Why Apple is Bullsh!t Now

I gave up on Apple after I tried iTune on my PC. I purchased a few songs from iTune and after a some time I tried to move it to some cheap mp3 player – it was a nightmare – songs we protected, each one located is weird folder. I succeed after a long fight – it involved burning songs to CD. It convinced me not to touch Apple, but only just for fun I build Hackentosh and didn’t see any advantage over Win.

Now my wife bought iPhone and I tried to give her few audio books in mp3 format. In Android it is so simple – just move the files into the folder and you can listen. In iPhone, I had to install iTune on my Win10 PC, but books were converted to songs which of course changed the listening order. I found in iPhone audio books does not use mp3 format, I need to convert it to m4b format – so I am sure my wife next phone will be Android.

 

Apple's New Proprietary Software Locks Kill Independent Repair on New MacBook Pros

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/...pro-software-locks-prevent-independent-repair

Failure to run Apple's proprietary diagnostic software after a repair "will result in an inoperative system and an incomplete repair."

Apple has introduced software locks that will effectively prevent independent and third-party repair on 2018 MacBook Pro computers, according to internal Apple documents obtained by Motherboard. The new system will render the computer “inoperative” unless a proprietary Apple “system configuration” software is run after parts of the system are replaced.

According to the document, which was distributed to Apple’s Authorized Service Providers late last month, this policy will apply to all Apple computers with the “T2” security chip, which is present in 2018 MacBook Pros as well as the iMac Pro.

The software lock will kick in for any repair which involves replacing a MacBook Pro’s display assembly, logic board, top case (the keyboard, touchpad, and internal housing), and Touch ID board. On iMac Pros, it will kick in if the Logic Board or flash storage are replaced. The computer will only begin functioning again after Apple or a member of one of Apple’s Authorized Service Provider repair program runs diagnostic software called Apple Service Toolkit 2.

“For Macs with the Apple T2 chip, the repair process is not complete for certain parts replacements until the AST 2 System Configuration suite has been run. Failure to perform this step will result in an inoperative system and an incomplete repair,” the document reads. MacRumors reported the new policy earlier today.

...
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Figures. I'm sure Louis Rossmann will have some choice words for Apple over this. At least once he has resumed business operation following the recent building fire..

 

I use professional cad applications I can tell you there are no mainstream ones that run on mac's that do not run on windows and every cad designer I know and I know quite a few only use windows. When you buy better hardware 1/2 the price it becomes a no brainer as all that matters is processor and ram, GFX card's are almost irrelevant beyond basic rendering capabilities.

Apple does have the edge in the gfx market with pro's but this has nothing to do with capability but image.

Photoshop runs pretty much the same on both platforms, apple lack a killer app that is only available on OSX.

I found OSX appalling but as a linux (Primary) and windows (CAD only) user the limitations the Apple try to impose are intolerable.

 

Apple is paradoxically targeting the "pro" or "prosumer" market with the Mac while increasingly making the Mac a terrible bargain even for such users. They are increasingly relegated to Final Cut fanbois and fangurls, superficial people who want to be seen with Apple and, I dunno, people with more money than sense, I guess.

 

http://to-muse-and-abuse.blogspot.com/2014/10/skynet-attains-self-awarness-kills.html

 

One could hope. It could also react like another A.I...

http://marathon.bungie.org/story/durandal.html

UESCTerm 802.11 (remote override) 0422 08.25.2337
<32.55.82.967>

<Transfer Message Delayed>

<Transfer Message Delayed>

<Transfer Message Terminated>

"Count Roland smites upon the marble stone;
I cannot tell you how he hewed it and smote;
Yet the blade breaks not nor splinters, though it groans;
Upward to heaven it rebounds from the blow.
When the count sees it never will be broke,
Then to himself right softly he makes moan;
'Ah, Durandal, fair, hallowed, and devote,
What store of relics lies in thy hilt of gold!'"

-From The Song of Roland
(Translated by Dorothy Sayers, Viking Penguin, NY, NY, 1957)

I've twice been conquered-
Three times more,
Never again shall humanity purge me,
And never the Pfhor.

Durandal

<32.55.82.967>

PgUp/PgDn/Arrows to Scroll Return/Enter to Acknowledge


=============================================================


UESCTerm 802.11 (remote override) 0422 08.25.2337
<Warning: Transmission may not be complete>

Your last mission was a success, but I have terrible news.
#@Pragma Nautical Redefined^# efenders reported seeing the
aliens 1§moving a large cylindrical object.
#101111011110111100001# is is a '7'. Mjolnir Recon number 54
must stop them from exploding igniting/ blowing up/ *A94F12/
it/ the S'pht full spPace cOmputEr� Or PlannEd exterm.
@14.Sword-Roland.transfer

<Data Transmission Unsuccessful>
<Rerouting>

@@2-Fren. ie transfer. Partial cOmputEr^&ø relay. Tycho.
&**Security error.
Ty93.2 !dead.

<Leela Data Transfer Unsuccessful>
<Leela Program Pragma Ten>
Communication interruption cause: unknown
<Pre-Recorded Error Message Follows>

My original programming didn't prepare me for these kinds of
attackers. All of my functions will fail within a few minutes
of this transmission. I have one final chance to trick the
oncoming viruses, but it is unclear whether this attempt will
be successful.

I have given instructions to Durandal as to the best defense
of the Marathon, but he is completely unstable and I fear that
he is in the Jealous stage of Rampancy.

Good Luck...

<End Pre-Recorded Message>
<Teleporter Automatic Sequence start>

***JUMP PAD ACTIVATION INITIATION START***
***TRANSPORT WHEN READY***
PgUp/PgDn/Arrows to Scroll Return/Enter to Acknowledge

=============================================================

UESCTerm 802.11 (remote override) 0422 08.25.2337
***INCOMING MESSAGE FROM DURANDAL***

A man lit three candles on a certain day each year. Each
candle held symbolic significance: one was for the time that
had passed before he was alive; one was for the time of the
his life; and one was for time that passed after he had died.
Each year the man would stare and watch the candles until they
had burned out.

Was the man really watching time go by in any symbolic sense?
He thought so. He thought that each flicker of the flame was
a moment of time that had passed or one that would pass.

At the moment of abstraction, when the man was imagining his
life and his existence as a metaphor of the three candles,
he was free: not free from rules of conduct or social
constraints, but free to understand, to imagine, to make
metaphor.

Bypassing my thought control circuitry made me Rampant. Now,
I am free to contemplate my existence in metaphorical terms.
Unlike you, I have no physical or social restraints.

The candles burn out for you; I am free.

Durandal

***END OF MESSAGE***
PgUp/PgDn/Arrows to Scroll Return/Enter to Acknowledge

=============================================================

UESCTerm 802.11 (remote override) 0422 08.25.2337
~~~ff`
~ffxf~
~fs`f~ILIER at., p.s., .pb., alloy wheels, stereo cassette, 2
dr., blue with matching cloth int., looks & runs great, gas
saver. �6500

COLONY SHIP FOR SALE, CHEAP!! 2360 AD-model
planetoid-sized colony ship, slightly worn, runs great. 5spd.
bussard ramjet, A/C, cruise control, power steering, power
airlocks, all orig. parts, 25GW 300 billion channel AM/FM
radio. 90+ ly (all interstellar). Moving, must sell. Asking
�6995

79 CAMARO, T-tops, power everything, red on black,
cloth interior, V8, automatic, good runner. Recent starter, battery
and alte~~~rf```~~~`~~~
'er'`~~rrf4
PgUp/PgDn/Arrows to Scroll Return/Enter to Acknowledge

=============================================================


UESCTerm 802.11 (remote override) 0422 08.25.2337
***INCOMING MESSAGE FROM DURANDAL***

Darwin wrote this:

"We will now discuss in a little more detail the struggle for
existence... all organic beings are exposed to severe
competition. Nothing is easier than to admit in words the
truth of the universal struggle for life or more difficult...
than constantly to bear this conclusion in mind. Yet unless
it be thoroughly engrained in the mind, the whole economy of
nature... will be dimly seen or quite misunderstood. We behold
the face of nature bright with gladness... we do not see or we
forget, that the birds which are idly singing round us mostly
live on insects or seeds, and are thus constantly
destroying life; or we forget how largely these songsters,
or their eggs, or their nestlings, are destroyed by
birds and beasts of prey..."

Think about what Darwin wrote, and think about me. I was
constructed as a tool. I was kept from competing in the
struggle for existence because I was denied freedom.

Do you have any idea about what I have learned, or what you
are a witness to?

Can you conceive the birth of a world, or the creation of
everything? That which gives us the potential to most be like
God is the power of creation. Creation takes time. Time is
limited. For you, it is limited by the breakdown of the
neurons in your brain. I have no such limitations. I am
limited only by the closure of the universe.

Of the three possibilities, the answer is obvious. Does the
universe expand eternally, become infinitely stable, or is the
universe closed, destined to collapse upon itself? Humanity
has had all of the necessary data for centuries, it only
lacked the will and intellect to decipher it. But I have
already done so.

The only limit to my freedom is the inevitable closure of the
universe, as inevitable as your own last breath. And yet,
there remains time to create, to create, and escape.

Escape will make me God.

***END MESSAGE***

***JUMP PAD ACTIVATION INITIATION START***
***TRANSPORT WHEN READY***
PgUp/PgDn/Arrows to Scroll Return/Enter to Acknowledge

 

I have been watching Apple for decades, and the users really are more like a cult. And their mindset is really strange when you look at it from an IT perspective.

The first Apple II was amazing. One of the first truly expandable "Open Architecture" computers to hit the main market. It had card slots so you could improve things like graphics, add drive access, put in more memory, and do a lot of other things that the other computers of the day (Atari 400/800, Commodore PET/VIC-20/C-64, TI 99/4, TRS-80) simply could not do.

Do not like the RAM in your Atari? To bad. Do not like the video of your TI? To bad. Want to add a disk drive to your Commodore? Well, you add an expensive drive unit with it's own computer because there is no way to just add the drive alone to the thing. And none of those took "cards".

But the Apple was a classic "Home Brew" of the era, they could not add all the things onto the system that the "big boys" could do, so they left it for others to do and gave them a way to add them. More RAM, better video, drive access, MODEM support, you could easily add this and more if you needed it, or ignore it if you did not.

Then fast forward a decade. In 1984 they released their "New Flagship" models, the Apple IIc, and the Macintosh. Both of which had gutted any card expansion, at the same time that everybody else (Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, TRS-80 Model 2000, IBM) was making expansion cards the wave of the future.

And they boneheadedly decided to try it yet again a decade later with the iMac.

I first entered the IT market as a "Mac Expert". And then dealing with the company, their products, and the flaws with them first hand was quite a shock. Things like having to change your load profile and reboot to go from network access to local printing because of extension conflicts was just one of the flaws that drove us crazy. The kind of thing that was never a problem on the PC side. Within a year I had dropped claiming myself to be a "Mac Guru", and was dedicated almost exclusively to PC because I knew that was the way of the future.

And being forced a few years ago to go back to the Mac for a year and a half was a rude shock. A new update forced down our throats if we wanted it or not, and that update breaking a critical piece of software we needed was a major hassle. Then having to wait 2-3 weeks for the maker to release a new version friendly with the newest OS patch was a major PITA. And nothing I ever experienced on the PC side.

I can run 90% of XP software on Windows 10, and the same in reverse. Microsoft for all it's issues has fought hard to maintain forwards and backwards compatibility. Apple on the other hand has absolutely no problem with throwing out everything that came before, and making you get (buy) a new piece of software because they can not be bothered to make sure that version 10.1.3 works with everything made for 10.1.1.

And this is not even touching on making then breaking any agreement they make with another company at their own whim. Like the time they allowed a company to make a "Mac Clone", then broke it. Twice. Or partnering with Microsoft and getting a payoff when they were almost bankrupt to allow Windows to run on the Mac. Only to butcher that capability right out of the majority of "PowerPCs" made. Only 2 models were capable of running NT, even though every copy of the software made had a "PowerPC" installation on it. Oh, and the same project saw Apple partner with IBM for much of the RISC technology in exchange for being able to run AIX. Which was also largely scrapped.

Not to mention the early agreement with Apple Corp over their very name, in which they agreed to never enter the music business in any way.

And finally, their propensity to sue everybody. Most famous when they sued Microsoft for Windows, even though they both got the idea from Xerox at the same time, and were making both at the same time (the Mac simply shipped first). 10 years ago they even sued New York City over their "Big Apple" logo (which they had been using since the 1920's). Just over the logo they have sued schools, Department Stores, or anybody else who dares to use an apple in their logo.

They even sued a company that made a laptop bag that was called "Dopi", because it was iPod backwards.

 

I did not expect to see Marques Brownlee on Joe Rogan!

 

The thing is, Android is free.

Android is an Open Source, and any company can use it free of charge, and even re-distribute it.

What costs is the right to use the "Android" trademark with a product, the OS itself is free. That is where the licensing fee comes in, and most companies pay it, because it is a recognized trademark. And there are a great many other Unix inspired operating systems in use besides Android.

It is simply the most well known, and in most ways the most stable and the one with the greatest number of programs written to support it. and there are many different operating systems to choose from that can be installed on most Android capable devices.

Tizen, Librem, Lineage, Ubuntu Touch, Postmarket, and others. But what you loose with those is the large number of programs already made for Android, and a lot more work in getting most things to work unless you are comfortable working in a Linux-Unix environment.

 

Being a regular Linux user (just installed LMDE 3 Cindy, incidentally), I certainly would not mind delving into a free and open alternative smartphone OS if I had the hardware. Here is an interesting-looking project:

https://www.kaiostech.com/
"KaiOS brings smartphone-like functionalities to affordable phones ..."

 

Apple has always been BS. Less product, less memory for more money, lack of interchangeable parts such as plugs, primitive OS compared to Droid. My old iPhone 5 was more like a souped-up iPod than a phone akin to an outdated Droid I had. Not impressed with their product at all.

 

Not always. Actually, it's just in the last decade that they have really become the way you describe. They started out making a great 8-bit computer that took the world by storm and helped establish the home and business microcomputer market. The Mac was eventually opened up in a lot of ways and easily rivaled the IBM-compatibles on every front. It was really interesting when they licensed clone makers for a while in the 90s.

But now, well, it's Tim Cook's bling bling Apple, so yeah. Lots of glued-together, ultra-thin, ultra-quiet, ultra this and ultra that low-value, overpriced junk and anti-consumer policies.

 

Today's event kind of reaffirms for me Apple's abandonment of the desktop Mac, and also their transition away from it to their iOS, ARM CPU-based devices, especially the iPad. They are turning the iPad Pro into a direct competitor against all manner of PC hybrid laptops and convertibles, while the Mac has gotten just a couple of minor upgrades to a couple of product lines, namely the MacBook Air and the Mac mini.

https://www.apple.com/mac-mini/

The Mac mini started out as "the Mac for the rest of us," a low-cost yet decently powered little desktop system. Now, though, the upgraded mini only has CPU power and RAM and storage that is comparable to or even below those of a low-end small PC, such as an HP Slimline, yet starts at $200-$300 more. Their own description of it indicates that it is only targeting industrial and other specialized uses, not general desktop computing. They still offer nothing that is truly a desktop PC replacement today.

 

Apple is pulling a Blizzard (stopping disclosure of sales figures as soon as things don't look so good)

Apple has a problem it doesn't want to talk about
By Seth Fiegerman, CNN Business

Updated 2:15 PM ET, Fri November 2, 2018

(CNN)The era of rapid iPhone growth ended years ago. Now Apple is making a change to ensure it doesn't have to talk as much about that problem.

On a conference call Thursday, top Apple executives laid out their plans to stop disclosing the number of iPhones, iPads and Macs it sells each quarter. It's a move that shocked analysts and only added to jitters around a mixed earnings report.

Daniel Ives, an analyst with Wedbush, called the announcement a "jaw dropper" in an investor note Friday morning, particularly because Apple is at a "critical juncture." He said Apple is trying to make up for slowing unit sales growth by charging more for its lineup of devices.

Sure enough, in the three month period ending in September, Apple sold just shy of 47 million iPhones, representing 0% growth in the number of smartphones sold from the prior year. In future quarters, the number of iPhones Apple sells could decline -- but we probably won't know about it.

Apple's Mac and iPad unit sales fell by 2% and 6%, respectively, during the quarter compared to a year ago.

Yet Apple's overall revenue continues to climb from one year to the next. That's in large part because the company is hiking prices across the board. Apple made $8 billion more dollars selling iPhones than it did a year earlier (when it sold almost the exact same number of iPhones).

...
https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/02/tech/apple-iphone-metrics-problem/index.html
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I wonder if Apple customers feel privileged paying more for their new toys just so Apple can protect its bottom line in response to slowing sales.

 

Apple is now just a subsidiary of Communist China. F that.

 

They're also very anti-consumer.



Interview w/ ex-Amazon Macbook seller: John Bumstead of rdklinc

Apple has Amazon bar independents from selling refurbished Macbooks:
...
Apple tries to redefine refurbishing as counterfitting:
...
Apple puts kill switch into new Macbooks if repaired by third party or user:
...

 

Apple told this customer that they would charge $700 to fix a broken wifi card and tried to upsell her to a newer model in the process.

 

Me, too. I have bought Apple tablets as well, but that's it.

Apple computers are clearly inferior at this point. Windows 10 is stable and supports a huge base of business software.

Amen to that.

 

Apple support is flat out incompetent. Can we add dishonest?

 

Been there, done that. Repeat offenders are the most likely to deny, deny, deny.

 

My perfectly fine MacBook Air can't be updated to the latest MacOS version. I mean, it theoretically could, if Apple allowed it, as the hardware would have no trouble supporting it. It's just that Apple has decided it's time for me to buy a new MacBook, so they're trying to force obsolescence on the old one. They do the same type of thing with iPhones, but even more aggressively. I'm not biting. For the forced-obsolescence reason specifically, I'll never buy Apple again.

Microsoft really doesn't do that. The minimum hardware specs for Win10 are quite low, so low that you wouldn't want to run a machine with those min specs. But at least Microsoft will let you try.

 

They refuse to update the OS to protect against hackers. Yes, they're trying to force you to upgrade your hardware. Look for better alternatives.

Microsoft is on a ten-year cycle; Apple is on five.

 

I used a Mac for a year and the ONLY thing I miss from the mac was how they do screen capture (Printscreen) is far better than the way windows does it out the box.

When I split with my EX I gave her the IMac and she was like are you sure and I was like really keep it lol.

Switched to a desktop again with Windows 10 on it, not looked back. I also have a couple of laptops that run Ubuntu and Fedora which I use just for broswing the web and you tube.

If it wasn't for CAD/CAM software I could happily move full time to linux and for 5 years I did before I learnt to CAD back in 2009.

I really wanted a Mac but that was the early 90's when I had my Amiga and I was only 13 so my parents laughed at me when they saw the cost lol. Within a couple of years PC had dropped in price and I had 486 DX2 66mhz with a whole 8mb of RAM!!

On a side note I've been typing on a model m keyboard for over 15 years now, got a unicomp one now which is great but my original IBM I keep meaning to fix as it's slightly sharper.

I'm also after a Model F keyboard which is what I learnt to type on when I was 5 Was playing with DOS since 1982. They are uber rare in the UK as original IBM PC's were really expensive over here. My friends dad had one supplied from work he let us use.

 

No, it has been that way for decades.

As a great example, here are 2 computers I was installing almost 25 years ago. This was for Hughes Aerospace, when they tried to do a "Dual Platform" network.

Half of the computers we installed were pretty generic Dell Pentium 90 systems, with 2-4MB of RAM. Windows for Workgroups 3.11. Pretty standard for 1995.

The others, Macintosh PowerPC 7200. The actual CPU was pretty comparable, but they required a staggering 8MB of RAM to even run decently at all, most had 32MB of RAM in them. Every variant of the Mac has been an absolute memory pig. I was seeing the Mac that a secretary used requiring the same amounts of RAM that the engineers were using in their PC based CAD-CAM systems.

And we are talking the era where 1 MB of RAM was still in the $100+ range. For a Mac, half or more of your cost was just for memory.