Reasons Not to Use Apple | Hacker News Reader

Reasons Not to Use Apple

stallman.org

106 pointslioeters21 comments

Note the dates at the bottom: 2012-2018. r/StallmanWasRight

Stallman hasn’t really made any shocking revelations really. He just calls everything malware and most of it ends up being malware.

This is the best compendium I have found on the topic.

You can't complain without suggesting improvements, that's not constructive criticism. So what is the alternative here? All other brands have the same issue, not just phone manufacturers but other product and service providers too. I can provide a list ten times as long against using American products. So what do we do then? These types of "reason lists" are pointless. Right hand is different from the left hand, but they both grow from the same body.

Well, we can use and promote OS and devices from better companies like Purism, System76, PINE64 and etc.

Sorry but this is absolute nonsense. Having awareness of a problem does not imply necessarily having the best possible solution and neither should pointing out the problem be gatekeeped by this stupid expectation that you suddenly need to do the job of the offending party for them.

You will also end up with solutions that are more reactionary than genuinely innovative in the sense of being designed from the ground up on the basis of first principles.

Your comment is implying that there is a universal recognition of these problems already but that's not true outside of our insular tech bubble. These lists are great for anybody outside of that bubble who want to rapidly get up to speed on all the problematic actions that Apple has taken, and with a lens focused on preserving the freedoms of the user.

Slightly off topic but I wanted to add a quick story to this.

In my neighborhood I made some waves with the HOA when I complained about secret hidden cameras I found at our pool. After investigating I found out rather quickly that members of the board decided to put them up with out telling anyone including most of the rest of the board, which my girlfriend was a member of at the time. When I complained I was told the same thing: you can’t make a complaint without offering a solution. I was told this two more times when we suggested that they should not be having big meeting and gatherings during the pandemic, and when we suggested they should not be illegally miscounting property owners votes (this one ended up involving us paying a lawyer to straighten out).

Every time I was told I was not being constructive and offering a solution and every time I had to explain that I was. The solutions were very simple do spy on your neighbors and take secret videos of them, in their bathing suits especially. Don’t invite people to large in person gatherings during a pandemic when an online meeting will do. And follow the already legally established way of counting peoples votes without creativity reimagining it in your own favor.

For all those solutions my girlfriend was removed from the board and we are no longer allowed to vote.

Stallman is offering a similar simple solution “do not use Apple products.” The parent comment here is simply mad that Stallman has not invented a way for people To have their cake and eat it too.

Thanks for sharing your story and it was definitely relevant. I find that many people demanding solutions with complaints are not really looking for a solution, they just want you to shut up.

I see this a lot actually in politics as well. They think they are successfully browbeating you with their "hard truths" but what they're really showing is they lack imagination and the ability to evaluate their own position critically.

>Every time I was told I was not being constructive and offering a solution and every time I had to explain that I was.

That's when I would have said. 'I'll be back in ten minutes with the solution.' Then returned with the smashed cameras in my hand and said. 'Problem solved.'

I was so furious when I found the camera I confronted the president of the board that day on the street. He cooped to it in that conversation, said something about ‘our neighborhood is changing and we need to do something about it’, which was a referencing to a recent event involving a friend of a black family not being wanted at the pool. He was scared because he knew it was wrong, as cowards often are when confronted, and told me it would be removed, which it was, the same day. I mentioned it in the next meeting and was promptly called a liar, screamed at for 5 minutes and kicked out. The board made an official statement at the next meeting chastising my conduct and denying the entire incident.

Of course I still have the pictures of the camera, though I realized quickly I was the only one concerned with the surveillance, and rumor was I was the nefarious person that needed to be watched out for because ‘what does he have to hide then anyway?’

The board continues to hide cameras around the neighborhood whenever they see fit.

The real kicker to the whole thing was that at the same time I found out our Vice President, the one behind the whole shtick, was a disbarred ex DA, who is now an ex felon because he stole a gun out of an evidence locker gave it to his mistress and told her to kill his wife. What a world!

Damn, it sounds like you guys need a new place to live. That's just fucked up, no other word for it.

The key point here is if you are directly supporting the firm by amplifying its business model's externalities. Since tech is so pervasive in our lives, it is almost impossible to avoid.

For example, you can completely get rid of Facebook, but can't with Google products. There was a HN post which suggested alternatives to Google products, but made your life really complicated due to the lack of easy alternatives. The compromise here will be, that as long as you are using the firm's product but not contributing to their business model (advertising, falling for their ads, knowing when results are promoted/marketing) you should will be fine (at least by conscience). Otherwise, it is really hard, most things in life are a weight of pros and cons.

One compromised solution will be to buy used Apple products instead of fueling their business model (child & labor abuse) by upgrading to the newest version every year. This will reduce their hyped demand and stress on the workers. Not sure if this is a solution or an excuse to ease someone's conscience.

Stallman has quite detailed ideas about what to do instead but they're too severe for most people to agree to.

While Apple is very restrictive and controlling, they aren't as controlling as many imply about running your own/custom apps on phones.

You can sign up for a free developer account and sign apps onto your iDevices for free. ( 3-apps at least, for 1 week at a time )

If you pay for a developer account you can sign many more apps to run on your devices as you like. This includes apps that would not pass the store approvals.

I agree it is a hassle to have to install apps that way, but at least they do allow it.

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