Independence Day: How developer and customer revolt will de-throne Apple

zd net ^ | 3 July 2016 | Jason Perlow

[DUMBGRUNT]

Taxes, overall, were the proximate cause. But there were certainly other reasons why we declared independence from England...And boy, oh the taxes. It's one thing to charge a 30 percent cut on apps, but a 30 percent tax imposed on everything you sell, including subscriptions and any ongoing revenue is preposterous....

It's practically North Korean in its ham-fistedness. Kim Jong-Il would congratulate Apple on its mastery of authoritarianism.

[Rashputin]

LOL, Wow, five whole years!! ROTFLMAO, my old Tandy Model 12 still works just fine and it's from '83.

In addition, I use an HP Pentium 4 box to browse the web with an never have my main machine connect to the web at all. Oh, an HP box from 2001 in which, I admit, I've replaced drives with larger SSD ones and I had to replace the power supply in last year. Got one with more output and plugged it in, and everything fired right back up.

Oh, and I NEVER turn my machines off, they only go off when the power is out longer than the time provided by my battery backup.

[ctdonath2]

Both acknowledge that the one taking the cut is actually doing something significant (see: supply & demand). Apple provides malware screening, cataloging, downloading, piracy prevention, transaction processing, and usage & crash metrics - even if the app is another Flappy Bird that takes just a couple hours to write and sells millions of copies.

[Bratch]

[DUMBGRUNT]

We have a iPad zero, or whatever the now call the first iPad.

Our young grandkids have had their way with it many times!

So out of date, few apps will run on it; should be in a museum.
Yes we restored the os a few times, after the kids adjusted it to their liking.Still all original,even the battery.

Be that as it may,our daughter had a new ipad that runs so s-l-o-w, it is not usable.

[DUMBGRUNT]

I once was a partner in a retail operation.
Typical non sale markup was 100%.
That didn’t cover the overhead.
Sales to bring them in, service to make some money.

Should a customer order something expensive and pay cash;we’re going out to dinner after close!

This was mid 70’s, today few can mark up like that.

Note well: The main reason to start a small business, so you can steal from yourself!

[ctdonath2]

“How much can you make on free?
How do you make money?”

One app is making millions as the front end to a corporate data service, via modest monthly service fee.

The other is likewise raking it in delivering uplifting short documentary videos with subtle advertising embedded.

Both have intense marketing campaigns.

Another in the works is for an organization, providing news & data services for their clientele.

[DUMBGRUNT]

I do like the apple taped on the laptop cover!

Would that help a cool the cpu? I have one with dog hair in the fan. Cut in half and put on both sides? The fan is VERY deep inside.

Years back cutting a small potato in half and wiring to each side of the fuel line was a known cure for vapor lock.

Do apples truly have more status than a lowly potato?

[Darnright]

>Yup, it’s like Scientology. Same with Facebook and Google too.<

It’s a preference. Good grief, people have preferences about other products. Coke vs Pepsi, Ford vs Chevy, and Apple vs PC. It’s not a cult. It’s what works best for the individual.

[minnesota_bound]

The company I work at has news/weather from all over the world streaming in for their officers and clients to view on tablets and a website. Maybe similar to what you are working on.

“.....providing news & data services for their clientele”

[roadcat]

My poor little iPad is barely capable of doing anything any more. It’s not even 5 years old.

That's odd. You've had it 4 years and haven't learned how to use it yet. My wife does just fine with her 6 year old iPad 1, bought April 2010. She uses and enjoys it daily. Perhaps you should sell yours to someone who can make better use of it. That having been said, I still use a Mac Cube (2000 model), although it's a bit slow on the Internet. The 2006 Macbook is doing fine. Main machine is a 2010 Mac Mini. Apple makes machines that last for decades, although the software becomes obsolete over time but not as obsolete as other platforms. My Windows machines don't get much use at all, they're a pain to keep running.

[roadcat]

kept my original macbook 2008 it’s a little slow at times but works fine, except the cd/dvd just started having a problem.

If you want to keep it, go to OWC and buy a few items to speed it up. Swap out the cd/dvd for a drive doubler. Buy an SSD and put in in the drive doubler that sits in the spot where the cd/dvd used to be. Run cloning software (can download it free) and clone your existing hard drive to the SSD. Then boot using the SSD, telling the system to recognize it as your bootup drive. The old hard drive can later be cleaned of files or formatted (wait a while, as it can act as a backup just in case). At OWC, buy an external cd/dvd that connects to USB, they're cheap - additionally you can upgrade to a blueray writer for a few bucks more. Your machine will now run 7 to 10 times faster, and boot in seconds.

[exDemMom]

It's not a matter of "not learning to use it yet." I mean the poor little thing barely functions. I have tried deleting apps and so forth to free up memory, but it still crashes quite readily. It is very frustrating to, for instance, look for a recipe and Safari crashes when I try to load up the recipe from Food Network or Martha Stewart or whatever website. Or I use Google, and Safari crashes the moment I start to type a search phrase. Or I try to use the Google app, and it gets stuck showing the logo. Or apps start to update, and get stuck. I haven't been able to use Pandora in months. Other apps that used to work, don't any more.

When I need technical support, I give it to my son. He updates the OS and apps and stuff.

[The Westerner]

I, too, own an iPad1 and experience the same issues. Apple stopped upgrading them so we're stuck at 5.1 vs. 9.x for my iPad mini. However, the iPad1 is designed beautifully for the user. It's a pleasure to read email, Kindle, and websites like FR which have very little advertising. The more advertising and slick banners, the more these old machines slow down and crash. All I do is go to Settings, to Safari, then click clear cache/history. That cleans up Safari. Sometimes I shut the machine down for 30 seconds to clear out whatever else. I use my newer iPad mini to read to look at the sites that crash Safari on my iPad1. BTW, I also use a browser called Atomic Web as an alternative to Safari, and it often tolerates the extra stuff, though it, too, falls out. Isn't hard to believe that such an excellent machine is now an antique!?

[The Westerner]

Roadcat,
Thanks for the excellent instructions for upgrading my (hand-me-down) MacBookPro circa 2008. However, it sounds over my head. At least, I know what to do instead of purchasing a new one.
T.W.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

My poor little iPad is barely capable of doing anything any more. It’s not even 5 years old.

I bought an iPad Christmastime, 2011. I made it nominally my Christmas present, but I was actually hoping that my wife would adopt it, and this came to pass. A while back she began complaining that it was s l o w, so I took it to the Apple Store a couple of months ago.

The tech (“genius”) asked if it was routinely turned off using the power button (i.e., the physical button on the bottom of the right side of the unit if the unit is held so that the function key [i.e., depression] on the front of the frame is near your left thumb). I admitted that the button was never used. Along with other things he did to clean up the software, he recommended that the unit be routinely turned off with the power button.

That did speed it up some - but in reality that old an iPad has fallen behind our progressing expectations, so the upshot was that I bought a new iPad Pro, not the newest version but the one which is double the size of the regular version. I selected that because my wife uses it a lot in the house, but has little to no need to lug it around elsewhere - thus the physical size is not awkward. I also considered the weight of the unit; if anything the Pro felt slightly lighter to me than the old standard sized unit.

My choice was fully vindicated when my wife misplaced the pro in the house somewhere, and I pointed out where the old unit was lying in plain sight - but she kept looking for the pro in preference to just picking the old one up and using it. Proof of the pudding . . .

[exDemMom]

Well, you all had some good suggestions.

I admit, I have only turned off the unit about three times using the power button. It has shut itself off a handful of times when I have forgotten to charge it.

I will try the cache thing on Safari and see if that helps.

I remember when I first got the iPad and I thought that pressing the button on the front shut off apps. After I’d had it for months, my son discovered that every app I had ever opened was still running. I’d had no idea. Now I know how to turn them off, by pressing the front button twice and then scrolling through the apps and sliding the ones I don’t want upwards. But these days, even with all or most of the apps off, the iPad still has trouble.

I’m just biding my time in any case, until October when I will buy the Steve Jobs 5th anniversary commemorative iPad. (No, Apple does not sell such a thing. That is just what I will name it.)

[roadcat]

My apologies if I came off a tad harsh. Not everyone reads up on all the how-to's on the Internet, and to be honest Apple supplies minimalist instruction manuals.

My daughter and at one time my wife were doing the same thing, saying their machines were slowing down. I looked, and showed them they were running every app they ever ran. I have to chastise them not to leave several dozen apps running at the same time, chewing up memory and resources. It also helps to shut down the machine once in a while, and do a cold start. Additionally, port files you accumulate to another machine or hard drive. Any machine, regardless of brand or type, will suffer if you don't leave some free space either in memory or the storage media. Also helps to buy the most amount of memory for the device at time of purchase - you will one day thank yourself. I also periodically clear my browser to keep it running better. You'll find that it's not that hard to re-enter links, passwords, etc. after clearing the browser - actually helps reinforce your memory of them.

[roadcat]

... upgrading my (hand-me-down) MacBookPro circa 2008

Actually, it's not that hard. But do find someone tech savvy like a friend, neighbor or relative that can do it for you. Just make sure your data is backed up. Swapping out a hard drive for another is extremely easy. Removing the cd/dvd device and replacing it with a second hard drive is more difficult, as the case must be taken apart and some cables are to be disconnected. If not careful, a cable or port can be damaged. So yes, better to find someone with tech skills on electronics. If done, your machine can run up to ten times faster with an SSD, while you place non-system data on your original hard drive acting as a secondary drive.

Another option is to swap your hard drive with an SSD, placing your old drive into an external case with USB connectivity. But I suggested installing two drives because you mentioned problems with your cd/dvd device, which would still be a problem doing this latter option.

[mojo114]

Our family has had Apple products since 1984 and find them easy to use is the reason.