I ’ll admit it , I ’m starting to freak out a little bit here . I ’ve been write about Apple and the Macintosh for so long that reader routinely start messages to me withDear Mr. Breen , which is just about as welcome as when your MD first intones , “ A military man of your long time … ”
No , no , I ’m hunky-dory with the aging matter , really I am . What ’s gross out me out is the kind of attention Apple is getting — in the media , on Wall Street , among my friends and house . We old - time followers of Apple are like the dogs you get from the pound that were badly treated by their original owners . After year of Beleaguered This and Low - Market - parcel That , we ’re spooky , just waiting for the next “ Bad Dog ! ” and wallop upside the pass .
Yet suddenly , the existence is in erotic love with Apple . The iPod , great . OS X , unspoiled than the rest . The Mac , theglamor computing machine to have in large - budget picture show , hot television receiver series , and silklike article of furniture catalogs . The iTunes Store , putting traditional record retailers to shame . The iPhone , God ’s own phone .
You mean I can stop creep now ?
believably not . The bombination around Apple is too spicy . It smack of a fad — a media pet that , like all similar darlings , will be trashed the 2nd it puts a animal foot wrong .
In the hope that I might work a measuring rod of Libra the Scales to the Apple honour — and thus , perhaps , fend off the worst of the setback - back when the media inevitably tyre of Apple — I’d care to extend a few deterrent example learned over the year .
It ’s Just StuffApple makes some very estimable product . The fact that it operate both the ironware and operating system side of its calculator commercial enterprise allows the troupe to create machines that perform very nicely and , I will venture to say , more reliably than Windows microcomputer I ’ve owned . Ditto with the iPod and iTunes — great integration . But Apple is not fail to heal Crab . It ’s not going to end global warming . Nor will it make the world ’s citizens link arms and , as one , yodelKumbaya . It makes clobber . Elegant stuff that bring great joy to my life . But just stuff and nonsense nevertheless .
Apple is Not Going to be Your Best supporter : Media EditionI understand that you work for a major goggle box connection , yack on the biggest radio receiver post in your market place , are syndicated in 127 newspapers , have a well - travelled weblog , produce a pop podcast , routinely sit in Amazon ’s top-100 for proficient publications , or just recognize a lot of really , really authoritative multitude . Unless your name isWalt Mossberg , David Pogue , orSteven Levy , or you ’re design a cock-a-hoop spreadhead forBusinessWeek , Forbes , orTime , Apple is going to do by you pretty much like any diarist who is n’t a blogger . Commonwealth of Puerto Rico may take your call . Heck , they might even bring back them . But you ’re not getting the next iPhone , iPod , or Macintosh before the rest of the humanity . Get in line and get over it .
Apple is Not Going to be Your Best Friend : Customer EditionJust because Apple seduce stuff and nonsense that ’s as hip joint as you are does n’t mean it wants to hang out with you . receive an Apple product does n’t give you any extra right to moan “ How could Apple do this to me ! ? ” when , six workweek after you purchased Cool Apple Widget A , the party eject a less - expensive and far cooler Cool Apple Widget B. Likewise , you need n’t launch petition against the iTunes Store because the bulk of the media it sell is protected and compressed in some agency . Apple is a business trying to make money in the secure way it have it away how . This model makes money for the company , which , in turn , keeps it in business , which , in twist , means it ’ll make more cool stuff for you to possibly complain about .
Some Things You ’ll Hear Will Be UntrueThe Apple community has a farsighted history of rumor - mongering . This is due , in part , to Apple ’s civilization of secrecy . There ’s nothing more comforting than learning something you ’re not supposed to recognise . However , there ’s this large grain of saltiness : Some people so desperately want something to be dead on target ( to make a name for themselves , because they believe it ’s the next lucid thing , because they ’re incurable Monday - sunrise signal caller , whatever ) that they make stuff up — and they spell about it . In the past tense this was commonly handled by a cadre of rumor website , some more honest than others . It now seems that today even Wall Street analysts are rooting through Apple ’s dumpsters ( read : patent filing , component provider ) in search of the party ’s Next full-grown Thing . Again , grain of salt .
Steve Jobs is not GodSteve Jobs is brilliant , yes . He ’s charismatic , sure . His violence of will has made Apple much of what it is today . But the mind that Apple and the future of engineering lives or die out by the man is not hefty . Apple has a culture of invention that belong beyond Steve . When he steps aside , this culture wo n’t vanish , provide the person who steps in does n’t crush it . What is likely to vanish , however , is the confidence , both inside and outside Apple , that the company can carry on as it does today .
you’re able to aid by not feed the monster and keeping it all in perspective . Steve Jobs is only a Isle of Man . Apple is only a company . One can survive without the other .
