# Fuck Apple **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 3, 2016, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-apple/753774 "2016-05-03T13:06:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2016, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-apple/753774/21 "2016-05-03T22:57:55Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > But you keep on doing your thing and dig for reasons to have contempt for people. Sometimes you don’t even have to dig that far. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2016, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-apple/753774/22 "2016-05-03T23:23:30Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > I’m a dedicated lifelong Apple fanboy. But iTunes is a gigantic piece of shit and always has been. And the relentless annoyances to use Apple’s cloud products are a fucking nightmare. Agree with your last comment. But I just avoid it. I do everything manually. My entire music collection is in iTunes ON MY LAPTOP. I move songs/audiobooks/movies that I want on my phone MANUALLY. Yes, one by one. So I’ve never lost anything… but if I did (been thinking about doing a nuke-and-rebuild just to “clean house” on my phone), I’d just select what I want in iTunes and move it to my phone. And a nice side effect: iTunes works for me, because I don’t let Apple make any of the decisions. I backup and manage content manually. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2016, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-apple/753774/23 "2016-05-03T23:53:34Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > Sounds like your complaint is really with an employer who has barred you from all thing Apple, while you’re at work! > > Or maybe an employee who thinks he should be able to do his music management while on the job, is the employer’s real problem? OP may have a beef with the employer, but I wholeheartedly agree with his screed against Apple. I just (as in within the past week) went back to Windows Phone because my iPhone 6S just randomly decided 70 GB of music wasn’t there anymore. No, I don’t care that I can just re-sync with iTunes (over a couple of hours.) I simply cannot trust a computing device that just loses 70 GB of data out of the blue. and yes, it was gone. _Gone_ gone. The phone claimed I only had a total of 12 GB of internal storage used, and iTunes said the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-apple/753774/24 "2016-05-04T01:25:20Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > What software still uses the PATH variable? That’s some legit 80s shit right there. > > It’s ironic that you’re calling out Windows as old for not supporting antediluvian environment variables more robustly. They shouldn’t be supporting them _at all_. I am not sure I understand this at all. What is the modern method for deciding what programs to run if you don’t give the path to the program? ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-apple/753774/25 "2016-05-04T01:34:56Z")
Great Title Great Pitting Every time I update my OS the /usr directory gets erased, which is where mySQL plants herself … why do the assholes erase my shit … fuck you Apple Computer and the llama you rode in on. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-apple/753774/26 "2016-05-04T01:35:40Z")
> [@Mellivora\_capensis](#): > > Time to switch to Samsung. I’d advise you to go Sony instead. No DRM, no proprietary app bullshit, no nothing. They’re basically a hard drive with headphones (and a token phone thrown in :)) ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-apple/753774/27 "2016-05-04T03:49:17Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Modern software development and database packages. Call them out, not me. Fair enough. What modern development and database packages use the PATH variable in Windows, and what do they use it for? > [@gazpacho](#): > > I am not sure I understand this at all. What is the modern method for deciding what programs to run if you don’t give the path to the program? Registering file type associations. When modern programs run other programs, they generally run the document instead of the program. For example, to play an mp4 video, the old DOS way would be to run… MediaPlayer Demo.mp4 …and require that the MediaPlayer program (whatever that would be) would be available somewhere in the PATH. The modern way would be to just run the document directly… Demo.mp4 …and let the operating system open it with whatever program is associated with that file type. It’s the same concept as a default browser. If a program opens an html link on my machine using Internet Explorer (or whatever the Windows 10 browser is called) it would probably need to find it using PATH, and I’d be pissed as hell that it didn’t use my default browser (Firefox) instead. Can you think of an example where you want to run a program that would require a PATH check? (Other than the operating system itself, like MSConfig. That’s the vestigial use for the PATH variable.) ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-apple/753774/28 "2016-05-04T04:26:17Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Can you think of an example where you want to run a program that would require a PATH check? (Other than the operating system itself, like MSConfig. That’s the vestigial use for the PATH variable.) Any time I need to run a test suite against code running on multiple versions of Python or Perl, which is frequently. Some $PATH hacks (assisted by stuff like venv and perlbrew) make that very easy to manage. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-apple/753774/29 "2016-05-04T04:44:33Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Any time I need to run a test suite against code running on multiple versions of Python or Perl, which is frequently. Some $PATH hacks (assisted by stuff like venv and perlbrew) make that very easy to manage. Totally fair, though I might quibble with “path _hacks_” being attributable to that software. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-apple/753774/30 "2016-05-04T07:57:07Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > So, you get the choice between slick-looking evil and ostensibly freedom-loving incompetence. Kind of like an election, actually. _shakes fist at screen_ Damn but I almost painted the wall with my tea! ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-apple/753774/31 "2016-05-04T08:02:34Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Registering file type associations. > > When modern programs run other programs, they generally run the document instead of the program. For example, to play an mp4 video, the old DOS way would be to run… > > MediaPlayer Demo.mp4 > > …and require that the MediaPlayer program (whatever that would be) would be available somewhere in the PATH. The modern way would be to just run the document directly… > > Demo.mp4 > > …and let the operating system open it with whatever program is associated with that file type. Can you explain that to Microsoft? My reason to turn back from W10 to W8.1 was that the W10 Clippy-on-Steroids kept! trying! to get me! to try! the new! shiny! programs! ignoring preexisting file associations, refreshed file associations, and even that I was trying to open the file from an already-opened program (miraculously, the one associated with that file type). ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-apple/753774/32 "2016-05-04T08:07:45Z")
Lame pitting. Pit iTunes all you want, but pitting Apple as a whole… nope. I’ve never had any music lost during an update, but yeah I back up my library to my laptop and re-sync via lightning so even if I did it wouldn’t be an issue. Good luck with Samsung, because of the security mess that is Android your mobile will be lucky to get any security updates. Samsung wants you to buy a new phone to get a new Android version, Apple provides timely security updates and even new versions of iOS for older phones. And what lock in are we talking about? You can use music from other stores on your iphone just fine. iPhones work with windows, they don’t lock you into buying a mac or an ipad just because you have an iphone. I have yet to see this “Apple lock in” you are talking about. Seriously, lamest pitting ever. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-apple/753774/33 "2016-05-04T09:25:12Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > South Africa is “Third World”? 😕 When it comes to internet access, yes we are. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-apple/753774/34 "2016-05-04T09:38:51Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Fair enough. What modern development and database packages use the PATH variable in Windows, and what do they use it for? > > Registering file type associations. > > When modern programs run other programs, they generally run the document instead of the program. For example, to play an mp4 video, the old DOS way would be to run… > > MediaPlayer Demo.mp4 > > …and require that the MediaPlayer program (whatever that would be) would be available somewhere in the PATH. The modern way would be to just run the document directly… > > Demo.mp4 > > …and let the operating system open it with whatever program is associated with that file type. It’s the same concept as a default browser. If a program opens an html link on my machine using Internet Explorer (or whatever the Windows 10 browser is called) it would probably need to find it using PATH, and I’d be pissed as hell that it didn’t use my default browser (Firefox) instead. > Can you think of an example where you want to run a program that would require a PATH check? (Other than the operating system itself, like MSConfig. That’s the vestigial use for the PATH variable.) So there is only one program that can operate on a file type? There are lots of times where I want different programs to operate on a file. What is the modern way of doing this? ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-apple/753774/35 "2016-05-04T10:01:15Z")
> [@gazpacho](#): > > So there is only one program that can operate on a file type? There are lots of times where I want different programs to operate on a file. What is the modern way of doing this? Right click it in explorer and choose “Open With…” If the programs you want to choose from don’t show in the list, register them. I might not fully understand what you mean, though. I do this, for example, with CSV files. I double-click to open them in Excel, or Open With =\> Notepad to manually fuss with them. Is that the kind of thing you’re talking about? I did some googling around about various programming languages, and I have to say, I do call them out for not having a modern interface for compiling. Each one seems to add its own custom environment variable (which is poor), and many want to put something in your PATH variable, which is even worse. Command line prompts in and of themselves are not a modern interface, so anything that uses the command line is by definition not modern in terms of interface. So taking Chimera’s advice, I call out the various programming languages for clinging to an archaic interface for compiling. Don’t get me wrong, I’m perfectly happy and comfortable using a command line. I happily used DOS for a decade, from the mid-80s to the mid-90s. But that was over 20 years ago. Get with the times, people! heh. ---
**Author:** ![Mellivora\_capensis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mellivora\_capensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mellivora_capensis)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-apple/753774/36 "2016-05-04T10:21:02Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > Lame pitting. Pit iTunes all you want, but pitting Apple as a whole… nope. I’ve never had any music lost during an update, but yeah I back up my library to my laptop and re-sync via lightning so even if I did it wouldn’t be an issue. > > Good luck with Samsung, because of the security mess that is Android your mobile will be lucky to get any security updates. Samsung wants you to buy a new phone to get a new Android version, Apple provides timely security updates and even new versions of iOS for older phones. > > And what lock in are we talking about? You can use music from other stores on your iphone just fine. iPhones work with windows, they don’t lock you into buying a mac or an ipad just because you have an iphone. I have yet to see this “Apple lock in” you are talking about. > > Seriously, lamest pitting ever. \*Sugarmannnnn Won’t ya hurreeeee Coz I’m tired of iTunes For a blue coin Won’t ya bring back All the music to my phone Dire Straits Creedence Van Halen Robert Fox, sweet Fleetwood Mac Sugarmannnnn, sugarmannnn, sugarmannnnn\* ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-apple/753774/37 "2016-05-04T11:13:24Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Right click it in explorer and choose “Open With…” If the programs you want to choose from don’t show in the list, register them. > > I might not fully understand what you mean, though. I do this, for example, with CSV files. I double-click to open them in Excel, or Open With =\> Notepad to manually fuss with them. Is that the kind of thing you’re talking about? > I did some googling around about various programming languages, and I have to say, I do call them out for not having a modern interface for compiling. Each one seems to add its own custom environment variable (which is poor), and many want to put something in your PATH variable, which is even worse. Command line prompts in and of themselves are not a modern interface, so anything that uses the command line is by definition not modern in terms of interface. > > So taking Chimera’s advice, I call out the various programming languages for clinging to an archaic interface for compiling. > > Don’t get me wrong, I’m perfectly happy and comfortable using a command line. I happily used DOS for a decade, from the mid-80s to the mid-90s. But that was over 20 years ago. Get with the times, people! heh. I agree that the path variable is very much geared toward the command line. I don’t know what you do but for any computer type development flows I have seen there is a ton of custom scripts for building things and deploying things and automating that process. That is not going to be put on context menus of a GUI. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-apple/753774/38 "2016-05-04T12:20:24Z")
The OP is obviously a Luddite. Updates to software always make things better. Why, every time iTunes has had an update, it has vastly enhanced my music experience. I welcome our update Overlords. ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-apple/753774/39 "2016-05-04T12:27:30Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Updates to software always make things better. Why, every time iTunes has had an update, it has vastly enhanced my music experience. iTunes is indeed cruddy and needs a complete rewrite. Rumor is that its coming, iTunes is going to be split up into separate apps for movies, music, books, apps etc. Makes a hell of a lot more sense than managing installing games or books through a music player. Take itunes back to only being a slimmed down music player / streamer / store and give everything else it’s own app. ---
**Author:** ![Mellivora\_capensis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mellivora\_capensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mellivora_capensis)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-apple/753774/40 "2016-05-04T13:05:29Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > When it comes to internet access, yes we are. And when it comes to a few other things too. Like a president who can’t count (or be counted on to uphold the constitution), a public health system that sucks, a railway system (other than Gautrain) that limps along, a state owned airline that is always in the red, an electricity supply that fails regularly, a politically compromised national prosecuting authority, numerous government officials and departments in the pocket of a single, powerful family, a finance minister that gets fired for no good reason and is replaced with another who lasts for one weekend, a public protector who is simply ignored by government, a security cluster that’s a clusterfuck, armed thugs in parliament, qualified audits for numerous government departments, a functional illiteracy rate of 19 percent, billions in government misspending… And iTunes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-apple/753774.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-apple/753774.md?page=3)