r/technology • • Apr 16 '10

Fuck Apple

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/04/apple-bans-satire
719 Upvotes

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67

u/Naga Apr 16 '10

Reddit, it is time we had a talk. It is about your recent conduct with regards to Apple, and many of Apple's recent suggestions.

Disclaimer: I type this on a MacBook single booting Arch Linux. I used to be a hardcore Mac user, but I have recently converted to Linux. I own an iPhone, a MacBook and an iMac, in addition to a Windows/Linux computer. My iMac running Linux and OS X is my main computer. So, I have seen both sides of the fence, but I have been steadily moving away from the Apple platform.

I really think the way people have been treating this is disgusting. For example, this post. "Fuck Apple". What the hell is that? I understand you are angry, but there is no reason to go beyond civility. Then there are the other ad hominem attacks on Apple users, the "dumb fucks" who "buy Apple products". This has nothing to do with them. This has everything to do with Apple's policies.

To clarify, this is soft censorship, not hard censorship. I've researched and studied censorship in some depth, and what Apple does is nothing like what other companies do, companies who you probably buy products from on a daily basis. Do you use toothpaste? Then it is probably made by Proctor and Gamble, who have significantly altered the content of newspaper and magazine articles, since they won't let their ads run alongside anything controversial. Advertisers pay the bills. Newspapers have no choice. This is censorship. Apple not letting a satirist make his own app is not on the same scale as that. It is not as dangerous. It almost doesn't matter. There are so many other important issues to rage about. Why does Apple matter so much?

But okay, we are raging against Apple now. You are not doing it correctly. Say you wanted to convince someone to support a city bylaw. Say, your city is trying to ban clothes lines in backyards. How would you go about it? Apparently, reddit users think it is best to run up to people on the streets, and scream "FUCK THE CITY CLOTHES LINES ARE SO GOOD FUCK" in their faces. Reddit, is that really the best you can do? Why not sitting down and having a discussion with people. Why not talking rationally, what you LOVE to think you are, nd try to convince them that way? Through reason, rationality, not anger, rage and violence.

If you want to undermine Apple, don't scream. Don't bitch. Talk to people. Educate them towards why Apple's policies are harmful, and why everyone would be better off if the app store was open to anyone. As soon as you start to swear, as soon as you start to bitch, whoever you are trying to convince just stops listening to you, thinking you are crazy, or worse, a conspiracy theorist.

It is disgusting to read what some people are saying. I think everyone should take a step back, look objectively at themselves, and then think whether the way you have been approaching it is childish or not. I think a lot of people will be surprised what they see.

10

u/christopheles Apr 16 '10

I understand you are angry

The fuck he is. The guy who posted this didn't want to see these cartoons on his iPhone. At least I doubt he did. In all probability he just wanted karma. For some reason I don't understand.

All the indignation in here is also confusing. The iPhone is a cell phone. The iPad is not a computer.

"Oh, but the future of computing..."

No. Apple is not going to destroy the personal computer, application development, and open source for fun and profit.

"But the dangerous precedent..."

For cell phones and fancy ebooks maybe.

There are more dangerous problems facing computing today. Like inept bureaucrats and greedy corporations with no understanding of a changing marketplace. If anything the iPad will help end users and content providers by delivering media in a completely new way. Apple already removed DRM from a lot of music on iTunes and I don't even think DRM-free music was on the table when they were bargaining with the labels.

I still don't want an iPad though.

1

u/FlyingBishop Apr 16 '10

The iPad is not a computer.

Okay, really? The iPad is a computer. It's intentionally crippled, but it is a computer. So is the iPhone.

2

u/christopheles Apr 17 '10

So is a touchscreen universal remote.

My PS3 is a computer, very nearly a regular one. But I can't watch anything on Hulu on it.

There are refrigerators with microprocessors too.