How David became Goliath

A warning to all Apple Fans: You will be pissed off by this article. Fair warning and all that.

Before I begin, I have to relate my own history with Apple. I cut my programming teeth on a combination of Apple IIe’s, A Sinclair ZX81, and ancient clone machines such as Zenieth, IBM PS/2s, and the like. However, it was not until a fateful encounter with a Macintosh Plus that my fate was sealed.

I have not owned a new Mac in quite a few years, but I do work on them relatively regularly. I have an old Mac laptop on my shelf for certain purposes, and I generally like the interface. I own an iPod, Mrs. Springer has a beloved Shuffle, and even my daughter uses an old iMac. That being said, I will most likely not buy new Apple merchandise from this point on, based on what I now know.

Apple, once the darling of consumers for their spunk, spirit, and challenge to the world of business computers, has become corrupt and a behemoth of their own. Every computer company relies on several other groups for their survival: developers, who write software; manufacturers, who build the hardware; employees, who do the actual work; Spokespeople, either direct or indirect; Users, who spend the money to buy the hardware; and, finally, the government, for the environment in which to conduct business.

Apple has, systematically, methodically, been eroding the power that these groups have over the company. However, they’ve been doing it quietly, secretly, and with a level of malice that would make hardcore extremists wince. Let’s talk first about how Apple has eroded the power of Apple developers as compared to others.

Simply said, the problem is proprietary platforms for development.

If I, as a developer, want to write an app (not even a full application) for, say, an iPad, I have to a)buy a Macintosh b) buy an annual membership c) download Apple’s custom software development package d) Learn their proprietary language and e) Wait for Apple to possibly approve my app, even if I want to install it only on my own iPad.

In other words, they want to control their developers.

Next, they want to control their manufacturers and employees. Like many technology companies, Apple relies heavily on Foxconn, the biggest computer company on the planet that you have most likely never heard of. Foxconn is bad enough without Apple’s new restrictions; with them, I would rather work for the Mafia than as a hardware developer for Apple. They actually require their hardware techs to work on the hardware with the device covered by a black cloth. That’s right. There, in the clean room, as they are building the prototype, the techs building the thing don’t know what they are working on beyond the design of the component they are working on. This kind of security is great for nuclear weapons development. For the next overpriced gadget, this is way overboard.The atmosphere of Apple development and construction has led multiple techs to actually commit suicide. Screw up with Apple and they will shame you into taking your own life.

Their attempts to control spokespeople have been odd. Take, for example, the story of what happened to Steve Wozniak when he was shown an unreleased iPad. Steve, who helped form Apple, was shown an iPad 3G before release, and Apple fired the guy who did it. Apple wants to be in complete control of when and where their products are shown.

Yet, when another tech, Gray Powell, got a slap on the wrist for misplacing a prototype iPhone. Now, one could argue that the difference in intent was the reason why one was fired and one was not. However, if someone gets drunk and wrecks their car, they are responsible for the wreck. I suspect that it was no accident that the prototype iPhone was leaked. Give people what they want, and they will follow you anywhere.

Let’s talk about Users. There is a very active Hackintosh community, with people modifying the OSX operating system to run on non-Apple hardware.

Apple, of course, would have them shot if they could.

Rather than releasing a version of OSX for PC hardware, Apple locks everything down so that running OSX on anything other than Apple hardware is a pain at best. Yes, I have done it. It was about as easy as getting a square peg into a round hole. I jammed it in, but pieces fell off. As I remember, Microsoft got in trouble for bundling their browser with their operating system to try and force users to use the cesspool called IE. How is this different than forcing people to buy your hardware to use your OS? Sure, you can run Windows on a Mac. That’s halfway there.

The last group, the government, is so easily manipulated by big business that I won’t bother to detail it in length here.

So, now that we have details as to the nature of Apple’s deviousness, the question remains; why?

Why would Apple manipulate everyone and everything they could get their hands on?

The simple answer is money. They have taken their lead from Bill Gates and Microsoft. The reasons it took them a while was because they started off by being the good guys. There was further to fall.

Makes one wonder what Google will be like in ten or twenty years.

Starting weight: 420 lbs.

Morning weigh in: 401.4 lbs.

Weight loss to date: 18.6 lbs.

Weight loss until goal: 101.4 lbs.