UPDATE Tuesday December 28 17:59 GMT+11: It’s a long time since I wrote this original post but it still gets quite a bit of attention so I’ve written an updated version Apple is Still Crap.
I recently rented a MacBook Pro in order to develop some dashboard Widgets for a client, and I have to say I’m morbidly disappointed with it. I think Apple should spend less time trying to squeeze more cash out of their consumers and more time creating a product that works.
Here is why Apple is crap:
- OSX System upgrades break: this actually happened a little while ago to me, not on the MacBook Pro that I have currently. I did a system upgrade, and the machine rebooted to a blank, blue screen. I had to spend an hour on the phone to Mac technical support and needed to run some kind of repair script off the installation disc
- OSX is unstable: I’ve only has this MacBook Pro for 5 days and it’s crashed three times. I’m amazed. They took the most stable operating system in the world (BSD) and turned it into a flakey house of cards. It actually crashed during a restart! I told it to restart, and it came up with a message telling me it had crashed and I needed to restart. Compare this to the FreeBSD system I run on my desktop using XFCE4 as the desktop environment which has never crashed. The only time it has ever frozen up on me is when I bumped the casing too hard and it unseated one of the PCI cards. That’s in nearly 5 years of operation. It’s never ever crashed. The MacBook Pro crashed three times in 5 days. What a piece of garbage.
- iTunes DRM: Apple have really made a coup of this whole digital song sales thing. You buy these songs for $1.69, but you can’t play them on more than 5 computers and you can’t even burn them to a CD! Bloody useless. You’d think that you’d be able to get more usage out of a product that you actually paid for than one you stole (ie. you can do whatever the hell you want with a file you download illegally. What’s the incentive to buy their product?!)
- Firefox runs like a bitch on OSX: I like firefox as a browser but the Mac port runs terribly and Safari, although an okay browser, doesn’t have all the really cool features that make web development really easy like the view source chart addon, web developer toolbar and a detailed error console.
- There’s no right mouse button: why why why? Why would you not have a right mouse button? The Apple team are obviously aware of the usefulness of a context menu, because you can still get one by doing ctrl+click. Why would you make it so you need two hands to right click instead of just putting another button on the damn mouse/trackpad? What’s wrong with these people?
- Apple == Landfill: Apple hardware becomes obsolete really fast and then you can’t do anything with it. I’ve tried installing Ubuntu and NetBSD on old Apples and it’s nothing short of suicide inducing. Half the time it just doesn’t work. And now Apple has changed to x86, I guess at least now you’ll be able to install other OS’s once Apple’s system crippling OS updates render your computer useless. Not to mention the temporal nature of the iPod and it’s relationship with the ever upgrading OSX and iTunes versions. Disgusting
- The package management systems (fink and darwin ports) are the worst of any *nix distro. EVER! Also, even though OSX ships with a unix command line terminal, it doesn’t ship with make unless you install the developer tools. Why? Would including make by default really have crippled the system so badly that you just couldn’t fit it in?
Quite frankly, I hate Apple and wouldn’t buy one of their products if my life depended on it.
Comment Archive
This post originally appeared on an older version of the Working Software website which implemented it’s own comment mechanism. This new version of our website/blog uses Disqus for comments (see below) however I wanted to preserve the comments made on the previous post here:
Whatever you think about your mac experience, Windows is by far much worse, and unfortunatley, it’s everywhere you look.
sustainedenergy (2007-07-23)
Well, yes naturally it’s better than windows 🙂 I’m actually just kind of jaded because it’s based on BSD so naturally I expected immense stability and usability out of it as a UNIX distro which, in my (somewhat limited) experience, it hasn’t delivered well at all.
Iain Dooley (2007-07-23)
Also… as much as I hate the company, the Dashboard and Expose make my day…
Iain Dooley (2007-07-23)
i think your being a little harsh. crashed 5 times in one day? seriously? i’ve had my book for amost a year and i don’t even thinks its crashed 5 times total. as for the hardware, i had a dell before my book, and i couldn’t use the thing for 15 minutes without having to plug it back in. my book on the other hand runs for hours, isn’t loud and doesn’t get quite as hot as my dell did. maybe you just have a defective book…
taelor (2007-11-11)
you rented a machine that was maybe unstable to start with… I’m running web and e-mail and backup server on a 500 Mhz G4 cube that hasn’t crashed 5 times in over 5 years, and it’s up all the time !
peter (2007-12-11)
good point about Apple == Landfill. hadn’t thought about it before. i’ve been a PC user / builder all my life and have built most of my computers from boxes that i found on the side of the road – effectively reducing landfill. i too also HATE the one button thing. they’ve had to invent another 65 buttons to compensate – nice one APPLE you bunch of morons. not to mention the inconsistent function of keys like ‘Home’ and ‘End’ across applications. for like 10 years the End key took me to the end of a line. then all of a sudden i jump on a MAC and i’m getting taken to the end of the document in some apps. just plain dumb. do these people think that it’s cool to change things that have worked for years as some way of making their product unique? MACs are definitely NOT developers tools. they’re more like expensive toys for jerks who think that things that look cool work better. there! i’ve had my piece
cambit (2008-02-08)
cambit – you have put into words what I have thought for years. Nice one!
Tomass Zutis (2008-05-22)
2.4 QUAD CORE 750GB S-ATAII 4GB 1066Mhzram ATI HD4850 DDR3 22″Widescreen TFT Windows vista X64 Runs everything & if you protect it there’s no fear 4 virusses. Price for all this? €900 Price for apple system with slower cpu & crap gpu? €2.250 That leaves me some money to get wireless stuff + a design case and mouse with one button. Right?
Glenn Vercamer (2008-08-21)
i fucking hate apple. i bought my imac 2.4 ghz intel core 2 duo with an upgrade of 2gb ram in mid june, it was the second from the best and most expensive imac available at the approved apple dealer. come middle of august and it starts making strange sounds. apple authorized technicians can’t find a fault. send it back. come september, 3 months after purchase, it starts shutting down on me randomly. over 4 times in a day. i was not overworking it. merely on youtube, facebook and probably itunes. i take it to another authorized apple technician, ‘oh it probably isn’t stable, you need to install your updates.’ why should i need to install updates on my computer when it is only 3 months old. shouldn’t i be able to buy a top of the line state of the art technology and for it to just work. why do i need to constantly do these updates. i was not made aware of this by the man at the apple shop. that if i didn’t then my computer would shut down on me in the middle of important work i was doing. i hate apple. plus. what good is a warranty if they dont know whats wrong and they charge you anyway for an ‘inspection fee’ when they haven’t done anything. one other thing. why are they so keen to sell you the apple protection care plan if they claim their product is so great. why why why
ting (2008-10-07)
“Quite frankly, I hate Apple and wouldn’t buy one of their products if my life depended on it.” WORD 😀 Good on Steve for taking all the fools money though, I’d do the same if I could.
Nik (2008-12-01)
You know, I was pretty proud of what I had read until you commented that Windows sucks. I have to say, for a company that is forced into writing an OS that should maintain compatibility with literally BILLIONS of independent applications as well as be more customizable than any other product in the industry, Microsoft does a damn good job. When I write code, the variables can be limited to a certain set of scenarios, when they develop their OS they have to consider limitless scenarios. And for those of you who whine that Windows is riddled with viruses, Apple isn’t without fault, it’s just that no one wants to bother with writing a virus that affects 3-5% of the total PC market. If you own an Apple and think you’re more cool because of it, just shoot your lame coffee shop loving ass already, because I really can’t stand people who will pay big money for a laptop with no optical drive.
Dustin (2009-03-11)
Oh Iain, I really suggest you try a Zune…limited monthly cost (restricted to the device if you pay a monthly fee of around 20 US Dollars) and you get 10 absolutely free downloads, DRM free. Plus, if you know your laws, you know you have the right to remove the DRM restrictions and utilize the music on any device you choose through the use of ripping software, so long as you continue to pay your monthly fee.
Dustin (2009-03-11)
I agree Apple is very bad. The media may say it is better than Windows. When I try it, Apple is WORSE than Windows. Poor media, it contains a lot of useless marketing stuffs…
andjohn2000 (2010-03-07)
Great article I totally agree with everything you are saying Apple are too profit focused. I can build myself a top end PC for $700-800AUD and I don’t have to really upgrade for perhaps a year and i might just spend $100 on more ram or something, not another $4000 Mac.
Luke (2010-09-17)
why does my iPod erase all my music….why does my iPod not remember my security information…why does Apple require all my security information and then use to block me from getting online help….therefore charging me $30 plus tax to get phone help….i wish I’d never bought this thing….my music is gone….my podcast idea is gone …totally frustrating.
kathy (2010-11-11)
