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March 27th, 2008

Is Apple good or evil?

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 8:37 am

Categories: Apple, Opinion

Tags: Apple Inc., Public Relations, Web Browsers, Digital Music, Digital Media, Marketing, Corporate Communications, Internet, Personal Technology, Consumer Electronics

There has been a lot of talk lately about how is Apple becoming more like Microsoft and turning evil, but is it really the case? Personally I’ve known that Apple was evil since they tried to litigate me out of business and subpoena three years worth of my email, but I digress.

Recent examples of Apple’s evilness include pushing their Safari Web browser down the throat of iTunes users on Windows as a “software update” and bricking modified iPhones with a firmware update but other examples exist.

Leander Kahney points to several examples of Apple’s dark side in his cover story in this month’s Wired magazine, including: their walled-garden approach to software and hardware, secrecy, paranoia and managements sometimes poor treatment of employees.

On the other hand, lots of good can be found in Apple. Their technical support and build quality usually yields pretty high marks and their hardware continues to improve at an almost breakneck pace. Witness their successes with iMac, iPod, iTunes, iPhone, etc.

Slashdot insists that Someday You’ll Hate Apple (And Google Too):

Don Reisinger muses on the fickleness of consumer loves and hates. ‘It’s that same [level of] success and its own questionable privacy practices that will lead to Google’s PR downfall and propel it into a position of disdain going forward. Trust me, the future of Apple and Google may look bright from an economic standpoint, but these companies will be hated one day too. Sad, but true.’”

So which is it? How would you characterize today’s Apple, Inc.?

Is Apple, Inc...

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Jason D. O'GradyJason D. O'Grady is the editor of PowerPage.org, which has been publishing daily mobile technology news since December 1995. For disclosures on Jason's industry affiliations, click here or to view Jason's full profile click here.

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  • Talkback
  • Most Recent of 65 Talkback(s)
It's called a tactic..... Apple does it different.
We have Dell and GateWhy don't we? They try volume and
low cost. For a while it worked and worked well. After all
Dell was the leading seller of PC's. Yet Apple does it
different. Fir... (Read the rest)
Posted by: James Quinn Posted on: 03/31/08 You are currently: a Guest | | Terms of Use
Rotten to the Core (nt)  ShadeTree | 03/27/08
When I'm good, I'm only so-so. When I'm bad I'm  James Quinn | 03/27/08
Apple is Darth Vader  Urkel | 03/27/08
Fresh face?  lantzn | 03/27/08
It's called an A-N-A-L-O-G-Y  tikigawd | 03/27/08
Lol  tikigawd | 03/27/08
On an Apple blog going for the Star Wars analogy?  James Quinn | 03/31/08
Who cares?  russguill | 03/27/08
Define Evil, then we can talk (NT)  voska1 | 03/27/08
Too Easy  Marcos El Malo | 03/27/08
Everyone wants to be evil don't they?  zkiwi | 03/27/08
Breaking Bad  lantzn | 03/27/08
RE: Is Apple good or evil?  zeshu@... | 03/27/08
ALL CORPORATIONS ARE EVIL!  BitTwiddler | 03/27/08
But how many have fans...  Urkel | 03/27/08
living in a vacuum?  Tigertank | 03/27/08
Lies  lantzn | 03/27/08
Fanboys are like dogs  tikigawd | 03/27/08
Who cares if they attack you  hasta la Vista, bah-bie | 03/27/08
It's called a tactic..... Apple does it different.  James Quinn | 03/31/08
Exactly  lantzn | 03/27/08
Apple just hates money  tikigawd | 03/27/08
Seriously...  tikigawd | 03/27/08
It's good, people have defined MS as evil  Boot_Agnostic | 03/27/08
This question  People | 03/27/08
Man, is this title a fanboy magnet or what?  Userama | 03/27/08
RE: Is Apple good or evil?  stevenraylane | 03/27/08
RE: Is Apple good or evil?  DCMann | 03/27/08
crickets  lantzn | 03/27/08
Steve says...  marksashton | 03/27/08
Your logic is impeccable! happy (nt)  GuidingLight | 03/27/08
RE: Is Apple good or evil?  ariel@... | 03/27/08
Evil  Windows Defender | 03/27/08
Don't think so.  People | 03/27/08
When money/power is the goal - the man cannot be anything other than evil.  Just_true | 03/27/08
"Gates, Apple, Palm, and Jobs are guilty in the dirty plot against BeOS"  Windows Defender | 03/27/08
According to your 'logic' criminals are innocent just because they say so.  Just_true | 03/27/08
?  Windows Defender | 03/27/08
For you everything more complicated than 2 x 2 is a conspiracy theory. (NT)  Just_true | 03/28/08
Correction  lantzn | 03/27/08
no  richvball44 | 03/28/08
Yes  lantzn | 03/27/08
Not all criminals  People | 03/27/08
Do you mean the 9/11 makers who declared the war on terrorism? (NT)  Just_true | 03/27/08
RE: Is Apple good or evil?  Badgered | 03/27/08
What he said....  James Quinn | 03/27/08
Quick thoughts...  msalzberg | 03/27/08
Apple's walled-garden approach  LinuxEnduser | 03/27/08
Evil is the new Good! (nt)  Stuka | 03/27/08
What do you call Evil?  Windows Defender | 03/27/08
Apple is not evil but it's getting there.  willyu | 03/27/08
Where is nonzealot?  Marcos El Malo | 03/27/08
He wrote the article  Tigertank | 03/27/08
Every day is his OFF day happy.  themusicmanrk | 03/28/08
RE: Is Apple good or evil?  larry@... | 03/27/08
Worse than Microsoft  pjotr123 | 03/27/08
RE: Is Apple good or evil?  MatthewWanderer | 03/27/08
RE: Is Apple good or evil?  MatthewWanderer | 03/27/08
RE: Is Apple good or evil?  Rick_K | 03/27/08
Apple is just another profit oriented company.  kraterz | 03/27/08
Steve Jobs is Satan  silent.griffin | 03/28/08
RE: Is Apple good or evil?  blackjack861@... | 03/28/08
Most?  blackjack861@... | 03/28/08
RE: Is Apple good or evil?  jbkendrick@... | 03/28/08
RE: Is Apple good or evil?  Marcoz852 | 03/29/08

What do you think?

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