Comments on: Comparing iPhones To Lefty Socialists

By: O Bloody Hell

O Bloody Hell — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:19:21 +0000

There is a fallacy that people who are for free markets don’t want some sort of order. The mistake that the Microsoft and Android makers of the world, and for that matter, some libertarian types make, is that most people would prefer an unordered environment to a hyper-ordered environment. That is simply not true. People want freedom within order. This is why most people with any sense are libertarians and not anarchists... it maximizes both freedom and productivity to have a limited imposition of order. The iPhone (which I'm sure has lots and lots of advantages, but I wouldn't buy, if only because I wouldn't voluntarily give a dime to those #$%$%^$%&^ at AT&T, if nothing else) is not "a limited imposition of order" -- it's a straight jacket. You do recall who the most common wearers of straight jackets are, correct? I love the Mac concepts that Xerox PARC developed, expanded, and popularized. If Apple wasn't a bunch of idiotic fascist SOBs (fascists, not communists) they would STILL own the market. Many, many years ago, Apple could have, and would have, ruled the world in computing, providing a positive, encouraged-by-dominance direction for computing. Microsoft was a fraction of its size and power, then. Apple was the organization who pointed the way to the future, had the public's eye, and had the absolute power to say "that way!" and have everyone eager -- pantingly so -- to follow. Wired Magazine detailed how one arrogant Gallic idiot, thinking Apple held the public's leash forever, screwed Apple's pooch. And in so doing, gave us the chaos of Microsoft instead. All Apple had to do was to point the way, rather than to yank the leash. Everyone would have happily followed. But leading wasn't enough, Apple had to own people. And people don't like to be owned. Most people would rather live free in poverty than relax in the sheerest luxury with a chain around their necks. And this is most particularly true of programming types, who are the most cranky, libertarian grouping by class you can find on the planet. These are the people who will produce apps for the Droid, en masse. Mark my words -- as many apps you have available for your iPhone, Droid will probably match it inside of a year or two, assuming Droid takes off, as I suspect it will with Verizon behind it. Sooner or later, Apple will make the same mis-step with the phone they made with personal computing. And a company like Droid will rule the world of pocket aps. And then Microsoft will buy them out... What hath Gallic arrogance brought us?

By: James Short

James Short — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:50:09 +0000

I like your comments about Apple and the iPhone. I do not own one because I do not really need a cell phone with a camera and I don’t want to pay the monthly fee. I can stand to be out of phone contact with most people for a few minutes. A phone with a built in camera would be a security risk where I work. But I do own an iPod Touch that I enjoy a lot. And I prefer to own and use Mac Computers when I have a choice. Why? Because I have found the Mac to be much nicer to own and use than the generic Windows PC, even if the Mac appears to cost more initially and is not as “PC”. I have found that Apple has better Quality Control than most of the others, which is a result of the controls they put on the processes. So I find it more odd that people who claim to be “conservative” object to the very controls that help make it work properly and also help keep the porn and other inappropriate stuff out.

Jim

By: One Fine Jay

One Fine Jay — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:40:35 +0000

The column you cited is the perfect example of an attempt to make something larger than what it really is. It’s borne by a fear of looking vapid for not having a reason to dislike something. There is more intellectual honesty in Weisshaupt simply saying that Apple is run by Commie b*stards and that he won’t give them one patriotic cent.