10 Things We Love/Hate About Apple

[Rasputin]

In a world where generic MP3 players are sold alongside Chia Pets in every Wal-Mart, K-Mart, and Quickie Mart, Apple's iPods are anything but commodities.

Most computers look like they were designed by manufacturers of low-end office furniture, but Macs are so beautiful that they'd probably be fixtures in movies and on TV even if product placement didn't exist.

And Apple is so basically innovative an organization that--to swipe a phrase from our own Full Disclosure columnist Stephen Manes--it essentially serves as the R&D arm of the entire technology industry.

In fact, we often find ourselves asking a question that's been around almost since Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak started selling computers back in the 1970s: If Apple can do it, why can't anyone else?

We're not going to attempt to answer that question here. But we will enumerate some of the things that make the products from Cupertino, California's most famous company uniquely lovable. That's not to say that the things we said in 10 Things We Hate About Apple are moot, but we're more than happy to give credit where it's due.

Got anything you love (or hate) about Apple yourself? Use the Comment link at the end of this article to add what you love about Apple--or to tell us that we're being too kind.

1. Sublime Designs

Apple's designs rarely feel cheap or half-baked. There are the obvious feats such as the slim, beautiful iPod Nano and the flat-panel iMac. Microsoft's Zune just doesn't compare to the Apple's iPods, and the Apple TV just might finally get us interested in the badly named digital media adapter market. And even if the upcoming iPhone doesn't become to mobile communications what the Mac was to computers, it's unquestionably off the chart in terms of pure style.

But equally impressive are the subtle innovations in Apple products that make them both more elegant and more useful: the tiny iMac remote, which clings to the side of the computer's screen. The MagSafe magnetic power adapter, which attaches to laptops lightly enough that it disconnects cleanly if you trip over it. Software and drivers, whether developed by Apple or third parties, maintain a consistent look and feel. Outside and in, it all just matches--which is more than you can say about most stuff in Windowsville.

2. The Mac OS Rules

True, we're a little miffed that we have to wait until October to get our hands on Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard); blame the iPhone. But if Leopard is anything like Tiger (Mac OS X 10.4), it'll make Windows users jealous. Its Time Machine instant backup might be what finally gets people to back up their files. Its Spaces window management could work better than the already excellent Expose technology and the form-over-function Windows Flip 3D. Apple's Spotlight Desktop Search will search network volumes, and the nifty Dashboard widget engine will get new features. Apple being Apple, it's also entirely possible that it has some more surprises up its sleeve that it won't tell us until the moment before it springs Leopard on the world.

In the meantime, OS X 10.4 "Tiger," more than two years old now, is nearing the end of its life. Yet in most ways that matter, it's still a more pleasing, pleasingly consistent environment to work in than its newer (and arguably glitzier) competitor from Redmond. Aging Apple, in other words, is entirely capable of beating brand-new Microsoft.

3. Real Reliability
What good is a cool computer or music player if it doesn't keep going and going? Apple makes some of the most reliable products on the market--from its MacBook to its iPod digital audio players. In our most recent survey of reliability and service, the company scored higher than all other notebook manufacturers except for Lenovo, in part thanks to a better-than-average score for "satisfaction with reliability" and for overall reliability. Its digital audio players topped our list, earning the only better-than-average score for "satisfaction with reliability" (though its mark for overall reliability was only average).

Of course, Apple's track record isn't perfect, as owners of defective MacBooks will tell you. But the fact that you can get a reliable product that looks nice too makes its overall record pretty impressive.

4. Jobs Stands Up to the Media Moguls

Amidst the record industry's panic over illegal music downloads, Apple unveiled the 99-cent single-song download, an easy-to-use software music store for buying them, and a catalog that included indie and unsigned artists when most competitors stuck to the catalogs of the big labels. The iTunes Store later raised the profile of television show and movie downloads, and Jobs even called for the end of music digital rights management (DRM). Soon after, EMI said it would introduce DRM-free (albeit higher-priced) versions of its songs. (It remains to be seen if this ends up being a good move for the financially struggling big-four music company.)

We're still not happy about most songs in the iTunes library requiring you to use an iPod for portable-device playback, but we admire Apple's deal-making finesse. It shook up the entire industry, which, left to itself, would have you buying six crappy filler tracks for every three you actually wanted. Who knows where music might be if Steve Jobs had decided to spend his time making cartoons at Pixar rather than reinventing the consumer electronics industry?

[Rasputin]

5. Macs Run Windows
While most people still consider the Windows and Mac operating systems either/or options, a growing number are choosing to run both on one machine--an Intel-based Mac.

It all happened so fast. In January 2006, Apple shipped the first Intel-based Mac (the iMac). In March 2006, hackers Narf and Blanka hacked it to run Windows. Less than a month later, Apple released the public beta of Boot Camp, which dual-boots Mac and Windows operating systems. And now, there are at least three other ways to run Windows (even Vista) on your Mac, including the slick and easy-to-use Parallels Desktop for Mac, which makes the integration of OS X and Windows nearly seamless.

Unless Apple decides to let other computer manufacturers make OS X-ready computers, it'll be the only company that makes machines that can be a Mac and a PC. We don't see Steve Jobs letting the rest of the industry make Macs; then again, we never thought he'd be willingly involved with Windows-capable systems, either.

6. The Fake Steve Jobs

If there were no real Steve Jobs, there'd be no fake one either, and that would be a shame. The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs is a satirical blog written by an anonymous, often dead-on voice channeling the real Steve Jobs. It's both a hilarious read and an influential commentary on tech issues such as Tim O'Reilly's proposed Blogger's Code of Conduct. (And yes, we know that Fake Steve's targets have included . . . well, us.)

Warning: Reading the blog will quickly prove why the Fake Steve Jobs (also known as FSJ) is on the wrong side of that blogger code of conduct. He--whoever he may really be--frequently strays across the line of political correctness.

7. The Apple Store Experience

Is it really that surprising that Apple's attractive retail stores succeeded where Gateway's bovine-themed shops didn't? A visit to one of Apple's 170 worldwide locations, especially the 24-hour Fifth Avenue New York City store sitting beneath a giant glass cube, is an experience. A young, hip, and technically knowledgeable staff is friendly without being hard-sell. They won't boot you out for using the Macs and free Wi-Fi. There might be a wait for service, but you can sign up to get your tech support questions answered by a tech at the Genius Bar. While you're waiting, check out the digital lifestyle shows on GarageBand, iMovie, or other Mac applications. Apple has managed to turn a computer into a day at a digital park. And it's all free--unless, of course, you impulse-buy a Mac.

The rest of the PC retail industry, by contrast, is typified by CompUSA, the dreary, entertainment-free chain that recently announced plans to shutter more than half of its locations. In other words, an average Windows box isn't just less fun to use than a Mac; it's also less fun to buy.

[Rasputin]

The company formerly known as Apple Computer and now called simply Apple, Inc. is unique in many ways--including in its ability to drive even folks who admire it positively batty. It makes great products (usually), yet its secretiveness about them borders on paranoia, and its adoring fans can be incredibly irritating. Of course, its fans have to put up with some irritations, too: Simply being a member of the club still means you must endure unending jabs from the other side of the socio-political-techno aisle. But do they have to wear their suffering as a badge of honor?

Today, we--that's us, Narasu and Alan, veteran Mac users both--are going to get some stuff off our chests. We've enumerated ten things we hate about Apple (or its followers, or simply about the experience of using its products). But in the interest of fair play (not to be confused with FairPlay, Apple's DRM technology) we're also publishing another list--Ten Things We Love About Apple.

Use the Comment link at the end of this article to add your own gripes about Apple--or to defend it.

And so, with protective helmets in place, off we go:

1: Free Speech, Anyone?
Even if you're no Apple fan, this particular issue might not rise to the top of your own personal gripe list--but hey, we're journalists. So sue us.

Er, that's probably not the right turn of phrase to use, considering that in December 2004, Apple filed a lawsuit against the AppleInsider, O'Grady's PowerPage, and Think Secret Web sites for posting information about upcoming technologies that Apple had shared with outsiders under nondisclosure agreements. In the case of O'Grady, the news was of a FireWire interface for GarageBand. In the words of O'Grady himself: "yawn."

Apple pressured the sites to reveal their sources, and even worse, pressured the sites' ISPs. In May 2006, a California court said no way, ruling that online journalists enjoy the same First Amendment rights as "legitimate" offline journalists. Seems silly in today's world, doesn't it? Recently, the court ordered Apple to pay the sites' legal fees--about $700,000.

2. More Secretive Than Homeland Security
Those feds are secretive, but they're no match for Apple reps' infuriating stock answer: "We don't comment on future product plans." Being an Apple adherent means never knowing for sure if the shiny new MacBook or iPod you just bought is about to be rendered obsolete by a Steve Jobs keynote.

Of course, Apple is merely the most famous secretive Silicon Valley company, not the only hush-mouthed one. And tight lips make for explosive buzz when the company does decide to drop a bombshell. But contrast Apple's secrecy with Microsoft's lack thereof--Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, and company love to talk about their company's upcoming products, and they still get their fair share of buzz. Even though many of those plans have a tendency to not actually come true.

3. Ain't Too Proud to Blame
When Apple shipped iPods containing a worm last year, instead of issuing a humble mea culpa, Apple took a swipe at Microsoft, saying, "As you might imagine, we are upset at Windows for not being more hardy against such viruses, and even more upset with ourselves for not catching it." As you can imagine, that didn't fly with security experts. How about an apology to the folks who were unlucky enough to buy the infected iPods, period?

4. iHate iAnything

Apple first floated the idea of product names with a leading lowercase letter in 1994 with eWorld, an ill-conceived online service that went belly-up after a year and a half. But when it introduced the original iMac in 1998, it hit on a phenomenal success--and prompted hundreds of third-party manufacturers to follow with sickeningly cute Bondi Blue products with names that also began with a lowercase "i." Now dozens of Apple and third-party product names begins with "i." Their manufacturers are all jumping on the bandwagon, hoping that a single letter will sway us to buy their stuff. Meanwhile, you can't even start sentences with the products' names.

Is it any wonder that we're inclined to like Apple TV in part because it turned out not to be iTV? Or that we're kind of sorry that Apple was able to strike a deal with Cisco to share the name iPhone?

[Rasputin]

5. Where's the Blu-ray?
Steve Jobs was the CEO of animated-movie studio Pixar; Apple is represented on the Blu-ray Disc Association board of directors. The Mac is supposed to be the computer of choice for video professionals.

So where is the option for a Blu-ray Disc or HD DVD player in the fancy new quad-core and eight-core Mac Pros? They're stuck with the same-old SuperDrive. Mac apologists will no doubt provide you with a complex explanation of why this makes perfect sense, but the fact is that next-generation optical drives are available and make sense for some folks, and Macs don't have them. (If the company announces support for one or the other by the time you read this, see "More Secretive Than Homeland Security" above for why we didn't know about it.)

6. Nobody's Perfect

All companies make design mistakes, and in truth, Apple makes far fewer than most. But, despite what the most extreme aficionados say, even Apple's design sense isn't anywhere near flawless. And when it makes goofs, they tend to be doozies.

Examples: The iMac's perfectly-round, ergonomically egregious puck mouse, or the Toilet-Seat iBook (complete with handle). Don't forget the Shuffle audio player, whose lack of a screen or other discernable navigation aid Apple has successfully spun as a "feature." (Yes, we know that the Shuffle is wildly popular--and yes, we'd still rather buy a player that can tell us what it's playing.)

7. Give Me a Sign
Does anyone want to tell us when the next Mac OS X software updates will hit? What security vulnerabilities Apple is working on fixing? In April, Apple released a patch that plugged more than two dozen vulnerabilities--with absolutely zero advance notice. Mac users were wide open to attacks, and they never knew it. Even Microsoft (usually) tells people when to expect patches, and often tells you how to protect yourself until the patches are ready.

8. No Good For Gaming
Browse the Apple Store's games selection--go on, we'll wait. Oh, back so soon?

That's understandable, because sorting the store's games selection by the newest available produces titles that were introduced two or more years ago on Windows. Games have always been scarce on the Mac, and Apple still can't convince many developers to make their titles compatible with its computers. Apple does equip some of its systems with high-end graphics cards, but with slim pickings to play on them, they're a waste of money for most people.

True, Apple's Boot Camp will let you run Windows games on a Mac, but we still don't know many hardcore gamers who choose to go that route.

9. Limited Selection

Apple offers just three desktop computer systems these days--and one of them is the Mac Mini, with its aging processor, piddly 512MB of RAM, and tiny 60GB hard drive. Neither the Mac Mini nor the iMac accepts internal upgrades beyond more memory, so to get a system that will accept additional components later, you'll have to spring for a dual-processor Mac Pro, which starts at a steep $2200.

You can buy a starter Windows system for less than a fourth the cost of the Mac Pro; later on, if you decide you need a speed boost, you can buy a new motherboard and CPU and probably install them yourself. If you want a speed boost on the Mac, you have to buy a whole new Mac.

In the portable realm, MacBooks and MacBook Pros are nice machines. But again, you get only three choices. Opt for Windows, and you can choose anything from palm-sized micro-PCs like the OQO Model 2 to huge, honkin' laptops that are more powerful than any mobile Mac.

10. Doesn't Play Well With Others
Give Apple credit for (finally) allowing Windows to run on the Mac. But the company still maintains a closed-door policy on many aspects of its technology. For example, iPods play only a couple of transportable audio file formats (AAC and MP3); they won't play files in Microsoft's WMA format, used by much of the rest of the world. Even the much-derided Microsoft Zune plays all three formats. And if you import WMA files into iTunes, you must wait while the application converts them to its favored AAC format.

Okay, we understand that DRM has been a necessity to get music companies to release music for sale on the iTunes Music Store. But our bigger gripe is that you can't play music purchased from the iTunes Music Store on anything but an iPod or the upcoming iPhone, because Apple won't license its FairPlay digital rights management technology to makers of other audio players. Even if those players recognize AAC files, they can't decrypt them, so they won't play. Even when Apple begins selling music without DRM, you'll pay extra for it; most tracks will still have the DRM restrictions.