DISQUS

marc · 2 years ago

comments are open? no way! when? why?

StevenHodson · 2 years ago

As I said in a post today --- Apple - welcome to the great unwashed masses they aren't going to be as kind as the die hard Mac users.

Bill · 2 years ago

People generally pay way too much attention to fanboyz. Doesn't matter whether they are Mac fanboyz or Windows fanboyz. Every machine and every operating system has some stuff that's brilliant and some stuff that's truly ugly. That's true of Windows, OS X, Linux, what-have-you. And in the same way, some stuff in every system "just works" and some stuff "just sucks." I love my Sony Vaio desktop system running Win XP. I love my Macbook running OS X running Leopard. But I know that either one has turned around and bitten me in the past, and I am quite confident that both will do so again in the future. That's life. Normal users deal with it. Fanboyz refuse to admit the possibility. I'm happy about what the technology does for me, mainly because I'm old enough to have been a middle-aged adult before personal computer technology came along and I remember just how bad things could be when you were trying to get things done. Fanboyz generally seem to be deeply angry about something, but it's not important to me what that is.

Tim · 2 years ago

I agree with you that they need to be more honest in their advertising. All computers at some point need a little specialized expertise to configure or use, and I think people would be less angry if they weren't continually beat over with the old "so easy, my mom could use it" advertising.

I've always been a fan of the Mac since I used my first SE back in 1988, but even the old classic OS would freeze for unknown reasons, but Apple fans would beat up on M$ over the BSOD all the time even though the Mac froze too.

People need to stop with the religious zealotry toward what amounts to corporate products..

David Woodbury · 2 years ago

Well, I understand your rationale, but I disagree. This is a highly subjective topic and something that "just works" today will seem overly complex and brittle tomorrow. Is the iPhone an example of something that just works? How about More 3.0? I think it is a function of people's expectations, quite frankly, and Dave Winer will also expect more, because that's who he is. Relative to what may people are used to, Mac OS and other Apple products, indeed, do "just work."

dave · 2 years ago

Factor out all that about MORE 3.0 and people's expections vs mine -- that's all irrelevant (and we never claimed that our product "just worked" -- that would have been a support nightmare) -- here's what matters, imho.

1. I purchased an upgrade to the OS and installed it, thinking I would be getting some new features and maybe better performance.

2. Some very important features, which I depend on to do my work, no longer work.

That's what matters to me David, I never said it matters in some global sense, that's for others to decide. I am a customer, I pay good money for this stuff, and I think by now Apple should be able to introduce a new version of the OS without breaking users.

Here's something to compare it to. Earlier this year I bought a BMW. It was my fourth BMW, but I had not owned one for almost 10 years. When I got in the car, it still had a steering wheel, gas pedal, radio, heater, etc. It took me about five minutes to learn how to drive it. It had a lot of features my previous Beamer didn't have, but I was able to learn them when I needed to. The car hasn't crashed once (sorry for the poor joke) and it's a great driving experience, not perfect, but far improved over the car I drove before (a Toyota) and the BMW I traded in many years ago.

I think by now APple, a 30 year old company, should be able to upgrade its users without breaking them. If they can't do it, I wonder why this industry can't produce a company that does (and yes I do understand that it's complicated, but I think it's possible anyway).

In the meantime, they should stop lying about how reliable their product is, it isn't!!

stevegarfield · 2 years ago

I had two motherboards replaced and one hard drive on my MacBook Pro..

That's really really bad.. but VISTA is worse....

StevenHodson · 2 years ago

funny I haven't had to replace a single motherbiard or had a harddrive fail because of Vista. Both might had to chug a little under the weight of it but that is all.

Allan Smith · 2 years ago

Is the BMW literally "The Ultimate Driving Machine?" Hyperbole worked well for them for 31 years, as it has with Apple. Of course, BMW did replace that slogan last year with "A Company of Ideas," with which I can't argue.

Allan

dave · 2 years ago

But BMW doesn't dis the competition in their ads, that's the problem I have with the way Apple promotes. It leaves me, the user, wondering why their focus is so much on Microsoft (who they don't even name, btw) and not on fixing the problems with their own product, which very much resemble the problems they say the competitor's product has. BMW tells you they make a fine product, and believe me, they do. They don't tell you how, if you buy another brand, you're going to end up in a lot of trouble.

Eric · 2 years ago

not to mention the ads are usually not that accurate (yes, they are really quite a bully, picking often on things solved years ago in the windows world). they are made for fanboys. I am a linux user, and even I see that. cheap shots and cult fanboyism - way to go apple.

Allan Smith · 2 years ago

Can't argue with that. Even though I'm a long-time Mac and PC user, and I prefer the Mac, I've cringed at many of Apple's ad campaigns. The iPod marketing has been positive, and the Mac ads have turned increasingly negative. However, given the resent upswing in their market share, I wonder if the ads targeting Microsoft may be having their intended effect, in spite of the fact that many Mac users find them embarrassing.

StevenHodson · 2 years ago

I am not so sure if it is so much a mark of the advertising as it is in a couple of other factors. the primary one is that Microsoft messed up with Vista even though they are talking up the recent sales figures for it. The other factor was the switch by Apple to using the Intel processor.

It doesn't hurt either that Apple does make some sweet looking hardware and people are increasingly looking at computers as more than just a utilitarian box sitting on their desk in the corner.

Gordon R. Vaughan · 2 years ago

Back in 1984, Macs really were pretty simple to use, but ever since System 7 and the explosion of extensions, preferences, etc. it's been less and less true. Of course, Unix makes all that a lot better organized, but there's just so MUCH stuff it's amazing to me it works at all.

On the other hand, it's really aggravating when something was working fine, and then an "upgrade" breaks it. This still happens way too much. I never upgrade the OS right away, and never from Software Update.

The Mac has improved a lot in recent years, but I still have to spend quite a bit of time just fixing stuff, at least several hours a month - usually not at a convenient time - not counting backups and other basic maintenance.

Of course, a lot of that's not Apple's fault, but I hope they won't pat themselves on the back too much for making computers "easy to use", because there's still a long way to go.

KJR · 2 years ago

Mr. Winer,

Thank you so much for this post, you have said, with coherent writing, everything that I have been thinking for I don't know how long.

-Sincerely, KJR

Julian Bond · 2 years ago

It would be interesting to look at OSX as a Linux distro and compare it on how timely and accurate updates are.

I find myself in the position of looking for a new laptop. I'm increasingly unwilling to swap one corporate strait jacket for another more expensive one, even it is shinier.

Geoff · 2 years ago

Here in the UK we have two large retailers, Marks & Spencer and Tesco. If the Marks shelves are empty the customer blames themselves for not getting there earlier in Tesco's case they blame Tesco for being incompetent. Strikes me that old Apple folks are like Marks.
I'm still struggling with my iMac Airport and interestingly my iphone got very hot the other day and flattened the battery when it couldn't log onto a WiFi network - or so it seemed to me.

irry · 2 years ago

Great article. It's time Apple stopped screwing it's customers. And get rid of it's cult-like behavior.