Re: Apple's really changing
Originally posted by coolfactor
For the longest time, people would say "Apple's a company out to make money", but I never subscribed to that whole-heartedly.. now I'm beginning to wonder. Of course they want to make money, but only recently have I seen profits put before true quality.
You can't have been a mac-head for too long. Do you remember the 4400? Yuck. Or the PowerBooks with exploding batteries? (it wasn't the blackbirds was it? a 5x00 series powerbook, but I don't remember the model number exactly)
Apple is a corporation, /every/ corporation's goal is to make money. Recent quality issues are nothing new. Refusing advertising deals because of some silly idea of corporate morality would be a good way to piss off your shareholders, and the people in charge can lose their jobs for that.
As for the "true quality," Apple is doing all they can to fix the powerbooks, and the issues with Panther are pretty routine. One of the early updaters for OS X would accidentally erase your home directory under some circumstances. It's really not the end of the world, nor is it a sign of Apple's impending doom. Apple is now making the best products it's made since the Apple II. Really now, don't make yourself so upset over nothing.
In the past, people have complained about Apple's inability to market to the mainstream consumer. Now that Apple has a compelling product and an excellent business model, the complaints are that Apple is pandering to the lowest common denominator. You can't have it both ways. Either Apple will remain a niche player, or they'll bring their touch and innovation to a much wider and more profitable market. Apple's been first to market with a lot of revolutionary concepts -- the personal computer, the gui, the digital camera, and the PDA -- but the iPod has had a lot of initial success, and Apple will be the incompetent company that others allege if they don't manage to secure dominance in the portable mp3 player and online music distribution markets.
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