Apple Ranter

“It is not important who made the tools you use. It is what you use it for.”

Very, very true. Some of the finest books ever written would have been scrawled out in pencil and finished on a good old typewriter - no computer required.

HOWEVER, and it’s a big however - when I work with tools, I expect them to bloody well work, and work properly. At college (design) I paid a small fortune for expensive Rotring pens instead of the crappy generic pens, because they worked. We all paid extra for good paper, because the crap stuff just doesn’t cut it for your final pieces. And we learned as designers to appreciate well thought out, well designed products in every sector. And we ALL had Mac computers because they walked over every other computer when it came to what we did. It’s worth the extra money.

I abhor the ‘me too’ generation, with the must have products because everyone else has one. It’s soulless, pointless and above all wasteful. Mobile phones, you DON’T NEED a new one just because your mate has a flashy one. You DON’T NEED the latest Gucci handbag because it’s in this week and out the next (even cheap fashion falls victim to this). And a large portion of these people buy, and crow about Apple products because they are the latest must-haves. The reason they’ve gotten to the status of being a must-have is because designers and creatives have been coveting and using their brilliant products for the past 20 years.

At face value, the people who actually USE any product PROPERLY (not the unwashed hordes pilfering MP3s and downloading porn all day) will be the ones who appreciate its true value. Design is not just the aesthetic, and that’s something I struggle to get across to the average Joe. The sad fact is that many, many consumers don’t give a crap where anything has come from, how it was made, if its useful or if its wasteful - it’s just want, want, want all the time.

The majority of people I know who are Mac addicts (mostly designers) are the true users, who aren’t in it for the brand name. The newest, trendiest Mac doesn’t matter - in fact most of us keep the old-fashioned ones from the ‘good old days’ because we don’t care about having the shiniest, fastest, the one the news talks about. It just has to WORK. As a graphic designer believe me, I KNOW that brands are all concocted - by people like me! It’s an idealism, a story, an emotion. And if everyone realised that they wouldn’t fall for all the advertising twaddle…

True innovation in products, technological or otherwise, lies with imaginative designers, scientists and inventors, and as long as Apple keeps chasing innovation that can’t help but improve the industry. Without them we’d be stuck with thoughtless, boring beige lump desktops. And magnolia woodchip, most likely. Creativity is the very essence of human success :-)

I really wish the ‘new’ Apple fans (I’m starting to sound like an old veteran here!) would buy the products because they work, because they’re innovative, because they actually need them, rather than because it’s trendy. But that goes the same for Nike, organic products, hair straighteners, mobile phones, anything these days. After the conservative finances of the post-war West, the 1950s opened up a whole new world of credit and labour-saving devices which made people want, and want, and want more. There is no basic lifestyle any more, and material gains are too highly prized in this part of the world. It’s a hard picture to grasp, and a complex one at that. I tried to explain to my friend’s 14-yr-old son why he doesn’t need a new phone every 3 months (honestly!) and why the world is too greedy and I was met with a blank stare and honest to God he told me he MUST have all of these things because his mates do. Wow. I give up.

Seriously people, don’t whinge about the cost of an iPhone ‘cos your mate has one’ and it’s cool and I want one but the LG is shiny and yadda yadda yadda - buy every single product and service in your life BECAUSE YOU NEED IT AND WILL USE IT. Keep on at the companies to pursue greener policies and try to keep your own product usage down to save on supplies. It all counts.

* On a side note Steve, I’m really sorry but I love my Mac and my iPhone like my children…I can see your eyes rolling now….but they work beautifully and have streamlined my very hectic and busy working life into an easy process, and that is why I have them. I COULD live without them, I’d be very happy to take off for 2 years in Vietnam without them, but here and now they are fantastic, and I’m sticking with them ;-p

I’m not a Mac-liker either. Frankly, I hate the damn things but it’s more to do with the “Mac is wonderful, Steve Jobs can have my first-born” brigade as well. So apologies to those who just plug them in, use them as the tools they are and get on with life.

There are two guys I work with at this company who are Mac-o-philes. Not content with just using the evil things, they insist on telling me how bad all the PCs are and how great they’d be if they were Apples and how the stuff we’ve got doesn’t work with their (non-company-supplied) Apple laptops. The reason the PCs are bad are because they’ve been well-worn and used by a succession of muppets who’ve downloaded crap on them year upon year without anyone having the time to spring-clean them. I’d be astounded if “even” a Mac could take that punishment!

Another issue I have with them is the whole “form before function” thing. Why do people buy iPods? Don’t get me wrong - the interface is simply stunning. Wonderful. Simple, delicate, intuitive. Smashing.

But they break so damn easily. It’s a *portable* player. So how come the first purchases most people make for them are screen protectors and rubberised cases? It’s like selling cars with windcreens and bumpers as optional third-party extras. Plus they crash and when they do they take all your mp3s with them. A mate of mine has been through three in as many years, but he loves it because the warranty he has restarts with each new replacement and he always gets the new model up when they sort him out!

Oh, and if it wasn’t for Macs then we’d not have Windows *spit* Vista as MS attempted to mimic the later MacOS’s. That alone is enough for anyone to hate Apple.

Me and my other half were having just this conversation last night, after I’d seen a bit on the BBC news website about “selfish consumerism” and how it makes us all miserable. My non-Apple MP3 player is old, in fact in gadget terms it’s antique, coming up for 3 years. I had one friend call it retro the other week! I’m sticking with it because it still does the job, it works really well, the sound is brilliant, it still has it’s original battery and I love it. I’m so glad I’m not one of those idiots that drops a perfectly funtioning piece of kit the second that Apple (or whoever) brings out a ‘new generation’ of the same thing. They think it buys them membership to some kind of exclusive club, yet all it does is empty their wallets and add to the landfill.

The article really spoke to me as I’ve been feeling really sorry for myself as I can’t afford the new digital camera that I want. Which is just crazy as I have a perfectly functioning digital camera at home, I just WANT a new one. When I really thought about it the reason I want it is ‘cus it’s shinier and will fit better in my handbag! I read the article, realised how stupid I was being and have put the few quid I’ve saved so far towards a train ticket to my friend’s little ‘uns first birthday party, which I know will make me a lot happier in the long run. And I will take my “old” camera with me to capture the event (and a bigger handbag, obviously).

Argh! Okay, rant over!

The article is here btw http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7189947.stm

Selfish consumerism!! That’s a brilliant term, fits it exactly.

I’ve been thinking exactly the same with my already very expensive Nikon SLR camera. I would LOVE the new D300 as it is fab, but my D70 does the job and it is still brilliant. But, if I did get the new one I’d give my kit to my mate who would love to get an SLR but can’t afford it. Thus, the D70 would still get used and wouldn’t end up as landfill. I gave my old iPod to the same mate who then gave his old iPod to another mate whose car stereo had died, and we bought them an iTrip so they could use it in the car. It really bothers me that millions of mobile phones and gadgets every year end up in the bin when they still work! Give them to people who could use them! Recycle!

Would it help if people were educated as to what exactly goes into making these devices? That rare, limited supplies of metals and minerals which can never be replaced, are being used up for devices which should not be regarded as being disposible? Why don’t people care?

I often feel the same way about football. Do you think if I started going to Football matches I’d start gushing about how my life was changed?

So, you’re saying that if I did develop an interest in professional-level football, I would become a happier person who was able to share my interests with random members of society? Sounds good to me. Probably quite healthy for you, in terms of psychological development.

But if that’s true, maybe you should think about some of the positive reasons why people like to use other brands of OS. Try not to denigrate the people who like something you don’t like, because one day you might change your mind.

“But if that’s true, maybe you should think about some of the positive reasons why people like to use other brands of OS. Try not to denigrate the people who like something you don’t like, because one day you might change your mind.”

I find that a lot of people just don’t like, or are scared of change. Strange isn’t it, that people should be worried about trying something new? In a Mac/PC household with my ex he said for years that Macs would be too hard to get used to, he’d love to use it but…and then after the umpteenth time his PC died and my then quite old Mac was STILL standing, he turned. He tried the Mac, loved it, even said ‘why didn’t I do this before?’ to my amusement. We bought a new Mac, and I still have it, and he wants a new one. LOL

I always try to figure out what it is about something I don’t like. Or if there’s ‘another side’ that I could try. You discover cool and fun things sometimes :-) Like when I skied, and eventually decided to try snowboarding. Even better, and not as scary as I’d thought (after the hospital trip…LOL). All those crowing snowboarders were right. Variety is the spice of life, and all that.

On the football side, I’m excited about NUFC again for the first time in I don’t know how long. Really looking forward to seeing what pans out!

“What is your best Apple memory?”

Good subject for a blog that…LOL it made me think. My best memory is discovering them for the first time (after a few years with PCs, Acorn and BBC computers etc). 11 years old starting high school. These computers blew my mind, I tried this (very basic) page layout program, and instantly I knew what my career would be. Love at first sight, I reckon :-D

I spent more than 18 years, OMIN, using / abusing PC’s running Msoft.

And I’m not totally incompetent when it comes to using most `standard’ and many more, much more, demanding creative apps.

They have all made me very - very - happy and have allowed me to do wonderful things.

Creatively. Emotionally. Politically.

Etssettsettsetts.

But MAC is a truly different world from MSoft.

EVERYTHING…

That’s quite a big and loud word, I agree,

EVERYTHING…

is better and more beautiful.

In my opinion.

That does NOT mean S Jobs is!
Nor that any other a hole from Apple Central is.

Nor their Agencies.

But the tools, the housing of those tools, and the aesthetics of the tools and the apps… real beauty if you will look, see.

(I used to think Haydn was shallow).

Apple isn’t a myth from nerds.

The OS is technically better, evaluated on - I understand - virtually any relevant `objective’ criterion.

When one has used best-in-class MS / Sony / IBM kit for close on twenty years - (not any hand me down crap ) - and then discovers how computers SHOULD work for and with you… it is very, very, pleasing.

NO substitute, I totally agree, for talent!

You’ve got that om, in spades. But, please, don’t beat up on us Macverts… there are far more important things to blog about.

My best Apple memory?

Just loving the beauty.

Not as good as my AMIGA…

but close.

I remember, the Robledo Twins, Hughie Gallagher, Jackie Milburn, seeing the cup come home twice.

I worked with steam typewrirters, electric typewriters, golf ball typewriters, word processors, M4400, and then computers. Our original fax machine was a prototype and as big as a single bed. But that was work and they changed things all the time. More efficent, more money , less people.

Home, I operate a ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ policy. And if it is broke - see if its cheaper to mend it. It nearly always is and the older things are the better they were made.

Perhaps that is why I love Keegan - he plays old fashioned football. 11 Players - aiming to win - come hell or high water and if you lookse - there is always another day.

Mac’s - I wear them in the rain.
Apples - I eat them.
PC’s - luckily I have a Guru who builds me what I can cope with - brilliant.

Football - NUFC for the ups, downs, smiles and tears over the years.

Hey Omin, I see your point. But you’ve just created some more blurb about erm… Apple.

So, you’re talking about a ‘tool’ you don’t even use?

Got to hate marketing.

Fantastic irony. To plug plug plug your bete noir like this. Me, I love ‘em.

[...] Side note:  My comment was a quick protest at the advertised Mac Humour of the Fake Steve Jobs who is to appear (he makes jokes about Microsoft..ooh no stop it). Further Mac grumblings here. [...]

[...] Side note: My comment was a quick protest at the advertised Mac Humour of the Fake Steve Jobs who is to appear (he makes jokes about Microsoft..ooh no stop it). Further Mac grumblings here. [...]