wise shopper, and Apple knows how to get you there. They are a business.

As far as their customer service and support, I continue to have good support experiences (when I use it, I tend to trouble shoot on my own and they have very good forums). I've made two appointments with geniuses to troubleshoot things, and both times they replaced parts they suspected faulty (in one case a two-month old entire Powerbook). So, yeah, you have to be careful and they aren't Angels, but on the whole they are better than the alternatives.

Also, I expect that the more popular they get with bloggers and the world, their warts will become more apparent, and hopefully they will respond and get even better.

Good discussion here for the most part, and good to see not too much standard Mac-PC bashing--I can't stand it either way, because I'm "bilingual."

Re: Why are some bloggers turning on Apple?

Todd Partridge — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 23:22:48 -0000

I bought a MacBook really excited about the resurgence of the company, but it didn't take long to discover that it have been hacked. Not only were people able to spy on my through the iSight but all my network activity was being monitored. Worse, I was unable to use any application to detect it (I wish I had another computer then.) Talking 2 apple about this, I got an assurance that they would look into this and contact me back. I never get a call. And after I sent the MacBook in for repairs the problem continued. Needless to say, I sold the laptop shorly thereafter. I like the vision of Apple, I'm just afraid they sold the soul to get there.