Delta CEO calls Microsoft 'the most fragile platform' while praising Apple
9to5mac.com
9to5mac.com
It's pretty common for people to have a, let's say, 10 year old notebook with wifi 4 which could be greatly improved by adding wifi 5 or 6 capability. On a congested place with lots of neighbouring wireless networks where the 2.4ghz band is exhausted all the time your wi-fi could go from 5mbps to 500mbps, it's a BIG deal. Obviously the ability to do that on windows/linux notebooks isn't guaranteed, but it sure as hell is much more common than macbooks.
Your point is taken, but I put a new WiFi card in a 2012 MBP so I could use Airdrop and other newer features that required 802.11ac.
I have upgraded my 2010 iMac to a 2012-era GPU from a Dell laptop to get metal support.
I have also upgraded the CPU, Wifi card, and added 32GB of RAM to this 2010 iMac.
But every single Apple laptop I have owned has required a battery replacement because the LiPol puffed up after 4 years or so.
For some reason, I have not had the same battery problems with my Lenovo X1 Carbons.
The 2008 MacBook Pro has removable batteries and I have several of them that still last 3+ hours.
That said, I'd be curious on what exact failure you saw? A 2018 model anything should still be running along fine right now.
Plug in pow! dead!
As it was still running the original hard drive and would heat up a lot underload, it had long been moved out of mission critical use.
My daily runners are still 2009 and 2012 Thinkpads - they just wont die!
Windows laptops (HP, Dell) always crap out for me, except for my Thinkpads that lasted for a while.
That said, the M processors have made Intel Macs ridiculously cheap. Recently bought a renewed 2017 Mac for $180 on Amazon.
I think Apple had some big reliability problems with their ultra-thin chassis design MacBooks they were selling from like 2016(?) to the design refresh that came with the M1 Pros. Thankfully they went thicker again and both my personal 14-inch and work-provided 16-inch have been fantastic so far. Best laptops I've ever used.
That MacBook Pro lasted 2 months before the spacebar randomly flew off. To get any key fixed, you needed to replace the whole top deck. It was that inbuilt. So the first couple times (yes it happened more than once) I would have a key replacement, I'd lose the laptop for a couple days due to a backlog. This eventually got better. But that laptop was horrible.
It also helped me realise that apple tends to be somewhat of a cult.
2018 was a bad year :) I had one and besides the keyboard starting to act up at only 2 weeks from purchase, the display cable broke after a few more years. Apparently it was too short by default and thus exposed to too much stress.
The 2024 M3 pro seems just fine though. I guess because it's not thin.
So do the 2009 mb white and 2013 mbpro. They're still working perfectly.
So as long as Cook takes his dried frog pills in time and doesn't fantasise about thin devices, we'll be fine.
But main point aside, I'd agree that I get more longevity out of my modular PC hardware over my Mac hardware, although my oldest running hardware right now is a 2011 Mac Mini.
You could replace the back cover and screen guard of a 10 yr old iPhone and it feels right out of the store. I have had only one iPhone since 10 yrs and that says something.
That sort of experience comes when you have holistic focus on the quality. You need to put in deep care and work for the smallest things from screws and gaskets to long term software stability.
Reset device > device blocked from internet because Apple deems its os/software unsafe > Can't access app store to update device to safe/up to date os > have to manual download install for midway update > then update via app store to current distro.
Absolutely nightmare. Zero info from apple that this was the upgrade path/how it had to be done.
Psychotic. Huge reminder why I generally reject all apple work. Company is a nightmare to service machines for.
Also lol the 2012 intel Mac was being repurposed because the 2 year old Mac airs battery was rooted and it worked worse than the 2012 rig. Both lived their lives permanently plugged in like desktops being used for web browsing and email.
If this ever happens again, Mist is the best way to grab whatever macOS you need: https://github.com/ninxsoft/Mist
For example, a 2012 iMac supports up to macOS Big Sur, so using Mist you can easily create an 11.7.10 bootable installer. https://imgur.com/a/KEDBSRY
If you want to use newer version of macOS than Apple supported, OpenCore Legacy Patcher has worked very well for me. https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/
I dislike where macOS is going. In fact, 2/3 of my machines run Linux. But Apple hardware is pretty good, rugged and silent. I hate laptops that sound like hairdyers. I wish there were other manufacturers that had a similar focus on quality.
Perhaps Framework might be one to keep an eye on. Some ThinkPads are great, but they churn out way too many models and thus lack attention to detail. Plus, in EU sales and customer care have been outsourced. Prices are crazy and they are super hard to deal with.
I am both a PC and Mac user, with quite a bit of hardware over the last 20+ years. For me, my Macs typically have out lasted my PCs, with minimal quality and support issues. Almost all my old Macs which I collect (over 15, including Mac LC, Mac IIci, original MacBook Air, numerous MacBooks and iMacs and a Macintosh Lisa, all work).
No industry is going to invest in 2 completely independently built and run systems that share zero components/vendors because that's what it would have taken here.
This is Ed Bastian deflecting. This type of disruption was foreseeable, and he had years of notice between the double Southwest crew management problems in 2022 and this outage.
While it was started by the Crowdstrike error, that took roughly 6-hours to resolve, the other week+ of Delta disruption (and 2K+ flights cancelled) was purely policy/planning/DR issues which the CEO is personally responsible for.
I legitimately believe Ed Bastian needs to fall on his sword for this one. You lose 500-million by gross incompetence you need to go.
PS - Apple also don't even offer an appropriate product in this space, so this is also technologically ignorant. If he had said Linux or even AWS/Google Cloud/etc it would make SOME sense (still misses the point though).
I don't even know where to start with this. Apple's stuff doesn't even fit in a rack anymore[0], extrapolate from there, Delta CEO. Even the interviewer thought to ask about the number of enterprise deployments of Apple gear versus Microsoft kit. "Bastian avoided the question..."
I'm not saying he's wrong, but I am saying he wouldn't know one way or another.
And about Apple: I haven't verified myself, but others here on HN were saying that Crowdstrike's stuff was apparently taking out Apple machines a month or two before. But no one noticed because...yup, the world doesn't run on macOS.
[0] Whoops, forgot about the new Mac Pros: https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/mac-pro/rack
After that it's all the same stack with the same liabilities on it. All the while hoping your security office and vendors don't fuck up.
E.g. Will that security software mark the latest update of MS SqlServer as malware and quarantine it? What happens to your enterprise DB if that happens?
Try flying United into or out of Chicago when a snow storm hits, and tell me that United does more to prepare than any Delta.
The other airlines that were impacted by Crowdstrike were able to come back online much more quickly than Delta was. That is a fact.
Scheduling recovery is dependent on those systems, but an entirely different process. I have worked on those recovery systems before.
DR isn't in and of itself the solution. Would it have better to run linux? Well no, since crowdstrike did the same thing there.
We have baselines for airlines doing this better, why are you defending Delta so aggressively? They didn’t invest in the people, tools, or tech to recover from a severe outage and the CEO clearly wants to pass the blame.
If this had only happened to them due to some vendor they relied on, the argument makes sense, but it didn’t, it happened to multiple airlines of similar scale.
Apple started selling rackmount computers again five years ago.
Probably the last time Apple sold servers/a server OS?
He's just saying he has no idea what the structure of the software running his company is...
Closed source ideas stay in a bad state for longer.
Open source evolves far faster.
Photoshop vs the disability slur.
Sorry, couldn’t resist.
For me Apple is a consumer device company.
I’m not talking about PowerPoint and Word-like services here, but CRM and BI services that S500 companies would also want to focus on.
Um... earlier this week? https://www.macrumors.com/2024/07/29/apple-fixes-icloud-priv...
You'll get forced to run Clownstrike on much shinier hardware, it will be fun!
But, by no means, step back, look at how you're running your business, and decide it's time to treat processes, never mind people, with the respect they deserve. Because the shareholders wouldn't have it, you know...
A. Doing security is expensive and viewed as a cost burden at a lot of non-technical focused companies. Lots of businesses hedge their bets hoping that a security incident won't be as expensive or detrimental as having a great security posture. Sadly often times they aren't wrong either.
B. Security compliance standards are dated and opinionated, requiring rigid solutions to complex ever changing security threats.
Both of those can drive the narrative of pushing for tooling that offers the least amount of resistance to implement and be able to claim "secure".
Additionally IT and Operations teams are constantly getting more duties and can be some of the first teams to get rightsized and viewed as "cost centers" in some companies. I've seen teams reduced 50-80% over the years with expectations higher and security compliance becoming the last on the list and then gets the least amount of energy and attention.
But here's how things work from the perspective of a small-ish airport, healthcare, or finance operator (DMM is a D*mb*ss Middle Manager as employed by a regulator, WIP is the well-meaning IT person on said operator's end):
1. DMM: You're critical infrastructure! It's imperative that the Bad Guys don't take over your PCs!
2. WIP: Well, I'm pretty sure that our locked-down kiosks are pretty secure? We have separate VLANs without Internet access, basic anti-malware and basically only allow our TN3270 and digital signage stuff to run?
3. DMM: Oh, sweet summer child! You will connect to the Internet to share operational details with us and to show all-important public service notices at all times! And, you will employ an elite ninja strikeforce to keep Al Qaida out of all of that!
4. WIP: ehm, yeah, well, I'm pretty sure we can't actually afford any elite ninjas? I mean: we run, like, an entire nation from a run-down office in a low-wage country?
5. DMM: Nevermind, my lad! Here is a list of Approved Vendors that will Keep You Safe (and, most importantly, pay my humble consulting fee on the lowdown)
6: WIP: Err, that just looks like a badly implemented rootkit?
7: DMM: Well, it is what everyone runs to stay secure! And we do want to stay secure right? Let me talk to your CEO -- I see we're set for a round of golf tomorrow...
All the device drivers you need to talk to 8K displays, boarding pass printers, passport scanners, et cetera are actually there. Not necessarily good, but they're at least, like, available and sort-of tested.
Then, the "centralized IT management" story is actually quite decent for Windows. You have AD (no, sorry, Entra Ultra-Secure, or whatever it will be called next week), group policies, deployment kits, kiosk lock-down modes, controlled updates[1], and what-have you.
All of that is, ehm, sort-of lacking on other platforms. Actually, the worst that can happen to a well-meaning IT person is having to deploy and manage some proprietary "ultra-secure" Android abomination, especially after the single source of that goes inevitably bankrupt...
([1] Except, of course, when the outsourced elite security ninjas feel the need to chase down dangling pointers in kernel mode in realtime. They, of course, get to do whatever they want because, hey, National Security!)