To Christopher Curley
Dear Christopher,
I have spent years jumping back and forth from Apple to Windows and back again. Same with iOS to Android and back. Here's the thing that's important, however. The part where I continue to come back. The user experience really is that much better. Sure, there isn't the same kind of customization available on macOS or iOS, but at the same time, they are far more user friendly in general.
I could point out about a dozen things I feel Android does better than Apple, but then there's also the privacy concerns of using any Google service right now. I think there's an article floating around out there about privacy, and the title is something like: "You pay Google with data, and Apple with Cash."
Microsoft has made a major comeback in recent years, and that's good. Albeit, the OS is still clunky as hell on anything not built by Microsoft, the idea behind it is solid. If you're going to buy anything Microsoft, buy hardware that was also. built by Microsoft - the same way that Apple makes its own hardware to run its software on. In addition, Microsoft is teaming up with the Military to provide the Hololens for combat missions. I'm not certain how I feel about that.
Apple, on the other hand, goes to court and fights the FBI in order to continue to protect your data.
When you talk about your desire to tinker with your technology, I understand that point of view. I enjoyed tinkering with my tech as well, just as I enjoyed tinkering with cars once upon a time. Although, progress marches ever forward and the car I own now I wouldn't know how to even begin to tinker, and the fact that I can no longer tinker with Apple doesn't bother me as much as it did when I tried to vehemently denounce Apple for failing their customers (spoiler: they didn't).
My brother is an engineer and an MIT grad many times over. He only uses Apple products and only recommends Apple products from a stability and security standpoint. Android developers still overwhelmingly use JAVA (NOT Java Script) to code for Android, leaving it so full of security holes a blind mouse could find its way in.
I would actually have simply shrugged my shoulders and moved on if your reasoning for choosing Windows over Mac were simply because you preferred Windows OS. Not that I would understand that opinion, I know too much about the inner workings of Windows to ever really trust it to be any good, but there's been so much Back and Forth in the Mac vs. Windows wars that I don't need to add to that side of it.
Instead, I want you to consider how the computer industry has worked for the past several decades and then consider whether or not you really want to make the switch, and if you'll even find what you're looking for when you try.
With the release of the iMac, Apple saved itself from obsolescence. That Bondi Blue gem of a computer changed the face of computing. For one thing, it didn't have a floppy drive. This was decried at the time as the worst decision a computer manufacturer could make. Everybody HAD to have a floppy drive! How were you supposed to move files around? And what was the point of that DVD ROM Drive? Not only that, but they began to disappear from their laptops as well.
Then do you know what happened? The other companies began to copy that model and more DVD drives were found on PCs than Floppy Drives. Laptops lost their floppy drives and gained CD/RW drives DVD/RW drives.
Then, with the release of the MacBook Air, there was NO drive. Just ports. Apple had done away with what they felt was deprecated technology that no longer served a purpose on a device and only took up space to hold more battery power.
Again, the other manufacturers began to scream and froth at the mouth over this lack of an optical drive... until they mimicked the design, called them "Ultrabooks" and tried to forget that time they said that every computer needed an optical drive.
While technically Motorola was the first company to release smartphone without a headphone jack, Apple was the one who made it famous. And then you know what happened? That headphone jack disappeared from more and more handsets by more and more manufacturers. Rumors currently have it that the Galaxy S10 will come sans a Headphone jack.
So here we go back to Apple suddenly soldering their memory and RAM directly to the MLB. Why are they doing this? There are two reasons.
First, is latency. Despite the fact that the pickup between a soldered connection and a clicked in connection is fairly small, they are squeezing more speed out of their storage and RAM by soldering directly to the board.
Second is customer support. While you point your finger and scream "Blasphemer" at Apple for soldering these chips to the board, the truth is that something like 98% of customers will NEVER open their system to upgrade a component. They might pay somebody to do that, but even that's a very small percentage of their user base, which makes the change something that will hardly effect their bottom line, if it effects it all.
Bonus reason: It helps keep their systems very slim. Chips soldered to the the board take up less physical space than chips that need a port to plug into and a screw port to anchor them in place.
There are already PC manufacturers that are soldering, such as Lenovo with their IdeaPad series. Most Chromebooks have the RAM soldered down, and some now have the storage soldered as well.
The point I'm trying to make is that the industry will follow Apple down this rabbit hole. It's already started to do so.
So just like it's no longer easy to open the hood of your car and replace the carburetor or even change the spark plugs (if it even has plugs), or swap out the break pads easily because they're now tied to a complex system that catches electricity and stores it for the vehicle to make use of later; computers are becoming less easy to tinker with.
Like cars, this is a good thing. It's progress in a direction that will only improve hardware reliability in the electronic components, provide faster systems, and a better overall user experience despite the manufacturer or the software being used on the system.
To put this another way, I'm older than you by about ten years, and the argument you're making amounts to: "I'm old, I don't like change. Get off my lawn."
People like you and I who liked to tinker can still do so. I'm going to pick up an old Apple IIgs at some point to poke around with that. I've rescued countless defunct systems and donated them to people who needed a computer. I've built computers for friends and professionals with specific needs. That joy is still out there.
But for my personal systems? I like it when they just work. The faster, more efficient, and better quality is my aim for my digital devices.
So while your opinion is certainly your own, I ask that you do some research into the world of computing and see that it's all headed in this direction. So do you want to stick with macOS or do you want to the try Windows and see how well it goes? the best analogy I have for Windows is a building that's standing before you that beautiful and unique looking, with just the right curves and angles - but when you walk in the door you find it's all held together by duct tape, broken 2x4s, and maybe some superglue.
Whatever your decision, best of luck to you, but I hope you will make the decision to stay with Apple.
I have spent years jumping back and forth from Apple to Windows and back again. Same with iOS to Android and back. Here's the thing that's important, however. The part where I continue to come back. The user experience really is that much better. Sure, there isn't the same kind of customization available on macOS or iOS, but at the same time, they are far more user friendly in general.
I could point out about a dozen things I feel Android does better than Apple, but then there's also the privacy concerns of using any Google service right now. I think there's an article floating around out there about privacy, and the title is something like: "You pay Google with data, and Apple with Cash."
Microsoft has made a major comeback in recent years, and that's good. Albeit, the OS is still clunky as hell on anything not built by Microsoft, the idea behind it is solid. If you're going to buy anything Microsoft, buy hardware that was also. built by Microsoft - the same way that Apple makes its own hardware to run its software on. In addition, Microsoft is teaming up with the Military to provide the Hololens for combat missions. I'm not certain how I feel about that.
Apple, on the other hand, goes to court and fights the FBI in order to continue to protect your data.
When you talk about your desire to tinker with your technology, I understand that point of view. I enjoyed tinkering with my tech as well, just as I enjoyed tinkering with cars once upon a time. Although, progress marches ever forward and the car I own now I wouldn't know how to even begin to tinker, and the fact that I can no longer tinker with Apple doesn't bother me as much as it did when I tried to vehemently denounce Apple for failing their customers (spoiler: they didn't).
My brother is an engineer and an MIT grad many times over. He only uses Apple products and only recommends Apple products from a stability and security standpoint. Android developers still overwhelmingly use JAVA (NOT Java Script) to code for Android, leaving it so full of security holes a blind mouse could find its way in.
I would actually have simply shrugged my shoulders and moved on if your reasoning for choosing Windows over Mac were simply because you preferred Windows OS. Not that I would understand that opinion, I know too much about the inner workings of Windows to ever really trust it to be any good, but there's been so much Back and Forth in the Mac vs. Windows wars that I don't need to add to that side of it.
Instead, I want you to consider how the computer industry has worked for the past several decades and then consider whether or not you really want to make the switch, and if you'll even find what you're looking for when you try.
With the release of the iMac, Apple saved itself from obsolescence. That Bondi Blue gem of a computer changed the face of computing. For one thing, it didn't have a floppy drive. This was decried at the time as the worst decision a computer manufacturer could make. Everybody HAD to have a floppy drive! How were you supposed to move files around? And what was the point of that DVD ROM Drive? Not only that, but they began to disappear from their laptops as well.
Then do you know what happened? The other companies began to copy that model and more DVD drives were found on PCs than Floppy Drives. Laptops lost their floppy drives and gained CD/RW drives DVD/RW drives.
Then, with the release of the MacBook Air, there was NO drive. Just ports. Apple had done away with what they felt was deprecated technology that no longer served a purpose on a device and only took up space to hold more battery power.
Again, the other manufacturers began to scream and froth at the mouth over this lack of an optical drive... until they mimicked the design, called them "Ultrabooks" and tried to forget that time they said that every computer needed an optical drive.
While technically Motorola was the first company to release smartphone without a headphone jack, Apple was the one who made it famous. And then you know what happened? That headphone jack disappeared from more and more handsets by more and more manufacturers. Rumors currently have it that the Galaxy S10 will come sans a Headphone jack.
So here we go back to Apple suddenly soldering their memory and RAM directly to the MLB. Why are they doing this? There are two reasons.
First, is latency. Despite the fact that the pickup between a soldered connection and a clicked in connection is fairly small, they are squeezing more speed out of their storage and RAM by soldering directly to the board.
Second is customer support. While you point your finger and scream "Blasphemer" at Apple for soldering these chips to the board, the truth is that something like 98% of customers will NEVER open their system to upgrade a component. They might pay somebody to do that, but even that's a very small percentage of their user base, which makes the change something that will hardly effect their bottom line, if it effects it all.
Bonus reason: It helps keep their systems very slim. Chips soldered to the the board take up less physical space than chips that need a port to plug into and a screw port to anchor them in place.
There are already PC manufacturers that are soldering, such as Lenovo with their IdeaPad series. Most Chromebooks have the RAM soldered down, and some now have the storage soldered as well.
The point I'm trying to make is that the industry will follow Apple down this rabbit hole. It's already started to do so.
So just like it's no longer easy to open the hood of your car and replace the carburetor or even change the spark plugs (if it even has plugs), or swap out the break pads easily because they're now tied to a complex system that catches electricity and stores it for the vehicle to make use of later; computers are becoming less easy to tinker with.
Like cars, this is a good thing. It's progress in a direction that will only improve hardware reliability in the electronic components, provide faster systems, and a better overall user experience despite the manufacturer or the software being used on the system.
To put this another way, I'm older than you by about ten years, and the argument you're making amounts to: "I'm old, I don't like change. Get off my lawn."
People like you and I who liked to tinker can still do so. I'm going to pick up an old Apple IIgs at some point to poke around with that. I've rescued countless defunct systems and donated them to people who needed a computer. I've built computers for friends and professionals with specific needs. That joy is still out there.
But for my personal systems? I like it when they just work. The faster, more efficient, and better quality is my aim for my digital devices.
So while your opinion is certainly your own, I ask that you do some research into the world of computing and see that it's all headed in this direction. So do you want to stick with macOS or do you want to the try Windows and see how well it goes? the best analogy I have for Windows is a building that's standing before you that beautiful and unique looking, with just the right curves and angles - but when you walk in the door you find it's all held together by duct tape, broken 2x4s, and maybe some superglue.
Whatever your decision, best of luck to you, but I hope you will make the decision to stay with Apple.
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