

IRecognition: I am no longer Apple's Target Market - mergy
http://mergy.org/2012/12/irecognition-i-am-no-longer-apples-target-market/
]
======
arn
What's weird is that this has been a running argument for almost the entire
existence of Apple. Here's the thing though -- Apple hasn't changed. They are
simply closer to their goals then ever.

I'm not saying it's right. But computer as an appliance? That's the dream! In
the 80s we would argue on Usenet that the WIMP interface was too simplistic,
and that real computer users stuck to the command line only. Now, in 2012, we
argue on Blogs that the iPad is too simple, and real computer users need a
mouse, keyboard, and windowed interface.

I'll leave this anecdote from 1981. over 30 years ago. To show how Apple is
still Apple:

[http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&s...](http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story=Diagnostic_Port.txt&characters=Steve%20Wozniak&sortOrder=Sort%20by%20Date&detail=high&showcomments=1)

"Apple's other co-founder, Steve Jobs, didn't agree with Jef about many
things, but they both felt the same way about hardware expandability: it was a
bug instead of a feature. Steve was reportedly against having slots in the
Apple II back in the days of yore, and felt even stronger about slots for the
Mac. He decreed that the Macintosh would remain perpetually bereft of slots,
enclosed in a tightly sealed case, with only the limited expandability of the
two serial ports. "

~~~
pjmlp
The issue is that many Apple fanboys never experienced the original Apple, the
one with proprietary connectors and Mac OS specific APIs for video, 2D, 3D,
networking ....

When Apple tried to cater to the open source community using the UNIX
underpinnings of Mac OS X, young generations thought Apple was always more
open than Microsoft, when actually they were the opposite.

Now that they are back on top with more profits than ever, they are as they
always were.

~~~
w0utert
>> _The issue is that many Apple fanboys ..._

This is where I stopped reading...

It seems to be all the rage to write up anecdotal frustrations full of
hyperbole about Apple these days, that's fine, but why do they have to be on
Hacker News? Why should I care some guy on the internet doesn't want a
computer that isn't user serviceable, or a tablet that uses a curated app
store that contains 'literally thousands upon thousands of apps I don't need'?
Please just go tell your buddies on the linux forums how you built your own
distro instead of trolling the internet with articles about stuff you don't
like, or at the very least refrain from posting them on a site like Hacker
News, which is supposed to be informational (I guess).

The information content of this article is close to zero, it's nothing more
than some random rant about stuff that's irrelevant for people who just use
their computers to get shit done, instead of making a statement of idealism
and tech-ethics out of them. Last time I checked, Macs running OS X are still
great for almost any kind of creative application.

~~~
pjmlp
The thing is, I am OS agnostic and never built a Linux distro on my life.

Yes, I even have Mac OS X systems available to me.

Maybe you should also stop stereotyping whoever hurts your Mac fan feelings.

~~~
w0utert
>> _Maybe you should also stop stereotyping whoever hurts your Mac fan
feelings._

Just cut the emotional crap, it appears to impair your ability to see the
point I'm trying to make.

I've been using Linux and OS X alongside each other for over a decade, and
many other *nix derivatives at work. I just pick the right tool for the right
job, and more often than not, a Mac running OS X turns out to be the choice
that offers the best tradeoffs, and allows me to do whatever I should or want
to be doing with the lowest level of frustration. My HTPC/home server isn't
running OS X, and neither does the VM I use to cross-compile packages for
embedded systems. What does that say about Macs and OS X? Nothing.

That said, the problem I have with articles like this hitting Hacker News is
not because I can't stand the idea some people have different ideas about what
a computer is to them and how it should work. I couldn't care less. The
problem is that the information content of these dime-a-dozen run-of-the-mill
Apple rants is close to zero. I simply don't understand their purpose, do I
have to stop using Macs because some guy on the internet prefers to use
something different for whatever reason that doesn't affect me, or almost
anyone else who uses their computer as a tool to get shit done?

~~~
shadowmint
The issue here is that recent releases of OSX have sucked more than some
earlier releases of OSX, and it's annoying some people.

The hardware is now even more locked down than ever.

These are facts.

Does it mean you have to stop using a mac? No.

Does it mean that some people _are_ moving away from macs? Yes.

Does it mean you need to rage because there's an article that mentions 'fan
boys'? Not really. Chill out.

If you have any _cognant_ and _articulate_ arguments why this guys opinion
(which I happen to currently share) is a stupid opinion to have, by all means,
I'm interested...

~~~
w0utert
>> _If you have any cognant and articulate arguments why this guys opinion
(which I happen to currently share) is a stupid opinion to have, by all means,
I'm interested..._

Nowhere did I say his opinion was stupid, I'm not one to judge opinions. All
I'm saying is that I don't see any value in reading it, particularly not in
the context of HN.

The _cognant_ and _articulate_ argument (?) here is that the internet has
plenty of places to go if you want to read rants about why <insert technology
or technology company here> sucks and why someone decided to leave for these
elusive greener pastries that other platforms supposedly offer.

Everyone knows Macs aren't the most serviceable computers on earth, and
everyone knows iOS isn't intented to be an open platform for all purposes
power users or developers would use regular computers for. I don't think many
other arguments are required to illustrate the point this article doesn't add
much -if anything- to HN as a medium for the technology startup space.

Or, maybe it's just me, and other people really feel enlightened and satisfied
after reading this article... :-/

~~~
jasonlotito
> All I'm saying is that I don't see any value in reading it, particularly not
> in the context of HN.

OT: Do not read the article. Furthermore, do not comment on the article, nor
should yo up vote it. If you feel the article violates some aspect of HN, flag
it.

However, if your reason for commenting is to just say: "I don't see any value
in reading it, particularly not in the context of HN." then you are not
contributing. You are, by admission, contributing less than the article you
are commenting on.

This is not an attack. Merely an observation. You value the quality of HN. Be
the quality. Don't be the problem.

On another note. You say:

"I'm not one to judge opinions."

But then you go on to judge the article, an opinion, and it's worthiness:

"All I'm saying is that I don't see any value in reading it, particularly not
in the context of HN."

> Or, maybe it's just me, and other people really feel enlightened and
> satisfied after reading this article... :-/

People enjoy different things. You do not want to judge, so don't. =) The best
thing you can do to promote what you want to see on HN is to promote those
very things. Spending time contributing to things you don't enjoy does not
help.

~~~
w0utert
>> _This is not an attack. Merely an observation. You value the quality of HN.
Be the quality. Don't be the problem._

I agree with most of what you wrote, except this part. Maybe I'm being naive
but I believe discussion about stuff you don't like about a community-driven
platform like HN might actually improve it. To me, the fact that articles like
this hit HN more and more often, is separate from the discussion you can have
about it.

>> _People enjoy different things. You do not want to judge, so don't_

You are twisting my words. I don't want to judge _opinions_ , but that doesn't
mean I can't have my own, and it also doesn't mean I can't express them in
relation to the stuff that gets upvoted on HN. In everything I wrote about
this article don't think I've passed any judgement on the author's opinion
itself. You say 'people enjoy different things' as if that justifies anything
that gets posted on HN. Lots of people enjoy reading about ponies, but you
don't see a lot of articles about ponies on HN, and I don't think many people
think that's a bad thing.

All I'm saying is that in the time I've been visiting HN, the information
value of the articles upvoted on HN is going down. If this continues, before
you know it HN will be like Gizmodo with a really crappy layout. Telling me to
'just don't read the articles' or 'just don't upvote them' is a pretty
negative conclusion to draw from this discussion don't you think?

~~~
jasonlotito
> Maybe I'm being naive but I believe discussion about stuff you don't like
> about a community-driven platform like HN might actually improve it.

In context. But when out of context, it won't. If anything, one could argue
that if your comment does provide any value toward improving HN, then the
article served a greater purpose, and as a result, was of value.

Regardless, actions speak louder than words.

> All I'm saying is that in the time I've been visiting HN, the information
> value of the articles upvoted on HN is going down.

That's the natural state of things. I've seen people say this for years now.
It's a reoccurring theme. I do not know how long you've been visiting HN, but
going just by your profile, I can assure you, 444 days ago, people were
discussing how HN had gone down hill.

I believe a portion of that complaint is that when you first get here, it's
new, and you haven't seen the articles being presented. After a while, you
start to read the same thing over and over again. It becomes dull. And things
start to stand out that you might not have noticed your first day.

> You are twisting my words.

No. It's just a misunderstanding. No twisting was intended.

> You say 'people enjoy different things' as if that justifies anything that
> gets posted on HN.

Actually, it does. HN is based on voting, and the members of HN enjoy reading
many types of articles here. If something gets voted up, it's because a
segment of the members want to read these types of things on HN. That you are
uninterested in this specific topic does not mean it's outside of HN's
accepted role.

> Lots of people enjoy reading about ponies, but you don't see a lot of
> articles about ponies on HN, and I don't think many people think that's a
> bad thing.

Don't be silly, the context is HN, making that point moot. The argument isn't
about general wants and desires, but what people want to read here on HN.

Anyways, my point is, and was, you can either be a part of the problem, or
part of the solution. If you want to see different articles, submit them!
Ignore the ones that you aren't interested in. Flag articles that don't
belong. You can either be a positive force, or a negative one.

------
shimfish
It's simply stunning to me to see how long it's taken the computer geeks to
work this out. Apple stopped making toys for you over a decade ago and you are
only just realising it now?

I guess this is another consequence of the filter bubble. As all we read on
the internet is the opinion of other geeks, we forget that geeks are
hopelessly outnumbered by normals and they are the ones Apple is targeting and
reaping the rewards.

This was always Steve Jobs vision and it's not like it was a secret.

However, the most ludicrous part of this post is the suggestion that Apple
would be best served as a company making servers again and trying its best to
grab back that lucrative desktop linux market.

This, in a nutshell, is why Apple was revolutionary. The geeks just simply
didn't see normal people and made hardware and software that suited their own
needs and behold, it sucked mightily. Apple made the step of putting the
normal person first and, shockingly, normal people decided to pay good money
for their products.

All of this should be obvious to anyone who reads HN and witnessed Apples
meteoric rise. It's a bit disconcerting to discover that apparently it isn't.

~~~
danieldk
There is also a contingent of UNIX users who use Mac OS X pragmatically. I
have never had the illusion that Apple wasn't a consumer device company at
heart. But Macs have been great UNIX workstations for the last decade or so.
Once they make more serious attempts to turn their laptop line into 'iOS
computers', I'll switch back to Linux or BSD. But for now, it is good hardware
with a good UNIX operating system.

~~~
demallien
I just bought a MacBook Air last week, after a 2 year break without a Mac
laptop. I had been using Lion and Mountain Lion on a Mac Mini, but the last
week or so have been a revelation for me. Crazy battery life (about 9 hours of
normal programming), full screen apps with swiping to switch between them,
fast fast fast at everyday operations thanks to the SSD, the whole thing is at
the same time a major turn towards iDevice-ification, and a giant leap forward
in usability for laptops.

I wonder how many people worrying about iOS-ification are:

a) running Lion, where the transition was still in mid-course, or

b) using a desktop, where the design decisions aren't so obviously right (my
Mac Mini for example has a huge monitor, hence I'm less inclined to use full-
screen apps)

In case a), there were definite weakness in Lion. Full-screen apps hadn't yet
made their near-global appearance, and Spaces was ... weird. These problems
have been shaken out in Mountain Lion. For b) it seems to me that OSX has been
optimised for the laptop environment, where screen real-estate is limited. If
you aren't using full-screen as your standard app config, you're missing out
on some of what makes Mountain Lion a great experience).

When I compare all of this to the laptop I use at work, a Dell running Fedora,
there is no comparison. My Mac is a far, far better development machine (well,
aside from the fact that brew is weak sauce compared to a full-blown yum, but
then this is not news). It's not a question of there being pros and cons on
each side, my Mac is simply better for pretty much any metric I care to
imagine.

Which is not to say that some people may not have genuine grievances with the
current Mac platform. I just wanted to add my own personal experience - going
from being mildly disappointed by Lion to completely wowed by Mountain Lion.

~~~
c3d
To address your points:

\- Lion is very fast with a SSD, but definitely slower than 10.6 with a
regular hard disk. Hence the difference in perception between various people.

\- The whole-screen app stuff is a good idea, but the implementation sucks on
multiple monitors, which many geeks use (the problem is: when you go full
screen on one monitor, the other no longer shows anything by gray linen)

\- Many features were removed for what seems to be no good reason, e.g. RSS
feeds.

\- Some iPad-like behaviors make little sense on a desktop, e.g. automatically
closing Safari if idle for a while. It takes several seconds to open a web
link just because it has to relaunch the application.

\- Annoying for my company, Taodyne (3D presentations): stereoscopy used to be
perfectly stable on 10.6, unstable since 10.7, to the point of causing kernel
panics or system freezes regularly.

\- Memory management has been a weak point since Rhapsody. In Rhapsody, you
could crash the system simply by zooming in Preview. Today, you can still halt
your top-of-the-line system to a crawl simply by running a process that eats
all available memory. I'd much rather have an easy quota system where I can
say "unless otherwise specified, no app can take more than 1/4th of available
RAM". Or a paging system that makes smarter decisions and keeps the
"interactive" stuff resident enough that I can still kill the offending
process.

\- Tons of annoying little bugs at the lowest levels, and you really wonder
what was broken there that they needed to fix. Like the mouse cursor that
sometimes disappears. Or the keyboard that sometimes forgets half the keys you
type. Or Safari that stops refreshing part of the screen. Or moving a window
across monitors that now causes the window and background icons to blink. And
so on. Lion does not feel as polished as Snow Leopard.

Overall, I still like Apple products, but I definitely see them losing their
edge on the software quality front. I think that Maps on iOS is just the most
glaring example, but it's not the only one.

~~~
danieldk
_\- Lion is very fast with a SSD, but definitely slower than 10.6 with a
regular hard disk. Hence the difference in perception between various people._

I'd like to see this backed up by numbers. Sure, Lion and Mountain Lion are
quite slow on spinning platters, but OS X feels almost an order of magnitude
faster since I had an SSD. Much faster than Snow Leopard with a hard disk. The
numbers are also on my side, an SSD completely blows away hard disks both in
access times and read/write speed.

 _but the implementation sucks on multiple monitors_

Indeed. Big time. It works ok on the road, but when I have an external screen
connected I never use full screen support. It would be easy to make things
better: allow users to put another full-screen application (or desktop) on the
secondary screen.

 _Tons of annoying little bugs at the lowest levels, and you really wonder
what was broken there that they needed to fix. Like the mouse cursor that
sometimes disappears._

I really disliked Lion for all its bugs. But things have been steadily
improving since Mountain Lion, to the point where even iMessage works most of
the time in 10.8.2 ;).

~~~
demallien
I think c3d is right in that Lion and Mountain Lion are slower than Snow
Leopard if you don't have an SSD. It seems to me that recently Apple have been
designing OSX with SSD-equipped computers as the target. They assume that you
will have fast read times, and use algorithms to optimise that. For example,
they 'deactivate' applications that aren't being used, because they know they
can restart them from SSD very quickly, which in turn frees up physical RAM,
which speeds the computer up elsewhere. The problem is that if you _don't_
have an SSD, this decision is catastrophic for performance. As always, Apple
are skating to where the puck is going to be, not where it is...

------
cageface
_iCloud is a joke. Like eWorld. Like .Mac. Like MobileMe. You can’t do this
stuff._

This, I predict, is going to turn out to be Apple's achilles heel. They make
great hardware and their software is good enough but they just don't get
services.

Google does services better than anybody and they're quickly closing the other
gaps.

~~~
amadeus
I don't know if you can justify statement like that from the proposed
evidence.

The App Store and iTunes Store are pretty damned successful services, whether
you like them or not.

iCloud is not a joke, it does it's job well for the 99%. I turn on my new
phone, enter my apple id, and I have all my settings, apps, etc synced and
ready to go.

~~~
ripperdoc
That is true, but they all represent somehow the older version of connected
software, as a pure extension of the device rather than a service on it's own.
iCloud works great for a device as an invisible backup, but you can't use it
to share files, co-operate, publish, share data between applications, etc. And
I'd say the popular web services of today are so because they integrate across
services and socialize the usage. Apple are still stuck 5-10 years behind.

~~~
alexatkeplar
Agreed. The Maps fiasco is a great illustration of how Apple have an
institutional blind spot around the complexity of doing online, data-driven
services right - and won't invest (despite $120bn in the bank) properly to
deliver these. This is the single biggest thing that relegates them to "just a
consumer electronics" firm - and as we know, CE firms are lucky to have 10
years on top.

The other interesting data point is the bidding for the new TLDs in summer
2012
([http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/rss/1136468/Amazon-G...](http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/rss/1136468/Amazon-
Google-domain-name-frenzy/)). Amazon and Google bidded on 150+ new TLDs
between them. Apple? With $120bn in the bank, they applied for... .apple. Even
Microsoft understood the potential importance of this more than Apple (they
applied for 5 or so - .live, .docs, .bing etc).

~~~
cageface
_This is the single biggest thing that relegates them to "just a consumer
electronics" firm - and as we know, CE firms are lucky to have 10 years on
top._

Yeah this is the thing exactly. Amazon and Google are essentially content
plays in mobile. Devices can come and go but as long as people are using their
services they're making money.

Apple is a hardware play and that gave them a big first-mover advantage but
unless they can keep coming up with iPhone/iPad level home runs that advantage
deteriorates quickly. I will never buy anything in iBooks, for example,
because I don't want to be limited to Apple's devices to read my books, even
if I do currently have an iPhone, iPad and MBA.

They do have some platform tie-in with iTunes Music but the writing is on the
wall there. Subscription models are the way forward.

~~~
hippee-lee
I'm not sold on the long term benefit to subscription models. A well curated
library has much more appeal to me than an all you can eat buffet. I have
recently seen this with Netflix great service but the content I would miss the
most is the kid shows that my daughter watches. The tv and movies I look
forward to watching with her are not on there so in one form or snouty I
curate a library that I only have to pay for once.

Same for magazines and book. I keep a few subscriptions but mainly consume the
content once. When I find a good book, one I will read again I put it on my
library shelf and come back to it later. Subscriptions for media lock me into
a singe channel if I ever want to go back. And like Netflix, who has to
negotiate with the content providers for their content, with subscriptions
there is no guarantee the 5-10% of quality content I like will be there when I
come back.

------
nicholassmith
I've been a Mac user for nearly a decade, first machine I bought was a G4 12"
iBook. My Uni final year project was a Cocoa app when saying "Hey I'm making a
Mac App!" got you strange looks. I've also developed on Linux for work for
about 5/6 years. Sometimes, even cross-platform OS X/Linux development.

Has the situation changed and 'nerds' are no longer Apple's target market?
Kind of. A bit. If you cared about upgradability and taking that machine and
using it for 6 years and it being awesome then sure, Apple's changed. It's not
for you. If like me you came to Apple as you had _no interest_ in upgrading a
machine, ever, at all, then they've not changed.

I still have: a built in, relatively decent Terminal. I have command line
build tools (and yes we can argue about the quality, and whether Apple should
be forking their own versions, but that's a topic for another day). Apple
ships their own IDE & SDK for the system, to anyone, and they've done that for
as long as I've been using them as well.

Apple reducing upgradability isn't them thumbing their noses at us. When they
release a version of the OS without a Terminal we can all go "Well, Apple has
moved on from us developers", or if they pull XCode from the App Store. Until
then, it's Apple improving _their_ products inline with what a large portion
of people want.

~~~
bambax
> _If like me you came to Apple as you had no interest in upgrading a machine,
> ever, at all, then they've not changed._

Not true; at some point in time versions of OS X kind of stop working (no new
version of Firefox or Chrome for you if you're running anything prior to 10.5
for example).

~~~
nicholassmith
Sorry, I should have been more clear about hardware upgrading versus software
upgrading. But you do raise an interesting point, as Apple progresses their
software so do companies, so if Firefox and Chrome no longer work then is that
the responsibility of Apple? I'd say no, and I'd say OS X 10.5 is still a
mighty good OS with excellent features throughout, but I don't blame FF and
Chrome for moving forward.

------
revscat
You know, I was so happy when I discovered HN. It is normally such a
refreshing respite from all the other tech blogs and aggregators, and from
/r/tech in particular.

But over the past few weeks I keep seeing vapid, information-less articles
like this make it to the front page, and it's pretty disappointing to see
happen. The knee-jerk anti-Apple sentiments seem to have infected even this
(mostly) austere and considerate site.

I hope this is a temporary thing.

~~~
hack_edu
It's not a temporary thing, and in fact had been going on for a few years now.
We are currently in the phase of blatant link bait self posted blogs gaming
the front page. Prior to this tend for the past year or so, there was the
"rah-rah look at this cool startup and secretly plug my own" phase. The
current one will likely continue until a big bust or something else comes
along. Likely the latter.

------
redial
To all of those complaining about the new Apple devices, _this_ is what you
should do. You should vote with your wallet.

I don't think that you are going to change Apple's mind, but this is the only
way they'll listen.

Personally, I think they are to far gone by now. The money pouring in has
simply been to much to ignore. It's not the computer for the rest of us any
more...It's the computer for the rest of them...

(I am one of _them_ , I just understand your argument and your frustration)

~~~
ricw
The problem is that we don't have a choice. There's only one premium option to
go for. And it's apple. It's surprising how none of the others have at least
created a luxury brand, similar to Toyota/Lexus or Volkswagen/Audi.

~~~
LinXitoW
What about Thinkpads? They seem to be Windows/Linux equivalent of the
Macbooks.

~~~
moistgorilla
Thinkpads aren't pretty enough for the average apple user.

------
bpatrianakos
This sounds more like bandwagon-backlash than the real thing. There's no
reasons here. Just a bunch of recycled generic complaints that are pretty
trendy to toss around about Apple these days. The next cool thing is hating
Apple so all the Apple users will probably write more articles like this and
we'll have to read it every day on the front page. Brace yourselves.

~~~
vitalique
I don't get why the parent is being downvoted and I dislike silent knee-jerk-
downvoting at HN very much.

I'm absolutely orthogonal to Apple's services and devices - just never used
them, and article does not seem to shed almost any lights on whether I should
or shouldn't try to. Actually, it confuses me even more: author dislikes
Apple's services (or does he? he's been so enthusiastic in the past!), makes
some unclear points about Apple being a 'consumer electronics company now',
and then suddenly wraps up with him being perfectly happy with his MacBook Pro
today. Now throw in a pathetic iTitle and prepare your WordPress to be hit by
the frontpages of the Internet. Am I missing something?

What the article does show clearly though is that we're in urgent need of some
nagging/whining detector, if not for the whole Internet then at least for HN's
frontpage.

------
blhack
Apple is making the exact same mistake the RIM made. They've gone from
targeting hardcore fans, to targeting teenagers.

The problem is that teenagers are quick to jump ship to the coolest new thing.
Apple has been making "coolest new thing" for a while, but they're getting
really popular now, which seems to be inversely proportional to "cool".

For RIM, they moved away from targeting hardcore, email-addicted business
people, and it made them vulnerable enough to get killed.

Apple is doing the same thing.

~~~
jusben1369
What happened to RIM is that all they were left with was their hardcore,
email-addicted, security minded end users and corporations. But that proved to
be a small subset of their overall user base. The majority (me) jumped ship
when the iPhone came along. Why? Mobile email was critical to us because we
were always on the move. The apps that you could get on the iPhone - whether a
2 hour movie for a plane ride or a flight app that let me understand where my
plane was before the gal at the counter did, or maps that let me find a
Starbucks near the meeting - more than made up for the slightly less (then)
optimal email vs a BB. RIM had to move. They just moved poorly because they
couldn't adjust.

~~~
Spooky23
The RIM situation was even worse than you describe. It was actually very
similar to Nextel's earlier fast rise and collapse.

They saw erosion in their enterprise sales, but missed the fact that the
superior web browsing experience and eventually applications on the iPhone was
driving folks away. They honestly thought that their keyboard was still a key
differentiator that folks cared about.

So they stuffed the channel in the low end of the market, and pushed the cheap
text messaging of BBM as the core offering. Suddenly sketchy cell phone kiosks
are pushing BlackBerries, and they became the new T-Mobile Sidekick. Just like
with Nextel, that low end push tainted the brand, as thugs and drug dealers
learned quickly that BBM (like DirectConnect) was initially not interceptable.

------
nostromo
The ironic ending of the blog post is interesting. He's running Ubuntu... on a
MacBook Pro.

Even if you hate the software and all things iOS, it's hard to find a better
designed laptop.

~~~
primitur
I've been trying to kick the Apple habit since I got my first tiBook, which
was the _revelation_ for me at the time, that Apple of all people were
producing the Unix laptop, and also making the physicality of the thing
badass.

So, in my effort to stay true to my Unix'ish roots, I've gotten a Motorola
Lapdock real cheap, its at least as comfy as a macbook Air, and I'm plugging
in things like .. raspberryPi, MK802/808 Android or Ubuntu sticks, my desktop
'slab PC', and so on. I think I'm close to kicking the habit - they /really/
lost me at the drop of the MacbookPro17" .. my existing one will run into the
ground, and I will soon put Linux on it.

In the meantime, I would suggest that those looking for an alternative to the
sexy nature of the hardware aspect, albeit with a little extra effort,
switching to Ubuntu-on-a-Stick is really a pleasant treat.

~~~
Terretta
> _they /really/ lost me at the drop of the MacbookPro17"_

I feel your pain! It was the only laptop with enough screen real estate and
power to work as a desktop on the road.

But lately with the increasingly draconian carry-on restrictions I've
downsized my luggage, and turns out my MPB17 _just barely_ doesn't fit in a
16x13x7 bag (that fits in the new commuter jet regs). The MBPr15 fits, has
_more_ screen res, and is lighter. So I had been planning an upgrade. If the
new MBPr13 had dual graphics I'd be willing to even go with that as it would
fit in my puddle jumper bag's outside pocket.

But... This past year the outsized MBP17 had me trying out my iPad 3 instead,
and now I'm not sure I need a laptop for travel at all.

~~~
primitur
Yeah I'm closely watching the tablet space, if I can get a 17" tablet with
ultra-high res, plug in a PC-on-a-stick, and use a keyboard with it, I'll have
my development machine again. I just can't really sit there for long on a 15"
screen, its not wide-view enough for my liking .. and the MBP17" was,
ultimately, my main machine. Oh well.

------
gramsey
> You are about unit sales now. You need more and more consumers to want to
> get the latest Apple device. I get it. I don’t agree with it, but that is
> where you are now.

This author seems personally hurt by the fact that Apple rapidly releasing new
devices, as if he feels that he is being obligated to purchase the latest
products as soon as they come out and doesn't want to.

Is there a small, vocal minority of the Apple fanbase that _has_ to have the
latest thing? Certainly. But the average user does not, and has no need to
upgrade their Macbook Air just because a new one comes out a year later. In
fact, I've had mine for a year and a half, and I have no need or desire to
upgrade anytime soon.

> I didn’t jump at the iPhone 5. I wasn’t in-line on day one like I was with
> the iPhone 3 and iPhone 4. I am unsure why I just didn’t care anymore.

Great, you don't need to care! Before the iPhone was released, would you have
stood in line for a phone at all? I know people who still use the iPhone 3G
and have no issues, because they don't _need_ a retina display or the ability
to run intense games, they just want a phone that works.

Either this author:

(1) Wants to have bleeding-technology all the time but is offended by the fact
that he would have to pay for it often, or (2) Is so brainwashed by the
blogomania surrounding Apple that he is unsatisfied with the fact that the
company keeps fairly rapid release cycles, therefore causing his products to
technically be "older versions".

------
pirateking
Computer as appliance means not a general-purpose computer. If you cannot use
it to execute your own code and access the hardware, then it is not general-
purpose. That means the new wave of locked down computers are instead multi-
purpose computers - those purposes being defined by what it cannot do.

Apple makes damn good multi-purpose machines for the most common purposes of
most people - which they have consistently explained is their company's goal
forever. Just look at their general-purpose tools (XServe, Mac Pro, Developer
Tools) being neglected, and single-purpose machines being cannibalized (iPod)
or taken lightly (Apple TV).

All of Apple's lineup is of respectable quality, but it is obvious where the
focus is converging. Now there is an opening for others to explore new
general-purpose and single-purpose machines.

------
forthewyn
Quite honestly, this kind of post just makes me want to hurl. The OP was NEVER
the target market for Apple, it just so happened that Apple's design choices
coincided with his or her needs.

If you ever thought Apple's primary target market was uber-geeks, you were
seriously deluding yourself. The reason so many of us were drawn to OSX was
that it runs Mach _BSD under the hood - so yay, we all get a nice convenient
UNIX(TM) workstation that also runs commercial software and games.

I've got to admit I'm getting awfully sick of this kind of meaningless hand
wringing. You want commodity hardware and the ability to tinker with
_everything* then by all means go buy a Linux box, just don't get all high and
mighty and act as if Apple has betrayed you, because from their perspective
exactly _nothing_ has changed.

~~~
gavinlynch
I'm amazed it took so long for someone to make this point. That was going to
be my only response: "Yes, you're right. You're not the target market. End of
Story."

------
netcan
This emotion in this blog is in a lot of ways revealing about Apple. The
writer sounds hurt. I don't think Microsoft would have attracted this kind of
response.

For me, I tend to look at changes in terms of their effect on the ecosystem as
whole. From that perspective, I'm very glad that Apple exist, as they are.

I like that Apple is fanatically adherent to its ideologies. Taking things to
extremes is also a good way of discovering principles and the uncovering the
costs of compromises. In any case, I think

An ipad is extremely simple. The pool of people who can become completely
comfortable with it in a few days is larger then for any other computer. It's
metaphors are tidiest. An iOS app is a more clearly defined concept, for
example, then it is on Android.

A fanatic trying to prove that a simple life on $500 per person per month is
the ideal way of living probably isn't right, but she is _useful_ to have in
your life. She will probably make all sorts of discoveries that will enhance
_your_ life, even if you don't buy her entire ideology. In your life you will
be making all sorts of compromises. These have tradeoffs. Inevitably you will
be wrong about the pros & cons of some choices.

Maybe glued together hardware is not worth the tradeoff. Maybe it is. Maybe it
is sometimes. Now we get to find out.

At the end of 2012, things look better than they did 1 year ago from this
perspective. We have several viable operating systems from three very
different companies. It seems likely & possible that new entrants will appear
if those three don't cover all needs.

------
jtokoph
As long as OS X still includes Terminal.app and lets me install other apps
without using the App Store, I'm still hooked.

~~~
drivebyacct2
I've always said this too, but looking at things like Facebook, Twitter, iOS,
the last thing I want is to keep sacrificing to walled gardens where I have to
play by someone elses' rules.

GateKeeper, to Mac developers, is playing by Apple's rules. I don't think it's
a conspiracy to say that it will tilt the favor towards those who utilize the
very closed (in multiple senses of the word) App Store over regular
applications.

~~~
pi18n
Can devs sign apps with a self-signed root? If that's not possible, it's a
closed garden already. And even if it is we can't be certain that they won't
change it to App Store only in the future.

~~~
drivebyacct2
Users can disable the check.

~~~
pi18n
That's a nonanswer; the majority of users does not know what the hell that is,
and the people that do are going to think twice about disabling system-wide
security to run some app.

~~~
drivebyacct2
I wasn't taking a side. I already expressed worry about it. I answered the
question the best I could. Nowhere do I seek to dispel concern about Apple
becoming more closed, in fact, that was kind of my lead in...

------
Derbasti
I feel exactly the same way. And just like the author. I don't quite fully
understand why.

By the way, I don't think the author is really criticizing Apple much. He just
recognizes that Apple's vision is no longer in line with his own.

~~~
supercoder
I wonder what _was_ the vision he thought he shared with Apple ?

If you reverse all his points then it seems like in his mind Apple provided
ultra customisable hardware and software with great options for the
enterprise. I don't remember that Apple.

~~~
Derbasti
There is that vision of the Unix with a nice UI.

------
caublestone
Why does this have to be such a negative article? I would prefer to see a
praising of how great the latest Ubuntu is in detail. Intro with "I've been a
power mac user for x years..." and then go on to sing the praises.

~~~
Maci
Doesn't have the intro you posit and maybe a slight off topic in places. But
perhaps informative. <http://eggfreckles.net/notes/my-week-with-linux/>

------
bbotond
The title should say iRecognition. IRecognition looks like a C# interface.

~~~
zephjc
It is on the site - for better or worse, HN auto-capitalizes submission titles

------
BenoitEssiambre
I wish to concur the statement that Ubuntu is now the fastest most user
friendly modern OS out there.

Try it you might be surprised.

~~~
SquareWheel
Has much changed in two years? Every once in a while I hear Linux is finally
user friendly, and I go try it and my multiple monitors don't work and my
graphics card drivers require manual installation and I get constantly riddled
with permissions prompts which I'm sure is necessary but still annoys me as an
end user.

~~~
djisjke
It has. But there is still the ol' quirks. I had problems with sounds on
ubuntu on my ThinkPad. I had to install XFCE for it to play nice with 2
monitors (since the gpu in the old laptop is kind of sucky). But Macosx has
even worse compability, so if you buy computer parts that are knows to play
nice with linux you'll have a swell time :).

Also, when you start playing with tiling window managers you'll be glad you
don't have a mac.

------
sjmulder
I don’t agree with the point on convergence. It seems clear to me that Apple
is not turning OS X into iOS. It’s still very much a WIMP interface best
suited for keyboard and mouse. Windows 8 is a good example of PC/tablet
convergence, and however much you like or dislike that approach, it’s the
opposite of what Apple is doing.

On some other points I do agree, like the gluing down and lack of
expandability/repairability.

------
logn
I think the author is maybe reading too many Apple fanboy blogs. Apple still
makes OS X and all the developer tools. Developing for iOS is far easier than
Android.

Sure the Mac is becoming more of an appliance but with stagnant hardware
speeds is it that big of a deal? Also, Apple has been hostile to DIY repairs
and add-ons since forever. I remember being 12 years old arguing on the
1-800-APPL-SOS help line that 3rd party RAM was not causing my problem and no
I wouldn't uninstall it to get help.

Apple relies on its developers to power the App Store. They (hopefully) won't
forget that. I'm not worried.

You don't hear anyone ever talking about how awesome Apple Logic is for making
music or how easy Final Cut Pro is for video. They still make them and they're
great quality. Just because the masses of Apple reporters aren't focused on
your baby doesn't mean Apple doesn't care about it. Apple is just selling
their profit vision to investors.

~~~
randomdata
_Apple relies on its developers to power the App Store. They (hopefully) won't
forget that._

Well, I'm sure they won't forget the 25 [1]. They may forget about everyone
else though.

[1] [http://techcrunch.com/2012/12/04/analyst-
just-25-developers-...](http://techcrunch.com/2012/12/04/analyst-
just-25-developers-grabbed-50-of-app-revenues-on-u-s-app-store-google-play-
last-month-earning-60m-between-them/)

------
macrael
Using the svtle theme while not being part of svtle comes off as really slimy.
You are ripping off someone else's work and there are no two ways about it.

~~~
TallboyOne
<https://github.com/gravityonmars/wp-svbtle>

~~~
macrael
Exactly? No one should use that theme.

~~~
aabc
I Agree.

------
rayiner
These articles are such a load of crap, for a simple reason: Mac is still the
development environment for iPad, and Apple is all about Apps, Apps, Apps.

OS X is better and faster than it has ever been. It's not any more locked down
than it has ever been. It has more features than it ever has. Apple's laptops
are less upgradable, but since when have laptops been particularly upgradable?

You can do "real work" on an iPad. It's a phenomenal machine for consuming and
producing text. As a lawyer I spend my life reading or writing text. The
retina screen is an absolute revelation for that. I can't run CAD programs on
it, but then again I never did on my Mac either.

------
nextstep
Apple still makes the Mac Pro if you're bent on physically upgrading your
computer yourself.

~~~
wtn
Or, get an i7 Mac mini and put an SSD in it.

~~~
bitcartel
Does it have a standard SATA connector, or does it have the Apple-only-
modified SATA connector as found in the rMBP?

~~~
rangibaby
There are two regular SATA ports on the logic board.

~~~
pepsi
Well, two regular ports but the second one is at an odd angle. An adapter[1]
is required to fill the second spot if you buy your Mini with only one drive.

[1][http://www.ifixit.com/Apple-Parts/Mac-Mini-Dual-Hard-
Drive-K...](http://www.ifixit.com/Apple-Parts/Mac-Mini-Dual-Hard-Drive-
Kit/IF171-005)

------
TwiztidK
As far as the non-upgradability of the rMBP, I don't think it's as much of a
dealbreaker as some people, but Apple really could've done better. Develop a
new type of low profile memory module and SSD, I'm sure some people would
complain but it would be replaceable/upgradable.

~~~
bitcartel
Apple butchered the standard SATA connector so you can't use third party SSDs
from OCZ, Mushkin, Transcend, AData, Kingston etc.

Only one vendor, OWC (MacSales), ships a compatible SSD, but of course you
can't use it in non-Apple laptops which have a standard SATA connector.

Picture in article here: [http://www.mactrast.com/2012/11/apple-ssds-and-the-
fusion-dr...](http://www.mactrast.com/2012/11/apple-ssds-and-the-fusion-drive-
ripoff/)

~~~
raverbashing
Manufacturers will come up with adaptors or compatible drives, shouldn't take
long

~~~
curiousdannii
They shouldn't need to when the only difference is the physical shape of the
connector.

------
tharris0101
Full Disclosure: I'm an Apple user that has been criticizing them for the last
few years for a variety of things but...

This article (at least the first half) comes down to:

Apple makes products that don't suit me (okay, so don't buy an iPad).

Apple has glued their new screens to the metal (Is this really that big of a
deal?).

Apple uses proprietary screws (This has been done for years)

There are lots of things in the curated Mac App Store that are of no use to
him (So don't use the App Store or don't buy apps that are useless to you)

In the comments, the OP admits that he will continue to use Apple hardware
because it is the best but will run Linux (Apple makes their money off
hardware sales, so its of no loss to them).

There are many reasons to criticize Apple lately, I just don't see these
reasons as having merit.

------
hcarvalhoalves
More Apple drama on the front page?

------
ripperdoc
I can sympathize and I feel less content with Apple than I used to. I love
their hardware - anyway I always find myself buying a new device rather than
upgrading. Apple does great stuff but as other's I'm really worried that they
won't fix their awkardness with the web.

But another note - how come no one can throw in a bit of analysis to back up
these kind of argument? Otherwise it just seems like typical disillusionment
(as products and companies inevitably evolve). As such it doesn't mean
anything, it just means one person with a blog decided to use Ubuntu. There is
a guy with a blog for every product that has ever changed. Throw in some
analysis, and it may make a bigger difference.

------
aabc
I don't get this. Why are you using svbtle theme if you don't belong to the
svbtle community ? I know there is some wordpress theme out there that clones
svbtle but it's not an excuse.

Using svbtle theme does not make you smarter.

~~~
pjzedalis
Perhaps he found the clone and liked it. It is possible he had no idea what
svbtle is. It's also possible he does not care.

Knowing he is not in svbtle does not make you smarter.

------
ebbv
Another day another one of these absurd, self-righteous blog posts.

What's hilarious to me is that only Apple draws this kind of posturing and
absurdity.

You don't see blog posts like this about Dell or Sony. But you DID see posts
like this about Microsoft in the '90s.

It's really more about standing up and decrying whatever company is on top
than anything else. People feel like by slagging on the top tech company they
are taking a stance as an independent, righteous, thoughtful person.

When in reality they are taking the most obvious, boring position available.

~~~
forthewyn
A-men. The self righteous tone gets SO old after a while.

What's also strange to me is that these posts get the up votes they do. is
this REALLY news to anyone?

------
kayoone
The thing is, every company in the comsumer PC space would go the exact same
route as Apple if they could. Look at Dell, HP etc trying to mimic Apples
every move in the consumer computing space. Microsoft doing an AppStore model
in Windows 8 etc. If its not Apple, somebody else would gladly take its place
and it might be the fate of any of todays most popular consumer computing
company.

Now of course you can still use Linux and build your own PC, but you will, and
have always been, a minority in the market.

~~~
greedo
I'm old. I remember back in the 70's, a neighbor of my grandparents who was
building his own color TV. This was probably around 1973, and I think it might
have been a HeathKit. I thought that was the coolest thing! Unsurprisingly,
there weren't a lot of people building their own TVs.

I've paid my dues, physically building servers, installing various BSDs from
stacks of CDs, fighting with compilers on Solaris x86, queuing my jobs on my
university's PDP11. Now I'm content to just use OSX, or RHEL, or even AIX if
required. But I continually try to avoid transferring my own preferences into
a jeremiad against whatever's popular.

Apple will continue to do well as long as it serves its customers. It's gone
from being Apple Computers Inc. to Apple. That's a hint of where they see
their focus being.

------
epaga
The site isn't working for me, here it is in Google Cache:
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://mergy.org/2012/12/irecognition-
i-am-no-longer-apples-target-market/&hl=en&tbo=d&strip=1)

------
glogla
Sadly, I'm still in Apple's target market, because Lenovo is unable to put
reasonable displays in their 14" laptops.

------
JuDue
If you want an upgradable computer, then all-in-one designs were never going
to be the economical path.

Predicting this guy just needs to wait to see the next Mac Pro.

I'm still delighted with Apple.

Both iOS and OSX are prime for some rethinking (beyond a few licks of paint).
But I do think Apple is in a far better position to do this well and in their
own time now the Windows 8 threat has imploded on itself (somewhat ... well,
at least it's not found huge momentum yet).

------
jsz0
Couldn't disagree more. I'm very happy with Apple's current software/hardware
products. Won't bother to go into detail since the author doesn't go into
detail much with his gripes either. Not worth the keystrokes. (semi related
I'm downright giddy about the new iTunes. I think it's a great sign of where
Apple's desktop software is heading)

------
calinet6
What a tired, sensationalist argument.

Use what you like, embrace change, stop complaining.

------
PagingCraig
Boring rant piece.

------
phy6
Man, his phrasing is awkward and annoying.

------
derleth
A serious Mac-head going Ubuntu. I am also surprised, and I've been running
Linux since before Ubuntu even existed, back in the before-time when Red Hat
was the default distro.

But I refuse to be a partisan anymore. I remember when Apple was ... well,
remember Mac OS 8? Remember the time before the iMac? Those computers made me
wonder how newspapers _ever_ got published. So I'm happy the Mac people have
(mostly) _usable_ (by their standards) hardware and software now, as long as
I'm not forced to use it.

~~~
mdonahoe
I haven't used Ubuntu in two years. Is it true that there are now ads in it?

Edit: I am referring to this
[http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/09/22/1319216/ubuntu-
will-n...](http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/09/22/1319216/ubuntu-will-now-
have-amazon-ads-pre-installed)

I haven't seen them first hand, but I was hoping someone might give their
opinion here.

~~~
jarek
I clean-installed Ubuntu 12.10 last weekend. Out of the box it has an Amazon
icon in the side 'dock', I removed it and don't remember what it does.
Searching with the 'dash' search box does bring up results from Amazon. The
alt-f2 run box, while looking the same as the search box except for saying
"run a command" instead of "search", does not perform the Amazon searches.
Personally I wouldn't really consider it obtrusive, especially since I've been
living with alt-f2 and dock autohiding. I had to go out of my way to find out
how to bring up the ads.

Aside from that, I'm pretty disappointed with the desktop environment. It's
pretty but managing windows is a pain (can't easily alt-tab into a specific
terminal window, for instance; it also hijacks Alt key to enable menu item
search). I'm looking to replace it soon, but then again I'm probably not the
user Ubuntu is primarily targeting these days.

~~~
danieldk
You can disable ads in the Privacy settings. More here:

[https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/10/privacy-
ubuntu-1210-am...](https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/10/privacy-
ubuntu-1210-amazon-ads-and-data-leaks)

To be honest, I found the ads to be quite annoying, I usually start
applications by pressing the Super key and then typing the name. I don't see
how showing Amazon search results for "terminal" or "chrome" are relevant.

I am happy that they accept donations on the download page now. Hopefully this
will reduce the need for such experiments.

------
rymith
I am so tired of this bullshit. The iMac was never upgradeable, and it isn't
designed to be. You needed two giant suction cups to get into it, and less
than 0.5% of iMac owners ever did this. To buy an all in one for it's
upgradability is simply retarded. You could upgrade the RAM or the hard drive,
and on the new 27", you can upgrade the RAM with the push of a button.

So lets please cut the straw man arguments. You want to be cool for hating on
Apple, and decided that ignominious post would do it. The problem, you just
look like a fool. Apple has never made an easily upgradeable all in one, And
yet, if you want to customize a Mac, you still have that option with the
MacPro.

Lets call out the real reason; you want to feel cool. You felt Apple made you
cool when they had a tiny market share, but now has too many users for you to
feel exclusive.

------
drivebyacct2
In my opinion, it's simple.

5 years ago, Apple was seemingly "light years" ahead of everyone. Kowtowing
wasn't really even a thought because so much more was being provided than
elsewhere that there was no real compromise to choose Apple.

That's not true and is increasingly more than just untrue...

