Hacker News Reader

Hacker News

Comment by beedogs | Hacker News Reader

Full thread

beedogs

I used to be on Apple's side; now they're just bullies.

I don't think I'll buy anything from them ever again.

View on HN

Dear Apple,

Go fuck yourself.

signed,

a former iOS developer and Apple fan

Exactly what I wanted to type. Upvoted.

Couldn't agree more, my family has had macs for probably about 8-10 years. I was going to buy an iphone in December when my 2-year contract finished, but I almost certainly will not. Simply because I do not want to support such utter bullshit.

I recently swapped out my iPhone 4S for a Galaxy S3 and I was a bit apprehensive given my pretty mixed impressions of Android from a few years ago.

But really I prefer the S3 in almost every way now and wonder why I put up with the limitations of the iPhone for so long. If you do switch I think you'll be happy.

I've used 4S and S2 in parallel for 8 months now.

Though I personally prefer Android OS, I must admit that build quality is now strongly coming as a win for Apple.

S2 is now a little flimsy, 4S is as new.

The 4S does feel a little more solid than the S3 too, but I'm happy not to have the extra weight in my pocket.

I've also seen a lot of iPhones with big cracks in the glass in the back and I'm happy I can just swap out the plastic back of the S3 with a cheap replacement if necessary.

If the back plastic is anything like the S2 back you'll never need to swap it at all. That thing is surprisingly strong.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etsxu0OMqUQ

I've seen 3GS practically shatter from a drop of 3ft. I've seen S2 flying all across the room on the concrete floor and not a scratch.

I'm not trying to draw statistics here, it's just my experience that iPhones are more resistant to wear and tear, and Samsungs more resistant to somewhat more extreme shocks.

The battery coming out absorbs most of the impact energy. It is an excellent design, as you get user replaceable batteries as a side effect.

My contract with Verizon is ending in October. I was strongly considering getting an iphone for the first time when that happened. Now I think I'll just get an S3.

I'm certainly disappointed in Apple's use of the patent system here, but we need to fix the patent system as a whole. Apple wouldn't have acted this way unless our patent system created the opportunity and the incentive. And if it wasn't Apple, it would have been someone else sooner or later.

So you can be mad at Apple if you want, but what's really messed up is a patent system that makes this behavior profitable.

I'm absolutely mad at both. Apple wouldn't be using the patent system as a cudgel if it couldn't be used in that way.

Patent reform should be the top priority in the tech industry, but they're all too busy using it to batter each other to death. Apple's just the latest and highest-profile aggressor.

What I'd love to see, in place of this fiasco, is a tech summit, led by companies like Google, Samsung, and Apple, to thrash out a proposal for reform. Put all those high-profile, high-paid lawyers to good use.

Agreed. I think the answer is simple and everyone knows it -- NO SOFTWARE PATENTS -- but getting everyone to agree to it will be tough.

I don't follow this logic. "I'm certainly disappointed in the pervert's use of the open curtains here, but we need to fix open curtains as a whole." Apple are still responsible for the ethics of their actions, regardless of the legality of those actions.

Our legal system has no room for ethics. If the rules of the game make it profitable to be evil, companies will probably be evil. They might not be, but it'll be an uphill battle. If we redesign the rules so that being evil is not profitable, that will make it a whole lot easier on everyone.

Of course, actually doing so won't be easy, because the status quo benefits most influential players...

> Our legal system has no room for ethics.

But your brain does.

I don't think he's saying it's ok. He's saying that in spite of Apple being unethical the present condition is an inevitability. We can try to shame Apple into doing the right thing but it won't fix the real problem.

The patent system is not like the trademark system. Apple chose to act this way, they were in no way coerced by the system.

The patent system is nevertheless still broken of course. Very incredibly broken. However that does not, to any extent, reduce the new lack of respect I have for Apple.

Apple created something new. Samsung had it blocked from South Korea for two years so that they could clone it. Samsung freeloaded on Apple's innovation -- Apple barely had first mover advantage.

I'm not a huge fan of patents either but what can we do when countries like South Korea break every free trade agreement they make? Our politicians are only looking at the short-term election horizon and don't bother to call South Korea out on their BS.

It's too late. I don't think people angry at the patent suits pulling out is going to make any difference to Apple at this juncture. They know developers are disposable. Not to mention that a significant percentage of their fanbase is cheering them on.

Well, yeah, I don't think that my not purchasing Apple products is going to do anything to their bottom line. But it'll make me feel a little better about the things I buy.

How are developers disposable?

I think the sentiment there is that it's where the money is, so there's no shortage of developers creating apps.

There is an army of developers paying $99/year (and Apple hardware) and spending time on apps that may be rejected or suspended at any time in the appstore.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com