“The signs are all there: The technological superiority. The ruthless march to galactic domination. The musical devices that from a fashion standpoint would be the perfect accessory for any Stormtrooper uniform. Once but the student (see their classic 1984 ad, their PC vs. Mac ads and oh, everything else that’s ever come out of their mouth), it seems that little ol’ Apple finally could be turning into the Master,” Charles Coxe blogs for Rolling Stone.
Coxe writes, “Consider the recent evidence that goes well beyond the limited world of desktop computers:”
• The announcement of the impending iPhone: So now Cingular (which was just bought out by original Evil Empire AT&T) gets to be the exclusive provider, forcing everybody to figure out how to dump their current wireless plan and switch over.
MacDailyNews Take: No evidence of “evil.”
• To this date, Apple has sold 90 million iPods and more than 2 billion individual songs through the iTunes store.
MacDailyNews Take: Success is not evidence of “evil.”
• Steve Jobs announced Tuesday that he has asked the record labels to scrap their proprietary DRM software that prevents music from being shared, as he feels it’s ineffective and merely hampers consumers from being able to listen to music how they please. Sounds good, right? Well, it’s propaganda. Lost in his release is that that the largest source of proprietary DRM software is Apple…
MacDailyNews Take: The music cartels required Apple to placed DRM on the files before they would allow Apple to sell their contracted artists’ music. No evidence of “evil.”
• Apple… officially warned PC users to avoid installing Microsoft Vista… until Apple gets around to updating the iTunes software in the next couple weeks or so.
MacDailyNews Take: Ooh, “wait a couple of weeks,” pure “evil.” Quick, get an exorcist on the iPhone!
• Apple has reached a deal with Apple Corps Ltd. which will allow the entire Beatles’ catalogue to be purchased from iTunes.
MacDailyNews Take: No evidence of “evil.”
“The fact that Apple now seems to be calling all the shots is more than a little bit unnerving. First they dominate publishing, Web design, and music, then TV and movies, mobile phones…when Steve Jobs flips the switch, the all-seeing ‘i’ will be everywhere. When you wake up tomorrow to find a folder with a question mark where the sun used to be, don’t come crying to us,” Coxe writes.
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers too numerous to mention for the heads up.]
Charles Coxe has produced as meaningless a piece of pap as anything we’ve seen in quite some time. Unless it’s meant to be humorous – in which case it also fails – it’s just a nice, catchy headline with nothing substantive underneath.
Now there’s an empre I wouldn’t mind being a part of. Hopefully we’ll take over the world and rid ourselves from the windows world!
’tis rather interesting how success is equated to evil so much in today’s society. Sometimes that is indeed the case; often it’s not….
Come on, haven’t you guys ever heard the term “tongue in cheek”?
So, what … you are going to run into the open arms of Microsoft because you “think” Apple is evil.
You are stupid.
WTF!! This guy is a freakin moron….sheesh talk about a very overpaid loser. What happened to covering wild parties etc? Has this jackass ever been to a party? Minutia like this is for other publications…I am shocked that this sloppy crap slipped by the editor. Slipped! I shoulda done a face plant!! LOL! What a noob!
This guy must be on high test, a throw back from the sixties probably.
Wow man, Apple is the food of the Devil man.
>Come on, haven’t you guys ever heard the term “tongue in cheek”?>
That saying is now changed to, ” zune in cheeks.”
AND… WTF is wrong with Apple calling the shots anyway Mr. “I dont go to cool parties” Coxe? Seems like Gates and Co did a great job of fscking it up for most noobs why not let the real professionals take the fsckin wheel for a change. It definitely wont hurt!! OMG! I just realized why this tool is writing about Apple! Apple is officially a rockstar now!! W00t!!! Grats Apple! Grats Steve
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />! Coxe do everyone a favor and stfu!
The ENTIRE BEATLES CATALOG?
Does this guy know something we don’t? Who made THAT announcement? I’ve heard the rumors of a limited number of tracks, remastered..available for Valentines Day. I’ve heard the rumors of a limited number
of tracks from SOME albums. Where did the news of the Entire Catalog come from?
This guy is a clickwhore©
PR
Apple is the new “return of the Jedi” stupdi!
I think charles is the only one who gets it. This isn’t meant to be taken seriously. Lighten up people.
Zune in cheek? May I be the first to say, “Eeewwww!”
MDN: “image” as in, ” That’s an image I didn’t need this early in the morning.”
rolling stone is a total faakin joke
the same rag that in it’s list of all time top guitarists put eddie van halen at no. 70 ??!?
and a talentless loser like the edge ahead of a bona fide genus like jeff beck
crap mag
Who reads Rolling Stone anymore?
Horrors! Apple has sold zero iPhones and is already an evil empire. On that basis, RIM, Nokia, MOT etc. are eviller. They’ve sold more.
Evil is as evil does.
With regard to “Apple… officially warned PC users to avoid installing Microsoft Vista… until Apple gets around to updating the iTunes software in the next couple weeks or so.”
Apple users have been waiting for a year for MS to produce a universal version of Mac Office.
MS is delaying the Mac version Office for six months after the release of the Windoze version.
This is the definition of “pure evil.”
From an end user perspective Apple would be evil if they took my money for poorly designed, shoddy, insecure imitations of much better technology, like our friends at Microsoft. They would be evil if they forced me to use their proprietary file formats at every turn, like our friends at Microsoft.
Instead, Apple supplies me with well designed, high quality, innovative products which use freely available industry standard file formats including MP3, AAC, JPG, PNG, PDF, TIF. No lock-in for me. I am happy to use their hardware.
Microsoft reminds me of sour nerds who have no social skills and don’t know how to make friends outside of intellectual bullying & intimidation. They are the kids who didn’t know how to get along in the sandbox and would crush your sandcastle so they could feel better about themselves. This is how children act when they don’t have the patience or skill set to make a decent sandcastle of their own. I don’t know if this makes Microsoft evil, but for me they’re irrelevant. I choose to ignore them because their product is uninspired and their behavior is so negative.
If you have to say you’re “people ready”, you aren’t people ready.
this is what you get when you use the m$ measuring stick of success/evil on apple
m$ is successful without doubt but their products suck
apple is the same but their products don’t suck
Apple has signed their own death sentence. Their hardware quality is poor and getting rave reviews on the internet like this:
http://www.zedshaw.com/rants/apple_sux.html
The only place Apple hardware gets good reviews is on pro-Apple blogs and sites. It will only be a matter of time before Apple quits selling computers, tries to make it in the world of digital media and slowly withers away and dies. Right now Apple is just riding the Big Wave. Guess what happens when the Big Wave hits the shore?
Piracy is still way bigger than Apple in the world of digital media. Apple could die today and nobody would really notice except the .00005% of the world population that are Apple fans.
What do you expect from Rolling Stone? They have consistently reduced the culture of music to the lowest common denominator of conformity, bling, and tits n’ ass (see their groundbreaking work legitimizing Snoop Dogg’s ‘side career’ as a pimp); they haven’t had their finger on the pulse of much for a looooong time. ‘Zound’ like anyone you know?
Rolling Stone covered (Kate) Moss…
I think that should settle it.
” When you wake up tomorrow to find a folder with a question mark where the sun used to be, don’t come crying to us,””
WTF is that supposed to mean? First of all, this rarely happens. Secondly, even if Apple is ‘calling all the shots’ as he implies, at least there’s now a company that is dominating a market segment that at the very least gets products right.
Look at MS. Their influence and dominance still is vastly greater than Apple’s and yet day by day the users of Windows just gleefully skip along taking another bite of the shit sandwich that has been served up to them by Redmond. No complaints, just acceptance because thats what ‘everybody uses’ and there is some sort of sick comfort in mass misery.
Apple has a big chunk of influence in the music industry. Big deal. Having to listen to music is a pasttime, not essential like using and OS on a daily basis. People should be happy there is a company that works hard to get it right and stop complaining and sending out FUD articles like this to get page hits.
Ironically, my MW is ‘quality’. I’ll take Apple quality over the alternative any day.
I for one welcome our new Apple overlords!
“The only place Apple hardware gets good reviews is on pro-Apple blogs and sites.”
– Yeah like PC magazine. (4 out of 5 in most reviews) Their pretty Apple centric Huh?, What the hell are you smokin I hate??
oh man, some feller named zed said apple “sux”. sounds credible to me!
mw: deal. when life deals you lemons, go buy some apples and make apple juice.
Maybe the problem is that, “the gap that separates reality and satire is now almost non-existent”.
Sourced from a comment here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2007/02/11/do1108.xml
Let’s see,
Apple prevented the record companies from RAISING prices on music.
Evil, pure evil.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />
I’ve been using Macs since 1984 and PC’s since 1996.
I don’t get the folder with a question mark on it reference.
What is he referring to and where did the sun go?
I’ve never seen a folder with a question mark on it. Is it a Mac or PC thing? Or both?
Yeah, this goes right along with Alex Albrecht’s (idiotic) take on Jobs.
Steve Jobs said that about 3% of iPod music actually comes from iTMS.
So, releasing the DRM aspect would scarcely make a difference.
Windows apologists will say that SJ’s just trying to get out of a lawsuit, but WAKE UP, if Apple’s been LOCKING people to the iPod, doesn’t that mean threre’s a huge DOWNSIDE to unlocking DRM?
If Apple is forcing people to use iPod’s then SJ’s a fool for suggesting we kill DRM.
The truth is that the iPod is a way better product and SJ is not worried about declining sales (going back to the 3% figure)….
To to recap: Apple makes stuff that people love. They do it way better than anyone else in the market. That’s why they have such a high share.
How is that evil? It sounds like everything competition is SUPPOSED to do.
THe Dell Ditty on the other hand…
Zoom. That little bit of satire went right over the heads of MDN this time. Very funny (the article, that is).
New Apple slogan: Think Evil!
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />
Let’s abstain from using such pejorative and inexact terms such as “Evil Empire” when referring to Apple. Instead let’s call the next century the “Decline of the Dark Ages (of Microsoft’s Hegemony and Incompetence)” and the “Birth of the (Digital) Renaissance (Apple Inc.)”
A provocative piece. Shame its not better researched.
the kind of article windows users use as gospel. FUD in satire clothes. However, dissent is a necessary part of civilisation.
Any goof who has enough inclination to write something like this also has an actual opinion about this sort of thing
Microsoft has shown that evil and technological superiority can be mutually exclusive.
Steve Jobs is the Antichrist! Everybody, run for your lives!
Thank you Apple for being so evil, by keeping me safe from viruses for 3 years now. Also for making things so much easier for me. If this is being evil I like it.
hey haters,
in my opinion you should read the history of apple and then think difrent,because in your life you don´t get beautiful screens,sys and others products unless they were from apple,thats why the world should think diferent because they dont know the other part of it.
Does anything <u> intelligent </u> every come from Rolling Stone? There, that basically sums up my take on their article.
…dang…while speaking on intelligence, I inadvertently placed an ‘every’ instead of an ‘ever’ in my above post. Perhaps I could write for Rolling Stone.
Well, if there are “evil empires”, they certainly aren’t in the computer industry. Perhaps the automotive, oil and “defence” industries. The amount of death, destruction and environmental damage caused by companies in these industries is far greater than any damage caused by computer companies.
Stop driving. Bike and use public transit!!!!!
From the link: “The technological superiority.”
At least we know he isn’t referring to any precedent set by Microsoft.
Apple- Evil Empire.
I like it.
New iphones will contain a death ray beam that obliterates zunes.
Envy poisons the soul.
I’ve been in the music business my whole life. The recording industry has fought against and sued to stop EVERY advancment of music. They tried to stop audio casettes. They tried to stop CD’s. They tried to stop DAT’s. They tried to stop computers buring CD’s. They tried to stop p2p.
They have failed each step. But they continue to exist because people want music. They have NOT ONE TIME embraced advancement in their very own industry. The RIAA sues THEIR CUSTOMERS!!
And they perceive Apple a threat! So so far their 100% consistent at ineptness. But they embrace Microsoft.
Rolling Stone is in the same situation. No one reads the mag anymore. And they have no influence in the industry anymore. So they perceive Apple the threat too.
The sea change has begun in music. And they have all missed it. They are irrelevant. And they know it.
Rolling Stone Magazine has been the real evil.
Their music magazine which is moreoften a political rag trying to brainwash into ultra liberalism wanting us to believe that just because someone can sing or act they are also experts in politics.
Most rockers, rappers and movie stars were anything but stellar students before they were famous. Most were drop outs. Very few attended or had college degrees. And now that they have sold records and filled box offices–sudenly they are just brilliant political scientists that we all need to listen to.
What a joke.
Rolling Stone?
Gee, they’re sssssooooooooooooooo relevant.
I’d be REALLY worried if Opera News published a putrid piece of tripe like this, but………… they’re intelligent!
Nerdlinger… Nope, Microsoft were the guys in the chess club that got beat up in the school cafeteria. Windows is their revenge.
MacRaven: Hilarious! You’ll give Zune Tang a race for the best humorist award!
MacRaven, careful, we have many socialist / liberals out here.
Remember, success is a target. If Apple’s market share keeps going up, they’ll join Wal-Mart in the “evil” category.
We better run for cover, the far left loons are about to respond.
Yup, that’s right. You’d BETTER run for cover.
’08 is just around the corner!!!
I’m starting to fear for John Conner!
Hey, how ’bout that. Dixie Chics win Grammy Award for record of the year.
Good ole’ patriotic Americans!
“Apple… officially warned PC users to avoid installing Microsoft Vista… until Apple gets around to updating the iTunes software in the next couple weeks or so.”
My school (Oswego State) sent out an e-mail telling all the students to not update to Vista. Looks like Apple isn’t the only one Coxe…
Hey, how ’bout that. Dixie Chics win Grammy Award for record of the year.
Good ole’ patriotic Americans!
And now Al Gore is presenting for best new rock album!
Absolutely the Dixie Chicks are patriotic. I am grateful Americans use their right to freedom of speech whether I agree with it or not. Dissent is a symptom of a healthy democracy.
Just ask the MDN readers across the globe who don’t share this luxury.
@ “@ Always Right”:
Yes. The current administration, howerver, seems intent on squelching any dissent, painting a picture that anyone who disagrees is unpatriotic.
Apparently, that group the Dixie Chics have been beseiged with death threats from right wing nutcases.
With success and power comes scrutiny. Apple’s had it easy up to now.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” />
The devil, what the devil gave Adam via Eve? AN APPLE.
APPLE is EVIL, the Bible says it!
AND, how something that is little and soft could ever be evil. Cute teddy bears, little heart-shaped cushions.
Meditate people, think! Little and soft can’t be bad. Microsoft, Microsoft, Microsoft, Microsoft, Microsoft, Microsoft,…
—
Microsoft PR department. Lab CounterX. Fanatism Division.
Record Companies are evil.
Jim Smith asks: Does anyone care what ‘Rolling Stone’ thinks?
“Come on, haven’t you guys ever heard the term “tongue in cheek”?”
Really is this sarcasm? It is sometimes hard to tell.
Rolling Stone actually has been a mouthpiece of the counterculture Left for a long, long time (their idolatry of U2 and publishing O’Rourke are sideshow antics). They haven’t had their finger on the pulse of anything except their own groins for the past twenty years. Seriously. Who does read them anymore? Who cares about their political views? Who thinks that are are important? Who cares what they think about music? Everyone who loves music knows at least as much as the brain-dead dopers over at RS, and has more brain cells than they have.
So they are either satirizing Apple (yawn — bore me later) or they are Apple haters (yawn — double-bore me later). In either case, who cares?
Since this question was raised. The icon of a folder with the blinking question mark appeared when your Mac kicked the bucket. I have seen it a few times, most recently on an original G3 Blue and White tower that was running Panther. It certainly is a carry over from the classic Mac OS days. Another wonderful icon is the Sad Mac, which they carried over to the iPod. In the old days, when you first booted up a Mac it usually had the smiling icon of the original Mac. But the Sad Mac usually had a frown and exed out eyes. For the Sad iPod icon. Its been changed to the iPod. Neither of those icons were a welcomed sight.
“…blinking question mark appeared when your Mac kicked the bucket.”
Wrong, wrong, wrong!
The blinking question mark meant that your Mac couldn’t find a system to boot from. Itr hearalds from the days when the Mac System was often loaded onto a floppy and you booted from there, cause your Mac didn’t have a HD. You could have mutiple system floppies for different uses.
If you started your Mac and didn’t put a system floppy in the floppy drive, the blinking question mark over a folder is what you got. It could also mean that your system was corrupted and thus unbootable, but all that meant was your Mac didn’t see it as a valid system, and was asking you to give it a good one.
Apple has a loooooooong way to go before entering the rarified air that Wal*Mart occupies in terms of “evil-ness”
Welcome to the Catch-22. You lose even if you win.
Apple struggles, everyone says “Apple is doomed! Doomed, we tell you! What a dumb company!”
Apple succeeds, everyone says “Apple is taking over; getting too much power. What an evil company!”
Bah.
I put together a list of recent articles showing Apple’s incredibly arrogant behaviour. They really are the new evil empire
http://sites.google.com/site/badapplecorp/