Tuesday, June 29, 2010

It Just Works...

I can't stand it anymore! I have had enough of these stupid Apple/Mac fanboys. I am sick of hearing how Apple products are so perfect and everything else is crap. I am tired of the constant rhetoric that I should dump my PC and get a Mac. I am sick of hearing how Apple products "just work" and that other products are unreliable and crash all of the time. If Apple products "just worked", how come I just bricked my (Apple) iPhone when upgrading the OS when connected to my computer running (Apple) iTunes?! Let me explain...

I have an iPhone. It's sleek. It's elegant. It's easy to use. It holds my photos and music and lets me browse (most of) the web. It helps me pass the time while waiting in a doctor's office. On top of all that, it's a phone! It's a great device when it works.

But the iPhone is NOT the "Jesus" phone! It will not save your soul (unless you download the Bible app and believe what you read). It is not the best thing since sliced bread. It may seem like blasphemy but it does have its faults. For an OS that is lauded for stability, more apps have crashed on my iPhone than all of my Windows machines combined. For something that is supposed to "just work", right now it just works for only making emergency phone calls. My iPhone is telling me (in its Apple fanboy condescending way) to plug it into iTunes but it already is! Stupid iTunes does not recognize the device. If you think it's just a problem for running iTunes on Windows, try Googling "iPhone not recognized on Mac" and tell me how many hits you get.

Seriously, there is nothing more annoying than an Apple fanboy. They just repeat the same rhetoric that Steve Jobs brainwashes them with like a bunch of lemmings. The things that Apple fanboys used to complain about Microsoft now are equally applicable to Apple. "They always copy other people's products/ideas!" "They only care about money!" "Their products are buggy."

Stop trying to convince me to get rid of my PC and get a Mac! It will never ever happen. Macs are more expensive than their PC counterparts. The base price for a Mac Pro is $2,500! I spent less on my current rig and it sports a faster processor, more memory, more disk space, and a much better graphics card. I refuse to pay the "Apple" tax for inferior hardware. If I want to upgrade one of my components, I can replace that part on my PC. I couldn't do that if I owned a Mac.

Mac fanboys always say that you can do everything on a Mac that you could do on a PC. Wrong! Try playing the latest games on a Mac. Most of today's games only run on Windows. What's the point of paying all of this money for "superior" hardware but not being able to fully utilize it?

And why are things so black and white with Apple fanboys? You have to own an Apple product or you're getting a piece of junk. I love my PC but I'm not a fanboy by any means. My PC is great by itself. It doesn't need me to be an evangelist and tell everyone how great it is and how stupid they are for getting something else. If I find a better product that meets my needs at a lower price, I'll be the first in line to try it out.

Apple's latest product is the iPad. Starting at $499, it is far from revolutionary. It doesn't replace any existing products. The iPhone was great because it replaced my phone, laptop (for email/web surfing/watching videos), mp3 player, a watch, a calculator, and hand-held gaming console. It fits in my pocket and I can carry it around with me all day long.

The iPad allows you to quickly get on the web in a somewhat portable design. However, a netbook is just as portable and costs $150 less. An iPad allows you to type on its virtual keyboard but you'd get carpal tunnel syndrome if you had to type anything longer than a paragraph or two on it. Imagine me trying to type this blog post on an iPad! You can still type relatively fast on a netbook. The iPad doesn't even replace a laptop because you still need another computer with iTunes installed to transfer files back and forth.

The iPad doesn't have a built-in camera like the iPhone or most modern laptops. It doesn't have USB or HDMI ports. It doesn't support Flash so many popular webpages still won't work. It doesn't support multitasking so you're restricted to running one app at a time. The iPad would be great...if you're over 55-years-old. Sadly, that is outside of my demographic. It doesn't even make phone calls. My iPhone is better than this thing. It's just a big iTouch. They should have just called it the iTouch 2.0. For something that was billed as magical and revolutionary, I think a more fitting name would be the iDontCare.

Anyways, I'm tired of Apple telling us how perfect their products are when my iPhone is proof against that. I'd love to call Apple to complain but apparently, I'm only allowed to dial 911 right now. My phone doesn't work! I lost my mp3s! I can't play Bejeweled Blitz! If that's not an emergency, I don't know what is. I'm sick of Apple treating me like a child and telling me that it's for my own good that I can't run more than one app at the same time. I'm a computer engineer! I am pretty sure I can manage music playing in the background while I surf the web or read an email.

Well, thankfully AT&T is finally releasing several high-end Android phones soon. Even though I've had a lot of fun with the iPhone, it's time for me to move on. I can no longer support Apple and their evil empire. It's time to rage against the machine.

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