“People seem to either love or hate Apple. In the time silicon.com has been reporting on the company, the comments received on Apple-related stories are always the most animated and the most polarised in their views,” Seb Janacek writes for Silcon.com.
Janacek looks at the best of Apple (in no particular order) – as inspired by years of reading silicon.com and forum feedback on the company:
1. The Mac: Its ground-breaking features are now part and parcel of every personal computer in the world today.
2. Usability: The Mac OS in particular has long been touted as being more user friendly than Windows.
3. iPod: The impact of the product on both Apple and digital music cannot be understated.
4. Innovation: The Mac maker is an agenda setter both for hardware and software. Where Apple leads others follow.
5. Steve Wozniak: He’s an engineering genius, years ahead of his time, whose vision laid the foundation for modern computing.
6. Steve Jobs: Perhaps more than any other CEO, Jobs is synonymous with the company he runs and the thought of the great man stepping aside is enough to give Mac fans and Apple shareholders heart palpitations.
7. Mac OS X: User-friendly, elegant, stable and (so far) seemingly invulnerable to viruses, it has a plenty of good qualities… Windows Vista arrived at the party six years late, clutching a bottle of Blue Nun. [Blue Nun is regarded by some as totem of the kitsch and the tasteless.]
8. Mythology: Apple is the ultimate Silicon Valley start-up story, beginning its life in a bedroom before spilling over to a garage.
9. iPhone: Arriving sometime in the summer, it’s a huge gamble for Steve Jobs and co but I bet it’ll be their next success story.
10. An alternative: Hegemonies change every decade or so, IBM had its time, Microsoft has its, Google might be next but Apple has proved to be the lasting alternative to consumers and a rival to the mainstream players for the last 30 years, due in no small part to the nine reasons listed above.
Much more in the full article, a fun read, here.
Related articles:
Innovative Apple has changed the course of the personal computer revolution many times – April 02, 2006
BusinessWeek: Steve Jobs changed the world three times – with the Apple II, Pixar, and the iPod – October 27, 2004
Newsweek: Steve Jobs’ Macintosh changed personal computers forever – March 02, 2003
Everything!
They forgot a Sense of Style
11. Me
apple is more than that in the article,apple is the FUTURE.
“iPod: The impact of the product on both Apple and digital music cannot be understated.”
That should be “overstated,” Seb.
At least he spared us the style issue. Yes Macs are very stylish, and it no doubt does it’s part to attrack users initially, but the true elegence and beauty of the Mac is in the using.
Being a Mac user gives those of us who are not already beautiful women a small taste of what it must be like to be a beautiful woman – that is, lots of superficial attention for outward appearance, but generally not given a lot of credit for real substance.
Of course the women’s underwear I’m wearing has something to do with my feeling like a beautiful woman too – and the pretty dresses I like to wear when nobody’s looking, and… uh…
OH CRAP! IS THIS KEYBOARD STILL LIVE!! I DIDN’T HIT THE RETURN KEY DID I??!!! IS THIS ON THE INTERNET NOW!!!!
@ Mr. Peabody,
You are too damn crazy! Funny at that, too. ROTFLMAO:-)
The Best of Apple:
1. It’s not Microsoft…
2. It’s not Microsoft…
3. It’s not Microsoft…
4. It’s not Microsoft…
5. It’s not Microsoft…
6. It’s not Microsoft…
7. It’s not Microsoft…
8. It’s not Microsoft…
9. It’s not Microsoft…
10. It’s not Microsoft…
They’re right about Blue Nun — drinkable enough but not a gourmet’s delight, that’s for sure.
Blue Nun?
That’s what my girlfriend claimed before she dated me…
Oh, and don’t forget, Apple offers HOPE and INSPIRATION!
11. Apple is a Company … but Macintosh is our Community !
Mr Peabody,
You obviously agree that ladies’ undies are so much kinder to the skin…
And you are correct about Macs of course.
They’re the gorgeous blonde — with brains
I agree with “oh my”. I’m not a puppet of an “electronics” company. I just love Macintosh spirit. That’s all.
Good post Peabody!!
Wonder why they didn’t say anything about iTunes/AppleTV, which is going to be a major piece of the equation…
Understated vs. overstated… now it’s fixed (following a nice email to silicon.com and a nice reply from Natasha Lomas). Gotta love the Web.
@Mr. Peabody…..damned near made me choke to death. Good one!
11. Everyone thinks I know a lot about computers since mine never has any downtime.
Their 10 worst things about Apple was rather lame and <a href=”http://comment.silicon.com/sebjanacek/0,3800005542,39165636,00.htm?PROCESS=show&ID=20085786&AT=39165636″>thoroughly debunked<>.
Mine are:
1) An Apple just works without any fuss. No hunting for elusive drivers….
2) The interface is intuitive. Try finding anything on Windows.
3) Robust Unix-based OS. How many OS reinstalls have you done?
4) Reliability. I’ve never had one break.
5) Apple’s legendary design ethic applied to everything they do.
6) Consistent look and feel Mac software due to interface guidlines.
7) iPods and iPhones and the next big thing.
8) Steve Jobs, his RDF / LFD setting standards and his showmanship.
9) Surf and transact with impunity, this sucker’s secure.
10) It’s not Microsoft.
… and thoroughly debunked.
Did you guys READ that?
3. iPod: The impact of the product on both Apple and digital music cannot be understated.
You can’t say too little about it? Editor? Can we have an editor in here? Read that back for me please? They didn’t really <u>say</u> that, did they? Oh, GAWD, this is the Big One … gurgle.
DLMeyer – the Voice of G.L.Horton’s Stage Page
MW: pressure … coming down on me, coming down on …
Blue Nun is a German wine. It isn’t high quality, which you can see on the label. German wines are graded by the government, so it is easy to choose a good wine.
Tafelwein = table wine, in other words, its potable
Qualitätswein = good wine
Qualitätswein mit Predikat = the highest grade
So you can check for yourself to see what the quality is.
The word “blue” in German is slang for drunk. If someone comes home as blue as a cockatoo, they are snockered. So now you know the joke behind the name.
Blue nun is rot-gut. So what is the German word for the level underneath Tafelwein? In California they call it Taylor.
11. The Apple sticker they give you when you purchase hardware.
11. The Apple Store… the ultimate shopping experience.
@M@c: I believe you always get TWO stickers.
A message to any potential Apple haters. Seriously look at Steve Jobs as a human. Realise that he knows what he is talking about. He knows what he is doing. Unlike just about every other person on the planet. I don’t blame you for ititially hating the successful capitalists – we were brought up to not to trust them.
The thing is that Steve hates them too, but instead of dwelling on them he’s actually doing something and killing them off and creating a space where we can all be a little more creative, and live a little more comforatably than before.
If you miss this now your kids will ask you:
Kid: “Hey daddy can I ask you a question?”
You: “Ooh fucking hell not again. Go on…”
Kid: “What it was like to live in the capitalist world before, during and after it was destroyed Daddy?”
You: “Urh! I dunno ’cause a dint ave a fukin clue what the fuck was appenin, a just ‘ated anyfin sucksexful at dat time. Me fought dat da Mike-ro-soft and da Apple was da same fin. Me dint no dat akchewali der is some switched on peoples out der doing summut. Me fought da all da switched on lads was banging da bong al day long fantisising about da day dat we would rule da world. We dint no dat dis revelushon started 40 years ago and is almost about to appen.”
Kid: “Oh fucking hell you are my father? I’m leaving…”
Take it from me that Steve is not as bad you think. Actually not bad at all…