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In my March column, I explored why tech gadget firms draw such rabid partisanship. Certainly, in the gadget flame wars, there’s something for everyone these days. Here’s an assessment of the latest companies people love to hate.
Apple is Evil.
The haters’ beef: Apple stuff is too expensive. Apple is a totalitarian control freak that limits what we can do with our gadgets. Apple is smug and elitist.
Yeah, but: So why the rage? Why isn’t there equivalent rage toward other companies that sell expensive, stylish goods, like BMW or Bang & Olufsen? Why not just not buy Apple stuff if you find it so offensive—why is it also necessary to denigrate people who do?
Microsoft is Evil.
The haters’ beef: Microsoft owns the computer desktop without having any ideas of its own. Bill Gates didn’t write the DOS operating system—he bought it and rode it to incredible wealth. And everything else Microsoft has ever sold—Windows, Zune, Pocket PC, XBox, Internet Explorer—was built on stolen ideas.
Yeah, but: There are alternatives to everything Microsoft sells—nobody’s holding a gun to your head and insisting that you use Windows or Office. Besides, Microsoft doesn’t always play me-too. The Kinect is all its own. So were Smart Displays and the Spot Watch. (Yeah, they flopped, but they weren’t copycats.) Windows Phone 7 is a copycat concept—it’s an iPhone wannabe—but its design is totally fresh.
Google is Evil.
The haters’ beef: Google is too big, too powerful. It has access to all of our phone calls (Google Voice), email (Gmail), mobile transactions (Android) and Web activities (Google search). The people behind Google are reading our private transactions—how else could they display ads appropriate to what’s in our email and Web searches?
Yeah, but: There’s never been any evidence that Google humans are, in fact, snooping through our stuff. And if you’re going to worry about Google intercepting your communications, why aren’t you also worried about all of its rivals—Yahoo, Microsoft and so on?
Facebook is Evil.
The haters’ beef: Facebook now stores the personal data of over half a billion people—all within the hands of a 26-year-old college dropout with no adult supervision. Facebook is a privacy disaster; it’s selling our information to advertisers, sometimes in sleazy ways without our permission.
Yeah, but: Um, how did Facebook get your personal information? You supplied it. You expected to reap the pleasures of a global directory, so old friends and new ones can find you. If that concept gives you the heebies, why sign up?
Rights & Permissions
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17 Comments
Add CommentKinect is a copy of Nintendo Wii!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAll personal details is for our friends and it is free not for facebook to sell. Yeah yeah what yeah?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisgood
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs a matter of fact, i run Linux. MS pissed me off on quality (of the OS) and non-support. They alone support viruses. Apple cut off my upgrade path prematurely. My Mac lasted 19 years. Definitely worth it. But modern Macs don't last that long. Now, 19 years of files are orphaned. I don't have a cell phone.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGoogle seems cool enough. They claim not to be evil. And, when called on it, they've backed off. More than can be said of MS.
Actually, every employer between here and Pluto holds a gun to your head and forces you to use Windows.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere certainly is equivalent rage for BMW. Most people who hate Apple don't buy Apple products, and I personally don't denigrate people who do. But I also don't have any sympathy for them when they wipe out their iPhones by clicking "Yes, wipe out ALL DATA on my device," both because: they're as stupid as the people who click on every spam email, and run the CUTE_KITTENS.JPG.DOC.EXE file attached to it; and because Apple is retarded for making that pop up every time someone plugs in their device--they've not only removed the plastic covering for the "LAUNCH NUKES NOW" button, they've thrust it upon you.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMicrosoft has never not been "Me Too." Kinect is most certainly inspired by Sony's Eye Toy. Also, you're kidding yourself if you think Microsoft software is not forced upon everyone. Everyone uses Microsoft, and MS took full advantage of that with .doc, and now .docx, and their equivalent files in the rest of the suite.
I'm not sure you can treat those four companies on the same level.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisApple and Google are very good examples of companies that people are suspicious about because they're too big, but that have very good products and seems not to behave wrongly.
But for Microsoft… "nobody’s holding a gun to your head and insisting that you use Windows or Office" : are you serious? We've fighted for years in order to have pcs without Windows pre-installed on it, and it's still quite rare. I have to build a computer myself to have an affordable computer without buying Windows, not sure anyone can do that.
Facebook is an other problem. I won't use it because I know it's hard to control our data on it (especially with friends tagging photos of us), yet possible. But same conclusion : most people won't succeed in that control. Worst : each account being hidden behind some opt in friendship, common users may think their privacy is assured.
which is a copy of playstation's "eyetoy".
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMicrosoft also patented the way windows 7 shuts down. What the?
Well, after working with these three companies and their products for about 9 months, I have concluded I prefer Apple because at the end of the day, there is a physical store with real people from which I can obtain help.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBecause Google is OpenSource and Microsoft's products are so constricting and interconnected, you would think that it would be these two companies that provided superior customer service. But no, you are forced to get help solely from online help forums, or the Geek Squad or a buddy in your company's IT department.
I thought I wanted Microsoft because I was so familiar with their products and I thought I wanted Google because I believed in OpenSource and transparency but because I want to spend less time working through systems problems and more time serving my own customers - I choose Apple.
All of Pogue's arguments amount to: if you don't like it don't use it. That is good response in a competitive environment where you have lots of alternative ways of doing the same work. It is a lousy response in the case of monopolies and quasi-monopolies, such as all four corporations under discussion.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAnd all four companies engage in a number of sharp practices made possible by their monopoly positions. Thus Google and Facebook have effectively abolished the Fourth Amendment for heir users--they hand your private data over to government officials without a warrant and without notice to you. Thus Apple is expensive and restricts the market in apps. And thus Microsoft writes bloatware that hogs resources and is secretive about interfaces and uses various monopoly pricing techniques.
David Burress
Ad Astra Institute of Kansas
www.adastrainstitute.org
@david_burress, I understand your point.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMy experience is somewhat different.
As an owner of an iPhone, I ran through three clearly distinct phases:
1st phase - Exploration: The time when I was so proud and impressed what I could do with my new gadget; so many things that I couldn't do before. This is for some people the time that they need support.
2nd phase - Familiarization: I got used to the iPhone and started using it as a day-by-day tool.
3rd phase - Frustration: This was the time when I got frustrated by non-technical limitations imposed by the company Apple.
The last phase, by the way, was the phase when I had to consider the successor item, because the unbreakable Gorilla glass display was broken in hundreds of little pieces.
The successor was a Nexus S. A Google phone. With this handset, I am meanwhile in the second phase.
Is there anyplace you draw the line? Are there any corporations whose impact on the public is so dire that you refuse to patronize them? It doesn't sound like it..
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSo the controlers from the Wii magically disappeared and became invisible? Kinect uses 3D imaging where the Wii uses hand held controlers. Just as the Wii isn't considered just an expansion of the joystick, the Kinect shouldn't be considered just an expansion of the Wii.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFacebook says up front that they use your personal information as they see fit. Read the contract you agreed to.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisItem 1: Never use actual personal data in any agreement with a software entity for private use software. You don't give the grocery store your name and phone number when paying cash for something so why does any business need to know who you are unless they have to make long term financing arrangements or deliver to your door?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisItem 2: Read the licensing agreement before using the software. If you don't understand it then don't agree to it. If they get no customers they will go away and be replaced by a better company.
Item 3: The purpose of each of these companies is to make money for the business owners/shareholders. The products they deliver are only the tool they use to get your money. This isn't evil or good. It is just a basic fact of life.
Item 4: Toyota did not invent automobiles but that doesn't stop their cars from being good. Originating new things is good but not any better than providing existing things at a better quality or value. Each has its place.
Microsoft did not develop the Kinect, it comes from a company call PrimeSense, but you have to give them credit for finding a good technology and making a good product.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisUmmm so theres a couple things you decided to ignore.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPLANNED OBSOLESCENCE - the main reason I hate apple.
and
STUPID COPYRIGHT FEUDS - ex. amazon cant have an app store? because the word 'app' belongs to apple?
and, specifically in the case of modern operating systems,
DUOPOLIZATION - almost all popular softwares are made exclusively for Windows and/or OSX