I posted this on another thread. It belongs here.
https://ifixit.org/blog/10229/macbook-pro-keyboard/I know that Apple is the wealthiest company in history. That's good in some ways for some people. For many years I wanted Apple to do well so that it could fix what I saw as longstanding problems: high price, too little software, too little market share, and so on.
But I have my doubts, criticisms, and complaints concerning the Apple that has existed under Tim Cook after the death of Steve Jobs. Instead of getting better, the Apple that I liked, the Apple I grew up with, got worse in ways I never imagined. If you doubt me, read about people's experiences on Macintouch. It's flabbergasting. Every day, Apple does something stupid.
That it's called Apple and not Apple Computer ought to have been a tip a long time ago. Of course, Steve Jobs often said that his model was Sony, and he wanted the kind of world conquest that Sony had achieved, with his brand on all kinds of products. I wouldn't mind if the Mac really had become like an appliance that you turn on and "just works". That didn't happen. Today Apple makes more money from phones than computers. Apple wants to be ATT. ATT wants to be Comcast. Comcast couldn't even get my TV remote to sync with the cable remote. I had to buy a Logitech universal remote instead. And it worked!
I don't want a smartphone. I dislike iPads. As someone who writes, those gadgets have nothing to offer me. I don't need to carry all of my data with me all the time. I don't care about swiping, gestures, or emoticons. I write words, not hieroglyphics. I don't care how thin a computer is so long as it works. I don't use cloud services. I don't use the Apple store. I buy CDs, not mp3s, so I have no use for Apple Music. I still have my old iPod. It's no longer made. I'm not sure what Apple Pay is, but I doubt it offers something I need. Trying to use an Apple ID is so absurd I'm at a loss for words.
Of recent iMacs, I dislike: the proprietary features, the price which is no longer justified, the inability to upgrade, the inability to repair, the fact that monitors get bigger but are no easier to read either because of glare, small type, or poor system font handling; the keyboard and mouse; the fusion with iOS; the breaches of privacy; the intrusion of cloud services; features I don't want or need like voice recognition or face recognition; the slow Finder; the crippling of software, including its own; the disappearance of products I liked; the poor quality of parts; the poor quality of service; the high cost of repair; the inability to compete with other companies which make better products at a lower price.
Living in the Mac ghetto isn't worth it anymore if you are going to own a computer that no longer "just works". Apple became Microsoft. Times ten.
I stopped in an Apple store, and after fiddling around I was shocked at how slow the OS is now. My ten year old computer running 10.6 does almost everything faster, and everything that matters to me: the Finder is snappy, programs start and stop quickly, the Mac starts up and shuts down quickly. There was better software in the 1990s.
My iMac can boot into either 10.6 or Windows 7. For a while I could boot into Mint, but I deleted it because Linux isn't worth the trouble.
I don't have to buy a new computer today. I can get by. I use a 10-year-old Dell laptop (which I upgraded) for surfing the web, for reading, and for fun. For writing, I have found nothing in Windows to replace Tom Bender's Tex Edit Plus, Pages, and Numbers.
