#75.. on Apple's 'treatment of partners'

Post #358,862 by Ashton 6/12/12 8:07:30 PM Reply	#75.. on Apple's 'treatment of partners' Gosh.. when I recall the exchanges (in IWE's early years) re the numerous ways that Apple screwed the 'authorized' clone makers --is there much difference in the <oxymoron alert> corporate ethics of The Beastly Script-kiddies ... and today's Apple Corp.? I believe those early nasty dealings made permanent enemies, whatever the Insanely Great designs since. 'Course it's 2012 and victims shall be dying off. (I wonder if there are any Ed Curry's? where the Apple bodies are buried.) Then there's Today's Macbook Pro with hardwired/measly 8 MB! I mean.. I mean... (and aside from the obvious of a soldered-in $$$Up-grade to further swell the coffers: as in despicable).. Dunno about the rest, but having indicated my view of my iMac, after ~3.5 years: adequate in all regards important to moi --I see that Corporation as charging what the traffic will bear (+ a little more ... and a Lot More for any of their Store Services if No Warranty.) They don't 'Love Us'; they want stockholders to keep their Gross Worth high enough to prove to other bizness competition: we'll win (any 'contest') on sheer Power. I shall remain wary of imagining a somehow -Principled? gigundo-Corporation; nor do I expect that they shall ever make the simple firmware changes as would permit me to get from 6 GB --> at least the full 8, via two current 4GB sticks. (I put in 8 and--as reported: it's recognized but the system goes all-Microsoft wonky.) Even >I< need bloody 8 GB. Pity that Vulture-capitalism almost assures that Corp mindsets like Chainsaw's and The Trump clown defines the Murican ideal of 'Success'. Apple is maybe almost too-successful, for a mere User's own good; we gets No Vote on such matters as above.
Post #358,864 by Andrew Grygus 6/12/12 8:40:29 PM Reply	Authorized dealers in Apple branded hardware . . . . . were treated no better than the clone makers. That company, as far as business relations go, is now and always has been a pit of venomous snakes. No sane person would want to deal with them. Many years ago, at a distributor's vendor show (remember those?) I was approached by Apple reps who made a pitch for me to join their new VAR program. I said to them, "I've been in this business a long time, and I have a good memory". They turned and walked away without another word. A year later I read some articles by guys who did sucker for that deal, and spent a lot of money setting up their Apple based applications. What they had to say was not at all pretty - and they weren't Apple VARs any more. There are many, many more similar stories.
Post #358,867 by Another Scott 6/12/12 9:27:17 PM Reply	Maybe I've become jaded. There's lots of good discussion in that thread, and you're right, it does bring back memories of discussions on the various iterations of IWeThey. AG has lots of good stories, as I recall. Apple's in a sweet spot at a moment - making money hand-over-fist. It won't always be that way. I don't begrudge them making money while they can. Martin makes a good case, but I don't think Google is doomed by a long shot. Apple won't have the whole smartphone market. They may have a big part of the profits for a while, but they don't control the networks. That's another huge power that Apple will have to deal with if they try to control too much. Google's got vast amounts of information and have the profits to figure out what to do with it. I'm happy they invested in Android and bought Motorola Mobility. Maybe that patent warchest will help reduce the patent wars that have the danger of strangling innovation (as might have happened back in the "look and feel" days early on). Yeah, it's annoying that one can't upgrade many parts of Apple's stuff. Our MacMini has a maximum capacity of 8 GB, but this new Toshiba box has a maximum capacity of 8 GB too. And it's a few years newer than yours. ;-) There are some advantages of getting newer machines every few years if you can (faster memory buses, lower power consumption, etc.). The advantage of many Apple products is the depreciation is much slower than in the Winders world. Maybe Tim Cook will slowly erase some of Jobs's paranoia. Who knows. :-) Hang in there. Cheers, Scott.

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