“I love Linux. Or rather, I love Linux in certain situations. I’ve used it quite extensively for years, both in desktop and server functions. I’ve built web servers, mail servers, DNS servers, and file storage. I’ve waded through the dependency tangles on the desktop and fought to get the wireless working on many many laptops,” Caleb Kraft blogs for EETimes. “However, I found that when it came to daily functional use, I was spending more time making the system work than I was working at the system. With Linux, I always had some issue for which I would have to find a workaround.”
“When Android surfaced, I saw a brilliant opportunity for purpose-built devices on open-source software to excel and kick some serious butt. I ran out and bought a Nook Color and rooted it. After a week or two of playing with it, I was again finding that I spent more time getting it to work than I did actually getting to use it,” Kraft writes. “Around this time, I bought a first generation, used iPad for my kids to play with. It has functioned completely flawlessly and still does to this day. Every ‘app’ I buy for it functions as advertised, and they are all designed for this exact piece of hardware, though I understand it is possible to run iPhone apps on the device. I have had zero hardware bugs.”
“I recently found myself in need of a portable system for writing while I travel, so I started shopping around. I was immediately drawn to the Nexus7 v2. This thing is a piece of beauty with its amazingly high-resolution screen, thin and light construction, and fantastic battery. Google has put a lot of work into the Play store in the last couple years, which really gave me hope for the application issues. I bought one and did it happily,” Kraft writes. “That part of me that hates being mainstream rejoiced in the ability to figuratively give the finger to the big evil corporation of Apple.”
Kraft writes, “Today, I’m returning it and getting an iPad.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Why buy a knockoff when you can own the real thing?
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Double07” for the heads up.]
Because you found your brain at the Lost & Found?
“That part of me that hates being mainstream rejoiced in the ability to figuratively give the finger to the big evil corporation of Apple.”
Meanwhile he supported Google and Android… This guy is delusional.
Yes my thought also. Laughable well at least he didn’t support that little garage outfit Samsung I guess despite the urge to help the little guy.
In the article, he admits to having to work on Linux more than getting work done and yet he continues to use it. He’s clearly a sadist and deserves all the issues he faces. Why someone like him is a tech journalist is beyond me.
Agreed. For being a ‘tech journalist’ you would think he had half a brain and know the pros and cons of each. If you want to let your geek out get an Android device. This clown must get off on geeking out since he rooted a Nook. For some of us I enjoy using Apple devices requiring zero maintenance. My joy is connecting a new one and seeing how it just works. The AppleTV is a great example.
Same type of guy that proceeds to propose to and marry a girlfriend that’s already driving him flippin’ nuts since they began dating. Seen it happen. Some people have a desire to stick with the evil they know rather than believe there are better options than their original choice.
You are laughing at someone that bought an Android tablet and used Google’s App Store and said that Android + Google = crap. My old iPad and the kids Apps work together just fine, I think I’ll buy another iPad for myself.
Give the guy a break.
I’m not laughing at him. I’m bewildered by what goes on in his head and truly do not understand what his thought process is.
Having his cake and eating it too, chef.
It never ceases to surprise me how much animosity there is for Apple in the tech world. I understand the lure of Open Source, God bless those people that have given us MySQL and php and other software that allows us to escape locked in, overpriced, proprietary software. However, with the iPhone and iPad, competing hardware is not really much less money and no one can argue that 99% of the software for iOS is priced out of reach for common people. I just don’t see the justification for wanting “stick it” to Apple. The thing he wrote that is definitely true is that Android is for tinkerers. If you don’t want to tinker go iOS.
The animosity for Apple in the tech world can be summed up in two words:
Stockholm syndrome.
The animosity for Apple in the tech world can be summed up in one word: jealousy.
And the Apple community’s response can be summed up in one word, too: floccinaucinihilipilification 🙂
You seem to have an inexhaustible supply of trump cards and dictionaries. I suppose your beard is so substantial that it shows up on X-rays.
No, Stockholm syndrome is typified by people putting up with Windows or Android when an obviously superior alternative exists.
-jcr
The fact that google gets a free pass on the whole “evil corporation” thing is amazing. They are an ad-driven profiler of everyone of their users. Everything they create is monetized around that. At least Apple is up front on their costs.
Also, the other side hates it when Apple users act smug, so that’s kind of on us not to reinforce.
Android users focus primarily on:
– price, ie. how cheap it is
– specification sheet vis-a-vis another product
– customisation
Apple users focus on:
– beauty
– design
– ease of use
– reliability of product
I think I speak for the majority of Apple users in focusing on the one thing that matters to me which is how much use do I get out of the product leaving all other considerations aside. In this I tend to side with Steve Jobs’ vision of simplicity – if I am using the product 90% of the time because I can pick it up and make immediate use of it, I’d rather be doing that than buying a cheaper product but hate using it so much that I only spend 10% of my time using it.
Looks & elegance are very high up on my list of wants because I want to love using the product. The iPad hits every single one of my list of needs whereas the Android device might only fulfil the price part which to me isn’t all that material. You pay peanuts, you get monkeys working for you.
Nicely put, BLN. I realise your argument to maximal utility applies equally well to shotguns and shampoos. Your inclusion of beauty as a criterion, however, transcends all the rest in such a way that nonusers and naysayers can only counter by ascribing the Apple mindset to a psychiatric illness, as if only deluded lemmings would appreciate Caravaggio more than Thomas Kinkade. The craving for elegance has animated the human lust for excellence, originality, and alignment with the sublime ever since it was revealed in the cave paintings of Lasceaux. (I presume those artists left their Android devices out in the rain for mammoths to trample on.)
Speaking of appreciation of beauty and art, those undefinable qualities, here is a clip from ‘The English Patient’ where Count de Almasy carries Katherine Clifton to the Cave of the Swimmers after the plane crash in which she is injured.
The wall art in the cave hand painted by prehistoric desert dwellers defines for me art in its simplest form with an inner beauty all of its own.
Enjoy.
(Wipes away a tear)
“…as if only deluded lemmings would appreciate Caravaggio more than Thomas Kinkade…”
I LOLd. That is brilliant.
Once in a blue moon, a lad speaks his gladness at my stylings, and I must smile. 🙂
Why oh why do so many people hate evil Apple and trust google is beyond me. I don’t even use goo to search.
Throughout history people have rallied to the passionate battle cry, the brilliant sermon, the cagey argument, the glamourous spokesperson. They will behave contrary to their own best interests after being sweet-talked. This will never change, as all of us are hard-wired to believe anything appealing. The power of reason is a tissue-thin defence against such a powerful follower instinct.
Expect the hate and mistrust to continue, but keep the faith. A new day is coming; if not for us, then for future generations.
Reminds me of making fun of the Brady Bunch, “we don’t ride our bikes, we just fix them.”
His kids iPad was doubtless simply used like an iPad was supposed to be used and therefore works flawlessly – just like iPads do.
He loves tinkering with things. It’s pretty certain that he won’t be able to resist messing about with his iPad and it’s also pretty likely that he will create problems for himself along the way.
The most screwed-up Macs that I’ve ever seen have all belonged to tinkerers, who used to tinker with their PCs before they got a Mac. Some things work best when you simply leave them to do what they do best
” I spent more time getting it to work than I did actually getting to use it”
The whole point of Apple products is that you have to spend almost no time “getting it to work”
Including a replacement for a defective battery that involved two trips to an Apple store, I’ve spent less than 5 hours “messing with” my iPhone 4S in the 22 months I’ve had it.
I’ve had my iPad 1 for more than 3 years and spent way less then 3 hours “messing with it.”
I have a 2012 iMac and because I was new to OS X I spent about 10 hours studying it but only about 1 1/2 hours configuring it. In addition it took about 5 hours to load Parrallels and the win 7 software I use for work.
PS: I think my iMac just updated itself it two clicks. It is so seamless I’m not sure.
Bottom line: if you want to get something done, get an iPhone, iPad or a Mac. If you want to fittle with your device, get an Android device or a windows machine.
Poor scrappy little startup Google.
Why are people picking on Android, don’t they know google can’t afford a large team of first rate engineers?
It’s just not fair.
Sarcasm, in case anyone wonders.
where da QA at
> rejoiced in the ability to figuratively give the finger to the big evil corporation of Apple.
Yes, Apple is SO “evil” for giving customers stuff that actually works as expected for a reasonable cost. After reading that complete article, I’m amazed at what some of these hapless Apple-haters go through, just to use Android. I could almost hear the poor guy crying, because he SO wants his Android device to provide a great (or at least acceptable) experience. But it doesn’t…
At least one of them knows when to give up 🙂
Remember the good old days when there really was a big, evil software corporation.
I even remember when the “big evil corporation” was IBM… 😉
This “hate” for Apple is so strange. Apple has tried to create systems that are simple, atheistically pleasing, and reliable. Attempting to discard the old with focus in the future and yet they speak of how open source has so many advantages. The market has yet to dominated by this mass of programmers that are so nimble and boldly pushing forward. What I have noticed is Apple changing the market and pushing forward. This closed system they speak of poorly and like snails pace results is the only one that seems to be working and moving forward- both reliability and technically for the masses.
Technology is a precious commodity that spins out delirious dreams of freedom and power, like a discovery of gold! People rush in to exploit the resource and are aggrieved when authorities clamp down on excesses, or when one company establishes dominion. Fifteen years ago, that target of opprobrium was Microsoft. Today, it is Apple.
Your false equivalency argument bores me. Apple has never been like Microsoft and never will be.
“Your false equivalency argument bores me”—my work here is done! 🙂
Actually, I was referring to the DOJ – Microsoft antitrust case 15 years ago, and to the DOJ – Apple antitrust case today.
But you’re right, that’s the only parallel. The two companies are nothing like each other.
Did you put milk on the thesaurus that you had for breakfast ?
The videos in the original article are pretty telling.
Big evil corporation of Apple?
Because they make stuff that works is that evil? I don’t think so. He did learn his lesson though. Google is more evil, they don’t update there software, patch all the malware that has infested every part of Android.
Mainstreamitus or “rebel’s disease” forces those afflicted for bucking what actually works and works best and pick the less popular device or software. Then do their darndest to disingenuously pretend it’s WAY better than the leader with a religious zeal. This assuages their desire to be their own person and individual as if they won’t be fooled by buying the thing all the “sheep” do. Looking incredibly foolish in the process as they stumble and come up against walls of disadvantages they normally will never admit..
Is that what you said about Mac users when windows was king?
Hehe
Don’t ever pretend that Windows was ever more than a ripoff of the Mac OS GUI.
The only thing Wall Street is concerned with is how many units can be sold and more units can always be sold if the product is cheap enough. That’s why there are so many articles written about why Apple should lower the price of their products. That is something I’ll never quite understand.
I would never go to a company and ask for them to lower their prices so I could purchase their product. It’s up to me to be able to earn enough to afford a premium product that I’d like to own. You can’t castigate a company for setting its own prices. You can either afford to pay or you go elsewhere. Every time I hear an analyst yelling how Apple MUST lower its prices to survive really gets on my nerves. That is something only the company can determine. They don’t need an outside party to tell them how to run their business.
I am really having a tough time with the “….Apple is evil” part.
Mainly because the opposite is actually true.
-Mike Daisey was wrong (although shills still want you to think otherwise)
-Replacing hardware to all Japanese affected by the Tsunami was not evil (although shills painted it as such).
-Replacing faulty third party chargers with Apple OE for 1/3 of the normal price is not evil (although shills painted it as such).
-Charging 30% for using Apple “Distribution/Sales” infrastructure is not evil (although shills pain it as such)
-Being “closed” so you may enjoy ‘quality controlled SW and HW’ is not evil (although shills paint it as such)
-Asking google not to track Safari users and then google still circumventing the browser security to track people is not evil (although shills painted it as such).
-Price of Apple products is not evil….actually very competitive when you realize the value of Quality, Reliability, Ecosystem, after sales Service, the Beauty of the products and it just works a lot better than anything else on the market (although shills painted it as such).
-Not designing things according to what the media wants as oposed to what Apple wants is not evil (although Media shills paint it as such)
-No embedded NSA code in iOS or OS-X (although shills want you to think they are same as MS/Google)
-Being virus free is not evil
………..i could go on.
This is the Gospel according to Paul.
Which of the above is based on faith and not fact?
Somewhere in the Bible I recall there is a quote for telling the end of times: “The good shall be called bad, and the bad good.” Are we there yet?
When I read news stories it sure sounds like it.
I own an original Nexus-7 and it’s a great device. Love my Apple’s and my Surface RT and my Android Nexus-7!!!
Wow, all that crap and street cred with his/her Apple’s.
They are probably Granny Smiths.
I own multiple products (Apple/Google/Microsoft) because “NOT-ONE” product is perfect! Not one…
Some of them are close enough, however, that I don’t feel the need or desire to dabble with lesser works. Apple, because life is too short to waste your time wrestling with devices cobbled together by committee.
I’d not shorten my life any further exchanging words with Kesny who I suspect is a pollutant rather than a Sergeant.
I own a Windows 7 PC, but I haven’t needed to even turn it on once in 2013. I’m not sure what it does for me that my Mac or iPad cannot. But its there… making me feel secure or something?
The author feels like he’s not one of the “cool kids” since he’s getting an iPad. Getting an iPad means he’s not one of the idiots.
Yep, Steve Jobs advice to Tim Cook on running the company, “Dont ‘t ask yourself what Steve would do, Just do what’s right”. Yep, that’s some evil advice.
We are looking to hire. We think he has demonstrated his ability to efficiently engineer for customer experience, the One true way.
This line kills me
“That part of me that hates being mainstream rejoiced in the ability to figuratively give the finger to the big evil corporation of Apple.”
What does he think Google is, between Google and Apple, Apple is the far more honest company. Google cloaks data mining apps and devices under the guise of altruistic freedom for the mass while surreptitiously increasing the value of the only product is sells “You”. Apple on the other hand says we have put a lot of work in to these products and we think it’s worth this amount and thats it, no hidden agenda.
It’s hard to believe that this person was serious, but someone who commented on that article was skeptical that the iPad mini would ever have existed were it not for the 7″ Android devices. Let’s see…Apple created the new touchscreen tablet paradigm, but couldn’t possibly come up with the idea of making a smaller version, especially not after doing that exact thing with the iPod. Sure, that makes sense you brain dead fool.
figuratively give the finger to the big evil corporation of Apple.
I’ve heard that attitude before. It has rarely made any sense. If Apple became a ‘big evil corporation’, one of the usual biznizziz that wreck the world and hate their customers, I’d join in the chorus. But that is NOT Apple, rarely has been.
Apple: Never perfect. Just better than the alternatives, often VASTLY better. That’s why I hang around here, work with Macs, teach about Macs, write about Macs, beta test Macs…
Android is the best mobile OS for any phone, except your own.
Linux advocates have amazed me for years. The idea that an unpaid, basement dwelling programmer with no structured approach or regimented system is somehow going to produce better software than a well paid Computer Engineer is ludicrous. And somehow they really believe that fantastic Linux application developers are improving the platform without making any money for their efforts… and that is what makes it better. It defies logic!