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Articles In Category

September 1st, 2012

Apple v. Samsung: The True Story

    
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April 19th, 2009

Microsoft’s ‘Apple tax’ claims are ’stupid,’ counters analyst

    
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January 11th, 2009

Apple a Monopolist? Only in Microsoft-Think

I recently read another positive article about Apple in Computerworld, this one covering Apple's 5 Biggest Moments in 2008. Unlike some other Apple coverage in Computerworld, this one was largely a yawn, but don't you know that most of the comments (as usual) were from Windows partisans who were simply angry that Apple was given any positive coverage at all!

Recently, that seems to be the standard for virtually any online article that has something nice to say about Apple. Rather than commenting on the substance of the article, some anti-Apple type will immediately start dissing the company in a totally ignorant and offensive manner. Sometimes, such drivel will be met with commenters defending Apple, but quite often it merely attracts other Apple hecklers.

The Computerworld article cited above was no different, but there was one comment from a guy who, though claiming to have some positive feelings about Apple, levels a charge that comes straight from the Microsoft propaganda machine. This propaganda only started a few years ago, when Apple began to have success with non-computer products like iTunes, the iPod, and now the iPhone. Microsoft loved to spread the word that Apple's products were all "closed," while Microsoft's were "open," and many listeners, without actually thinking about this illogical line of thinking, bought the propaganda and are now spreading it themselves.

I just couldn't let this challenge go unanswered, so I didn't. The following is what I published in response on Computerworld. In a nutshell, it explains why this guy's line of reasoning is bunk, and why, no matter how much Microsoft would like folks to think so, Apple is absolutely not a monopolist in any sense of the term.

    
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January 8th, 2009

Microsoft Still Spreading Apple FUD on Prices

    
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November 14th, 2008

iPhone Races Past Blackberry to No. 2 in SmartPhones

    
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September 23rd, 2008

Microsoft IT Shops Upset At Apple’s “Patch Process”

    
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August 12th, 2008

Phishing and Safari (Part 2): A Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing

    
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August 12th, 2008

Phishing and Safari (Part 1): A Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing

    
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July 21st, 2008

A Desperate Microsoft Tries To Talk the iPhone To Death

    
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March 28th, 2008

Mac Hack Makes for Good Headlines, But…

    
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October 29th, 2007

Computerworld Publishes “I Hate Macs” By Staffer/Blogger

    
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July 22nd, 2007

Microsoft Junkies Spreading “Apple Messed Up The iPhone” FUD

    
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May 5th, 2007

Daring Fireball: Microsoft Still Relying on Nasty FUD Rather Than Actual Competition

    
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March 3rd, 2007

Spread The Word: Al Gore Used Keynote For “Inconvenient Truth”… NOT PP

    
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February 3rd, 2007

Bill Gates Still Telling Hitler-Style Big Lies

    
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November 17th, 2006

Ballmer: Linux Users Owe Microsoft Millions

    
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November 17th, 2006

Universal Music Group CEO Calls Non-Zune Owners “Thieves”

    
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September 30th, 2006

Slashdot: Apple Accused of “Upsampling” Low-Res Videos for iTunes

    
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September 25th, 2006

InfoWorld’s Editor Backs Yager’s Estimate of Apple’s Enterprise-worthiness

    
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September 24th, 2006

John Gruber on Apple’s New AirPort Security Update

    
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September 24th, 2006

Slashdot: Microsoft’s Masterpiece of FUD?

    
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September 24th, 2006

Laughing at Negative Prognostication About Apple

    
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September 24th, 2006

Tom Yager in MacWorld: An Apple for the enterprise?

    
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September 7th, 2006

Is Apple Being Unfairly Targeted on Environmental Issues?

    
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August 30th, 2006

SecureWorks admits to falsifying MacBook wireless hack - The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

    
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August 3rd, 2006

Cracked MacBook: Gleeful PC Zealots Once Again Try To Put Mac OS X Down

    
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July 31st, 2006

Protecting Windows: How PC Malware Became A Way of Life

Waving the White Flag To the Windows Virus Plague

Ah, computer security training. Don’t you just love it? Doesn’t it make you feel secure to know that your alert IT department is on patrol against the evil malware that slinks in and takes the network down every now and then, giving you a free afternoon off? Look at all the resources those wise caretakers have activated to keep you safe!

  • Virulent antivirus software, which wakes up and takes over your PC several times a day (always, it seems, just at the moment when you actually needed to type something important).
  • Very expensive, enterprise-class desktop-management software that happily recommends to management when you need more RAM, when you’ve downloaded peer-to-peer software contrary to company rules, and when you replaced the antivirus software the company provides with a brand that’s a little easier on your CPU.
  • Silent, deadly, expensive, and nosy mail server software that reads your mail and removes files with suspicious-looking extensions, or with suspicious-looking subject lines like “I Love You“, while letting creepy-looking email with subject lines like “You didnt answer deniable antecedent” or “in beef gunk” get through.
  • Expensive new security personnel, who get to hire even more expensive security contractors, who go on intrusion-detection rampages once or twice a year, spend lots of money, gum up the network, and make recommendations for the company to spend even more money on security the next year.
  • Field trips to Redmond, Washington, to hear what Microsoft has to say for itself, returning with expensive new licenses for Groove and SharePoint Portal Server (why both? why either?), and other security-related software.
  • New daily meetings that let everyone involved in protecting the network sit and wring their hands while listening to news about the latest computing vulnerabilities that have been discovered.
  • And let’s not forget security training! My favorite! By all means, we need to educate the staff on the proper “code of conduct” for handling company information technology gear. Later in the article, I’ll tell you all about the interesting things I learned this year, which earned me an anonymous certificate for passing a new security test. Yay!

In fact, this article started out as a simple expose on the somewhat insulting online training I just took. But one thought led to another, and soon I was ruminating on the Information Technology organization as a whole, and about the effectiveness and rationality of its response to the troublesome invasion of micro-cyberorganisms of the last 6 or 7 years.

Protecting the network

Who makes decisions about computer security for your organization? Chances are, it’s the same guys who set up your network and desktop computer to begin with. When the plague of computer viruses, worms, and other malware began in earnest, the first instinct of these security Tzars was understandable: Protect!
          Protect the investment…
                    Protect the users…
                              Protect the network!

And the plague itself, which still ravages our computer systems… was this an event that our wise IT leaders had foreseen? Had they been warning employees about the danger of email, the sanctity of passwords, and the evil of internet downloads prior to the first big virus that struck? If your company’s IT staff is anything like mine, I seriously doubt it. Like everyone else, the IT folks in charge of our computing systems at the office only started paying attention after a high-profile disaster or two. Prior to that, it was business as usual for the IT operations types: “Ignore it until you can’t do so anymore.” A vulgar translation of this “code of conduct” is often used instead: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Unfortunately, the IT Powers-That-Be never moved beyond their initial defensive response. They never actually tried to investigate and treat the underlying cause of the plague. No, after they had finished setting up a shield around the perimeter, investing in enterprise antivirus and spam software, and other easy measures, it’s doubtful that your IT department ever stepped back to ask one simple question: How much of the plague has to do with our reliance on Microsoft Windows? Would we be better off by switching to another platform?

It’s doubtful that the question ever crossed their minds, but even if someone did raise it, someone else was ready with an easy put-down or three:

  1. It’s only because Windows is on 95% of the world’s desktops.
  2. It’s only because there are so many more hackers now.
  3. And all the hackers attack Windows because it’s the biggest target.

At about this time in the Computer Virus Wars, the rallying cry of the typical IT shop transitioned from “Protect the network… users… etc.” to simply:
            Protect Windows!

    
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July 23rd, 2006

Microsoft Confirms “iPod Killer” Plans

    
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July 23rd, 2006

Apple Market Share Myths Exposed!

    
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July 23rd, 2006

The Apple Market Share Myth

    
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July 10th, 2006

Needham & Co. Analyst Thinks Corporate IT Will Continue To Ignore Macs

    
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June 26th, 2006

Anyone Who Thinks Microsoft Has “Changed” Should Read This FUD

    
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June 17th, 2006

The ‘Mac OS X Closed by Pirates’ Myth

    
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June 10th, 2006

Video Shows John Dvorak Explaining How He Lies To Get Hits

    
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May 26th, 2006

Thorough Analysis of Five Mac Myths Related to Security

    
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May 17th, 2006

Good Move, Google! Google Calls Microsoft a Convicted Monopolist

    
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May 17th, 2006

More on Microsoft’s “Big Lies”: A Tale of Two Press Releases

    
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May 17th, 2006

Microsoft At It Again: On the Art (?) of Disinformation–Telling the Big Lie

    
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May 14th, 2006

Is It Possible This Reuters Writer Can’t Read? Nah!

While reading MacDailyNews this evening, I happened on a remarkable story entitled, “Another iPod+iTunes FUD article keeps the disinformation flowing.” With a sigh, I took a look to see what idiot could possibly not understand the iPod and/or iTunes after so many years and so many articles.

As it turned out, the depth of this writer’s ignorance is absolutely shocking. There’s no way he could honestly think this stuff is true. If he does, he has no business covering complicated technology topics like the iPod and iTunes, because clearly the product’s available options are far too difficult for him to grasp. Concluding instead that he’s probably a bright guy, I’m tempted to conclude, as MacDailyNews did, that his piece in Reuters is a deliberate attempt to mislead consumers and smear Apple’s innovative and highly successful music service. The article appears as part of Yahoo’s Finance site with the innocuous-sounding title “Do you own songs bought online? Well, sort of“.

    
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May 6th, 2006

Dave Winer Has Been Bad Again, and Les Posen’s Hunting Him Down!

    
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Just Say No To Flash