Mac Man tries to gobble up all the Apples. Illustration: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Posted on 08/11/2016 11:07:31 PM PDT by Swordmaker
Cult of Mac 2.0 bugYou don’t see long lines for the latest Lenovo PC or LG Android phone. But take a quick peek on the internet and you’ll find plenty of people lining up to say how much they hate Apple.
Every successful person or company has its critics, but the expressions of vitriol for Apple are more complex than the popular refrain ‘haters gonna hate’.
Some are bugged by the price of Apple gadgets, others sneer over the enthusiasm of Apple fans, mockingly referring to them as iSheep or fanboys. Others are rubbed the wrong way by late founder Steve Jobs, whose charisma and marketing savvy repelled some as strongly as it attracted others.
Even in death, his critics could not be silent. “I don’t wish anyone to die,” wrote one on a message board on League of Legends on Oct. 6, 2011, the day Jobs passed. “However, I refuse to sanctify him.”
Fuel for the fire
Saying so only makes the fans circle the wagons. Apple occupies rare air, in that its customers have become a distinct and potent brand community that only grows stronger from the hatred, says Albert Muniz, professor of marketing at DePaul University.
“It gives legitimacy of true membership,” Muniz says. “It’s such an entrenched user base. That sentiment (against) has persisted as Apple has gone from David to being Goliath.”
So to the “misfits, crazy ones and rebels,” here is a small dose of what you put up with because you love your iPhone or Mac.
“People who buy exclusively Apple all the time are unsettling. A sense of loyalty to a multinational, profit-driven company is just weird in my book, especially when it manifests itself in utter loyalty, a refusal to accept any alternative, an unnatural love for the product and an inability to accept that there are any flaws in the love they feel.” —David Stewart, Australia, on Quora, Sept. 13, 2014.
“I wonder if their new guy is going to try to continue building a fortune off of artificial quality and people who don’t know anything about computers.” —DinerCar on League of Legends, Oct. 6, 2011.
Or from this YouTube tech blogger last September with a channel named Gaming Wildlife:
Apple haters
If you find humor in the insults, there is an Apple Haters blog as well as the “official” Twitter account of Apple Haters “We are everywhere.” Any time stocks dip, malware strikes, or a new product gets tepid reviews, these and other forums come to life. The blog even has a store, on which you can buy coffee cups and T-shirt, including one that says “KEEP CALM and DESTROY APPLE.”
The chatrooms stir up some interesting discussion and often include reformed Apple haters or even some current user Piyush Michael, a student in Delhi, Indiana, who likes Apple products enough, but otherwise is not swayed by Apple’s messaging or the passions coming from what this website lovingly refers to as a cult.
Michael told Cult of Mac he has used both Apple and non-Apple products, his favorites being the iPhone and MacBook. He describes himself as indifferent to Apple, but his emotions are more likely to get stirred up by expressions of loud love for Apple.
“It’s just the smugness of the fanboys I hate,” Michael says. “In India, those who can afford (it) almost always buy iPhones. It’s supposed to make you stand out of the sea of mid-rangers. And in most cases the smugness isn’t even discrete. The same attitude you get from the PC (camp). Both camps form opinions without any experience of the other side and stick to it.
“In order to justify the money spent, they spend the rest of their lives denying any flaws in the products.”
Popular YouTube tech blogger Austin Evans has an audience that mostly uses PCs, especially for gaming.
He is reminded how deep passions run whenever he reviews or unboxes an Apple product, like a new iPhone. Evans can count on a small flurry of comments accusing him of being paid by Apple.
“I don’t do a lot of Apple videos because I am mindful of my audience,” Evans tells Cult of Mac. “Apple is one company I don’t have much of a relationship with. I do full-sponsored stuff all of the time and nobody cares, but when I do an Apple video, it’s ‘How dare you say something nice about them.’”
Another tech blogger, Lamar Wilson, has an interesting theory that may explain some of the hate for Apple.
He considers himself an ex-Apple hater who used to make a living building and fixing PCs. He even saw a number of viewers unsubscribe from his YouTube channel when they realized he had become “one of them.”
“There may be fear in the tech community,” Wilson says. “There’s a morbid fear of things that are easy to use. They hate tech that is dumbed down. For some, their jobs and personal reputation is ingrained in being the tech person.”
What’s the big deal?
Apple mostly shrugs and may even revel in the free advertising the debate gives its products.
Sometimes impatience and even hot rage comes from its own community, which expects Apple to put out a perfect game changer every time.
Jobs may have even handled some direct hostility from one customer, complaining about poor reception with the iPhone 4s in the early days of what became a widespread antenna problem.
Several tech websites published what was believed to be an email exchange with an angry man and Jobs. The writer allegedly threatened to go back to using an Android phone and said he was ashamed to be a Mac fan.
Apple’s public relations team said the emails were fake, but even in fiction, the final word from Jobs may be the best response the next time an Android loyalist gets in the grill of a happy iPhone fan.
“Relax … It is just a phone.”
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Note that Apple Haters are certainly not people who understand bullets and how they work, if we can go by the graphic they came up with. They think the entire thing, bullet, casing and all, is fired from the gun! LOL!
Is it allowed to just ignore Apple?
I’m no fan of Apple, but your post of the errant flying bullet through the bitten apple, casing and all, is hilarious!
Absolutely, but I kind of like Golden and Red Delicious Apples. Fuji are pretty good too. Not to mention Apple Pie and motherhood.
I hate Apple because you have to use ITunes for everything. With Android I can plug my phone into the USB port on my computer and delete/move files with ease. Also with Android you can move files to a memory card. I often find myself plugging my phone into my computer and moving files/music/photos/etc from my phone to memory card or adding music/documents from my computer to my phone. Its a snap
However that same attribute allows for what I do like - it does those things simply without hassle.
Coming off of Windows, the only thing I hate about my iPhone and iPad is iTunes. The software is ancient. It needs a complete redesign, not just change around the edges as Apple has been doing.
Anyway, it took me years to compile music playlists on windows; and WMP and my MP3 worked perfectly together. That all changed when I got hooked on iPhone, then iPad. Windows playlists don’t import to iTunes, so if you love your music you must start at square one with iOS.
An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
I soon learned, however, that I could sometimes go weeks without eating an apple and never see a doctor.
I realized early on that my parents were liars.
I lost all respect for authority figures.
I even started to hate poetry and music because they rhymed.
To this day I can't go anywhere near an apple.
My got my first re-introduction to Apple after nearly 20 years (used to work for Motorola back when the Mac fx was king; back in the 68030 days). Then my career took me to Intel and the Windows world. That re-introduction to Apple had me furious as an engineer. More technically furious then I have ever been at any design review, patent hearing or budget meeting. I had to leave the store to cool down.
Why? Because all PC and laptop had been using the same Synaptic touchpad sensors for over a decade. And ONLY Apple had bothered to make simple and elegant gestures to navigate at the OS level. Pull up all tasks, change applications, zoom, shrink, rotate, page forward, back, move Windows. Single, double, triple and 4 finger touch commands.
What the hell had MSFT been doing with this great tech for the past 20 years? Nothing. Nada. Zip. Apple showed them how, then some very poorly executed copies started coming out (and 99% of the users disabled them because, well; they suck).
Now I have a Mac and run Parallels. I can run WinXP, Win7 Pro and Win10 on my Mac if and when I want to. My goal is to snag a Mac Pro and stick 64 Gig of DDR on it, so I can play games while emulating Win10. But with the Mac, I have it all.
I don’t like Microsoft! I don’t really hate Microsoft, but I will never buy another PC!
Everybody knows the primer accelerates the bullet to subsonic speed, and then the booster-cartridge increases it to escape velocity. Duh!
Then, after taking their "you gotta buy the latest Apple schlock" marching orders from the big talking Apple head on the screen, Apple's zealot followers camp out and wait in line like mind-numbed robots (just like the 1984 commercial slaves) to buy "it". Then, right on cue, 5 months later the 1984 Apple overlord tells them that the most recent Apple schlock they just bought is now obsolete because Apple has just replaced it with their latest "new and improved" iteration of Apple schlock. So the Apple lemmings camp out, wait in long lines and buy the same Apple crap all over again.
Many people strongly dislike Apple and its entire "closed proprietary business model" because Apple has become the very thing they mocked and despised in their "1984 commercial"!
Their Apple acolytes desperately need a rogue blond with a large flying hammer to destroy the big Apple talking head on the screen in order to set their blinded followers free.
“BINGO!” See post #14
It makes some people feel superior, hating on Apple. They think they stand out and intelligent for not falling for the fad
Apple was good under Steve Jobs. It sucks now under Tim Cook. Tim tinker around the edges and don’t do anything revolutionary or exciting and the newer phones look ugly as well
i buy only Apple.
i like it because they do what it says they willl do ... “it just works”. So easy.
I’m always gonna buy Apple. All of the parts are integrated.
It’s kinda like voting for Trump now ... Everyone else who doesn’t like it can just shut up. I’m gonna do what I wanna do. Get over it!
It might be better to say "An apple a day keeps the dentist away" because only a dental professional can give your teeth a better cleaning than eating a nice crisp 'Granny Smith' (or equally crisp) apple.
And there writes the ignorant Apple hater who hasn't a single factual word in his false to fact screed which is not based on any experience or reality!
Apple has never had a "five month" product cycle. In fact, products from Apple last far longer than do similar competitors products in the same niches. Apple's iPad is not selling as many as they'd like, because they keep working, year after year, and Apple keeps updating their software for free. Same with iPhones. Most iPhone users update on a two year cycle and SELL their old iPhone for enough to pay the initial fees for the latest, newest model! You cannot say the same about any other makers' phones. Apple's computers' average useful life is now running six to seven years before requiring replacement! Your ignorant claims don't match our actual experience. Ergo, Apple's products are not "schlock" as you further ignorantly claim, but rather very high quality goods, that last.
I need a new phone.
Should I buy an Apple iPhone 6S Plus? Or a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge?
Or should I wait for the next round of product announcements? (not going to happen).
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