Bye Bye Apple

[Oracle1729]

I've been an Apple user going back to the II+ and a a mac user since my 2004 g4 powerbook. Over the past year or so I've found mac's to get more and more useless to the point where I'm shopping for my first PC in 8 years. It's been one apple bull-crap stupidity after an other that I just subconsciously make excuses for as my user experience turned to garbage.

There's a thousand little things to start. Apple hides everything you need, so trying to actually use the damn thing is torture. I do Arudino embedded system programming and I work at a level where I have to modify libraries. They're ina nice lib directory on windows but nowhere to be found it mac, even my user-defined libraries are just thrown in with my apps.

I listen to Audible audiobooks while I'm driving which have been well integrated into itunes for years. Except now instead of showing me files it shows the pretty little art work, one artwork per book except that audible divides the books into smaller files, so with the new iTunes I never know if I have a whole book or a quarter of a book. Wow, that've made something good into something useless (but pretty). Similarly, on my iPod mini I can boost the playback 20% speed, which is easier for my brain to absorb and I give audible 20% more money since I finish sooner. It's win-win. Except that on anything newer than about 4 years ago, that feature is gone.

I listen to these books and music in the car, where the tactile buttons are essential to control the player while driving. My iTouch 2nd gen hasn't been out of my desk drawer for over a year while my 2004 mini sees daily use. My music is on the mini and not my iPhone. What garbage apple produces today.

Any program I use, trying to find data files is like delving into uncharted waters and pure torture from a UI point of view. I do high-end fashion style photography as a hobby. Why the hell does aperture hide all my files (the actual files not their silly library to import or export from). Apple is hiding the file system.

At this point, all Apple products are total garbage for anyone wanting to do serious work of any kind (programming, media design, etc). You're stuck in a world of Apple which is a psychotic break from the real world. A world where your work is not your own and you're forbidden to know where Apple hides it. The cloud makes this 1000 times worse. Do I really need to store my collection of 187 gig of raw Nikon files in the cloud so I can edit them? I have them on my system HD, 2 USB drives for backup, and a stack of DVD-R's. Why in the world would I want to edit from the cloud???

Instead we have cheap toys like the iPads, which actually are a lot of fun for playing games and pretty decent for web browsing and email. But Apple actually thinks they are in a position to compete with a desk top computer. I laugh at the absolute stupidity of trying to do real photoshop work on an iPad. Can you even color calibrate an iPad? It's a joke, it's not meant for real work.

Then people in the forum are dreaming about a processor box you can plug the iPad in for number crunching, an external display, mass storage. Oh my god. What does the iPad do in that situation? You've replaced every part of what it does with another module, the iPad is just an ugly little do nothing to make you feel warm and fuzzy? Just give me a $300 PC instead of all that garbage and it will do the job 100 times better.

So, the software and OS is totally useless for any modern work. The iOS products are cheap toys that have none of what makes apple special and will be "just an overpriced table" in 2 years.

Oh and now let's look at the rumoured 7" table that got so much attention. You fanatics are saying how much Apple needs to compete with the cheaper tablets and amazon fire. But haven't you same people been saying for the fast 15 years that Apple builds quality products for the high end market and won't compete on price with the bottom feeders? I guess Apple circa 2013 is simply another bottom feeder.

Tim Cook is going to run this company into the ground within 3 years and then Steve Jobs will be remembered as a God (and deservedly so). I won't be there for the show, apple has seen it's last dollar from me and they can let the door hit them in the ass on the way out of my life.

Even reading the threads here, the anti-apple sentiment is growing stronger and the defense knows it's on thinner and thinner ice.

Apple TV....what junk, version 3 gives us 1080p, yet only with content so over-compressed the 720p version looks better. Would it really kill Apple to let it link with an apple bluetooth keyboard and mouse to let you browse youtube, etc in a non-painful way? Would it kill them to allow it to play DVD's off my NAS box?

I feel like a noose has been taken off my neck breaking free from Apple, and I have my champagne ready for when the stock drops below $100/share. I'm not the only one who feels this way you can feel the difference everywhere you read about apple, even here.

The real apple users like me are jumping ships in droves, not even waiting to see the next mac pro (if there even is one), and when the cheap bottom-feeding tablets lose out to samsung, asus, sony, dell, and 50 Chinese vendors, it will be too late for Apple.

 

[Paradoxally]

I agree with you on some points. While you have an overall negative tone on most points (like Apple 'crashing and burning' in 3+ years) which I don't really support, they are well explained.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE iOS products. I think they really redefined Apple for the consumer, and that led to a bunch of people buying iPads, iPhone, iPod touches, etc...plus the OS is great and very intuitive.

However, it seems Apple is dropping the ball on OS X. Lion was a HUGE mess, and Snow Leopard continues be used by 51% of Mac users. Of course it's declining, but it still holds supermajority and you can see why - people who need REAL work done don't upgrade to the latest OS until a year or so after it's been released. But since Lion was pretty much a fail, then they just skip over to Mountain Lion because it's going to be released this summer (and I HOPE this one is better).

The 7" tablet rumor/news is a joke. We already have an iPad and an iPod touch. We don't NEED an in-betweener. Why? You can't possibly fit 7" in your pocket, and compared to the iPad it will lose out, because the market is saturated with 7" tablets from tons of (cheaper) vendors.

I just hope they start focusing on what's really important - a solid OS X, à la Snow Leopard (without breaking 1334837 things in the process, like Lion did); continuation of the great work in iOS, and stop the BS with the UI gimmicks.

 

[Madmic23]

I hear what your saying about Apple's war on the file system. It creates a lot of duplicate files, like in iPhoto.
However, I don't think Apple is going down in flames anytime soon.
As much as you and others on here need to know exactly where their files are and manage them manually, so many people just don't have a clue. At work, I'm stuck in a Windows XP environment and many of my coworkers only know how to access their files through Word or Excel, they don't know the actual file path. Very frustrating when I ask someone to send me something and they don't know where it is.
Apple is trying to simplify the user experience, which is great for non-techies, but a definite downer for power users.

 

[Xeem]

I just hope they start focusing on what's really important - a solid OS X, à la Snow Leopard (without breaking 1334837 things in the process, like Lion did); continuation of the great work in iOS, and stop the BS with the UI gimmicks.

I agree about Lion- there was just too much change in the wrong direction. My brother's older Core 2 Duo MacBook was dog slow after upgrading, as well.

Rumors about a possible 7" iPad mini aside, Apple has a commanding lead in both market share and quality over Android. In fact, a friend of mine that has a Kindle Fire recently offered to buy my iPad 1 because it was capable of doing so much more than the Fire (which he has already rooted).

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

Tim Cook is going to run this company into the ground within 3 years and then Steve Jobs will be remembered as a God (and deservedly so). I won't be there for the show, apple has seen it's last dollar from me and they can let the door hit them in the ass on the way out of my life.

Keep your account active on this website. If this has happened 'within three years' I will send you $1000.

 

[majordude]

I've been an Apple user going back to the II+ and a a mac user since my 2004 g4 powerbook. Over the past year or so I've found mac's to get more and more useless to the point where I'm shopping for my first PC in 8 years.

Good luck. I bought a nice Dell and Windows 7 drove me absolutely nuts. It actually made XP look good. I gave it to a family member and bought a 27" iMac a month later.

I'll take whatever Mac stuff you are tossing out though.

 

[*LTD*]

LOL @ another one. MR gets the odd one every now and then.

"Even reading the threads here, the anti-apple sentiment is growing stronger and the defense knows it's on thinner and thinner ice."

Majority sentiment on Apple tech sites have never meant anything.

The bulk of the market decides (hint: they aint on MR.) And they're opening up their wallets to Apple wider every quarter. The next 5-7 years are ALL about Apple. Why? NO ONE is doing anything remotely like Apple. Part of the reason NO ONE is enjoying remotely the same success as Apple.

It's just that simple. And it's best to get accustomed to that *now*, before you end up looking even more out of touch.

"At this point, all Apple products are total garbage for anyone wanting to do serious work of any kind (programming, media design, etc). You're stuck in a world of Apple which is a psychotic break from the real world."

LOL did you say this with a straight face?

 

[nuckinfutz]

Any power user should be able to get to the files they need. Yes the data files are being hidden from novices but you as power user should know better.

 

[smoledman]

Apple clearly doesn't cater to power users. OTOH, I know several high-ability software engineers who swear by OS X.

 

[Oracle1729]

Any power user should be able to get to the files they need. Yes the data files are being hidden from novices but you as power user should know better.

This is exactly my point and what I meant at the beginning of my rant about subconsciously making excuses for Apple. Of course i can find the files, but why should I jump through the extra hoops just because Apple wants to punish me for not being a novice. I want to use my computer, not worry about administrative tasks, not have to fight the stupidity of of the OS to do the most basic of functions like copy a file to a memory stick. Why should I fight with a piece of crap OS like Lion or even worse Mountain Lion, when a decent file system is only a windows machine away?

FWIW, I barely scratched the surface in my initial rant. I could write a book about why apple is in for the big fall.

Everyone seems to agree the base memory on an Apple is too small for Lion. How in the world do they get off charging $600 for an upgrade to 16 gig of ram when the same 16 gig is $75 at my local computer store. I mean what happened to the fantastic right out of the box experience Apple was known for? Now you get a painfully slow machine unless you shell out and extra $200 minimum for a $20 ram upgrade.

This is less universal a problem, but they are way to skimpy on hard drive space as well. You can buy a 2 TB drive for about $100 now even after the flooding price increases. How come Apple charges so much for a dinky 1 TB?

Why does Apple charge a bloody fortune for second rate sata 2 SSD's? I spent a fraction of Apple's price on a Sata 3 model for my MBP that blows anything Apple will rip you off for out of the water.

They treat their loyal customers like crap and pretty soon they won't have so many. I was one, I talked countless people into switching over the past few years as well.

This isn't really a problem with Apple, but more shows what the hardcore fans are like. I find it hilarious in the MBA threads that people rave on and on about how much they love their airs, but then fret, what to do about the lack of HD space (get an eternal box, lose the portability), the pathetic graphics/cpu performance (change your usage patterns), etc. That kind of stupid blind devotion is worth billions to apple but they're burning it away, the more you have to make excuses for the computer's shortcomings, the sooner you're going to realize it's just not worth it.

Ebooks? I can buy the whole audiobook of a new release from Audible for less than Apple's price on a text ebook. That says a lot right there. The audio version has all the production costs of the text one since it's made from the text one, plus the cost to produce the recording and pay voice talent on top, and greater bandwidth costs. Says a lot about Apple's price margins, yet people here seem to think that's a good thing?

Apple is the most valuable brand in the world, they deserve it, Steve Jobs earned it. And right now Apple is totally burning that brand to the ground for some quick cash. Look at what the public sees, they know Apple costs more, they're starting to believe it's worth more, and along comes the DoJ slapping them down for artificially raising prices. The lose of public image is going to cost them a lot more than their ebook business is worth.

And it still comes down to OSX being a crap OS that makes it so hard to do anything except email grandma that windows 7 will look good.

I have an iPad 1 which has become totally unusable with iOS 5. It's sluggish, scrolls slowly and non-responsively, safari and most apps crash constantly (I can only guess they're running too slowly and being killed by the watchdog timer). It's just unpleasant to use. Sure you can say just buy the new iPad, which I would have in the past, but my point is this is the "new Apple" experience of 2012. It's not sleek and magical, it's bother to touch and I find myself leaving it home most of the time because it's an old clunker that will just ruin my day. Yes I've restored and reinstalled the OS and then started from scratch without restoring my apps/data. It didn't help.

Just remember the average user doesn't care if their toys come from Apple or Samsung or are iOS or Android, they just want a good, positive experience. And Apple has no interest in delivering that anymore.

 

[*LTD*]

Just remember the average user doesn't care if their toys come from Apple or Samsung or are iOS or Android, they just want a good, positive experience. And Apple has no interest in delivering that anymore.

Meanwhile theirs are the only ones creating lineups and consumer frenzy.

Apple *is* the one providing a "good, positive experience."

Their #1 consumer satisfaction ratings across the board, for all their products, year after year after year, don't happen by accident. This goes for Macs, iPhones, and now especially for the iPad. Look them up. They're there for everyone to see. They make the headlines every year.

Are you posting from Pluto?

 

[Bensalama21]

Congrats. Thanks for sharing. Nobody will miss you.

 

[Oracle1729]

Are you posting from Pluto?

Your posts on these forums are one of the features. I get so many laughs at the stuff you write. Your blind devotion is just amazing and defies belief. Some of the stuff you post should just be linked as a warning of the hazards of blind faith. You are so closed minded you will never listen to a word anyone says. If Apple really were a religion, you'd be the one burning heretics at the stake.

You've gotten my account suspended in the past, I've gotten your account suspended in the past. If my intention here were merely to troll, I could have a blast messing with you, but I'm trying to make a real point here, so I've really got nothing to say to you. I'd ask you to just stay out of the thread but it's a public forum, feel free to say what you want, the intelligent will tune it out like the background noise it is and like they usually do on other treads you post on.

 

[*LTD*]

Your posts on these forums are one of the features. I get so many laughs at the stuff you write. Your blind devotion is just amazing and defies belief.

All I do is parrot facts, vs. your anecdotes.

You'd better get on that Windows/Office Dell box purchase. Don't skimp on the extended warranty.

What will you be doing with all your Apple gear (since you're leaving)?

 

[Zombie Acorn]

I really don't like how Apple kind of left Leopard and Snow Leopard in the dust so quickly. I can't even install xcode directly from the app store without Lion. I also get what you mean when they are trying to hide the actual files, almost as if you no longer own them.

Typically use mac for my casual computer and my PC for real work.

 

[TheMTtakeover]

I understand what you mean about them hiding files/ its a real pain in the Ass. But before getting a windows computer thinkabout switching to Linux. Ive recently made the switch and I have to say that I am extrenely happy with my choice.

 

[steve knight]

the itunes thing can be annoying but use column browser to see your files. command b will do it. I also use smart playlists with audiobooks and have it only have tracks wit 0 plays. that way they get removed as I listen to them. I usually have 10 books on my iphone at once.

 

[Angelo95210]

I am more and more like you. I still love portable Macs. But desktops don't make me dream anymore (iMac or Pro). I love the unix fundation of OSX but Windows is getting better and better. I think 2012 might be the year of a reverse switch for some of us if Apple do not give us good signals with Mountain Lion and new computers.

 

[ProwlingTiger]

I listen to these books and music in the car, where the tactile buttons are essential to control the player while driving. My iTouch 2nd gen hasn't been out of my desk drawer for over a year while my 2004 mini sees daily use. My music is on the mini and not my iPhone. What garbage apple produces today.

oh yeah, the iPod Touch is such garbage, I mean, they can't honestly be selling like hot cakes. Who could possibly want a touchscreen, 3.5" media player? Apple is totally going downhill. /sarcasm

Sure, in some situations it might not be ideal, but why the crap did you buy it then?

 

[chrono1081]

I've been an Apple user going back to the II+ and a a mac user since my 2004 g4 powerbook. Over the past year or so I've found mac's to get more and more useless to the point where I'm shopping for my first PC in 8 years. It's been one apple bull-crap stupidity after an other that I just subconsciously make excuses for as my user experience turned to garbage.

No offense intended but it sounds to me like you simply don't know how to use your computer.

There's a thousand little things to start. Apple hides everything you need, so trying to actually use the damn thing is torture. I do Arudino embedded system programming and I work at a level where I have to modify libraries. They're ina nice lib directory on windows but nowhere to be found it mac, even my user-defined libraries are just thrown in with my apps.

Although its annoying that Apple hid the system folders, they can be uncovered easily with terminal commands.

I listen to these books and music in the car, where the tactile buttons are essential to control the player while driving. My iTouch 2nd gen hasn't been out of my desk drawer for over a year while my 2004 mini sees daily use. My music is on the mini and not my iPhone. What garbage apple produces today.

I'd hardly call it garbage. If you want tactile feedback why not get an iPod classic

Any program I use, trying to find data files is like delving into uncharted waters and pure torture from a UI point of view. I do high-end fashion style photography as a hobby. Why the hell does aperture hide all my files (the actual files not their silly library to import or export from). Apple is hiding the file system.

No it doesn't. I know exactly where my files linked to my Aperture library are. I really don't understand what you are referencing here.

I think you are misunderstanding how Aperture (and Lightroom if you use it too) work. Your files are supposed to be kept on an external drive and the DAM program of choice references those files and saves the changes you make to them in a library. The original file remains untouched (a VERY important feature) but your changes and edits are saved into the actual Aperture library file.

If you look at those files via Finder, they will be unchanged. If you look at them through Aperture you'll see the edits. You can export an edit as a file and save it wherever you wish.

At this point, all Apple products are total garbage for anyone wanting to do serious work of any kind (programming, media design, etc). You're stuck in a world of Apple which is a psychotic break from the real world. A world where your work is not your own and you're forbidden to know where Apple hides it. The cloud makes this 1000 times worse. Do I really need to store my collection of 187 gig of raw Nikon files in the cloud so I can edit them? I have them on my system HD, 2 USB drives for backup, and a stack of DVD-R's. Why in the world would I want to edit from the cloud???

I don't think you've used alternate OS's if you think its not possible to do serious work on a Mac. Here's what I do:

Programming (C++, Objective-C, C, OpenGL, SDL, Cocoa)
Game development in Unity 3D
3D asset creation in Maya, ZBrush and Houdini
Effects editing in After Effects and Houdini (as a hobby)
Digital painting in Photoshop and Corel Painter
Photo editing in Aperture and Photoshop

and a slew of other things. I support Windows desktops and servers for a living, and have used Windows exclusively since the 90's. Apple runs everything I mentioned above better (far less crashes, especially in Maya and ZBrush). Not to mention Xcode is a huge improvement over Visual Studio (unless there are VS specific things you need.)

If you want to switch by all means thats your choice but I'll warn you, the grass is not always greener on the other side. If it was I'd be out of a job. (And if you do switch do it before 8 comes out. Win 7 = great, Win 8 = horrible).

As for the "your work is not your own and you're forbidden to know where Apple hides it" that just makes no sense.
I know exactly where every single thing I create is and its all labeled nice and neat and organized.

Also iCloud is an option, you don't need to use it. Its not to store huge amounts of data. Many people have backups of their most important stuff consisting only of a few hindered megabytes worth of stuff. I wouldn't suggest uploading RAW images to iCloud you'd have to pay for all kinds of storage.

Instead we have cheap toys like the iPads, which actually are a lot of fun for playing games and pretty decent for web browsing and email. But Apple actually thinks they are in a position to compete with a desk top computer. I laugh at the absolute stupidity of trying to do real photoshop work on an iPad. Can you even color calibrate an iPad? It's a joke, it's not meant for real work.

No they don't. Watch the keynote. The whole "iPad is going to replace a computer" is BS the internet comes up with. Apple simply said the iPad exists between mobile devices and computers and fills a niche for many users. Too many people get caught up with the "post PC comment" and take it out of context.

Then people in the forum are dreaming about a processor box you can plug the iPad in for number crunching, an external display, mass storage. Oh my god. What does the iPad do in that situation? You've replaced every part of what it does with another module, the iPad is just an ugly little do nothing to make you feel warm and fuzzy? Just give me a $300 PC instead of all that garbage and it will do the job 100 times better.

Um...what?

So, the software and OS is totally useless for any modern work. The iOS products are cheap toys that have none of what makes apple special and will be "just an overpriced table" in 2 years.

Again, no offense but it just sounds like you don't know how to use your computer. With features like Spaces (or Mission Control if you are on Lion), built in differential backup, automator, etc its a perfect tool to get work done.

Also iOS is hardly "cheap toys", they're used a ton in business now. We just phased out over 2k Blackberry phones and replaced them with iOS devices. (We also have WinPhones and Android but iOS is the majority).

Oh and now let's look at the rumoured 7" table that got so much attention. You fanatics are saying how much Apple needs to compete with the cheaper tablets and amazon fire. But haven't you same people been saying for the fast 15 years that Apple builds quality products for the high end market and won't compete on price with the bottom feeders? I guess Apple circa 2013 is simply another bottom feeder.

You are spouting accusations at something that is simply a rumor. Its clear you are being angry and irrational. Its a computer company, not a person who wronged you or stole from you.

Tim Cook is going to run this company into the ground within 3 years and then Steve Jobs will be remembered as a God (and deservedly so). I won't be there for the show, apple has seen it's last dollar from me and they can let the door hit them in the ass on the way out of my life.

Even reading the threads here, the anti-apple sentiment is growing stronger and the defense knows it's on thinner and thinner ice.

Defense? Yikes. Again, if you want to switch, switch. Its a computer, choose which one you like.

Apple TV....what junk, version 3 gives us 1080p, yet only with content so over-compressed the 720p version looks better. Would it really kill Apple to let it link with an apple bluetooth keyboard and mouse to let you browse youtube, etc in a non-painful way? Would it kill them to allow it to play DVD's off my NAS box?

Did you go to http://www.apple.com/feedback and make these suggestions?

Also as far as the NAS box goes thats most likely due to licensing agreements with content holders.

I feel like a noose has been taken off my neck breaking free from Apple, and I have my champagne ready for when the stock drops below $100/share. I'm not the only one who feels this way you can feel the difference everywhere you read about apple, even here.

The real apple users like me are jumping ships in droves, not even waiting to see the next mac pro (if there even is one), and when the cheap bottom-feeding tablets lose out to samsung, asus, sony, dell, and 50 Chinese vendors, it will be too late for Apple.

Macrumors is filled with trolls. Its hardly a reliable source to compare likes/dislikes of Apple.

 

[roadbloc]

This again? Oh dear God.

 

[MonkeySee....]

Don't let the door hit you on the way out

 

[throAU]

If you're a power user, you're using terminal.app, yes?

I'll break out the champagne when they hit 1000/share, lets see who gets a drink first eh?

 

[DavoteK]

The real apple users like me are jumping ships in droves

Real Apple Users?

Did you get a certificate? If so, where do I get one

Who else here is a fake apple user if this qualifies as a real apple user?

Get a PC fella, before you give yourself a stress ulcer.

 

[Viking23]

I find all this very interesting. I have used Windows PC's and hardware for over thirty years and am now considering buying an iMac in the near future.

It seems to me that there is really not much to choose between Windows and Mac OS. Both have there problems with software and hardware. Many of the problems described here can apply equally to both systems. However, from my experience Windows does need a lot of maintenance to keep the system running smoothly, such as getting rid of all the temp files the system creates. Finding files - easy when you know how, but all the system files are hidden from the average user.

The hardware is no better or worse on a Mac or a Windows machine and if you compare like with like there is not a lot of difference in price. Some Apple components do seem a bit more expensive. However, it is questionable if either lasts longer than the other. There is a lot of electronic components and things do fail from time to time.

I believe we all have the right to our opinions on these forums and it would be nice if other users would respect this. Instead of some of the very impolite comments that some users make. To these people, I say - grow up.