>equating access to private APIs in a private store with morality
Well, I think there is a lot more to it than this. I think people are just using this as one example. Personally I don't think it's a very good example, but you won't see a thread on HN about Apple purposely breaking X so Y is more difficult (for example the android imessage fiasco), or the fact that many 'innovations' by Apple, like thunderbolt or retina, are really just 'one-upping' the competition and attempting to lock the consumer in to something that's no more than a gimmick.
Sure thunderbolt is fast, but it's not something that any tech company couldn't design, it's just something to break compatibility between systems. Microsoft and many other tech companies are guilty of the same thing. Maybe google could make lighteningBolt on their chromebooks that goes just a little faster then thunderbolt, and then MS can make FTLBOLT on the surface that goes just a little faster than lighteningBolt, and then we can have no universal standards.
Next every company can come up with their own formats for their devices to make cross-compatibility impossible!
Like I said, Apple isn't the only company that's guilty of this, but they certainly seem to be the worst offender, especially when it comes to the consumer. If you're an investor it's great though, because they do everything they can to hook the consumer and make sure they can't go back.
Personally I'm not a fan of the Apple ecosystem. I had a lot of issues with sound going in and out on my MBP and bad multi-monitor support and I kind of felt mislead my the Apple community because I foolishly believed that OS X would have no issues out of the box.
I think the fanbase needs to be more open and accepting to criticism of the brand, because acting like Apple is some kind of flawless tech company does more harm than good.
> many 'innovations' by Apple, like thunderbolt or retina, are really just 'one-upping' the competition and attempting to lock the consumer in to something that's no more than a gimmick. Sure thunderbolt is fast, but it's not something that any tech company couldn't design
Definitely. For example, Thunderbolt was designed by Intel. Apple had an exclusive license for a while, but it's available on Windows laptops[1] now, albeit sometimes with their own proprietary connector[2].
Well, I think there is a lot more to it than this. I think people are just using this as one example. Personally I don't think it's a very good example, but you won't see a thread on HN about Apple purposely breaking X so Y is more difficult (for example the android imessage fiasco), or the fact that many 'innovations' by Apple, like thunderbolt or retina, are really just 'one-upping' the competition and attempting to lock the consumer in to something that's no more than a gimmick.
Sure thunderbolt is fast, but it's not something that any tech company couldn't design, it's just something to break compatibility between systems. Microsoft and many other tech companies are guilty of the same thing. Maybe google could make lighteningBolt on their chromebooks that goes just a little faster then thunderbolt, and then MS can make FTLBOLT on the surface that goes just a little faster than lighteningBolt, and then we can have no universal standards.
Next every company can come up with their own formats for their devices to make cross-compatibility impossible!
Like I said, Apple isn't the only company that's guilty of this, but they certainly seem to be the worst offender, especially when it comes to the consumer. If you're an investor it's great though, because they do everything they can to hook the consumer and make sure they can't go back.
Personally I'm not a fan of the Apple ecosystem. I had a lot of issues with sound going in and out on my MBP and bad multi-monitor support and I kind of felt mislead my the Apple community because I foolishly believed that OS X would have no issues out of the box.
I think the fanbase needs to be more open and accepting to criticism of the brand, because acting like Apple is some kind of flawless tech company does more harm than good.