Apple's shiny days over?

apple-oldI’ve been a user of Mac computers since 1991 and when Apple began its transition into a mobile phone company, I followed them by purchasing iPods and an iPad. For at least 15 years, I was enthusiastic about Apple announcements of new software and hardware. But gradually, that keen interest has been dimming.
My iMac still works well, but so does my landline phone. In fact, that’s how I think of my Apple stuff now… reliable utilities but not really exciting. Some would say that I was mistaken to find computer products exciting in the first place, of course.

iOS 7 has arrived for iPhones and iPads, but I find myself indifferent. The new features don’t do anything I particularly want, so why update, even if it’s free and easy (which it is). I skipped the last update for OS X entirely. First time that’s happened! Maybe I’ll upgrade to Mavericks when it arrives this Fall, but it’s not a sure thing.
Of course Apple has always known how to force its customers to “move along”, so eventually they’ll make me update. Once upon a time, I would have had only one dreaded alternative… Microsoft Windows, but that’s no longer true. Linux has stepped up its game so much, it’s a real possibility. Tons of free software, a vibrant, talented community of users, a less commercial, less invasive environment. What’s not to like?
In fact, my iMac can dual-boot into Linux or Mac OS X, so I can transition to Linux any time. Apple doesn’t care. Why should it? It’s a mobile phone maker now, and a purveyor of goods like music, books and movies. The computer days were a while back, but that’s when I liked Apple.

4 thoughts on “Apple's shiny days over?

  1. iPads work nicely, but so do other tablets that are cheaper. Even the Blackberry Playbook works well. Android systems are a variant of Linux, Did you know that?
    Facetime is the Apple version of Skype. Some say it works better than Skype, but it only works between Apple products, so that’s a limitation. Vine is platform agnostic, I think. I haven’t used it yet.

  2. Apple was obviously right to shift away from the desktop/laptop business, which is dying away.
    I’ll bet you don’t know the brand of that landline phone of yours, because really, it doesn’t matter, does it?

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