Thoughts on the 9/13/2024 WAN Show

[Arnox]

You're right, Linus. There is more negativity in the tech space. But on the other hand, it's not actually undeserved a lot of the time. The problem though is that people may not know how to properly articulate the problem, so they bring up something that they think is the issue, but it's not actually the issue. For example, the Apple stuff. Apple is an extremely consumer-hostile company. Their way, their profits, or you can screw off. That's their entire philosophy and has been since day 1. Now I'm not going to sit here and pretend that other companies can't be just as bad as Apple, but even if they are, it doesn't actually matter. A terrible company is a terrible company. Apple is still making utterly anti-repairable devices, still being eco-unfriendly, still kowtowing to China, still ignoring adding back a headphone jack and SD card slot, still charging extremely inflated prices, still trying to skirt the EU rules for Apple's app store, still spying on their users (see: iCloud Photos incident), and still trying to keep users into their walled garden. Except walled garden seems to be too generous a descriptor. More like a prison in many ways. And that's the big stuff. There's a lot more stuff I could pull up.

 

Sometimes, Linus, you have indeed been a rebel. You've done really good work, but other times, especially lately, you've been adopting more and more... I don't know how else to put this... "Normie" opinions. I guess what I'm saying is, instead of allowing Apple to be anti-consumer, continue to call them out on it. Are they gonna continue being so? Probably. Are users even going to get mad at you? Probably. But there are lines, and they shouldn't be allowed to be crossed by companies, regardless of how many times they've done it. By making these videos and saying how excited you are to get an iPhone and all this stuff, you are effectively endorsing Apple's broad decisions as a company and saying, "This is okay. This is acceptable." And this doesn't apply to just Apple. This goes for other consumer-hostile companies too, though right now, let's just keep things simple and constrain it to Apple for the moment.

[mcmx11]

I think calling Apple an "extremely consumer hostile" company is negative hyperbole that doesn't serve the discourse. I don't like all of Apple's practices, but if they were "extremely" hostile to consumers, then consumers wouldn't choose them.

Quote

Their way, their profits, or you can screw off.

a.k.a. vote with your wallet. No one is forcing you to buy the product.

[GarlicDeliverySystem]

5 minutes ago, mcmx11 said:

I don't like all of Apple's practices, but if they were "extremely" hostile to consumers, then consumers wouldn't choose them.

I would even argue, they are somewhat consumer friendly in a lot of aspects, just more in a Faustian bargain kinda deal: buy into our ecosystem, and stuff just magically works. Keep consuming, keep paying, and you don't have to worry about tech.

 

I've heard this from many people who needed a lot of tech, but weren't interested in it. They saw it as paying for not having to deal with shit.

 

It might be a walled garden with some weird arbitrary rules, but as far as I've heard, it can be a very nice garden.

[Im_a_Rhinoceros]

15 hours ago, Arnox said:

 

 

Sometimes, Linus, you have indeed been a rebel. You've done really good work, but other times, especially lately, you've been adopting more and more... I don't know how else to put this... "Normie" opinions. 

Or maybe, just as a hypothetical, your position is BS and Linus isn't wrong but you are

[Arnox]

10 hours ago, mcmx11 said:

if they were "extremely" hostile to consumers, then consumers wouldn't choose them.

 

This is a logical fallacy, ascribing way too much wisdom to the crowd. Lots of people smoke cigarettes too. Does that mean cigarettes aren't as bad as health authorities are saying?

 

10 hours ago, mcmx11 said:

No one is forcing you to buy the product.

 

This is not about me though. This is about Linus and what he chooses to promote on his (very popular) platform. Like it or not, Linus has a responsibility to his viewers to ensure that he not just reports the correct information, but doesn't mislead them into thinking consumer-hostile products are good or even acceptable. It's about consistency. Sure, Linus has definitely talked about how bad Apple is in the past, but if after that, he then lines up to buy an iPhone and then makes a video hyping up Apple's claims... It sends a mixed message to say the least.

 

10 hours ago, GarlicDeliverySystem said:

buy into our ecosystem, and stuff just magically works.

 

It does not. Or at least, it's not a guarantee anymore anyway. If you had said that, like, ten years ago or so, more or less, I might have somewhat agreed.

 

2 hours ago, Im_a_Rhinoceros said:

your position is BS and Linus isn't wrong but you are

 

Not as BS as this post and your signature.