Limbaugh: If you hate Apple then you're a lefty blog-o-twat hipster Conservative radio jock Rush Limbaugh has discovered the existence of bloggers and determined they hate Apple and, thusly, Republicans. Limbaugh reckoned love for Android, Google and Samsung is the only thing that can explain why bloggers have been laying into the iPhone and iPad maker lately. Nine out of 10 tech bloggers are …
Here on El Reg the theory appears to be correct, there always appears to be a disproportionate number of downvotes when anyone on here praises an Apple product.
The comments also tend to be more extreme in their nature. So there could also be a correlation between this and the Political Left here in the UK, as they too tend to shout the loudest, have a nastiness and are less forgiving. The Left wing bias is also prevalent and entrenched in the media (except of course the Daily Mail) including the impartial BBC.
Of course there is other evidence as well. Comments on the news articles tend to dip off after 1pm on Friday which is the end of the working week for the public sector which is generally considered left wing.
In conclusion, he may have a point, or it's just that a disproportionate number of immature trolling di**heads populate this site. In which case my theory falls to pieces.
"To prove the point just send an email, you will get an automated reply.. 'Such and such is now out of the office until Mon/Tues next week'."
W O W The stupid just won't die!
OK so your one OOO proves that ALL public service departments (which we all RELY ON!) don't work on a Friday afternoon?
REALLY? Are you really that stupid?
Honestly, I get sick of hearing this bullshite day in and day out.
I work in the public sector, alot of my colleagues vote Tory.
Look, you can't argue with stupid. I suppose this may be a explaination as to why £1ms of public funds are wasted? How could a Tory know what is and isn't good value?
You really are an idiot arn't you.
Have you dealt with most public sector departments, they are normally so right wing hitler would feel out of place.
Full of viscious petty minded, jobsworth pain in the arses. And that was after I left for anotehr job.
Seriously though, you may consider public sector left wing purely due to the strength of union representation as its harder for the bosses to fuck over their staff in the same way teh private sector does.
there always appears to be a disproportionate number of downvotes when anyone on here praises an Apple product.
That's because Apple products are the BMWs of the computer world. They may have some nice engineering in them, but far too much of the price is for the name, and far too many of the users are total plonkers who can't see past the badge.
“That's because Apple products are the BMWs of the computer world. They may have some nice engineering in them, but far too much of the price is for the name, and far too many of the users are total plonkers who can't see past the badge” … or know how use the products to do anything other than the most basic tasks, for example having a decent camera but using Instagram to take pictures of coffee, or being unable to figure out how to use indicators (signal lights for our American friends).
There I fixed it for you.
"That's because Apple products are the BMWs of the computer world. They may have some nice engineering in them, but far too much of the price is for the name, and far too many of the users are total plonkers who can't see past the badge."
Another similarity is that their owners swear they're well made when their friends know that they spend a ridiculous amount of time in the garage/away for repair compared to cheaper cars/computers.
Sample space = 1
I have owned exactly 1 "bimmer".
It was a fabulous piece of kit and was reliable and a pleasure to drive on the long Autobahn trips I did back then as a matter of course.
I rate it second after my Toyota, which was indestructible, but did wear out eventually ..
Genuine question (though I am sure I will be downvoted because it may be interpreted as pro-Apple).
Do you really think that people still buy the iPhone because of the name, or manufacturer / "badge"?
When the original iPhone came out, I could agree. Maybe even the iPhone 3G as it was the first to really hit many countries. But now? 5 years and 5 models on? Does anyone buy it thinking it's the BMW of the phone world?
Or do they buy it because they have friends or family who have one and are happy, or it's easy to use, or it has a good app ecosystem (remembering most everyone doesn't care it's a walled garden if it has everything they want) etc.
Just so people don't accuse me of being a fanboi, you can say all of these things about the Galaxy S4 too.
First off, of course generalisations are bad - yes, some people will always buy some product as an informed decision. However, you do get people arguing it must be better, because it's made by them. The people who buy it because it's what their friends have, I would argue also still count as buying it "because of the badge".
It's also a reasonable view of many media articles, that hype up an Apple product even before its release, and then for years afterwards conclude it as the champion, with no clear reason why. It may be now the iphone 5 not the 2007 iphone, but this hype still traces all the way back to 2007.
The stereotype isn't helped by it being the only company with really prominent logos, in some cases light up.
Perhaps Samsung are aquiring a similar aspect of this too, but I don't think that's an argument against it. And I've yet to have strangers interrupt my conversation to tell me I should get an S4; you don't hear people go "Get a Samsung" in response to every technical problem someone has; you don't hear then referring to every product they only by its brandname.
quote: "Do you really think that people still buy the iPhone because of the name, or manufacturer / "badge"?"
Yes (sample size: quite a lot). The corporate entity I work for has been supplying blackberries for years, and when we get the inevitable "I don't actually want that, can you support device X instead?" over 90% of the requests I've heard of involve the words iPhone or iPad.
Staff who just want a device appear to be fine with the blackberry, it seems that only those people who want to be able to show others an iDevice are the ones asking for something different (most of whom are upper management, or Marketing). At least in my experience, YMMV of course.
> Do you really think that people still buy the iPhone because of the name, or manufacturer / "badge"?
Yes.
Although that is a far less meaningful declaration now that Apple has become a minority player.
However there are plenty of crap products that manage to thrive (likely through marketing and critical mass).
"However there are plenty of crap products that manage to thrive (likely through marketing and critical mass)."
I hear that the serial plagiarists that are Samsung are doing very well of the back of Android, itself low rent and plagiarised. Much like the plagiarised Linux... Freetards like you are full of shit.
I think other commentators are trying to express, they are sold on things non-technical people can measure, such as, "it is expensive it must be good" or "$famous_person person has one". There are measured by some pseudo-science (or non-provable or fuzzy) quality - intuitive (says Steve), best browser (unable to render sites my Nokia 5800 could).
How is a blank/black rectangle (with rounded corners) place-mat with an unlabelled dimple with a small square in it (a button which does not look like a button) intuitive of a phone or media player? Do four (mainly) unlabelled un-buttons which look like locator pins around the edge help?
One of the tear-down sites calculated it cost $60 to make, assuming manufacturing yield is near 100%.
What people pay extra for on Apple products is the consistent experience. The "walled garden" that chafes geeks so badly is actually part of this. When you buy an iThing, it will work out of the box, it'll connect to your Mac without a lot of fuss, and it'll be able to run the same apps as all the other iThings. It may not be the best bang for the buck, but it'll work.
Now contrast with the situation with an Android device. First you have to research it to make sure it's got a recent OS version and processor and isn't some horribly slow "landfill Android." Then you have to find out if it can actually access the Google Play store, or if you'll be stuck in some off-brand app store with a limited selection. If it's a carrier-discount device, you have to find out what features they've crippled as part of locking it to their network and forcing it to use their services. Basically without doing a lot of digging around, you don't know if the stupid thing will WORK once you get your hands on it. Then you have to worry about which apps are legit and which are going to email porn to your grandmother.
That's basically it in a nutshell. Apple products appeal to people who just want to buy something that will work, instead of spending a week obsessing over review websites before making a decision. (And I say this as someone who actually enjoys the latter.)
In America, the iPhone is sold at Walmart and commonly found in the hands of people that live in mobile homes and wear sweatpants due to having become so obese that fixed shaped clothing is no longer a viable option.
Dont know if it has some sort of luxury status elsewhere in the world, but a slightly rusted "vintage" 80s Trans Am would probably be a better analogy for us murricahns.
I buy apple kit but use android phone. I buy what works for me. Apple laptops do cost more, but my one of my old laptops from apple is still working today 8 years on and still running most of the apps if not the latest osx. In that time I had 3 windows laptops. Slow to a crawl and a desktop.... .
I'm no fan boy I have an iPad, I have a nexus 7 the new one on order. If it works for me I buy it.
I think taking sides in tech is pointless.
"...far too many of the users are total plonkers who can't see past the badge..."
That's a generalisation and as we all know, generalisations in general are wrong.
It's true to say that many of the users are people who find OSX preferable to Windows. It's their choice. Yes, I know some richardheads who use Macs: but I know a lot more Windows users who I don't think should be allowed out without their nurse.
"That's a generalisation and as we all know, generalisations in general are wrong"
Back in New York for exactly 24 hours, drive out to get my new glasses. Encounter my first BMW of the day driven by 30-summat woman, signalling left at the light at Nicolls Rd and Straight Path and pulled too far forward to make the turn. Decides *as I am pulling alongside to go straight-on* to go straight after all, which involves almost sideswiping me as she corrects her line.
Throughout the drive, in my mirror I see her make another three bogus signals and last minute re-decisions not to bother at consecutive traffic lights, to the immediate cost of other drivers. God alone knows how many she made while I wasn't checking the rear view.
She then tailgates me for about a mile and a half, and when I make a turn she gives me the finger for not speeding (to judge by the roar of her engine as she sprinted the last twenty yards to the red light at route 110).
If the generalization wasn't accurate I guess I hit the one in a million chance of getting the BMW muppet.
"generalisations in general are wrong."
Actually they are not. While it may not apply to 100% of the people all of the time. A generalization is based on recurring trends/cases we each observe and has a greater chance (IMO) of being the correct situation most of the time. There are always exceptions but they are few compared to the trend.
Apple sells a very limited product line, but they have multiple generations of each. Many times (if not most of the time) they added features that had already existed on other brands versions. Apple can sell its products at higher prices not because their hardware is that superior, but because they have brand recognition and many fashionistas want that recognition. Just as many (not all) owners of Harley Davidsons pay a premium for a harley over other brands to simply own and be seen on a Harley.
There will always be followers. Just ask each person you meet why they chose one brand over the other. If they spout marketing verbiage to you...you know they were a follower. If they can provide a specific reason and how that helps them achieve their task....they were knowledgeable when making their choice. This is of course my opinion and you may disagree with it. It's your choice.
Best wishes on keeping what you earned,
Actually I would guess the 1pm on Friday dip on comments is probably a mass realisation that its Friday afternoon, lunch is over and I really stop looking at El Reg and finish that report/fixed that error/call that supplier/sent that email so I don’t have to do it Monday morning.
Obviously not talking from experience…
@a/c 6th August 2013, 06:27
"So there could also be a correlation between this and the Political Left here in the UK, as they too tend to shout the loudest, have a nastiness and are less forgiving."
Is that you Mr Limbaugh?
Left wing bias in the media? Ah, you must mean The Telegraph and The Sun and those of that ilk. Far too left wing for your liking are they?
I will, not wishing to reinforce your stereotype, refrain from shouting as I point out the complete lack of irony in your complaint about immature trolls. Please do not take offence. I am not accusing you of being immature.
"The Left wing bias is also prevalent and entrenched in the media (except of course the Daily Mail) including the impartial BBC."
While I would agree about the BBC, I think you are a bit confused about the politics of newspapers (perhaps you don't read any of them?):
- Times
- Telegraph
- Express
- Sun
would all classify as right of middle
- Independent
- Guardian
- Financial Times
would be pinko Liberals
- Mirror
left wing
Where is your prevalent and entrenched left wing bias?
""The Left wing bias is also prevalent and entrenched in the media (except of course the Daily Mail) including the impartial BBC."
While I would agree about the BBC, I think you are a bit confused about the politics of newspapers (perhaps you don't read any of them?):
- Times
- Telegraph
- Express
- Sun
would all classify as right of middle
- Independent
- Guardian
- Financial Times
would be pinko Liberals
- Mirror
left wing
Where is your prevalent and entrenched left wing bias?"
I do not read newspapers! Who does? Do you really make your decisions in life based on what OTHER PEOPLE think? Have you not realised yet that you get respect for making your OWN MIND up and not regurgitating other peoples bull shit?
I've not read a newspaper since I was 19/20 years old. Yes I was that young when I realised that newspapers are for losers!
Whether that be the bigoted bare arsed builder with peado leanings (wanking over a barely legal teen with her tits out in a national paper) or the greed bastard times reader and every spectrum of social low life in between.
Who the fuck gives you a vote FFS? No wonder the country of full of social retards!
This post has been deleted by its author
"I do not read newspapers! Who does? Do you really make your decisions in life based on what OTHER PEOPLE think? Have you not realised yet that you get respect for making your OWN MIND up and not regurgitating other peoples bull shit? I've not read a newspaper since I was 19/20 years old. Yes I was that young when I realised that newspapers are for losers!"
I’m sorry, so what source of information do you get that nobody else knows about? I can just imagine the conversations you have...
Sane person “I read in the paper that the Man United won the league last season”
You “STOP REGURATATING OTHER PEOPLES BULLSHIT”
What source of information is not taken from someone else? Or do you just guess what’s going on in the rest of the world, or do things only exist if you can see them?
You “excuse me, do you know the way to the train station?”
Person 1 “No Sorry, hold on, Bob do you know the way to the train station?”
Bob “Yeah take a right at the end of the street, then the left at the second set of traffic lights and you can see it from there”
Person 1 “thanks Bob, (turns to you) did you get that mate?”
You “STOP REGURATATING OTHER PEOPLES BULLSHIT
People give you more respect from formulating an educated opinion on a subject based on the information available to you, rather than just going “Sorry, I don’t read newspapers I don’t have a fucking clue what you are talking about”
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