Why are some people so anti Apple?

[Kipper]

For those unsure of Macs, or those who are sure and need a new one, get down to Comet - 20% off! Bargain - get 'em because when they're gone, they're gone.

Make sure they're selling you a current model though. Comet, Dixons etc. have a nasty habit of selling old stock off as current models.

Had a look this morning - all current models and specs. As Comet are closing down, there are bargains to be had, but going fast. Went looking for a VHS/DVD combi unit, and local shop only had all singing and dancing Panasonic, with hard disc as well, reduced from £400+ by 20% - very very tempted.

[zwilnik]

Look at the current issues with music and ebook content - who owns the rights?  Can they revoke them at will?

In the case of iBooks, iTunes, App Store etc. you 'own' the media rather than rent it. Unlike Kindle where Amazon can remotely pull all copies of a title (and have done so in the past when in dispute with publishers), once you buy a book or song, you keep it. Even if Apple shut the whole system down, you'd still be able to use them. That's one reason why iTunes worked when all the music rental systems were failing. You can even pay £25 a year for iTunes Match now and own everything you've ripped to MP3 from wherever you got it as iTunes copies. Particularly handy if you've got a huge library of not quite so legitimately sourced music but also handy if you've ripped a huge CD collection and suddenly need a track on your computer, phone or tablet as you can re-download any of them from iCloud.

The actual license and rights etc. are down to the publishers of course.

[Bikeracer]

I've had a Mac for about a year now,if I want to upgrade to the latest software it's downloadable for about £20.00 I believe.I took the extended warranty out for a total of three years and that includes telephone support on an 0800 number and costs me nothing.

I have got Windows7 on the same machine so I can run some software that is windows specific,but the windows partition is not connected to the internet.This means I am not frequently waiting for windows to download and install the latest bug or security update,neither do I have to buy and run all the anti virus and anti spyware software.

When I bought the Mac it did not come with all the bloatware included that comes with Windows,some of which is a lot of trouble to get rid of.
It takes literally only a few minutes to get a brand new Mac up and running and set up email and internet as well,it's just so straight forward and easy to do.

Allan

[H]

Because they are one of the companies (along with Amazon, Google and Starbucks) who avoid paying corporation tax in the UK on UK generated profits and are basically cheating the tax payer. They managed to reduce their 'rate' to leass than 2% from just over 2% last year. It should be 24%.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20197710

H.

[zwilnik]

Because they are one of the companies (along with Amazon, Google and Starbucks) who avoid paying corporation tax in the UK on UK generated profits and are basically cheating the tax payer. They managed to reduce their 'rate' to leass than 2% from just over 2% last year. It should be 24%.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20197710

H.

They're not cheating the taxpayer, they're paying all the tax they're supposed to pay in the UK according to the law. Same with all of them, companies are entrusted by their shareholders to make profits and wasting it on tax that the law says they don't need to pay would be bad financial management. The government is cheating the taxpayer.

The issue there is simply that the tax law is wrong. There's loopholes you can drive the Flying Scotsman through. If you think any company in the UK is paying full corporation tax because they're 'nice' it's usually because they're either poorly managed or too small to afford the clever accountants.

[Newportnobby]

it did not come with all the bloatware included

Allan

Nice one, Allan A technical term I can understand

[tim-pelican]

I'll agree to some extent about the iBling problem being worse than the Mac one.  I have an iPhone, and I had an iPod before that.  My iPod lasted 8 years, and I only replaced it because my music collection had crept over 20G, and the connectors were starting to wear out.  Again, I bought both because I like what they did - but I agree there are plenty of people who have to have the latest because it's the latest.  And then they complain that Apple are releasing products too fast, and that they're too hard up! 

[Newportnobby]

Being somewhat of a music fanatic, when I went for a portable system I went for the iPod Classic 80GB. I have over 4000 songs on it and it's still only 25% full.
Have to admit I didn't even look at anything else, but it's the only Apple product I own although I am not anti-Apple in the slightest.
I can't get an all singing all dancing phone because the reception where I live is just so bad that nothing works

[longbridge]

I am not Anti anything but I do think Apple make idiots out of people with money to burn, iPhone 1,2,3,4,5, iPad this that and the other, iPod 4gig,8gig,16gig, more gigs more gigs.

I think its hilarious the way these Apple geeks cue up over night in teeming rain to get the latest iWhatever because it is thiner than the last one 

I have no intention of ever using anything Apple although many years ago I did have a freaky little computer that ran on floppy drives, by the same token I will never use anything that Microsoft has its badge on either, that includes tablets, phones or computers.

More than happy with my Android powered Samsung Smartphone and using Linux Mint as a operating system on my computers.

[Adam1701D]

As a long-time techie and tinkerer, I find Apple's "everything under one roof" approach restrictive but can see it would have appeal to a lot of folk.

Apple's wanton suing of their rivals is very worrying as it encourages an unfair monopoly and restricts innovation and competition. However, to give them credit, their suppliers have installed safety netting at their factory to catch workers trying to commit suicide. That's positive HR policy in action! 

[zwilnik]

As a long-time techie and tinkerer, I find Apple's "everything under one roof" approach restrictive but can see it would have appeal to a lot of folk.

Apple's wanton suing of their rivals is very worrying as it encourages an unfair monopoly and restricts innovation and competition. However, to give them credit, their suppliers have installed safety netting at their factory to catch workers trying to commit suicide. That's positive HR policy in action! 

Note that Apple actually pushed Foxconn to increase wages, improve conditions and give employees training on what their rights were etc. which none of the many other companies Foxconn manufactures smartphones and computers for (ie most of them) did. Apple got all the mentions in the press about bad conditions at Foxconn because mentioning Apple automatically gets you page views nowadays.

I wonder what the factory conditions in Bachmann and Dapol's Chinese factories are like?

[Oldman]

I am not anti apple and feel everyone is intitaled to their own likes and dislikes.
I have had 3 Ipods,
1 Shuffle, 1 2nd gen Nano  and a 80g classic. Don't use any of them now
I use an android tablet which i got given.
my phone is a cheap samsung on payg .
Past computers I have used ran Red Hat Linux and  am happy using software like Open Office, Foxit  but like the convenience of Windows for ease of interfacing with printers etc

[Malc]

I'm not sure if this is still the case but Apple used to give a 30% discount to Education users. It would still make a profit, even with that discount, so the rest of us are being grossly overcharged - and yes, I am using an iPad to write this.

[zwilnik]

I'm not sure if this is still the case but Apple used to give a 30% discount to Education users. It would still make a profit, even with that discount, so the rest of us are being grossly overcharged - and yes, I am using an iPad to write this.

Apple make a profit (although it's marginal on education AFIK) as they're a company. They don't cost more, Apple simply just don't make cheap computers. That's actually a bigger difference in meaning than it sounds.

[1936ace]

They are so up them selves here. They should not be. But then again that's what happens when you have a demand product. I'm not anti apple  we have  6 apple product plus the iTunes buts it's the way they run there local store, not very helpful "we at apple don't have to be because you will buy our stuff anyway". The reason I won't buy from their flagship stores
Bart