What do you think of Steve Jobs and Apple?

I think Apple could be more open in its software ecosystems, and I hate the cultlike marketing and the constant hyperbole at press conferences.

But I have always been impressed with their actual products. I certainly disagree that the Macbook Air is underpowered. I think there’s a tendency among Apple critics to judge products based purely on internal specs, rather than, you know, how the products actually run. In the MBA’s case, it runs every bit as fast as my fiance’s half-a-year-old Macbook Pro with SSD.

I also think you have a weirdly rosy picture of Bill Gates’ management style and business practices. According to what I’ve read, both have dictatorial managment styles. The media also gave a lot of attention to Bill Gates; they give attention to Jobs because he is essentially a modern-day Thomas Edison (for better or worse—Edison certainly had his flaws, too).

Finally, I don’t understand why you are apparently so morally outraged about features or lack thereof in consumer products. I mean, I guess I’m mildly annoyed that, having chosen to purchase a bunch of iTunes songs, it’s going to be a pain to play them in non-Apple devices in the future… but this was my choice. Apple is not forcing you to buy their products. If and when they become a monopoly, then I’ll be morally outraged.

I think he does a great job. Apple products simply work.

@Qingu Curious why your itunes won’t play on non-apple devices? I know the old DRM music iTunes sold wouldn’t but you can upgrade those if you choose.

Steve Jobs gets the media hype because of his success. Look at the stock price of Apple before he took over compared to today.

In a company like Apple, I have no problem with him running it like a dictatorship…as long as it’s a success. It is.

There is a certain type of personality that sees everything with a bias towards themselves. My Dad was like that, and many successful people are. I call it an Engineering Mentality.

I hate the closed ecosystem of iOS, I hate how Mac OSX is charging headfirst into being completely closed as well, I hate their little bitchfits with Google and Adobe, but I sure do like their products, design, and aesthetics.

You can upgrade DRM’s iTunes to non-DRM?

Tell me more!

@Qingu Look in iTunes Store with your account logged in on the right hand side. Under the title quick links you should see a section called iTunes Plus. Click on that and it will show you your purchases that are able to upgrade. With everything, there is a charge but it frees your music.

Brilliant marketing. As @dverhey points out, the product ain’t nothin’ special (oh, it’s pretty and space-agey, but eh), but they still sell enough to paper their walls with dollar bills.

@Nullo, I disagree that the product isn’t special. Having used both Macs and PCs laptops, I definitely think that the functionality of Macs is far superior—beyond aesthetics. The trackpads in particular are much better on Mac laptops; so is the build quality/sturdiness. I suppose OSX vs. Windows is a matter of personal preference, and I haven’t used Windows 7… but OSX certainly seems much more user-friendly to me than Windows XP and Vista were.

I can’t speak for desktops though.

One thing to keep in mind is that if you take the time to learn the OSX system the options are limitless. You can open Terminal and change almost anything you don’t like.