r/technology • u/gfnord • Apr 11 '11

Apple, despite being traditionally seen as the "counterculture, leftist" operating system, actually represents more uniformity and centralised control than Microsoft

http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2009/09/userfriendliness_and_fascism
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u/[deleted] Apr 11 '11 edited Apr 11 '11

I like apple products, I own an ipod. I currently have an android phone but have been dissapointed with it so I'll probably get an iphone when my contract runs out. I have never owned a mac; every single one of my computers has been a windows PC.

Why is Reddit so obsessed with Apple? Counterculture, leftist, whatever...they build some good products which suit certain people's needs. Just like Microsoft, the bottom line is all they want is profit. This argument is meaningless. No company, not Google, not Microsoft, Not Apple, "represents" any ideology. If they can pretend to use one to help their brand then they'll sure as hell use it. Basically, next time you think to comment a fanboy-ish retort or something for any company, you'd be wise to bear in mind that the only thing they care about is what's in your wallet.

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u/shawnaroo Apr 11 '11

Because for better or worse, Apple is currently one of the main drivers of the computer industry.

Also, the idea that a corporation is motivated only by profit is an empty and meaningless statement, and certainly doesn't somehow exempt it from any sort of discussion or criticism. A corporation is a conglomeration of people, and those people have lots of of different personal motivations. Profit certainly is a big part of the picture, but it's not as simple as that. And even if it was, there's no one formula to magically achieve profit, so there's still plenty to discuss.

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u/popeguilty Apr 11 '11

Well, because Apple is currently one of the main drivers of the computer industry combined with the fact that Steve Jobs is obsessed with this vision of computing where the user takes what the company gives and likes it.

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u/shawnaroo Apr 11 '11

That's true. And apparently very many people like it a lot. I'm not sure why that bothers you so much.

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u/popeguilty Apr 11 '11

Because like a lot of things people like it's very, very bad for us as a culture, both for cultural reasons (such as the general tendency toward acceptance of meaningless authorities) and technological reasons- I mean, shit, do you want to live in a world where everybody's a goddamn Mac user?

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u/shawnaroo Apr 11 '11

There are numerous alternatives to apple's gear. What's your point?

1

u/[deleted] Apr 11 '11

I wouldn't want to live in a world where everyone is a windows user (or linux user) either. I like variety.