Fanboys

Matt Birchler, writing about the reaction of some to the ongoing brouhaha between Epic Games and Apple:

On any single issues, it’s reasonable to have multiple opinions out there. What worries me is that I am the most loyal, intense Apple fan in basically everyone’s life that I know outside the Apple bubble. Yet inside the Apple bubble I often feel like one of their harshest critics. Like if we had an election for some reason in this community, my opponent would label me an AFINO (Apple Fan in Name Only).

Why does this bother me? If I’m being frank, these are the sorts of things Microsoft fanboys would say in the 90s when Microsoft was at the height of their power.

I remember reading many of the comments of those Microsoft fanboys back in the 90s, particularly during the anti-trust trial.

What happened to the Apple fan who loved the products first, and the money second? What happened to caring more about small companies (“local businesses” if you will) more than mega-corps? Apple is currently worth $1.6 trillion and brings in more profit per minute than most Americans earn in two years. I’m very happy for their success, and I love the fact that they’ve become successful by making great products, but I get disheartened when I see people act like this isn’t enough and that the gears of capitalism demand they squeeze every last penny out of their customers and developers.

I don’t think the more business-oriented pundits are bad, nor am I saying that Apple can be as “Think Different” as they used to be, but I find it distressing when we argue that Apple should not give up a little bit of profit or power so that more third-party developers can stay in business.

Apple could afford to be more generous to those supporting their platforms by developing apps for them. Heck, they could afford to pay taxes on their profits as well. As it is, the probability of their being subjected to anti-trust regulation is growing rapidly, for reasons both justified and ill-conceived. Apple management might want to go re-read the accounts of the Microsoft anti-trust trial and its aftermath, and consider whether they really want to go down that road…