I have myself been into building PC's and pulling off some impressive overlocks. I understand the whole DIY thing, but you guys always knew that the Mac mini was intended as the entry level Mac.
It's not the "Mac modular" or the "Mac DIY". I do understand computer DIY and I can understand the disappointment if you have grown accustomed to getting into it and popping in RAM, but I don't understand the outrage per se over this.
The outrage is over forcing users to pay Apple's premiums on RAM and storage as well as reducing performance and raising the price point. Don't be fooled by the $499 "price drop" the orig. Mac Mini introduced by Steve here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJpZGeihy0s
had a starting price of $499 that they just returned to but also lowered the CPU performance. i5 2.3 to 1.4 . The i5 2.6 Haswell is now at $699, up from the 2.3 Ivy Bridge at $599.
Everyone knows, Mac's aren't meant to be over-clocker DIY capable, but upgrading RAM & storage has always been possible until post Steve Jobs era, except for the MBA maybe, but even the pre-2013s have 3rd party upgrades.
MM initially introduced to support the PC->Mac migration during the 2005 iPod-halo era, but by 2012 Phil Schiller proudly presented the Mac Mini as a serious server with Quad-i7 that a lot of businesses have come to rely on:
http://gizmodo.com/5967189/this-custom-datacenter-rack-has-160-mac-minis-crammed-inside-of-it
The Mac Mini Server filled the void created by eliminating the Xserve.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRVzac7PUSk
Phil intro MM server around minute 26.
Far far from the "entry-level" Mac you claim it was always intended for.
Intention and use-cases differ and Apple knows that.
They've just decided to pull the rug from under the Mini Colo crowd and a whole bunch of small to medium tier businesses. I guess, they'll be buying Intel NUCs next.
Apple's becoming a fashion and accessory company and dumping the engineering prowess. I've been using Apple products since the Apple II and us long timers are pissed off at the direction Apple is taking.
I'm not easily swayed and ready to leave the eco system yet, but Apple is now acting like a bully and leveraging the dependance built up over many years.
I'm starting to look for alternatives.