This post is a response to Ron’s expertly written post. Opinion Wars: What Are We Doing? But it isn’t a disagreement or a challenge. it’s support.
“I disagree with everything about this.”
“This was clearly written by an Apple Fanboy.”
“Oh, why am I not surprised! The Noisecast shilling for Apple again.”
“Does the noisecast get paid or fed by Apple, or do you guys just get by on sucking Steve Jobs’ dick for sustenance?”
“Typical Android fanboy coming out to shit on Apple.”
“Begin flamewars and accusations of Noisecast bias in 3… 2… 1…”
“Ahh! Its G1 cupcake all over again. First its: ITZ HAS NO MARKETSHAREZ LOLOLOL; then its: BU BU BUT IT DOESNT HAVE 10000 APPZ; and last but not least: who cares? apple haz moar $$$ And ifans will eat their words like they always do!”
These comments were all taken verbatim from Engadget and Gizmodo articles but were replaced with Noisecast. I don’t consider us a success until every one of our articles is accused of bias and shilling. Basically, this sort of argumentation of gadgets is common in our circles. (funny note, the sucking Steve’s dick, and the Android fanboy comment, came from the same article. That’s how shrill and confused this nonsense gets). Also, funny that the last comment about G1 cupcake is word for word exactly what’s happening with WP7 too. This stuff is cyclical. Why is everyone getting so crunk about nonsense? My love for my WP7 device or how brilliantly it works is not in any way diminished by how many people have iOS devices. iOS isn’t any less of a system even if it copied every feature it has, no more so than every airplane since the Wright brothers having wings diminishes their awesomeness. What I will say, if I’m allowed to troll for just a moment, is that all this complaining and whining was okay when it was Apple users directing it at everyone else, but now that the tables are turned, it’s suddenly too much and uncalled for? That isn’t the point though. I agree with Ron in this case. The fight, the constant battle of opinions, is useless. It becomes a problem when people forget how insignificant their opinion actually is.
Like Eric said in an unrelated post referring to the routine explosions coming from our sun: “This is the kind of thing that should leave mortal men in awe. I’m not even going to try to write anymore. It’d just be useless blather that a giant universe that can take literal earth-shattering explosions like this in stride wouldn’t care one iota about.” You are one miniscule little twit and your opinion is only earth shattering to you. If we all remember that, then we can have fun with these good-natured arguments without getting too needlessly emotional. I like what I like and I’m not sure how your opinion invalidates mine. So, with that in mind, with you understanding that I know exactly how little my opinion matters to you, and yours to me, here’s what I think.
I wouldn’t make anyone suffer through reading my post about predicting the future again. It was way too long. But in it I outline the idea of the long tail. Real life isn’t Gaussian (normally distributed). A shock to the system, or a black swan can take down any company, no matter how big. Google owns search, but once, all search engines ran Altavista algorithms underneath (I’m oversimplifying). Standard Oil once controlled 99% of oil refining on the planet. British East India company once employed one third of the entire world’s population. The “British Empire” was actually largely funded by, and did the bidding of that company. IBM once owned nearly 75% of the PC market, now it’s sold that unit to Lenovo. Windows Mobile and Symbian together once controlled 80% of the smartphone market worldwide, now together hold less than 20% in the US (not much better worldwide).
Google once owned 97% of search and now is losing 1 to 3 percentage points every few months. Remember when Myspace was unassailable? Now its peak 120 million users looks like a joke next to Facebook’s 700 million. What about RIM? What about when the US produced over 70% of the world’s Billionaires, now just less than 50% (and the richest man in the world is from Mexico… lolwut? Did anyone see that coming?). MOVIE INDUSTRY: Tapes and DVDs and TV will dominate forever and ever. Profit for everyone! NETFLIX + HULU + BITTORRENT: LOL n00bs. Here’s a blast from the past, Apple completely bankrupt, looking for someone to buy them out, Microsoft infuses them with $100 million for non-voting shares because “competition is good and this is a truly remarkable company that is capable of great things”, Bill Gates then promising to make IE and Office work on Macs so that they can be useful to a more general public and people can start buying them again. Yeah, everyone conveniently forgets that part of Apple history, conveniently forget that Gates and Jobs are friends. And now Apple has over double the market cap of Microsoft.
So my point is that no position is unassailable, no tech is worth making a religion over, but also getting frustrated when people argue over this shit is pointless. Like I said on the same topic to someone, these same idiots complaining about Apple “copying” someone else, are the same idiots who will buy an iDevice. This sort of arguing is part of geek culture. Android Fanboys walk around with iPods, Xbox fanboys have gameboys, iPhone fanboys use PCs. Anyone who adheres to a brand just for the sake of the brand and not what it does for them is a moronic dullard that deserves what’s wrought. You buy what appeals to you. Whether it’s function, aesthetics, price, availability, whatever.
I have a WP7 device, a chromebook, an HP laptop with both Windows and Linux, an old macbook (I rarely use but it’s there), an iPod Touch. I would either get the iPad for usability, or the Acer Iconia A500 for the price, or the Galaxy Tab 10.1 for the pure geek chic. At the end of the day, my choices are based on issues not name recognition. I invest in platforms that can be seamlessly integrated into my tech ecosystem. I admit when I’m wrong and stand firm when evidence is on my side. I reject all ideology except the one that says, “whatever works for me, works for me, doesn’t make the other guy wrong.” Sure, this isn’t as sexy as being a true believer, but if we all get to the point where we realize that our opinion isn’t invalidated by someone else’s, we can get back to having fun with these arguments. Appleheads, next time someone brings up the Apple copying thing, just say: “and?” Android is better! “okay”, Windows Phone will never catch up to Apple. “Alright.” My iDevice is the greatest thing ever, I’ll sell my kidney to buy one. “I hope that works out for you buddy.” Once we get past that trivial nonsense, the inarticulate arguments (such and such is better just because) we can start discussing serious things like features, capabilities, socio-economic impact, ethnographic outcomes, privacy concerns, elegance of physical design, etc. There’s so much to “argue” over and laugh about and playfully jab each other over that doesn’t need to descend into “LOL, UR APPLEZ IZ ROTTEN, M$ WINDOZE IS NOOBERZ, MY ANDROID HAS MOAR AWESOME!!!!!1!”
But that’s just an opinion.
In case you missed it:
NO U!
In all seriousness, I agree. Another well written article that makes me ask the question: How are we not huge yet?
Good point.
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