So You Think Apple Isn't Evil?

[Aloysius]

Just saw a bit of one of her pop-whore videos.

[billcarroll]

Apple Music changes policy after Taylor Swift stand
http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-33220189

Clearly the act of an evil company.

[whyterabbyt]

Apple Music changes policy after Taylor Swift stand
http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-33220189

<cough>

[chk071]

Or how about the oil companies who are not interested in switching to clean energy solutions?

Or how about the multi billion "clean energy" industry which rips off investors for personal gain and has mafia like structures for the most part of it. Everywhere where is large sums of money, there is greed and corruption. And especially in an industry which is largely based on aid payments.

Btw, why would oil companies switch to clean energy solutions anyway? What has the one to do with the other? Don't get the link. The "clean energy" is solely electrical energy anyway, which is like 1/5 of the global energy needed, anything else has to come either from oil, gas or other stuff. You won't be able to manufacture steel with electrical energy for example.

[rp314]

If anyone thinks these guys are a 'nice' or a neutral mega corp I suggest you try reading a few articles. Start with Tax...

i doubt anyone is suggesting they are angels.

True. But their image is that of some benign benefactor or do gooder... Nice chaps in polo necks, who care for the environment, etc.

Well, it sure feels good when you buy their products then, right? The pathetic thing about that is rather that they feel like they have to play saint for business reasons. Like Google who tell you that they will power their whole servers with green energy soon (ugh, and what at night or if the wind doesn't blow?). If then that whole hypocrisy should be criticized.

I'd agree that there's a whole sanitized sales pitch for everyone in the audience - I wish it was made more transparent. The truth is, that they can pretty much do whatever they want, because they have a monopoly (just like 'do no harm' Google).

Yeah, a good deal of it is about power and control. And with stuff like the recent news on Google deciding to block Revenge Porn sites, it's not easy to counter the general perception that the good significantly outweighs the bad.

Around these parts, however, there are different considerations to these corporations throwing their weight around. For example, not far from here there's been a somewhat well-publicized fight between a Google attorney who bought a property and one of the tenants he's been trying to evict, a single mother who's a school teacher and has even shown up at some of the company's public events to complain about her situation.

That said the popularity of these companies' products and their continuing acquisitions probably do not bode well for those who understand that our system works best when there is plenty of competition.

[Jace-BeOS]

What a pile of nonsense here. I'm unimpressed with Apple lately (I hate their current GUI design and bloaty systems) and I'm particularly interested in seeing their tax evasion put to an end. But "evil"? Give me a break. As other posters have pointed out:

• Apple reversed course on this topic and is going to pay rights holders during the free trial period. Because they can and because the negative PR hurts (sadly not just because it's ethical).

• There are so many far worse corporate entities that are ACTIVELY DESTROYING SOCIETY for their own short term gain and for executives and primary shareholders to become more filthy rich. The pharmaceutical companies are still manufacturing mass shootings and addictions with their SSRI-class drugs, claiming that psych drugs are helping most people (standing on non-science claims to do it, while lobbying for the DSM to consider more normal human behavior as "abnormal" and be medicalized). Monsanto is continuing to abuse consumers, farmers, destroy consumer rights, and even ruin agriculture itself. How about the hospitals for promoting unnecessary genital mutilation in order to continue reaping the billions of dollars they get selling foreskins to biotech companies. How about all those "waste to energy" lies, where NON-renewables are casually renamed "renewable", such as the incinerators that are destroying recyclables (plastics, especially) and poisoning the atmosphere (a local power generator company, currently burning waste coal, is lobbying to raise the legal limits on lead output from its stack, by about 2100%). The combustion industry continuously lobbies against solar panels on citizen's private property...

And on and on and on...

Get a frelling grip on what "evil" is. Apple is pushing us around in the smart phone and computer area, not destroying civilization for a buck and killing humanity.

[jsp1979]

Just saw a bit of one of her pop-whore videos.

Ooooo...taking a shot a Taylor Swift. That's really edgy.

I actually heard someone insult Phil Collins one time. It was a bold move.

[billcarroll]

Just saw a bit of one of her pop-whore videos.

Ooooo...taking a shot a Taylor Swift. That's really edgy.

I actually heard someone insult Phil Collins one time. It was a bold move.

Next up, Mr. Rodgers blasted for wearing cardigans.

[masterhiggins]

Just saw a bit of one of her pop-whore videos.

Ooooo...taking a shot a Taylor Swift. That's really edgy.

I actually heard someone insult Phil Collins one time. It was a bold move.

Phil Collins is a dick.

There. Now you've heard it twice.

[jsp1979]

Just saw a bit of one of her pop-whore videos.

Ooooo...taking a shot a Taylor Swift. That's really edgy.

I actually heard someone insult Phil Collins one time. It was a bold move.

Phil Collins is a dick.

There. Now you've heard it twice.

Blasphemy!!

[thecontrolcentre]

[Numanoid]

Phil Collins is a dick.

So unlike Gabriel, he's actually got one

[Aloysius]

That's already been confirmed by Lionel Richie (if I'm not mistaken).

[SeePlusPlus]

does having factories/labor camps with enough suicides that nets have to be installed qualify as evil?

[zerocrossing]

Ah, the jackassery abounds. Apple "pure evil?" Me thinks not. Apple, is a corporation. Look up the definition of corporation. That's all it is and if you have issues with how it operates, you should point the fingers at governments who allow them to operate in what you consider an unfair way. Oh, and if you look a bit deeper, ask yourself why most people stay home on election day yet love to get out and march when they think things aren't going well. Anyway, yeah. Corporation: entity that exists to make money for shareholders. No more, no less. You might as well call a lion pure evil. To the baby wildebeest they are are, but to the rest of the pride waiting for dinner, they're just "mom and dad."

So, my advice is to stop posting b.s. opinion posts like you seem to love to, and instead write a letter to your congress person. As for Apple... well they honestly provided me with tools that allowed me to make the art I'd always dreemed of making at a time when no one else was. Everyone else seemed to think personal computers were for business applications and games. Steve Jobs actually pushed Apple to make products that were specifically conducive to making art. Along with Adobe, Aldus (yeah, I go back baby) and Metacreations, Apple provided me with f'n fantastic products that I still use every day and have now become a way for me to make a decent living. As for their policies on paying musicians... well musicans not getting paid well for their work is a story that goes back as far as recorded history. The actual story is that the people who'd probably listen to Taylor and the like, are probably not the types that would make a trip to Amazon to buy her physical CD anyway, and would probably be more inclined to just torrent it for free. So, compared to that, it's an upside. And what new service doesn't offer a free trial these days? Little Tiffany starts listening to Apple's streaming music service and when the Taylor Swift freebee runs out, poor little Tiffany will go running to mom and dad and cry until they sign up for the service. Somehow, I think Miss Swift will find a few checks in her mailbox.

Off topic, I recently watched a Taylor Swift concert video and I found her to be the least charismatic performer I've seen in a really long time. Nothing. Blank. Makes Brittany Spears look like Aretha Franklin in comparison. Kind of sad really. Oh well, most pop music has always been crap anyway, so nothing new here.