xandreu wrote: ↑Sat Jun 10, 2023 10:19 pm After being a Samsung user for many years, a couple of years ago, I decided to buy the iPhone Mini 13. The only thing that attracted me to it to be honest was its size. I liked the idea of having a pocketable phone that I could use one handed. Plus, it was an iPhone, what could go wrong…?

As excited as I was having a new phone and a new operating system to play around with, I soon started to realise that the experience wasn’t going to be as easy to get used to as I thought.
For a start, there was no file system to speak of. Every time I mention this to people, they all say, “yes there is, it’s called files”, but I don’t think they really know what a basic file system is or does. It’s a place to find anything and everything that it stored on your device. The “files’ feature on iPhone is very selective as to what it shows. I found it confusing and unintuitive and couldn’t find anything I expected to find.

Then there was the ability to simply plug in an external drive to transfer files either from my phone or onto my phone. This couldn’t be done because Apple prioritises making money from its MFI program (Made for iPhone) program over user convenience. Basically, this means that Apple keeps the lightening port as its only port, rather than ALL of the other phone manufacturers moving over to USB-C, because they can charge manufacturers who make lightening port accessories a fee for using their proprietary lightening technology, despite it being over 10 years old and having speeds slower than that of USB-2.

It also doesn’t want to work with anything non-Apple. Whilst Microsoft, Samsung, Android, Google, and a whole host of other manufacturers have all made strides to recognise that people have devices from all manner of manufacturers, and want them all to work together, Apple doesn’t want to play that game. As far as Apple is concerned, they are the only technology company on the planet and if you dare to use any product from any other manufacturer, well, fuck you.

I could go on and on, but what did it for me was the fact that the EU are forcing Apple to use USB-C in their iPhones, if they want to sell them in the EU. A noble effort by the EU to reduce e-waste. If we can all use the same cable (USB-C) for as many of our tech products as we can, it stands to reason that it will reduce unnecessary e-waste.

Not to be outdone, Apple had a long, hard think about this. They make so much money from their slow and outdated lightening technology, they aren’t going to allow the EU to disrupt this very lucrative income stream they have.

Their answer – they would make iPhones that use USB-C. Problem solved. Although not quite. iPhones would have to use MFI USB-C cables (Made for iPhones). USB-C cables that were not MFI certified would have their charging speeds dramatically reduced.

Thankfully, the EU have come back and said that this is unacceptable, and they must follow the standard USB-C standard that every other manufacturer uses.
(USB-C is deliberately non-proprietary; it was created by a collaboration of many technology companies, this means that nobody owns the technology and therefore cannot profit from it, it terms of copyright issues).
But here we have Apple thinking it can ‘own’ or at least ‘control’ something it doesn’t own.

I can’t put into words how much I despise Apple as a company. Not just over the USB-C debacle, but just, well, just everything. I hate them with a passion.

I don’t understand why people buy their products, apart from the fact they see other people using them and must therefore assume they must be ‘the brand’ to go for.

The only thing they are masters, masters of, is fooling the general public into thinking that they, and only they, can produce quality tech products.

xandreu wrote: ↑Sat Jun 10, 2023 10:19 pm I don’t understand why people buy their products, apart from the fact they see other people using them and must therefore assume they must be ‘the brand’ to go for.

The only thing they are masters, masters of, is fooling the general public into thinking that they, and only they, can produce quality tech products.

Alex wrote: ↑Sun Jun 11, 2023 12:00 pm ... I have quite a cheap Samsung Android phone that costs me the equivalent of working less than 5 hours.

They mostly use exactly the same apps that I use on my cheapo phone without any issues, just the iOS version instead of the Android version.

schlarry wrote: ↑Sun Jun 18, 2023 12:03 pm Non-Apple laptop or PC, install Linux (totally FREE) has Word, Excel, PPT etc clones. Free. Brilliant OS. No updating that you don't specifically request. Fuck Windows intrusive updates. Which cretin authorised that?

pootylicious wrote: ↑Sun Jun 18, 2023 1:54 pm

schlarry wrote: ↑Sun Jun 18, 2023 12:03 pm Non-Apple laptop or PC, install Linux (totally FREE) has Word, Excel, PPT etc clones. Free. Brilliant OS. No updating that you don't specifically request. Fuck Windows intrusive updates. Which cretin authorised that?

which distro are you using? Linux is ok if you don't have a boss... since you could end up spending most of the workday trying to get your printer or router to function . how do you explain to your employer why you needed to spend 7 hrs getting it to work in LINUX vs what you can do w windows/mac: plug it in, and maybe downloading a driver in 5 minutes?