Apple targeted in Fox News ad boycott

[tomm2thumbs]

Source: CNN Money

Apple, a company that counts Al Gore among its board members and whose CEO once dated Joan Baez, found itself the unlikely target of an advertising boycott campaign this week.

Under pressure from advocacy groups, more than a dozen companies, including ConAgra (CAG), Geico, Procter & Gamble (PG) and Progressive (PRG), have pulled their commercials from the conservative commentators' show.

The campaign was picked up by democrats.com, which provided its members with a list of advertisers and an e-mail form letter that threatens to stop buying the sponsors' products as long as they advertise on Fox News. The organization set a goal of 100,000 letters; as of Saturday morning (today) 46,575 had been sent.

The political blog Daily Kos, which has been monitoring the effects of the boycott, points out that many of the sponsors sticking with the show are "no name companies" like Avodart and Metastock that buy up cheap spots on late night rebroadcasts. Apple is one of the exceptions. "Apple never used to have any ads on the Glenn Beck show," writes Daily Kos' wikoogle. "Their ads mostly showed up mid afternoon or very latenight on Fox News, and sometimes on the O'Reilly Factor, but never during either Glenn Beck or Sean Hannity..."

Apple has not yet responded to a request for comment.


Read more: http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/08/15/apple-targeted-in-fox-news-ad-boycott/

---

I am literally days away from having to buy an Apple because I actually need to upgrade for video work, but I have resolved to buy a warranty-covered pre-owned Apple off Craiglist and prevent Apple from reaping the benefits of my purchase directly if they continue to 'no comment' about monetarily supporting Glenn Beck's message. I suggest everyone in the market for an Apple do the same. A used, BUT 100% warranted computer (Apple warranty's follow the machine 100% so you are covered) will still do what I want without me having to pay full retail to a company that refuses to even comment on supporting Beck's hate.

I called Apple and was told they would not make a report on my complaint unless I gave them my user/Apple identifier information. The person also said 'I haven't heard of this Glenn Beck Show'. Ok, right? Terrible handling of an already bad situation. By purchasing Apple products, Democrats are financially enabling Glenn Beck's message to be heard.

••• ••• •••
UPDATE!!!!
••• ••• •••

As for other options I am investigating, a friend suggested building a legal Hackintosh computer (more powerful than Mac computers, runs their OSX, and costs HALF the price). Here is a link with more info for those that want to make sure that Glenn Beck doesn't receive any of your hard-earned money. Sounds like a fun project as well and will be a source of Democratic pride.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9xygn_colleen-shows-patrick-how-to-build_school

•••

[TerribleLarryDingle]

1. legal Hackintosh?

No such thing. You can not install OS X on a non Apple computer it would be against the EULA

http://www.apple.com/legal/sla/

[tomm2thumbs]

2. not according to the video which made great pains to do it legally - watch the video

[WriteDown]

3. Many have tried....

but Apple always slaps them down when ANYONE tries to build a system that can run OS X.

[TerribleLarryDingle]

4. Interesting.

Why not just use Linux? I mean buying OS X is still giving Apple money isn't it?

[tomm2thumbs]

5. it's all that legacy software

so I have to be able to update older files and still carry on, but Linux might be the way to go in the long run eh?

[TerribleLarryDingle]

6. I like it a lot but

OS X has really made me an Apple fan...again. Hopefully Linux will gain more steam in the coming years as the windows masses get tired of halfassed overpriced OSes.

[harmonicon]

18. check out something called Wine

.... ok.... I don't mean booze it up (do that too though - drinking is awesome). Wine runs within an OS and can run programs from another os, but without running a complete boot like with a program like Parallels. Or run something like parallels. I'm still using both OSX and WinXP for those same reasons though. Switching to Linux would be nice.... maybe this would push me to try it next time out - I'll have to see how things are looking in a year when the warranty is up on this machine.

[TerribleLarryDingle]

28. I use Darwine

It's a bit limited but it works.

http://darwine.sourceforge.net/

[Gman]

39. I believe that the origin of OS X is Unix/Linux

[Deja Q]

54. Nice supporting argument you've got, there...

:eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes:


Yes, they did take form open source (FreeBSD.) But a lot of it is still NeXTstep...

As much as wikipedia isn't my first choice of sources, and that your response doesn't make me inclined to put much effort into mine, I shall use it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nextstep

[Deja Q]

62. And that isn't legal reality, it's the inference postulated by the video's creators, spin.

And they probably have lawyers too... :o

[TroubleMan]

11. LOL at you quoting Apple.

That's like quoting Microsoft on their position on the monopoly lawsuits.

[TerribleLarryDingle]

30. Ok boss

your obviously the legal expert. And I wasn't quoting Apple I linked to the site so if you like you could read the EULA.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

15. What does "non Apple computer" mean?

Does that have something to do with AMD and not Intel?

[TerribleLarryDingle]

29. Do I really have to explain

what an Apple computer is?

[DissedByBush]

31. The question is whether the EULA is enforceable

Copyright is supposed to give a return on investment, not put a lock on the works beyond simple copying. It's copyright abuse.

Apple shouldn't be able to say a thing as long as you bought your copy of OS X.

[Deja Q]

57. Then Apple was myopic when they made their EULA and need to revise it.

It's straightforward to begin with, it has to be Apple-branded hardware.

Not to mention, I've toyed with 'hackintosh' and it's not the same experience. It crashes. Not to mention, I don't know who hacked it and if it contains any malware of its own, not to mention that once a system update gets applied it would probably stop working...

[targetpractice]

7. This is kinda silly....

It seems like poor judgment to avoid buying a Mac that you need for work to make a political point... You will suffer the consequences for month or years to come.

Rush Limbaugh uses Macs, too... I loathe the thought, but there is nothing that will stop me from buying Apple products.

By the way...

It is definitely not legal to run Mac OS X on anything other than Apple hardware according to the license agreement.

[alfredo]

8. If a person never watches Fox, or pays little attention to politics, may

not know of Glen Beck. My neighbor, a Republican, never heard of him. He's not online and doesn't watch cable TV. His TV is for games.

People online and political tend to forget that much of the world knows little of our world, the personalities, and the issues in our world.

[northzax]

45. yes, it's worth remembering

that only a couple million people watch his 'program' that's one in 100,000,000 Americans. you have better odds of winning the lottery than of randomly selecting someone who watches his show.

[druidity33]

47. if i had

a 2% chance of winning the lottery, i'd play every day. Not such long odds.

:shrug:

[moggie]

86. How many Americans are there?

One in 100,000,000 would be around three people.

[fascisthunter]

9. Right Wingers have always bashed Apple for one reason

and it has nothing to do with their line of products, but instead it has to do with the fact that Apple gives much more to the Democratic Party than the GOP. You will see trivial criticisms of Apple's products even here on DU. Those criticisms could easily be applied to ANY manufacturer... but they never are.

[WriteDown]

10. I personally dislike Apple due to their rigorous monopoly....

doesn't stop me from owning an iPhone though.

And don't be fooled. Apple gives money to those that serves its corporate interests. Just like MS. (That's why you'll see donations to places like the Romney campaign)

http://www.campaignmoney.com/apple_computer.asp

http://www.campaignmoney.com/microsoft.asp

[fascisthunter]

14. well then... you must equally if not more dislike Microsoft

there are many other bigger monopolies

[WriteDown]

35. Not sure who is the bigger monopoly..

I can run XP on a Mac, but OS X on a Mac? I can run Opera on any smart phone running Windows Mobile, but on an iPhone (which I love)?

Please see this?

http://calacanis.com/2009/08/08/the-case-against-apple-in-five-parts/

[fascisthunter]

40. very disingenuous

your slip is showing. For you to say you don't know which is a bigger monopoly, you have to have an axe to grind. There is no comparison when it comes to Microsoft being a massive monopoly. Good luck in you efforts.

[WriteDown]

42. So I offer you facts, examples, and even a link...

and you respond with a baseless attack. I'm sorry I cannot be a "true believer" like you. I never could fit into those purple robes and black Nikes. :eyes:

Oh and I meant you cannot run OS X on a PC, at least "legally."

[DissedByBush]

32. Apple doesn't have a monopoly on computers

It is a company in a minority position selling one competing product among many.

[WriteDown]

34. So I can run OSX on my HP?

Or how about Opera or Googe Voice on my iPhone?

Check this out.

http://calacanis.com/2009/08/08/the-case-against-apple-in-five-parts/

[DissedByBush]

36. That doesn't matter

Do you have plenty of other operating systems and hardware other than Apple? Yes.

Do you have plenty of other options for phones? Yes.

If Apple is making you mad enough about this stuff then just don't buy Apple.

There is plenty of competition out there from companies bigger than Apple and more entrenched in the phone business than Apple.

[WriteDown]

37. So monopolistic practices only matter is you're big enough...

Well then I guess it applies to Apple in the MP3 player market. Can you imagine if the Zune led the market and required that you use Windows Media Player for operation on all computers. Nothing would drown out the screams of indignation.

[Atman]

51. And you know what I hate...is BMW selling only BMWs and not Benzes! OUTRAGE!

:rofl:

.

[WriteDown]

64. So you'd be comfortable if BMW required that you get all

gas from BMW pumps? Not sure what your definition of a monopoly is, but apparently MS is not one either. Read this from an Apple fan. http://calacanis.com/2009/08/08/the-case-against-apple-in-five-parts/

[Atman]

71. I could get aftermarket or knock-off parts for that BMW if I wanted to.

The mythology about only using Apple stuff is soooooooo 1990's. I upgrade my Macs with any brand hd, I buy cheap RAM from my local PC store, I can run Windows, or Linux if I wanted to, I can use damn near any keyboard, monitor or mouse on the market. Your analogy is seriously flawed.

.

[WriteDown]

73. You have it backwards....

So you can install OSX on an HP? Can you use an iPod of iPhone with ANY streaming music service? Like I said, imagine if what is below was reveresed (which it HAS been)

4. Being a horrible hypocrite by banning other browsers on the iPhone
——————————————————–
Opera is a fantastic browser built by a company in Oslo, Norway. In fact, a decade ago, I had a speaking gig there and got to interview the CEO of the company for Silicon Alley Reporter. (Sidebar: Man, do I miss being a journalist. I wish I could split 50% of my time being a journalist and 50% of my time being a CEO.) For over a decade, Opera has been making lighting-fast, lightweight and quirky browsers. Long before Apple launched Safari, with the goal of designing the fastest browswer on the Web, Opera was already there.

Opera’s mobile browsers are “full of WIN,” as the kids like to say these days. If you’re a Windows Mobile or Blackberry user, you’ve probably downloaded them and enjoyed their WINness. The company started an iPhone browser project but gave up when faced with Apple’s absurd and unclear mandate to developers: Don’t create services which duplicate the functionality of Apple’s own software. In other words: “Don’t compete with us or we will not let you in the game.”

The irony of this is not lost on anyone who had a computer before they had an Internet connection. Apple was more than willing to pile on after Microsoft’s disasterous inclusion of Internet Explorer with Windows. In fact, what Apple is doing is 100x worse than what Microsoft did. You see, Microsoft simply included their browser in Windows, still allowing other browsers to be installed. In Apple’s case, they are not only bundling their browser with the iPhone, but they are BLOCKING other browsers from being installed.

Simple solution and opportunity: Don’t be a control freak and hypocrite. Allow people to pick their browser; the competition to make a better browser will increase the overall use of iPhones and mobile data services

[Touchdown]

44. Because Apple is a hardware company first. Software second.

because they make better software than MS is beside the point.

Apple "monopolistic". You make me laugh with that loaded language. A closed system, which the Macintosh is, is not the same as a monopoly.

[WriteDown]

48. Huh?

Well then I guess it applies to Apple in the MP3 player market. Can you imagine if the Zune led the market and required that you use Windows Media Player for operation on all computers. Nothing would drown out the screams of indignation.

[Touchdown]

50. I honestly can't imagine the Zune leading anything. It's a POS

I can't even figure out how Windows took over.

[WriteDown]

52. The new HD Zune looks pretty hot....

but like GM, many will never give it a chance. Like I said, if MS owned the iPod and required MSTunes, then you could expect daily threads on that topic.

[Touchdown]

60. And like I said, Apple's products isn't monopolistic

Stay with your own debate here. The loaded language your using does not apply to Apple.

Apple created the iPod, and a store to use with it. They never made the rule that they are the only ones allowed to do this. Same with their phone. Apple is not stopping MS from doing anything. May the best little box win.

And... there are weekly threads on how iTunes is expensive and alternatives to it. Amazon, B&N and other stores all have songs for download that work fine in an iPod. Not to mention bit torrent sites like Limewire.

Does MS have a monopoly on X-Box software? You can't play an X-Box game on a Nintendo Wii. It's exclusive to X-Box, and you can't make one with off the shelf hardware. You have to spend $300 on an actual X-Box.

[WriteDown]

61. So I can install OS X on my HP laptop?

Or the Opera browser or Google Voice on my iPhone. Once again, read this. http://calacanis.com/2009/08/08/the-case-against-apple-in-five-parts/

[Touchdown]

68. You're not getting it. And neither does the person at your link.

The reason why the Mac is so trouble free is that it is not an open system. The software made for it goes through stringent testing to insure compatibility. The hardware (which is Apple's main business) is top notch and they don't use cheap parts like many Windows hardware makers. A closed system is simply more reliable. If you are a famn of open systems, then Apple isn't your computer, or operating system. Windows or Linux are. No monopoly here.

AT&T has a 3 year exclusivity deal with the iPhone. That goes away at the end of the year. Expect Verizon, Sprint, etc. to offer plans for it in January. Your link is complaining about a business deal that is about to expire.

I have Firefox on my mac. If Opera is not available for the iPhone, then that's Opera's problem. Not Apple's. Google voice? I don;t know what that is, but if there's another phone that has it, Apple isn't stopping you from buying it. Again, no monopoly.

[WriteDown]

69. Every monopoly by definition is a closed system....

I'm sure everyone would be fine with MS becoming a closed system tomorrow and not allowing any iTunes to function on it due to "incompatibility." Would be a good way to kill the iPod and iPhone and sounds like you're onboard.

Also Opera can't be made for the iPhone. You can't have anything that "duplicates the iPhones inherent functions" so Safari is the only browser allowed. See below.

4. Being a horrible hypocrite by banning other browsers on the iPhone
——————————————————–
Opera is a fantastic browser built by a company in Oslo, Norway. In fact, a decade ago, I had a speaking gig there and got to interview the CEO of the company for Silicon Alley Reporter. (Sidebar: Man, do I miss being a journalist. I wish I could split 50% of my time being a journalist and 50% of my time being a CEO.) For over a decade, Opera has been making lighting-fast, lightweight and quirky browsers. Long before Apple launched Safari, with the goal of designing the fastest browswer on the Web, Opera was already there.

Opera’s mobile browsers are “full of WIN,” as the kids like to say these days. If you’re a Windows Mobile or Blackberry user, you’ve probably downloaded them and enjoyed their WINness. The company started an iPhone browser project but gave up when faced with Apple’s absurd and unclear mandate to developers: Don’t create services which duplicate the functionality of Apple’s own software. In other words: “Don’t compete with us or we will not let you in the game.”

The irony of this is not lost on anyone who had a computer before they had an Internet connection. Apple was more than willing to pile on after Microsoft’s disasterous inclusion of Internet Explorer with Windows. In fact, what Apple is doing is 100x worse than what Microsoft did. You see, Microsoft simply included their browser in Windows, still allowing other browsers to be installed. In Apple’s case, they are not only bundling their browser with the iPhone, but they are BLOCKING other browsers from being installed.

Simple solution and opportunity: Don’t be a control freak and hypocrite. Allow people to pick their browser; the competition to make a better browser will increase the overall use of iPhones and mobile data services

[Touchdown]

70. Wrong. A monopoly is the only provider of a product/service.

Since you have a choice of computer makers, and computer software, there is no monopoly in computers, period. No monopoly in phones, period, no monopoly in digital music players, period.

If you want Opera, then you need to get a phone that has it. IPhone isn't for you. No monopoly. Just because Apple makes a product, doesn't mean that they HAVE to allow everybody else sully their reputation with shitty aps, because in the end, Baby Shaker was not being blamed on whoever designed the ap and submitted it to Apple. Apple was blamed for being insensitive to parents.

Being control freaks has made Apple's reputation for having easy to use, reliable, and elegant products, and that business plan has allowed Apple to survive in a cut throat business where MS is king and Apple was predicted to go belly up once every six months in the late 80s to early 2000s. This biz strategy works for them. I don't want them to change.

[WriteDown]

72. So you proved my point....

If MS decided tomorrow that it won't allow iTunes to run in Windows then there is no problem. Afterall, you have the choice of buying a Mac. I suppose you could run OSX on a PC....Oh wait.....

I like it too. This would be a good business move for MS.

[Touchdown]

74. I didn't prove anything you said.

What you are complaining about is not monopolistic, or monopolies or anything resembling monopolies. If MS decided to block iTunes, then it's their funeral, It's wouldn't bother me in the least, since my iTunes runs on my Mac. And MS does have a right to do that.

You want Apple to be Microsoft. That's not why Apple exists, and none of us Apple users want what you want. Tough shit.

Look at the lesson of Atari. They were on top of the world in the early 80s. They never regulated the quality of the games being made for their system. Eventually the result was hundreds of shitty, awful games that flooded the market and led to Atari crashing and burning. 2 years later, Nintendo entered the market with a business plan that regulated the output of games made by third parties, put everything through a stringent quality control process, and manufactured every cartridge that worked on their system, insuring maximum compatibility. They regulated not only the quality of the games, but how many a design house was allowed to make for their system per year. The result of this was that Nintendo resurrected the once dead video games industry and went on to dominate the market for 2 decades.

Apple is Nintendo, you want them to be Atari.

[WriteDown]

75. MS's funeral?

Since most iPod owners run a PC it would be very unlikely that they would buy a very expensive Mac just to have an iPod. They would likely just switch to the most similar product that ran on Windows. You may still be able to do it, but you would likely have the last generation. You seem to enjoy monopolies, but they rarely lead to good things. Another good point below.

1. Destroying MP3 player innovation through anti-competitive practices
——————————————————–
There is no technical reason why the iTunes ecosystem shouldn’t allow the ability to sync with any MP3 player (in fact, iTunes did support other players once upon a time), save furthering Apple’s dominance with their own over-priced players. Quickly answer the following question: who are the number two and three MP3 players in the market? Exactly. Most folks can’t name one, let alone two, brands of MP3 players.

On my trips to Japan, China and Korea over the past couple of years, I made it a point to visit the consumer electronics marketplaces like Akihabira. They are filled with not dozens, but hundreds, of MP3 players. They are cheap, feature-rich and open in nature. They have TV tuners, high-end audio recorders, radio tuners, dual-headphone jacks built-in and any number of innovations that the iPod does not. You simply will not see those here because of Apple’s inexcusable lack of openness

Not only does Apple not build in a simple API to attach devices to iTunes, they actually fight technically and legally block people from building tools to make iTunes more compatible.

Think for a moment about what your reaction would be if Microsoft made the Zune the only MP3 player compatible with Windows. There would be 4chan riots, denial of service attacks and Digg’s front page would be plastered with pundit editorials claiming Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer were Borg.

Why, then, does Steve Jobs get a pass?

Steve Jobs gets a pass because we are all enabling him to be a jerk. We buy the products and we say nothing when our rights are stripped away. We’ve been seduced by Steve Jobs: he lifts another shiny object over his head with a new eco-friendly feature and we all melt like screaming schoolgirls at Shea Stadium in ‘65.

Simple solution and opportunity: An iTunes API which allows the attachment of any mass storage device,not just a short list of players that jumped through Apple’s hoops. If need be, perhaps consumers pay a simple licensing fee of $1-5 a unit to attach a non-Apple MP3 player to iTunes (i.e. pure profit for Apple).

[Touchdown]

77. Stop repeating shit from the douchebag you like so much.

His assessment is wrong, his solution is wrong, and his complaint is wrong... and so are you.

You hate Apple, and Steve Jobs. We get it. You want Apple to be like Microsoft and be open to all kinds of malware and be a free for all. I don't. I gave you the reasons why their business model works for them, and their customers (me). If that's not acceptable to you, then I can't help you with that.

Apple isn't going to change what works for them no matter how much you cry about it. Time to pick up the pieces of your shattered existence and move on.

BTW: Macs start at $500. Your first argument is irrelevant.

[WriteDown]

79. Man, a true believer...

Hate Apple? Must be why I've had two iPhones and soon a 3rd. How does it feel to be so in the tank for a corporation and a monopolistic one at that? I like Apple products, but its OKAY to question their practices, same as MS. Amazingly, not everyone can just drop 500$, especially when you already have a working computer. If you'd like to respond to the actual points made in the article and not just yell "wrong" then feel free.

[Touchdown]

80. You are pimping an uninformed rant on a blog and I'm the "true believer"?

:rofl:

I already explained. He, and you want Apple to be Microsoft. They are not, and it would be disaster if they were.

Complain all you want. I have problems with my Apple computers. I've yet to find anything wrong with my iPhone, but I probably will. What I do know is that becoming Microsoft is not the answer to the complaints. AT&T doesn't want a VoiP competitor like Google Voice on a phone they are subsidizing. I understand that. Your link doesn't. Blaming Apple for the deecisions of the iPhone carrier is ill informed. It hurts his credibility, just like that Baby Shaker ap that people were blaming Apple for.

There you go again with your ridiculous "monopolistic" bullshit. You have no credibility with that argument.

[WriteDown]

81. Haha...

Come on Alex.

Uniformed blogger? Fail.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Calacanis

Some more light reading material for you. Instead of shouting "wrong" you may want to actually respond to the points. You want something to not like about Apple? I've got a napster account that I pay monthly and I can download all the songs I want from it, but of course Apple doesn't want you doing that. It wants to collect that nice little 99 cents fee for EVERY song you download (nothing says corporation like monopoly).


http://www.theonion.com/content/video/apple_introduces_revolutionary

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/08/17/apple_attempted_to_silence_newspaper_profile_of_steve_jobs.html

http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/mac/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=219400257 (don't ever try to clone a mac)

[Touchdown]

82. Never heard of him. NEXT!

You know who is also famous? Kenneth Lay, Carrot Top, Milli Vanilli and Dick Morris. Nice company for that guy to be in.

I'm bored with you. Bye!:hi:

[WriteDown]

83. I had fun talking to you Alex...

try to lighten up and be independently critical.

[Deja Q]

55. They have under 10% of the computer market. Spare us the bullshit claim they're a "monopoly".

[WriteDown]

65. How much of the MP3 player market do they have...

Once again, imagine if the Zune had that marketshare and required you use MSTunes. :eyes: Knock knock knockin' on Heaven's Gate.

Once again....
http://calacanis.com/2009/08/08/the-case-against-apple-in-five-parts/

[onenote]

66. what market, exactly, does Apple monopolize?

Personal computing? I think not.
Cell phones? Not close.
ipods? okay, its got a huge market share, but its not as if you couldn't buy some other personal music player. there is competition; its just that apple outperforms its competition in this segment year after year

[WriteDown]

67. MP3 players....

That argument can be used with any monopoly though. Why was MS ever called a monopoly? Afterall, you always had the option of buying a Mac or running Linux. :shrug:

Read this for a little background.
http://calacanis.com/2009/08/08/the-case-against-apple-in-five-parts/

[DissedByBush]

33. Should we be like Rush Limbaugh?

He doesn't care that Apple is a liberal company.

He is an absolute Apple fanatic.

[fascisthunter]

41. exception to the rule... and "fanatic" has nothing to do with this

but nice try

I'm sure his fanaticism has more to do with business interests than anything else.

[emulatorloo]

12. Relax, Apple will come around. As to the Hackintosh, from what I read you are in for a world of

grief. Apparently they are quite high maintenance, as apparently every OS software update has to be tweaked by the hackers. I cannot imagine trying to run a video business under such conditions.

As to Beck, Apple will do the right thing. They are a liberal leaning company.

[Deja Q]

58. 100% correct. Oh, how do people using hackintosh know there isn't any covert ___ware installed?

:D

[Haole Girl]

13. I just think this whole thing is ridiculous. nt

[Frank Booth]

16. What a surprise! You mean Apple is just another gigantic, soulless corporation whose

sole objective is profits?? :wow: :wow:

How can this be??? Those ads with the skinny guy and the fat guy are so funny!!?

[emulatorloo]

26. Do some research, they treat employees well,among the first to do same sex partnership benefits

etc.

Of course they are profit driven. That is the point of any tech company.

[dharmamarx]

17. Another reason to use GNU/Linux

Not to be a total ass, but people really should be using GNU/Linux anyway (and I mean that as a moral/ethical/political "should" not so much a "it's in your own self-interest to do so" should). Unless you're locked into using a proprietary operating system for work, you can just buy a cheap netbook and put some kind of Ubuntu on it (like Eeebuntu). You'll get better software for less money and you won't be supporting the corporate seizure of our information.

[emulatorloo]

24. I am not big on user interfaces designed by committees of programmers

who appear to believe that Windows conventions are the end all of human interface design. But that's just me, because I care about user interface issues.

[Swamp Rat]

59. Those "committees of programmers" work every day debugging and fixing security holes... for free.

My Ubuntu security updates come daily or weekly, but my OS X security updates get bundled and sent out only every couple of months.... my XP machine stays off line most of the time in order to protect my work environment from the brazillion virusus and trojan horses.

I think your statement misrepresents the open source community as a whole, though, I agree there are some who do what they do because they may have a disdain for Microsoft.

[truthisfreedom]

19. Umm...

"I called Apple and was told they would not make a report on my complaint unless I gave them my user/Apple identifier information. The person also said 'I haven't heard of this Glenn Beck Show'. Ok, right? Terrible handling of an already bad situation. By purchasing Apple products, Democrats are financially enabling Glenn Beck's message to be heard."

Huh? Terrible handling? They just wanted your identity so they could verify that you're an Apple user, and you could have provided it? Was there a problem with identifying yourself to a company that you are trying to protect?

The person hadn't heard of Glenn Beck? Well, consider this. I had never heard of Glenn Beck before the news yesterday. I have thousands of posts on DU. I just never ever ever ever watch Fox, so I guess the only knowledge I have about Glenn Beck is from this forum.

You had an opportunity to gain us another member. Did you blow it?

I'll keep buying Apple. I'm typing this on a refurbished Air. My iPhone is charging in the other room.

[Frank Booth]

22. Why would anyone just hand out their information to some monolithic corporation they can't trust?

[emulatorloo]

25. That's just silly. I always register my technology products. EOM

[FreepFryer]

20. They haven't responded at all to the email I sent, so I figure join the petition. (n/t)

[truthisfreedom]

23. It is Saturday, remember.

Just a thought.

[FreepFryer]

27. I sent it last week, on a weekday, and am a past and current Mac customer.

Just some more information to correct your false assumption ;)

[L0oniX]

21. FreeBSD on a pc ...my choise.

[cui bono]

38. I was wondering if Apple still advertised on Beck/Fox.

I couldn't find definite information.

[Quantess]

43. Delightfully enough, there are some people who don't know who Glenn Beck is, and don't care.

The customer service person may have been truthful.

[tucsonlib]

46. I've Owned Nothing But Macs

Never had one crash. Never been infected with a virus. Their customer support has always exceeded my expectations.
Sure, they cost more, but in this case you actually get what you pay for.

From the very beginning Apple has been the innovator - Microsoft the imitator.

Claiming that a PC is as good as, or better than, a Mac, is like insisting that Chevy builds better cars than BMW.

[WriteDown]

49. You seem to interchange PC with MS.

MS does not make computers. I love my iPhone, but its far from perfect.

http://calacanis.com/2009/08/08/the-case-against-apple-in-five-parts/

[tucsonlib]

84. I'm Not The Only One, Then

So does the author of the article you provided a link to.

First paragraph: "About six years and $20,000 ago, I made the switch to Apple products after a 20-year love affair with Microsoft. That love affair started with the humble PCjr and ended with an IBM ThinkPad. From DOS to the first version of Windows (the run-time version that only loaded one program), and on to Windows 95 and XP, I dealt with the viruses, driver incompatibilities and other assorted quirks of Microsoft’s wildly open ecosystem."

And nowhere does the author dispute the fact that Apple has a superior product. His "case" against Apple is philosophic, not technical.

[Deja Q]

53. How is it "fully legal" and how do you know it'll work 100% after an update?

It's not fully legal, and it's a lot greener since you don't need a Q9650 CPU with 8GB of RAM and a 700w PSU to run OS X, but you definitely do for Vista... been there, done that.

[cbdo2007]

56. ZOMG!!! it's working!!! AAPL down 3.64% today!!!!

[REP]

63. ZOMG! GOOG down nearly 4%!

[tomm2thumbs]

76. And some irony to help them out - Glenn Beck Rips Apple Anyway!

Beck quote:

"So I want to thank Apple. I don't know how these people stay in business. I really don't. Once a year they remind you, "Remember us? We're the company that just screwed you out of $400. Isn't that great?"

http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/201/11147/?ck=1

Why they are advertising during this idiot's un-American, un-Family show of anger and livid insanity is beyond me.

[Touchdown]

78. They bought a standard block of time on FNC.

When Beck's exclusive adverts started jumping ship, Fox placed Apple's ads on Glenn or Glenda's show. Apple made no decision on that part.

Same with Men's Warehouse and Sargento Cheese. They just bought blocks of time on Fox. Apple should follow suit with those two. Exclude Beck's program for the remainder of their ad buy... then not renew it.

[tomm2thumbs]

85. Is that what Sargento and Men's Warehouse is doing?

That would be good. I can't believe I am waiting on Apple to do something when I could probably find dozens of examples of Fox folks hating on Apple. Are they masochists?