Why I Hate Apple
People tend to look at me a little strangely when I tell them that I prefer Windows XP to the Mac OS. I think they figure that since I’m a musician, I must prefer Macs because Macs are supposed to appeal to creative folks or something. Here’s just one in a long list of examples of why I basically hate Apple.
There’s a house rule that we update all of the computers on the 15th of every month. Since there are eight or so computers here, it’s a lot simpler to do them all at once, one day a month, than to try to keep up with the randomly timed updates released by Microsoft, Apple, various virus program makers, etc. So, when March 15 arrived, I fired up the Software Update control panel on my Intel iMac–or rather Audio Damage’s Intel iMac, which resides here and is my main work Mac–took a quick look at the available updates, unchecked the ones that didn’t apply or that I didn’t want (why Apple wants me to download tens of megabytes of updates for software I don’t own could be a topic for another rant), and turned it loose. I noticed that there was an OS update to 10.4.9, and usually I don’t do Mac OS updates until they’ve been proven to be stable, but I didn’t think much of it and figured that it had probably been out for awhile anyway and I just hadn’t heard about it (because, frankly, I don’t keep up with the latest Mac news as religiously as I used to because, frankly, I have much better things to do with my time like actually getting stuff done).
So the machine downloaded a couple hundred meg of new stuff (another rant topic: how is anyone supposed to keep a machine up to date, regardless of which OS they use, if they don’t have a broadband connection?) and ground away while I updated the other computers. The Mac rebooted and everything seemed fine.
Before doing this, I had started working on a maintenance update for one of Audio Damage’s products. I finished the first phase of the work after updating the machine, and handed the new version to Chris for initial testing. That was when the trouble begain. The thing didn’t work at all on his machine.
It went downhill from there. To cut to the chase, I can’t successfully build software on my Mac, Apple’s own development tools crash frequently, there is inconsistent behavior between different host programs when using Audio Damage’s plug-ins and between my Mac and Chris’s. (Chris was wary and hasn’t yet updated to 10.4.9.)
I’ve lost count of the number of hours I’ve wasted as a result. On the advice of various sources on the web, I downloaded and installed the 300MB(!) Combo Update for 10.4.9, which is supposed to correct the now-widely established problems with the update when installed on Intel Macs using the Software Update control panel. That helped a little, but not much. I’m currently downloading the 700MB(!) disk image of Apple’s developer tools so I can reinstall those from scratch. I also just downloaded the current version of Ableton Live, my favorite host for developing and testing our products, to reinstall it. I have a sick feeling that I may end up having to wipe out the entire OS itself and install it from the bare metal up just to get the damn machine to work again.
This is all directly attributable to Apple, and the fact that they botched this OS update, like they’ve done so many times in the past with OS updates. Their failure to adequately test their products before releasing them has cost me days of work–work that I would only be doing because I write software that runs on their machines with their OS.
Now, by contrast: I have never had significant problems after applying an update to Windows XP. I have had to occasionally spend a few minutes fiddling with drivers and settings after an update, but the sum total of that fiddling over the last several years would not add up to a significant fraction of the time I have spent thrashing around because of this botched OS X update. Ironically, Windows XP has a mechanism that is sorely lacking on OS X. Windows XP lets you non-destructively revert from an OS update. If you install an update in XP and it causes problems, you can go backwards and get rid of it. There is no such mechanism whatsoever in OS X. To put it succintly: Microsoft has never screwed up my computer, but if they did, there is a way that I can fix it easily. Apple has screwed up my computer numerous times, and has really f—ed it good this time, and offers me no solution other than reinstalling the whole OS from scratch on a bare hard drive.
Apple sucks, as far as I’m concerned. That’s just one example of why I think so.
Don’t get me started on iPods.
Of course, Apple is rolling out the ability to roll back system changes with 10.5 — except that, since it’s a 10.5 feature, you won’t be able to roll back to 10.4.
It is pretty easy to maintain a previous library, though; I think what you’ve hit upon is that these tiny interim releases are getting a bit out of control. Most of Microsoft’s updates have been security updates; they’ve tended to roll other changes into app releases or SP’s rather than constantly muck with the system. And I think that’s a reasonable point.
I’m also impressed that larger updates are no longer the scorched-earth affairs they used to be. I was able to easily install Vista 32 and 64 over XP, for instance. So, this demonstrates that whoever may “suck” or not, you CAN improve install procedures and make everyone happier.
[Hey, it's a celebrity in the midst of my humble blog! Peter Kirn runs the excellent Create Digital Music site.]
Peter, thanks for commenting. It is true that it is relatively easy to maintain a library of previous revisions, but again, I don’t have to do so on Windows XP. Also it’s possibly relevant that all of my PCs back up the entire contents of their drives every day to a central server, retaining a month’s worth of updates, allowing me to roll back to previous days if the need arises. (The need hasn’t arisen, thank goodness.) This all happens automatically thanks to a relatively low-cost backup program called Norton Ghost. The backup happens invisibly on the fly; typically I don’t even notice it when it happens. I have looked high and low for a similar app for the Mac, and have come up with nothing. In the pre-OS X days I used Dantz Retrospect, but some screwy things started happening in the OS 8 to OS 9 transition (I think it was–it’s been awhile) so when OS X came along I really didn’t have any faith in the product any longer. Hopefully it’s better now. The point is that if similar utilities were available for the Mac, I’d be more likely to have an up-to-date backup that I could fall back to. So yes, the lack of a backup point is my own fault and I really should know better. However, I should also be able to update the OS–and keep in mind that by default OS X updates itself automatically without intervention, giving the user no warning–without fear of it rendering the machine unusable for the tasks for which it was purchased.
As I said, this episode is only the latest in a long string of frustrations with Apple and their products. I used to be a hardcore Mac loyalist. My first Mac was a Mac Plus, purchased in 1986. I’ve owned many of them since. I switched to XP when OS X rendered virtually my entire investment in Mac-compatible music hardware and software “obsolete”. It was less expensive to switch to XP–which was compatible with all of the hardware and most of the software, thanks to dual-format CD-ROMs–including buying a new machine, than it was for me to move to OS X. (Never mind that OS X really didn’t work that well until 10.2 at the earliest.)
I’ve been bitten by Apple design defects quite badly. Prior to the Intel iMac–which I have been quite happy with, I must say–I purchased three Macs in a row that all had substantial flaws in design and/or implementation. My dual-CPU G4, which I purchased specifically for music work, was/is so noisy that it’s hard to be in the same room with it, let alone use for music. The battery fell out of my first-generation Titanium (known problem–Apple did replace it), its wireless network interface was useless, and while it ran audio apps fine under OS 9 it staggered and fell to its knees under OS X. There were so many things wrong with my “Yikes” G4 that I lost count.
Another observation is cost: Apple has charged over $100 each for 10.0, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, and 10.4. I haven’t had to pay Microsoft anything for XP updates, and I’ve been using XP for roughly as long as OS X.
I’m gonna be polite and not talk about what a disaster Apple has foisted onto third-party developers with AudioUnits, except to say this: I challenge anyone to provide a concrete example of how AUs have actually benefitted end-users. The collective cost to create them has been, and continues to be, enormous. Where’s the payoff to the customer?
Anyway, I’ll stop here. Just before going to bed last night I finished downloading, uninstalling, and reinstalling my development tools. Now I get to find out whether it helped.
http://www.AppleHaters.com