“Don’t look now, but the role of the industry’s biggest bully is increasingly played by Apple, not Microsoft,” Mike Elgan writes for Computerworld.
“The most vociferous Microsoft haters slammed the company for being a greedy industry bully that used its monopolistic, clunky, copycat operating system to force software on users and coerce partners into unfair licensing deals,” Elgan writes.
“Don’t look now, but the role of the industry’s biggest bully is increasingly played by Apple, not Microsoft. Here’s a look at how Apple has shoved Microsoft aside as the company with the worst reputation as a monopolist, copycat and a bully,” Elgan writes.
Elgan doles out some real whoppers in his mess, including calling iTunes “the most nonintuitive application” on his Windows PC. Come on, Mike, get real. He complains that you can’t use an Apple iPod to listen to TV sound that gyms broadcast over FM radio when, of course, you can easily do so: iPod Radio Remote. Elgan even says Apple “stole the name for its iPod Touch product, according to HTC.” There’s much more similar baloney in the full article.
Elgan’s piece ends with, “My point isn’t that Apple’s growing bad reputation is deserved, but that Microsoft’s wasn’t.”
Full article, Think Before You Click™ (unless you want some laughs and wish to reward Elgan and his publisher), here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dwayne” for the heads up.]
Elgan’s piece ignores a multitude of facts and history, not to mention copious legal testimony and verdicts. Bottom line: Elgan’s piece is simply a quest for hits from a Microsoft apologist.
Let us know when Apple threatens some other company that they’ll need the “knife the baby” in order to continue receiving a critical product or support from Apple, okay, Mike?
@@JAL
Does it matter whether you spell it right?
Or were you speaking of a balless ram?
when are people going to finally understand the difference between “lose” and “loose”??
Oh yeah, Knife the Baby. I love that story.
Apparently, being obtuse is the new being insightful.
Apple does need to watch itself, however. Apple forged ahead, damn the torpedoes style, back in the late 1980s-early 1990s, insisting that its way was the best. Apple may have been correct in some situations, but others, like some of the proprietary connections on its Macs for instance, simply made Apple more expensive and less compatible.
The danger is that Apple uses its newfound bargaining power, market strength, and good will to strong arm everyone. While there are certain times and places where Apple will need to dig in its heels and insist on a given course of action, it doesn’t want to develop a reputation either as a bully or simply as being very difficult to work with.
Particularly with consumer electronics, you need to have other parties who work with you. Look at how amazingly well Apple has nurtured the iPod accessories market. That is one thing that Microsoft has always done well – many, many third party software developers and hardware manufacturers develop products for Windows because Microsoft does play to them.
Apple can’t isolate itself and “go it alone”. Apple needs other companies to continue its successes (AT&T;, music labels, other content providers, iPod accessory manufacturers). Apple’s product line is too diverse and too widespread beyond computer users to try to do everything itself.
Look at the iPod Hi-Fi as a perfect example of a product that, while nicely done, wasn’t at the top of the class and wasn’t all that needed, nor did it (or would it ever) contribute much to the bottom line.
wether… noun
a castrated ram. whether |ˈ(h)weðər|
conjunction
expressing a doubt or choice between alternatives
Apple is certainly a bully — they’ve strongarmed the record labels and the TV networks, as well as their continued do-as-i-say-not-as-i-do attitude toward standards and open source.
And don’t forget their unfair business practices:
http://www.theorbittimes.com/Microsoft_Apple.php
slike; please note that all the items mentioned are APPLE manufactured items, not 3rd party. Also, ipods, iphones can take any type of music or video, providing you convert first. Also, iTunes takes any type of musc/video as well provoded it is properly converted as well. While your own apps may not work, there are many apps that do work on ipods/iphones. they just all need to conform to specific software standards set by the owner, ie; Apple. While I see your point in a vague comparison, Apple is not locking anyone out, they simply state use our coding, or convert yours. your choice
Apple has always been a ruthless corporation. But I’d sooner see the superior product dominating than the second-rate knock-off.
PC Apologist: Nice! Thanks for the laugh!
effwerd:
“Remember folks, it’s not nice to make fun of the retarded.”
Then they should have cancelled the Republican debates.
Winston:
“Apparently, being obtuse is the new being insightful.”
And it’s surprising that C-SPAN doesn’t get higher ratings.
The way I see it, when Apple throws its weight around and tries to bully other corporations, it is doing so with my (the consumer) best interest at heart. When Microsoft does it, it is strictly for its own benefit.
i agree apple has more “power” than they once did, but i don’t really see ’em as M$-esque… not yet anyway, and hopefully never.
FUD… FUD, FUD, FUD… FUUUUUUUUUUDDDDD
Wingsy
Do you actually believe that!! I’m sure Bill Gates thought he was acting in the best interests of his customers, which also happened to be in his best interests as well. Steve Jobs has a lot of powerful shareholders to answer too; all of whom are universally concerned only with the share price of Apple
I’m also sure Lenin thought he was acting in the best interests of his country and his people too. That’s the thing with dictators and power mongerers – they always believe they’re acting in everyone’s best interests. They can’t believe otherwise because they wouldn’t be able to do what they do.
Steve Jobs may have some amazing abilities but I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him.
“Apple has always been a ruthless corporation.”
Ruth Hennigar is the Vice President-Product Development of OnLive! Technologies, of Cupertino, Calif. Ms. Hennigar held management positions in networking, PowerBook computing and System Software at Apple Computer, Inc.
Ruthless for at least ten years.
Yet another web hack on Microsoft’s payroll.
The guy must live in an alternative universe or be constaintly high on crack cocaine.
One thing’s for sure – he aint in the real world that everyone else is in!
What a wanker.
@slike “Can I buy any device and use it with iTunes. No. Why does iPhone require iTunes software? Good question. Can I buy any device and gain access to the iTunes store. No. Can I install my own software on an iPod or iPhone. No. You can install Safari applets on iPhone but that’s not really quite the same.
Well, in most cases when you buy a piece of hardware, whether the iPod or iPhone, there is some proprietary “software” and “user-support”offered which enhances it’s value, whether it’s printer drivers, photo management software, etc. Of course, as the buyer of the hardware (iPod) you can choose to simply not use that “software/user-support” (iTunesMusicSTore) if you don’t want to. Your choice. Of course, look how many other “software” packages, or online stores support the iPod – virtually none unless they’re DRM-free MP3 sites. So, who’s cutting who out here? Does any WMA music retailer site offer sideline support for iPod users by offering MP3s or AACs without the WMA DRM wrapper? I think not. Even a free protected-WMA file I got with a purchase somewhere (McDonalds, I think… yuch, never again) wouldn’t work in iTunes on my Thinkpad, requiring WMP 9. At least I could play it (off in it’s own corner) on my Thinkpad (Windows, in case you didn’t realize that…
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” /> ) But… no way on my Mac could I even figure out how to do it. There was no available player. Very limiting file. Yet, all my iTunes files, whether protected, unprotected AACs, or mp3s play on all my cross-platform machines, which all run iTunes perfectly. I’m not sure what all the complaining is about. And, I still don’t have an iPod. Just a huge external HD that goes between my Mac and PC where I consolidate all my music for backup.
Speaking of “other” devices (which ones for example are you talking about)… is iTunes software on my PC supposed to automatically keep up with all the variations of mp3 players out there on the market so it can treat each one of them like an iPod when connected to my Thinkpad? Think of the nightmare that would create. Each manufacturer has the responsibility to not only sell a piece of hardware, but to make it usable. It’s their responsibility, not Apple’s. Write some good jukebox software that runs on Macs and PC’s. Make it work better than iTunes. Make it also able to load music easily on an iPod, and I’m all over it. But, I think we’ll be waiting a hell of a long time for that…
Apple has never tried to stack the Odds at ISO votes, nor have they greased their partners palms to get them to possibly do something that is well ethically questionable. Microsoft has done both of these things and in the last 60 days.
Not even close. Isn’t MS is a government approved Monopoly?
No thankyou! I didn’t click, but just to let you know that even here in France MS is trying to control all or most of TV via internet too! Plus thats not counting what their doing globally
to control the bordcasting via their given codecs & Satellite
& for what?? To break open-sources codecs software, ease of use, high quality and not to mention all the sourround sound sources in-place.
Just as Apple as showed better streaming of HD content in a small or large stream, plus their software “Leopard” as more to give in UI. Proven at July’s 2007 WWDC
has Jobs demostrated a quick build of the TV wall…. clicking on any pic or just searching for water & moving-forward all at once the films of relevance to the fore.
MDN word is music as in music to my ears if & when Apple is taken as the means of choice to bring entertainment to TV, cable & internet
“Isn’t MS is a government approved Monopoly?”
No, it isn’t.
When and if Apple does get as much market share for Macs as Micro$oft has for its PCs all the Mac cults are going to look silly. Can you imagine a MS cult? 😀
“Can I buy any device and use it with iTunes. No.
you are right, many music players are not made to standards. the many that are however work very well with iTunes.
“Why does iPhone require iTunes software? Good question.”
because, i am sure this is shocking to you, they a) want it to actually work, and b) it has to use something to synch with, why not use software they actually already have?
“Can I buy any device and gain access to the iTunes store. No.”
no, not any device, but many. are you blaming other peoples poor manufacturing on Apple? that is an odd move…
“Can I install my own software on an iPod or iPhone. No. You can install Safari applets on iPhone but that’s not really quite the same. “
yes, you can. you can even install linux on them i believe. but why? to reduce the functionality? to ruin a perfectly good product?
Computerworld is wrong. HOWEVER…
Apple, despite having around 5% of the market is showing signs of microsoftdian syndrome. Apple’s most recent software has been less than advertised, going back to the 1st version of iWork when Apple “claimed” Pages would export HTML and Flash formats. Both claims turned out to be far from the truth, those “lies” were never addressed, in my opinion they still haven’t. As a die hard early adopter of iWork, I felt ripped off.
The latest iMovie is a direct contradiction of Mr. Jobs statements when iMovie HD was announced, with much fanfare and Sony’s CEO on stage. It was to be, Jobs said, the age of HD camcoders. A year and a half later, camcoders are a thing of the past. Furthermore, iLife has become a tool that cators almost exclusively to .mac users or tries to manipulate people to subscribe to .mac.
Apple’s software products are becoming less and less intuitive to use and of dubious finish quality when released. This issue is also evident in recent software updates.
On the hardware side, the latest iMacs are more expensive, not cheaper as Mr. Jobs claimed, not forgetting it took almost a year for the iMacs to be refreshed. The Mac Pro towers have not seen a real update for OVER a YEAR now. OK, Apple introduced the 8 core tower, which is actually the best value of the offerings. The base and mid models have seen no updates nor price drops costing hundreds more than the G5s did and being refreshed far less often. Furthermore, when PC manufacturers are offering 2 or 3 GB of RAM, Apple reluctantly started offering 1 GB of RAM. No Blu-Ray, Dell has been offering it for over 6 months now.
I don’t know about you, but I find myself less and less happy with Apple these days and feel I am getting less of a deal. That’s a Microsoft behaviour to be sure.
The fact that Apple can be an innovative fair player AND be successful rankles some people, I guess. Their worldview says in order to be successful, you have to be a stupid dick. Maybe that’s a good part of the reason the world’s pretty f’ed up right now…
I agree with Zero-in. Apple makes some great stuff but I’m not willing to worship Steve Jobs and say he does no wrong. Apple is a business, Apple is in the business of making money. Apple doesn’t always give us what we want.