As a free software enthusiast and follower of the Reformed Church of Emacs, I am often asked which OS and what company is the most evil of Microsoft and Apple. My thoughts are the following.
Microsoft has been heralded as the Great Evil and been attacked for their evil deeds in including Internet Explorer with Windows. Their size and dominance of the market is truly epic, and still today they are THE market leaders in home computing. They are and wanted to put a PC in every home and have done just that, making a giant profit in the process. Microsoft is a big company aimed at making profits and gaining control of the market. They never said they were anything else, and their market communication has always focused on professionalism and seriousness. People with jobs use Windows.
Apple had it’s big break-through as the preferred choice for graphical designers and metrosexuals who wanted an nicely designed and sleek looking computer to act as a statement to their own perceived identity and uniqueness- From it’s revival as a candy looking plastic box to the current brushed metal look, they have been innovative in marketing their design (made my Jonathan Ive and NOT Steve Jobs).
The difference between the two companies, is that Microsoft mainly does software, while Apple does the whole package – both software and hardware. This is also the exact place where we are able to find the most rotten apple!
Apple communicates that they are a freedom loving and innovative company, thus appealing to the nice liberal left wing of the population. However they lie. And in lying about it they make themselves guilty of deceiving their followers. Something Microsoft does not.
Let’s have a look at the evilness of Apple:
Firstly: Apple’s Operating System is built on the same basis as the GNU/Linux system. It’s a different fork of Unix and therefore shares a lot of code from the GNU/Linux family. However Apple is not open source – they have all their code locked down on OS-level – and in fact they will only allow you to run Apple OS on an Apple machine! If you do differently you are liable to be sued and would definitely lose your warranty on the hardware. That’s fascism for you!
Secondly: They dupe their followers into thinking that Apple is a nice and happy free operating system that thinks outside of the box. In fact they steal their ideas from the open source movement and patent them as quickly as they can – thus effectively harming the very movement they live off.
Altogether Apple comes out as the worst choice, based on their company ethics and their hardware being locked to their OS. The only choice is a non-profitable OS and preferably a free open source one. Ubuntu is an excellent place to start.
You might also want to enjoy a nice and light rap about the above:
Steve Jobs vs Bill Gates. Epic Rap Battles of History Season
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