DVD Jon sez, "Apple's been making an increasing number of anti-consumer moves over the last few years, so we thought it was time to remake their 1984 ad to reflect reality."
Previously:
- DVD Jon launches doubleTwist -- move music without DRM hassles ...
- Boing Boing: iPhone: DVD Jon claims to activate without ATT... T ...
- DVD Jon selling Apple DRM to Apple's competitors - Boing Boing
- Li'l Jon meets DVD Jon - Boing Boing
- DVD Jon cracks Google Video in <24h UPDATED - Boing Boing
- DVD Jon on VLC and Apple's iTunes singles - Boing Boing
- DVD Jon releases FairKeys - Boing Boing
- DVD Jon: So Sue Me - Boing Boing
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iPhone is "anti-consumer"? Could have fooled me. It's a best-selling phone pretty much world wide, and even after people buy the phone, they spend plenty of money, on an ongoing basis, purchasing apps.
But of course, this is not good enough for likes of the DVD JON: Apple should OBVIOUSLY have shipped a phone with a full keyboard, the better to interact with the command line prompt that allows full root access, no password, to the running, debugging-enabled binaries, so they can patch the kernel on the fly.
(If consumers want to protect their phones from hacking, they should ONLY download warez from trusted sites, and regularly scan for malware. What's an hour a week for CONSUMER FREEDOM?)
And what if the phone weighs three times as much and requires a vastly larger system partition? It's what CONSUMERS WANT, and I'm sure they'll all enjoy configuring their kernel parameters for optimal performance that meets their own, personal needs.
Sure, some people will disable the heat-limiting code, and melt their gonads, but Apple has plenty of money and certainly can afford the lawyer fees for the ensuing legal battles, whether they win or lose them. It's for FREEDOM man. That's what CONSUMERS want.
And who is a better arbiter of what consumers want than DVD JON?
Certainly not me, who would like to have a phone that just plain works when it is supposed to, and doesn't turn me into a tech support agent for my friends and family.
this was much better done a few years ago based on the ipod
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=nl&u=http://www.dumpert.nl/mediabase/14281/58c76494/remember.html&ei=pJvCStXZFZPulAfDvJTgBA&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%2522remember%2Bwhen%2Bwe%2Bsaid%2B1984%2522%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff
@Haineux: Are you auditioning for the part of "ominous guy with truncheon"?
I haven't seen a strawman that blatant in some time(which, given my morbid fascination with creationist apologetics, is saying something).
Makes perfect sense to me...
Apple became Big Brother years ago. Want to install an app on your phone? Only the ones we say you can have. And you can only buy those apps from us.
Want to travel and use your phone? No, you can't put a new SIM card in it and use the local network, 'cause we've locked it to the carrier of our choice.
A phone that "just plain works"? You must live next to a cell tower then, or never travel to another country.
My iPhone has the worst reception of any phone I've ever seen.
But it's OK, 'cause if anyone ever points out these 'inconvenient truths', the raging army of fanboys will rise to defend their Dear Leader and all he stands for.
coop
It's not just the 25 years that have passed. This parody/update is just lame. It has no power or promise as the original did. And still did a year or two ago when I last saw it. As a brander, critic and commenter, Jon is lame. He'd better stick to his day hacking.
coop,
sounds like you've tasted of the kool-aid, and it wasn't grape.
what phone platform doesn't limit these freedoms?
I'm sorry, but how does poorly co-opting a commercial that sold a personal computing revolution during the Super Bowl 25 years ago successfully convey any relevant message to today's consumer electronics market?
Even if it was produced well, this ad doesn't resonate with me at all. doubleTwist claims to make good software that frees our content from the platforms we use to enjoy them. I want to see that software improving the lives of people in my age range and demographic in an advertisement.
I do *not* want to see a purple-haired, two-frame-per-second woman from the future putting a pickaxe in Steve Jobs's face. That sort of ideological, "stick it to the man" flim-flam belongs in another era, please.
http://www.openmoko.com/product.html
jdixon,
RE different SIM card:
Can't you buy unlocked phones where you're from?
RE Installing third party apps:
Never heard of Andriod, Windows mobile, PalmOS or Maemo?
hating apple is so 10 years ago.
I downloaded doubleTwist because I wanted a program to organize different types of media, and the first thing it does it wanted to make me do was sign up for an account, which seems odd for a program I want to solely use locally.
So I've never actually gotten to use it. Shame really.
I'm going to respond to your points one at a time. As you can see, I do acknowledge the problems you complain about, and I don't think Steve Jobs is Jesus or whatever.
1) You can't install just any software on your phone. (ie. the same complaint as DVD Jon and the ilk)
Apple and ATT are both to blame for this, both, but ATT did NOT want the app store. (Just look at all their other phones -- they didn't even want you to be able to load music into your phone without paying them a fee.)
On the other hand, yes, Apple does have "control freak" issues. So should Apple push harder to get ATT to allow any and all apps? Well, I'd argue NO FRICKING WAY.
There are plenty of apps, and free apps for everything I've looked for. They work correctly, and if they screw up my wife's iPhone, Apple WILL fix it.
I'm a software developer. I know better than to allow any and all apps on a device that my wife might need in an emergency. Period.
2) Travel/SIMs
100% ATT's fault. Not Apple's. Without agreeing to locking, Apple would not have gotten a carrier contract. Without a carrier, the iPhone is a Newton.
When the ATT contract runs out, Apple should be able to get YOU better carrier freedom. If at that point Apple does not, then you can blame Apple.
3) Signal problems
Everyone agrees that ATT is at least mostly responsible -- there have been a few bloggers who have complained that the iPhone has a crummy radio inside, but their shrieking has not been picked up by the larger, more legitimate journalists that actually, you know, test things before they gripe about it.
So there you go -- I've acknowledged and answered your points, and I don't even act like a cult member. Much.
And I'll point out #4:
"Certainly not me, who would like to have a phone that just plain works when it is supposed to, and doesn't turn me into a tech support agent for my friends and family."
Then why buy a "smart" phone? You want a phone then buy a phone. That's what I did. A mil spec Sanyo 7050. It works like a charm. Does it do video, email, chat, or apps. Hell no, it's a damn phone.
@coop
(for the moment, I will assume that you have a modicum of technical knowhow- you are on boingboing, after all.)
Given that your statements are true: Why did you buy an iphone? Why not an android? Were you duped or something?
Why are you surprised by lack of openness in an Apple product?
They are the people who tie their OS to their own computer equipment.
(Disclaimer: I use mac os, and sometimes Apple computers. I do not own an iphone, no need for mobile internet, and it's terribly expensive.)
I like apple pie.
My first computer was an Apple II Plus. I was a huge Apple fan. Now they are the big bully on the corner that you try to avoid at all cost, but every street you try to cross to avoid the bully, he's there, smiling at you, pounding his fist into his open palm.
I've never understood the Apple Cult lot. When I finally switched to a PC the cultists lined up ready to throw bricks and stones at me. Every time I mention getting a new computer the cultists line up and proselytize.
Has anyone ever been into an Apple Store before? I took two steps into one before some shiny smiling person was in my face asking me if I needed help, what did I want, what was I looking for. I hate the "Assault" method of stores that when you walk in immediately someone is up your ass. Unfortunately the store was packed with these type of employees. I couldn't even think when I was in there, let alone get a chance to look at anything. An Apple Store is just plain creepy. It turned me off from ever going back.
Unfortunately Apple makes the Ipod. I love my seemingly ancient now 60gig video Ipod. If it wasn't for that I'd avoid Apple like the plague. Apple users creep me out - I always expect them to ask if I want to come with them to go to an Apple meeting somewhere and don't forget to wear all black, Nike tennis shoes, and bring Apple sauce and vodka.
Anyway Apple laptops are way out of my price range.
If only Jobs knew what the Cossacks were doing!!!
If only there were competing GSM carriers in the US that could compete for better service. Then Jobs could play the two off of each other for better service!
And of course, the Kafkaesque Apps approval situation is purely to protect the wives!!! Wont somebody think of the wives!! A bad app might threaten them in an emergency!!! (of course the option of carrying a dumb phone with better battery life isn't possible)
I'll just get an n900 at list price when it comes out and get a separate contract. It's just that I Think Different which is a very bad thing indeed!
Also, let's put this on the table:
http://gizmodo.com/5370493/apple-genius-bar-iphones-30-call-drop-is-normal-in-new-york
So, is Apple lying to customers, or is ATT service really atrocious?
I guess we'll find out soon,
dhalgren
That's why walking into a shop with your headphones still on is a very useful thing to do. No-one asks you anything until you take them off. Taking them off being a clear signal that you want to talk to someone.
They could be your ipod headphones, or your preferred brand.
Apple are very, very far from the only ones who immediately bother you in the shop. But I am sure you know that. (In fact being immediately "assisted" in an apple shop hasn't been my experience. But it might be that such high pressure tactics are not generally used in the UK)
Dear Monopole, let me make this as clear as I can:
There are zillions of phones out there, with all kinds of service plans and software capabilities. Someone above mentioned OpenMOKO, which has 100% FOSS.
I can't speak for ALL Apple users, but for the ones I do know, I can state, definitively, that all of us would be COMPLETELY OK with you using a different phone that fits your ideological preferences better.
And now, could you in return stop calling me and my friends and family nasty names? I never did anything to you.
"My iPhone has the worst reception of any phone I've ever seen."
Coop, do you also live in Japan? Does Apple purposely seek out the worst carrier in every country or is it just that the carriers with the worst coverage are the most susceptible to caving in to whatever Apple demands of them?
The anime chick is alright, but a bit generic. Are those lines supposed to be the light coming from the door ? I like the soldiers and the audience. Big brother looks and sound kind of lame, as does the voice-over announcer. He says "October 6" maybe with a very small "th" sound at the end, and NOT October 6th.
The credits are annoying, at least the sound effects are.
I'm all for DVD Jon though, hope he has something cool.
even though the vid sucked, you have to ponder the role reversal rebels go through.
You start out with the hippy liberals of the 60's who are against the establishment maaaaan. Now they have friends in high places and they've become the oppressors they fought against.
We'll see the same things from the repubs as well. Right now they are yammering about the oppressive legislations of the left, only to assume power again and do the same.
Everyone wants the corner the market on Power. It's just when they're the underdog, its easier to root for them because it seems unfathomable they will become the very thing they fight against.
Apple is becoming the big brother ms was. I had to jailbreak my iphone because i want google talk, and i want scummvm games and i want backgrounding enabled and i want to call over 3g!
@Spikeles
Have you ever actually used one of those?
http://www.vimeo.com/1366042?pg=embed&sec=1366042
If it wasn't for the Lonesome Electric Chicken app, I'd throw my naziesque-apple-computer in the trash. Horray for Godwin!
Seriously though, I do think Apple gets a bad rap where they are often just trying to appease and haggle with the copyright holders (or supposed ones anyway) and still get a product to market.
But, I'm still happy that everyone attacks them anyway so that hopefully it'll keep a block on Steve's shoulder and keep them pushing for the better options.
I wouldn't be surprised to find that the reason Apple started offering DRM-free mp3s was due to the efforts of Cory and the like.
Sometimes you gotta break a few eggs to make an omelette.
@#17 POSTED BY MONOPOLE
Could Apple get sued if someone tried to call 911 and the iPhone crashed and they died as a result?
What if it was because some app they didn't vet out crashed the phone?
I don't know, when you factor in that Apple needs to worry about these thing (it IS a phone after all)... you might start to understand there are some underlying complexities to this issue after all?
http://pdf.911dispatch.com.s3.amazonaws.com/apple_911_patent.pdf
http://www.engadget.com/2005/03/23/vonage-sued-over-911-calling/
Answer on AT&T service and signal quality: it depends on location. It’s very reliable in my college town. Data service is variable, but works 97% of the time I need it. Data service did improve this summer, at least in my office location. SMS messages are sometimes delayed.
YMMV.
Someone mentioned picking up an Android instead...
http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2009/09/android-community-aims-to-replace-googles-proprietary-bits.ars
Apparently, nobody's perfect...
Wow, you guys are taking this way too seriously.
I remember seeing the original commercial live on TV, and this parody was really well done. In fact, I thought the anime boobs were much better than the original.
So now, after I submit this comment, I'm going to download my free nightly podcasts to my iPod mini, and timeshift the BBC, NPR and PRI for tomorrow's commute.
How wonderful it is, to have great thoughts available at the touch of a wheel.
#29 Yes.
I loved the parody, mostly because I've spent all day trying to download v.9 without crashing my (windows vista) computer, so I can update my iphone 3G to v3.1, which takes approx. 3 1/2 hours because of slow backup time (and an app-heavy phone). I use my iphone pretty much as an itouch .... I recently bought a phone-that-is-just-a-phone.
I was a Applenazi for years; laughed at the greenscreeners way back when, and I still buy and buy and buy their products because they're shiny and kewl and fun.
But I hate the drm issues. I hate the way the appstore picks and chooses and actually censors the apps it allows in. I hate that all the shiny and kewl and fun stuff still (mostly) comes from one source.
I am soooooo conflicted!
@#8: http://www.openmoko.com/product.html
Thanks for the link, and the product looks interesting. But wow, what a terrible product web page. It's a phone, right? But nowhere on that page does it actually bother to tell you it's a phone. Just looking at the product, my first guess is that it's a pocket gps thingie. My second guess would be it's a pda.
Why is it that every time somebody uses the image of apple as Big and Unfair it inevitably leads back to their own sad alternative product?
I hope the irony is not lost on anyone that these people are trying to sell you "choice" via a scene for scene parody of an ad from their COMPETITORS. And not just any ad, but the one that put them on the map 25 years ago.
You want customers? Tell us why YOUR product is better. People have always had choice. Apple's App Store has more choices than all the other platforms combined and multiplied by 100. There are like two dozen pedometer apps to choose from alone. Am I missing something?
Oh my, I thought it was the Zune logo.
Jeez people, the parody was just a comment on the current state of Apple affairs. No need to get all lemon-headed about it.
Apple does not go 1984, its more Fahrenheit 451. :)
Why is it that every time somebody uses the image of apple as Big and Unfair it inevitably leads back to their own sad alternative product?
Because that tactic worked for Apple 25 years ago when someone else was Big and Unfair.
Gosh, but aren't you guys the Apple fanboys?
what do Apple charge developers for the app kit for iPhone? $99? Yeah, rock the system. We're almost poen-source.
I have a phone that just works its a c905
Itunes , well now how the Apple fans can accuse M$ of bloat when they foist Itunes that is 80 plus meg even before its extracted is beyond me. I for one hate Itunes its far to clunky.
Wow,
I said that all the Apple fanboys would be there to protect their Dear Leader.
Thanks for making my point guys, and so quickly too!
coop
The only thing sillier than an hardcore Apple nerd is an hardcore anti-Apple nerd.
This add is closer to the truth than the original. Apple controls their products with an iron fist.
Imagine what would happen to Microsoft if they tied their OS to specific hardware and sued any computer manufacturer that tried to use ti like they are doing to psystar.
@40
" The only thing sillier than an hardcore Apple nerd is an hardcore anti-Apple nerd."
My point made, once again.
But, I'm not anti-Apple. I've had Apple products for years. They make good products, and they sell well. But to pass themselves off as the voice of freedom, or something, is just absurd. They are Big Brother.
@41
"Imagine what would happen to Microsoft if they tied their OS to specific hardware and sued any computer manufacturer that tried to use ti like they are doing to psystar."
Now that's the real point. Well said.
Bored of this now... rant amongst yourselves if you wish.
coop
Like Thaco@41 said:
that would be the Xbox, right? and that seems to have turned out pretty good, didn't it? Not that I'm on either side, but if you control almost every aspect of your product, from hardware to software, then, really, you have it a LOT easier.
@#41: If Microsoft did that then they'd wind up with 5% market share, like Apple has.
Apple sells an integrated hardware/software package. It lets them maintain the brand's image as a premium product and that's how they make money. No one is forced to use their stuff. There are literally dozens of alternatives to the iPhone/iPod/Mac. EVERYONE knows this and people still buy their products.
It's not evil and monopolistic because they don't have enough market share to be a problem. The old Netscape lock-out thing was different because literally 95% of the PCs in the world were running their OS and it was a problem people weren't aware of until it bit them.
Yeah, my iPhone has some infuriating "features" but there's nothing out there that's less infuriating.
FWIW, I didn't care about Microsoft's old monopoly issues much, either. That's their prerogative. My only beef with MS was/is just that they make a crappy product.
#4
Even though I agree with you, your post sounds like a freeper script :)
hehe
Sigh. Same crap different day.
For what it's worth, here's a post I wrote on Apple recently.
http://rexzilla.livejournal.com/138675.html
The claim that somehow Apple is anti-consumer is specious and misguided at best.
You may as well say Toyota does the same thing because they won't allow consumers to put 3rd-party engines into their cars. Or why won't my local Starbucks simply brew the coffee I just brought in from the grocery store next door?
There are literally dozens, hell hundreds, of phones from several makers running a variety of platforms; pick your choice.
Coop, Please read up on the Sherman Anti-Trust Act -- a company first has to be proven to have a monopoly, and then, only certain actions are prohibited.
Having a monopoly is not illegal. Locking software to hardware is not illegal. But when you are Microsoft, and have 95% of the market, taking over a new market (internet) by locking out your competitors (Netscape) is illegal.
Although the case is in court at this time, almost all the legal experts agree that:
1) Apple does not have a monopoly on hardware or software.
2) Apple is not trying to take over any new market.
3) What Apple did is what many other companies do -- require their software be used only on certain hardware.
Obviously, the fact that the case is going to trial means that there is some credibility to Psystar's argument. But the idea of selling the software cheaply to make profit on the hardware is not a new thing -- it's very similar to what Gillette did.
Also:
What you have done is very poor arguing, and reflects badly on your personality and intelligence.
First of all, you made arguments about the iPhone. When people responded, you ignored them.
Instead you moved the goalposts and switched to complaining about OS/cloning issues.
Last, you "took your ball and went home." (You said, "Bored of this now... rant amongst yourselves if you wish.")
If what you want is to bring an argument to the table, you've utterly failed.
I can understand that you are frustrated because Apple won't let you do anything you damn well please. Lots of other things are this way in life, also. Failure to recognize this simple truth is the source of much stress and frustration. I hope you can come to grips with it eventually.
Also, one more brief bit of info, and one more acknowledgement:
Apple has an allowance so that developers can write "any app at all" and distribute it, in limited quantities, without using the store.
If you need a custom app, it is 100% OK for you to get a programmer to sell it to you without Apple approval.
In the other topic of argument, I can agree that Apple is losing both money and friends by having no official policy where someone can purchase a special copy of Mac OS X and run it on whatever hardware they want. I wish they would bring their famed innovation to that arena.
Ok, I have a real life... so I haven't been 'ignoring' people, I just don't have time to check back here hour after hour responding to various comments.
I figured the thread had run its course, but if I didn't check back, I'd never know.
So I checked, and, wow...
"Took my ball and went home?!" I'm "frustrated"? "Please read up on the Sherman Anti-Trust Act" "I hope you can come to grips with it eventually." "The only thing sillier than an hardcore Apple nerd is an hardcore anti-Apple nerd." "You may as well say Toyota does the same thing because they won't allow consumers to put 3rd-party engines into their cars."
And someone else talked about cloning, not me. So get the quotes straight, maybe?
But my favourite is: "What you have done is very poor arguing, and reflects badly on your personality and intelligence."
You wanna bring my mother into this next? Like I said, wow.
I just posted a comment, and everyone else is arguing.
When I said "rant amongst yourselves if you wish", it was a joke. Did I need a smiley? Relax people, have a cuppa, and sit back.
Hell people, lighten up -- it's just a phone!
;-)
There, a smiley. Did that make it all better?
coop
@10 Please, hating Apple is more like 10 seconds ago.
I can't take it anymore. It's just fuckin' ridiculous.
They drank Flavor-Aid not Kool-Aid.
Ad is funny it's quality is awful. App is useless anyway.
I one more mutherfucker says shit about my Apple I will furiously chow down more Cheetos and shake my mouse in furious anger and possibly accidentally trigger Exposé all over the place as I hit the corner hotspots.
You don't want that.
Why not get a micrsoft 5 button mouse, assign exposé to buttons 4&5 and disable hotcorners?