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liam_on_linuxI really hate it whenever I see someone calling Apple fans fanboys or attacking Apple products as useless junk that only sells because it's fashionable.
Every hater is 100% as ignorant and wrong as any fanatically-loyal fanboy who won't consider anything else.
Let me try to explain why it's toxic.
If someone/some group are not willing to make the effort to see why a very successful product/family/brand is successful, then it prevents them from learning any lessons from that success. That means that the outgroup is unlikely to ever challenge the success.
In life it is always good to ask why. If this thing is so big, why? If people love it so much, why?
I use a cheap Chinese Android phone. It's my 3rd. I also have a cheap Chinese Android tablet that I almost never use. But last time I bought a phone, I had a Planet Computers Gemini on order, and I didn't want two new ChiPhones, so I bought a used iPhone. This was a calculated decision: the new model iPhones were out and dropped features I wanted. This meant the previous model was now quite cheap.
I still have that iPhone. It's a 6S+. It's the last model I'd want: it has a headphone socket and a physical home button. I like those. It's still updated and last week I put the latest iOS on it.
It allowed me to judge the 2020s iOS ecosystem. It's good. Most of the things I disliked about iOS 6 (the previous iPhone model I had) have been fixed now. Most of the apps can be replaced or customised. It's much more open than it was. The performance is good, the form factor is good, way better than my iPhone 4 was.
I don't use iPhones because I value things like expansion slots, multiple SIMs, standard ports and standard charging cables, and a customisable OS. I don't really use tablets at all.
But my main home desktop computer is an iMac. I am an expert Windows user and maintainer with 35 years' of experience with the platform. I am also a fairly expert Linux user and maintainer with 27 years' experience. I am a full-time Linux professional and have been for nearing a decade... because I am a long-term Windows expert and that is why I choose not to use it any more.
My iMac (2015 Retina 27") is the most gorgeous computer I've ever owned. It looks good, it's a joy to use, it is near silent and trouble-free to a degree that any Windows computer can only aspire to be. I don't need expansion slots and so on: I want the vendor to make a good choice, integrate it well and for it to just work and keep just working, and it does.
It is slim, unobtrusive for a large machine, silent, and the picture (and sound) quality is astounding.
I chose it because I have extensive knowledge of building, specifying, benchmarking, reviewing, fixing, supporting, networking, deploying, and recycling old PCs. It is over 3 decades of expert knowledge of PCs and Windows that is why I spent my own money on a Mac.
So every time someone calls Mac owners fanboys, I know they know less than me and therefore I feel entirely entitled to dump on their ignorance from a great height.
I do not use iDevices. I also do not use Apple laptops. I don't like their keyboards, I don't like their pointing devices, I don't like their hard-to-repair designs. I use old Thinkpads, like most experienced geeks.
But I know why people love them, and if one wishes to pronounce edicts about Apple kit, you had better bloody well know your stuff.
I do not recommend them for everyone. Each person has their own needs and should learn and judge appropriately. But I also do not condemn them out of hand.
I have put in an awful lot of Windows boxes over the years. I have lost large potential jobs when I recommended Windows solutions to Mac houses, because it was the best tool for the job. I have also refused large jobs from people who wanted, say, Windows Server or Exchange Server when it *wasn't* the right tool for the job.
It was my job to assess this stuff.
Which equips me well to know that every single time someone decries Apple stuff, that means that they haven't done the work I have. They don't know and they can't bothered to learn.
Every hater is 100% as ignorant and wrong as any fanatically-loyal fanboy who won't consider anything else.
Let me try to explain why it's toxic.
If someone/some group are not willing to make the effort to see why a very successful product/family/brand is successful, then it prevents them from learning any lessons from that success. That means that the outgroup is unlikely to ever challenge the success.
In life it is always good to ask why. If this thing is so big, why? If people love it so much, why?
I use a cheap Chinese Android phone. It's my 3rd. I also have a cheap Chinese Android tablet that I almost never use. But last time I bought a phone, I had a Planet Computers Gemini on order, and I didn't want two new ChiPhones, so I bought a used iPhone. This was a calculated decision: the new model iPhones were out and dropped features I wanted. This meant the previous model was now quite cheap.
I still have that iPhone. It's a 6S+. It's the last model I'd want: it has a headphone socket and a physical home button. I like those. It's still updated and last week I put the latest iOS on it.
It allowed me to judge the 2020s iOS ecosystem. It's good. Most of the things I disliked about iOS 6 (the previous iPhone model I had) have been fixed now. Most of the apps can be replaced or customised. It's much more open than it was. The performance is good, the form factor is good, way better than my iPhone 4 was.
I don't use iPhones because I value things like expansion slots, multiple SIMs, standard ports and standard charging cables, and a customisable OS. I don't really use tablets at all.
But my main home desktop computer is an iMac. I am an expert Windows user and maintainer with 35 years' of experience with the platform. I am also a fairly expert Linux user and maintainer with 27 years' experience. I am a full-time Linux professional and have been for nearing a decade... because I am a long-term Windows expert and that is why I choose not to use it any more.
My iMac (2015 Retina 27") is the most gorgeous computer I've ever owned. It looks good, it's a joy to use, it is near silent and trouble-free to a degree that any Windows computer can only aspire to be. I don't need expansion slots and so on: I want the vendor to make a good choice, integrate it well and for it to just work and keep just working, and it does.
It is slim, unobtrusive for a large machine, silent, and the picture (and sound) quality is astounding.
I chose it because I have extensive knowledge of building, specifying, benchmarking, reviewing, fixing, supporting, networking, deploying, and recycling old PCs. It is over 3 decades of expert knowledge of PCs and Windows that is why I spent my own money on a Mac.
So every time someone calls Mac owners fanboys, I know they know less than me and therefore I feel entirely entitled to dump on their ignorance from a great height.
I do not use iDevices. I also do not use Apple laptops. I don't like their keyboards, I don't like their pointing devices, I don't like their hard-to-repair designs. I use old Thinkpads, like most experienced geeks.
But I know why people love them, and if one wishes to pronounce edicts about Apple kit, you had better bloody well know your stuff.
I do not recommend them for everyone. Each person has their own needs and should learn and judge appropriately. But I also do not condemn them out of hand.
I have put in an awful lot of Windows boxes over the years. I have lost large potential jobs when I recommended Windows solutions to Mac houses, because it was the best tool for the job. I have also refused large jobs from people who wanted, say, Windows Server or Exchange Server when it *wasn't* the right tool for the job.
It was my job to assess this stuff.
Which equips me well to know that every single time someone decries Apple stuff, that means that they haven't done the work I have. They don't know and they can't bothered to learn.
Attacking a scarecrow is not very sporting of you.
Date: 2022-03-23 04:50 pm (UTC)The M1 is a fast chip, no doubt about it. Unfortunately the computers apple builds with it are really bad computers. They're more like consoles (as in gaming consoles). As long as you only use Apple hardware, software, and never attempt to change the physical operation of your Apple system it's wonderful. But what if you want to boot off an external drive? Nope (*1). What if you want to use some random Thunderbolt 3 peripheral? Nope (*2). What if you want to put in a new SSD in that Mac Studio you bought with expansion options? Nope (*3). And lets not forget that the vast majority of non-megacorp software can't run on an M1 and has to be emulated (*4). Apple does not implement hardware standards. Apple hardware cuts corners implementing protocols because they know they can and it saves money.
Apple products are for people that don't alter their hardware or software and use the walled gardens. In that role they are magnificent consoles. But they're hardly personal computers.
1. https://tidbits.com/2021/05/27/an-m1-mac-cant-boot-from-an-external-drive-if-its-internal-drive-is-dead/
2. https://www.derekseaman.com/2021/11/my-journey-for-dual-displays-with-my-m1-pro-mac.html
3. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/03/explaining-the-mac-studios-removable-ssds-and-why-you-cant-just-swap-them-out/
4. https://isapplesiliconready.com/
Re: Attacking a scarecrow is not very sporting of you.
Date: 2022-03-23 05:42 pm (UTC)I disagree on several counts.
No, they don't. In my experience, more knowledgeable old hands tend to come to like Macs.
Enthusiasts may not like them, because Macs aren't PCs, and a lot of enthusiasts know nothing but PCs but don't realise that. Their knowledge doesn't apply, they didn't realise that their knowledge was limited, so they get angry.
Not all computers are PCs. I've worked on Suns and RS600s and DEC minicomputers and various non-x86 non-PC-like computers. I leaned not to assume.
Not all computers have a BIOS. Not all have firmware at all. Some load the firmware from disk, then use it to boot. Not all boot from disks. Not all can accept all kinds of disks. Not all computers use bytes; there are 9-bit and 18-bit and 36-bit computers out there. Some use disks but only certain specific models. Some use many disks, but they must have specific firmware on the disk's controller board. Some don't care about the firmware but it must be a specific ID, or only specific geometry.
Now there is an example, I think.
M1 is not just another processor.
M1 chips are Arm chips, but Apple-designed Arm chips. Arm computers are different from x86 computers. For instance, almost all x86 machines have standard firmware. There are a few types of standard but they all have them.
Arm computers don't. Arm computers aren't PCs. They don't have standard firmware that can look for and ID a standard disk and then boot off it in a standard way.
Every Arm box boots differently. Even ones that support different OSes, like the PinePhone, do different things for every different OS they boot.
For example, read this: https://tuxphones.com/booting-arm-linux-the-standard-way/#:~:text=If%20the%20PinePhone%20has%20Manjaro,will%20turn%20on%20when%20booting.
Apple's Arm computers are different even to that. Apple has made them so fast by large-scale integration. It's not just a SoC like a Raspberry Pi, which still has external RAM.
The Apple devices have multiple CPUs and the chipset and the GPU and even the RAM, all built in to one device.
Apple has changed CPU family 4 times now. No other single model range has ever done that.
The first Macs had 68000 processors. Then 68020, 68030, 68040, going from 16-bit to 32-bit then to onboard MMU then to to onboard FPU and MMU.
Then to PowerPC with OldWorld firmware and NuBus slots. Then to PowerPC with OldWorld firmware and PCI slots. Then NewWorld firmware and PCI. Then different forms of PCI.
Then to Intel with PCI and UEFI firmware.
Each time, one element at a time was changed. The progression was gradual, iterative.
Now, the Arm Macs are not even slightly like Intel Macs with an Arm chip instead.
They are more like iPads with a separate screen and keyboard.
You can't upgrade the RAM or the disk space in an iPad or an iPhone and nobody really expects that to be possible. iPads and iPhones don't even have SD card slots: the hardware doesn't allow storage expansion, so iOS doesn't need to.
You can't boot iOS off an external drive. You can't change an iPad's firmware but leave the OS. It's not separate: it's all one thing.
Well, the Arm Macs are like that, too.
But in some ways they look more like Intel Macs so people expect to be able to do Intel Mac stuff like stick a new bigger disk in, or upgrade the RAM, or add an external graphics card... and it doesn't work and people criticise them.
Whereas you can't do any of that stuff on an iDevice either and nobody cares.
The performance has been achieved by using pocket-device integration in desktops, and the price of that is far less expansion, far less modularity, loss of ability to do things like boot other OSes.
Some of this will come. You can already repartition the internal SSD and put Linux on it.
But don't expect them ever to become more PC-like. Expect them to become less PC like, because they aren't PCs and never will be.