[NTLK] pretty interesting

[Michael Grossman]

On Fri, 3 Sep 2010, James Fraser wrote:

> Date: Fri, 3 Sep 2010 04:15:56 -0700 (PDT)
> From: James Fraser <wheresthatistanbul-newtontalk at yahoo.com>
> Reply-To: newtontalk at newtontalk.net, wheresthatistanbul-newtontalk at yahoo.com
> To: newtontalk at newtontalk.net
> Subject: Re: [NTLK] pretty interesting
> 
> Anyway, my point is that I understand your frustration.  It's just that 
> Apple has a reason for doing what they do, even if that reason is one 
> you and I don't happen to agree with.  We'll see if the market continues 
> to support Apple's way of doing things, or if consumers get tired of 
> buying into their philosophy and decide that other companies are more 
> worthy of getting their hard-earned dough.  I know that sounds wildly 
> improbable right now, but these things have a funny way of changing.
>

In 1999, it seemed wildly improbably that "beleagered" Apple Computers 
would ever catch up with Microsoft. Or that PC software would ever sink to 
the crap-tacular nadir of Windows Vista + bundleware du jour. In 1985, it 
seemed very unlikely that Microsoft, the people who stuck BASIC in the ROM 
of everybody's favorite 8-bit microcomputer, would be under attack for 
taking over the world in the late 90s. I think companies (and 
countries/civilizations/economies) oscillate in great boom-bust cycles 
because positive feedback quickly exhausts whatever energy/money/resource 
is feeding it. The environmental and human cost of these cycles is dumped 
on future generations, as easy accessible energy becomes increasingly 
scarce. Err, getting a little off topic here...sorry..

I buy Apple products because I want a computer and walkman that just works 
for media consumption. I also dual boot linux on my macbook because it is 
fun to tweak, configurate, customise, and do things MY WAY. However, 
rugged individuality issues aside, it is a morally neutral fact of life 
that I'm not going to be able to watch netflix movies or have a convenient 
App store, or EASY BOOTABLE BACKUPS on Linux. I also appreciate very much 
how Apple has not hog-tied my music collection with DRM; I have mp3s, 
aacs, wmas, oggs--some even from the old days of Napster--and they all 
play in Linux and Snow Leopard. I'll put up with the walled garden as long 
as I can dig under the fence like an armadillo and visit the neighbors' 
weedy but fun Linux gardens.

A funny thing about Apple hardware: I can't throw it out or even sell it 
on eBay. My first white-box 486 is probably scrap metal in Bangladesh or 
Mexico by now.(Probably as e-waste, not recycled.) But the death-clicking 
duo dock, which was old 10 years ago, still sits in the closet awaiting 
repair. I regretted selling my Pismo so much that after a few years I 
bought a new old one!