Why Does Apple Hate Me?

If your idea of fun is jerking off to the lastest wonderful Apple
gizmos then don't bother reading any further. I know I shouldn't
burden other people with my troubles but I am just so amazed at how
arrogant and unthinking Apple is in its design philosophy and, being
unable to use my brand spanking new Macbook Pro (Ha! Surely there must
be a law against blatant misuse of words like that!) I thought I would
have a rant in your general direction using my trusty, slightly rusty
but user friendly-ish Toshiba.

Ever since I used one of the early Big Macs at work in the mid-80s I've
liked Apples but never actually bought one. Well, I bought a mini-iPod
a couple of years ago but not a computer. Till today.

Alarm bells started ringing when I was investigating the various
options available. During the week I live (make that "survive") in an
apartment hotel (another misuse of language, it's a room with a kettle)
and the accent is on cheap. Which is fine by me but cheap means no
phone. And no phone connection point. So, in order to access the
internet, at first I used the nearby HotSpot but at € 8 an hour it's
hard to justify idle browsing. So a couple of months ago I took out a
contract for a GPRS card. For two years, so I'm kind of tied in.

Apparently, nobody at Apple has ever considered the idea that you might
want to access the internet outside of a city, worse, away from
civilization - for example, sitting in a field or, oh, I dunno, how
about in a hotel where the connection cost is as much as the room. No
PCMCIA slot. Apple has always presented itself as a religion and I
guess they're thinking that if you switch from Windows you should
divest yourself of all those nasty wordly things like PCMCIA cards that
allow your laptop to be a useful tool rather than a fashion accessory.


You know, there's more to successful design than coming up with cutesy
stuff like magnetic power cords (OK I like it, I like it) and nice
logos (what's with those stickers in the box how gauche is that?).

As well as considering those trendies who became your main source of
income once the geeks left, you should consider those of us who don't
reside in a world where wireless is on every corner and who actually
want to be free of stuff like that. I don't have a bluetooth phone,
well I do but as is the way with phones now it's bigger than I want
because it's full of - to me - useless functionality. So, I'm not
about to carry it around just to access the internet as I'm quite happy
with my old fashioned slim-line phone that fits nicely in my shirt
pocket. I gave up using a mobile phone modem years ago fer chrissakes
- hallo Apple! Wake up! It's an unwieldy and clunky (literally)
solution when simpler ones are available. Providing you don't have an
Apple laptop of course.

Apple, presumably, thinks that because PCMCIA cards are soo-oo
yesterday. Wtf an I supposed to do with this, what is it, Express Card
thing? Nobody makes any cards for it, nor - as far as I can tell - do
they intend for accessing the net.

OK, enough already, I thought I had come to terms with that problem but
it rankles every time I find fascist companies who dictate in that way
and is one part of the double whammy Apple has handed me. Make that,
*sold* me. So, I admit that I knew that my new Apple would restrict
me but I was prepared to use my old laptop until I move into an
apartment in a month or two and can access the web by more conventional
means. Not sure what I'll do with the card but I suppose I'll carry my
old laptop around and use the Apple at home which is what I bought it
for anyway - graphics, video, publishing the stuff you used to
associate with Apple.

The thing that has really got my goat and - were it not for the fact
that I have to pay off the € 3000 plus over the next 15 months on a
lease would have sent the damn thing through the window - is that
Apple's software designers have just the same unthinking arrogant
attitude to their customers as the hardware guys. Having worked in
software and system development for twenty years I'm well used to
meeting people out of touch with reality and their customers but these
guys take the biscuit. They are so waaaayyy out their with the fairies
they probably have rings of stars circling their heads. Watching said
stars being, presumably, what occupies them rather more than giving
real consideration to their design decisions. "More magic mushrooms?
Hey, I know, let's do away with the PCMCIA slot...". "Yeah, great,
whatever... these mushrooms are really nice... hey, look at those
pretty stars..."

OK, here we go. Deep breath, try not to explode... Guess what these
stupid people have told their stupid f*cking machine to do? To stop me
from doing anything until I'm a good boy and connect the f*cking thing
up to the f*cking internet and register it. [Pause for a quick scream]
AAAAAAAAARRRRGGGHHHH!!!! I mean, is there a law now that says you
can't use a computer without being connected to the internet fer
chrissakes?! What are these people thinking of? Oh yeah, the stars,
sorry...

Jeez, I may be getting old but thank God even when I'm riddled with
Parkinson's and mistaking the toilet bowl for my supper I'll never be
as out of touch as these eejits.

So, anyway, I tried every combination of keys possible to kill this
annoying intro (that looks like some kid threw it together as and end
of term project incidentally) and get into the command line and maybe
circumvent it. But without success as they've sewn it up tight. Even
so, I would dearly like to use it. Any ideas? Or should I leave it in
the cupboard for 15 months and put it down to experience? ;-) Yeah I
know, but I was already in slob mode so wasn't about to get dressed up
to go down to put money in the machine to get time on-line. Which is
what you have to do - get an itty bitty bit of paper with a PIN on it.
Apple probably designed that one. Damn it! I won't connect to the
internet till I'm ready - there's a principal at stake here and I'm fed
up with machines telling me what to do.

Cheers

UD

P.S. I promised a colleague earlier today that I would avoid
installing XP and persevere but I brought the system disks with me so
if that damn thing doesn't start co-operating soon it will wake up one
day and find it's just another ordinary old laptop. ****, I expect the
Thought Police already covered that one, right?

wrote:
[...]
> Apparently, nobody at Apple has ever considered the idea that you might
> want to access the internet outside of a city, worse, away from
> civilization - for example, sitting in a field or, oh, I dunno, how
> about in a hotel where the connection cost is as much as the room. No
> PCMCIA slot. Apple has always presented itself as a religion and I
> guess they're thinking that if you switch from Windows you should
> divest yourself of all those nasty wordly things like PCMCIA cards that
> allow your laptop to be a useful tool rather than a fashion accessory.
>
Every laptop maker is moving away from PC cards. Apple just did it
sooner. If this is a requirement, then don't buy a Mac.

Expresscard is the new PCMCIA standard that replaces the old Cardbus.
There are USB slots, so you can plug a modem in there.

USB modems cost about $50.

If compatability with the old hardware peripherals that you had bought
for your PC was important, maybe you should have read the advertisement/specs
for the Apple computer you were thinking of buying, rather than just
guessing at what slots it has?

The MacBook Pro also does not support PS/2 or Apple ADB connections.
Outrageous!

In article <. com>,
wrote:

> OK, here we go. Deep breath, try not to explode... Guess what these
> stupid people have told their stupid f*cking machine to do? To stop
> me from doing anything until I'm a good boy and connect the f*cking
> thing up to the f*cking internet and register it.

There is no requirement to connect to the internet to register the
computer. It will work perfectly well without registering it, nor do
you have to connect to the internet in order to use it.

But shouldn't you have checked to see whether there was a GPRS Express
Card available before you bought the computer?

There are solutions, but you've rejected some, if not all, of them: a
Bluetooth cell phone (not all of them are large and clunky), a cell
phone with a cable to connect it to the computer, free wireless
hotspots, to name three that come to mind offhand.

--
Stop Mad Cowboy Disease: Impeach the son of a Bush.

In article <. com>,
<> wrote:

So it seems amid your voluminous prose you have two points:

>..... So a couple of months ago I took out a
>contract for a GPRS card. For two years, so I'm kind of tied in.

and this is a pcmcia card that does not work in your new machine.
You do acknowledge that you should have figured out if this would
be compatible with your new machine and you do admit that your
internet access mechanism is atypical.

As a way to lead the pack and innovate, Apple has tended to introduce
new hardware before other companies (eg, scsi, firewire...) and to
remove older features before other companies (eg, adb, modem, floppy...).
This philosphy can't please everyone.

So, a solution to your connectivity problem will likely be available
eventually but you currently have the new hardware with the relatively
rare configuration issue.

>
>Apple, presumably, thinks that because PCMCIA cards are soo-oo
>yesterday. Wtf an I supposed to do with this, what is it, Express Card
>thing? Nobody makes any cards for it, nor - as far as I can tell - do
>they intend for accessing the net.

If a very small number of people have this need, then there might
not be viable market for it.

........
>OK, here we go. Deep breath, try not to explode... Guess what these
>stupid people have told their stupid f*cking machine to do? To stop me
>from doing anything until I'm a good boy and connect the f*cking thin
>up to the f*cking internet and register it........

You should be able to proceed through the registration process without
internet access. You can then print out registration forms to mail in
or never register if you wish.

> [Pause for a quick scream]

You have apparently discovered that quick screams allow for greater
productivity than extremely long and primal ones. Good.

On Wed, 30 Aug 2006 16:30:36 -0400, wrote
(in article <. com>):

> Apple, presumably, thinks that because PCMCIA cards are soo-oo
> yesterday. Wtf an I supposed to do with this, what is it, Express Card
> thing? Nobody makes any cards for it, nor - as far as I can tell - do
> they intend for accessing the net.

<http://pcworld.about.com/news/Mar062002id87564.htm>
<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/verizonbroadbandaccesssupport.html>
<http://www.novatelwireless.com/>

Cingular is allegedly also using the Novatel card.

Contact your service provider if you don't use Cingular or Verizon.

And Apple hates you 'cause you're a clueless troll.

--
email to oshea dot j dot j at gmail dot com.

<> wrote:

> If your idea of fun is jerking off to the lastest wonderful Apple
> gizmos then don't bother reading any further.

I did skim it, but only quickly. You appear to have posted to the wrong
group. I think you wanted to post to alt.random-whines-and-obscenities.

No I'm not an Apple fan-boy. If there is one thing I have learned in
nearly 40 years of computer experience, it is that things change and I
should re-evaluate my preferences every few years. If I hadn't done such
re-evaluations, I wouldn't have made the transition from paper tape to
punched cards (or anything later). At the moment, I tend to favor Macs,
but that's a relatively recent preference (new to OS X); my preference
might change again in the future as it has many times in the past. I
also have currently used boxes at home running Windows (XP and 98) and
Linux.

If you actually want some helpful suggestions, then you might get them
if you post coherently asking. I didn't find it worth reading through
your whines carefully enough to see if there was something I might help
with. Odds are it isn't in aan area I'd be the best one to answer
anyway, but I suspect I'm not the only one you turned off.

If you just like whining, then... well, I guess that's up to you. My
killfile can deal with it if needed.

--
Richard Maine | Good judgment comes from experience;
email: my first.last at org.domain| experience comes from bad judgment.
org: nasa, domain: gov | -- Mark Twain

In article <. com>,
wrote:

....
> So a couple of months ago I took out a
> contract for a GPRS card. For two years, so I'm kind of tied in.
>
> Apparently, nobody at Apple has ever considered the idea that you might
> want to access the internet outside of a city, worse, away from
> civilization - for example, sitting in a field or, oh, I dunno, how
> about in a hotel where the connection cost is as much as the room.

Using a bluetooth mobile phone works rather well, at least over here in
Europe (GSM system, also GPRS and HCSD etc). I use that in even in the
Swiss mountains.

> No PCMCIA slot.

PCMCIA will go away, ExpressCard has many advantages (way faster,
cheaper, smaller). As it is new, the selection is not as good yet, true.

> ...
>
> As well as considering those trendies who became your main source of
> income once the geeks left, you should consider those of us who don't
> reside in a world where wireless is on every corner and who actually
> want to be free of stuff like that. I don't have a bluetooth phone,
> well I do but as is the way with phones now it's bigger than I want
> because it's full of - to me - useless functionality. So, I'm not
> about to carry it around just to access the internet as I'm quite happy
> with my old fashioned slim-line phone that fits nicely in my shirt
> pocket.

There are slim phones with bluetooth. See Motorola Razr V3, Quad band,
bluetooth, ... for example. My plain SonyEricsson K700i does it too. And
probably several dozen others too. Most likely this is the easiest
solution for GPRS/HCSD/UMTS etc.

> ...Wtf an I supposed to do with this, what is it, Express Card
> thing? Nobody makes any cards for it, nor - as far as I can tell - do
> they intend for accessing the net.

Try http://www.expresscard.org/web/site/wirelesswan.jsp for possible
workarounds.

Also there is a USB modem for land lines, can be useful together with
Calling Cards (not for digital lines though). I use that too.

> ...
> OK, here we go. Deep breath, try not to explode... Guess what these
> stupid people have told their... machine to do? To stop me
> from doing anything until I'm a good boy and connect the ... thing
> up to the ... internet and register it. ...

You can easily do away with that - just enter minimal information while
not connected to the internet (it will NOT block the
installation/configuration), and later delete the file in you home
directory called registration or similar.

Compare that with Windows XP, requiring "Activation" or else it refuses
to work at all - and every time you modify your machine you call again
:-(

> So, anyway, I tried every combination of keys possible to kill this
> annoying intro (that looks like some kid threw it together as and end
> of term project incidentally) and get into the command line and maybe
> circumvent it.

No need to, see above.

> But without success as they've sewn it up tight. Even
> so, I would dearly like to use it. Any ideas? Or should I leave it in
> the cupboard for 15 months and put it down to experience? ;-) ...

No need to, see above.

> I won't connect to the
> internet till I'm ready - there's a principal at stake here and I'm fed
> up with machines telling me what to do.

Just read above instructions how to do it. Takes all of 5 minutes, and
requires no command line.

(If you want the comparison: Install BootCamp, and install Windows XP -
then you have the best of both worlds available at boot time when you
press option.)

I do hope you enjoy your Mac - if you enjoy a serious command line, try
Applications/Utilities/Terminal for a plain unix terminal window with
all the power of unix available. And see www.sourceforg.org for many
many open source projects. Or even try Xcode to program your favorite
tools if they are not yet available. You might get to like it.

HTH

Marc

--
Switzerland/Europe
<http://www.heusser.com>
remove CHEERS and from MERCIAL to get valid e-mail

wrote:
> If your idea of fun is jerking off to the lastest wonderful Apple
> gizmos then don't bother reading any further. I know I shouldn't
> burden other people with my troubles but ....

Thanks for the warning. You might be happier in .advocacy.

--
lsmft

writes:

[whine whine whine re: macbookpro and having already bought
a pcmcia device]
> about in a hotel where the connection cost is as much as the room. No
> PCMCIA slot. Apple has always presented itself as a religion and I

(a) did you not read the specs before buying your MBP?
(b) expressCard is what's coming. Not just from Apple.
(c) you can use other means of connecting. I use my
existing cell phone with GPRS with my PBook all
the time via BlueTooth.
(ie. mac->bluetoothe->phone->gprs->net)
(d) no, as far as I know, there are no expresscard GPRS or EDGE
cards yet. But they are coming. And if you really
needed one, you'd have looked into this before committing
thousands of dollars to your computer.

[whine whine whine]
> Hey, I know, let's do away with the PCMCIA slot...". "Yeah, great,

Hey, I know, I bet your MacBookPro didn't come with a
floopy disc drive, either. Was this a big problem for
you? Come to think of it, they don't come with modems
anymore, either.

Frankly, I think getting rid of the modem was a little
premature, but I'll live with it when I get around to
replacing my pBook.

> whatever... these mushrooms are really nice... hey, look at those
> pretty stars..."

> OK, here we go. Deep breath, try not to explode... Guess what these
> stupid people have told their stupid f*cking machine to do? To stop me
> from doing anything until I'm a good boy and connect the f*cking thing
> up to the f*cking internet and register it. [Pause for a quick scream]
> AAAAAAAAARRRRGGGHHHH!!!! I mean, is there a law now that says you
> can't use a computer without being connected to the internet fer
> chrissakes?! What are these people thinking of? Oh yeah, the stars,

You do not have to be connected to anything to start up the
computer and you do not have to register it in any way to use it.

Whatever. Do you feel any better now? Venting may be
good for you, but doing it so publicly, you need to understand
that you've invited a certain amount of ridicule.

--
Plain Bread alone for e-mail, thanks. The rest gets trashed.
No HTML in E-Mail! -- http://www.expita.com/nomime.html
Are you posting responses that are easy for others to follow?
http://www.greenend.org.uk/rjk/2000/06/14/quoting