[gr8fl4porsche]

As advised in the other thread about Steve Jobs, I am starting my own thread concerning the business practices of our beloved Apple Regime. Sorry about my rant, I was having a bad day.

First off, I love Apple products. I own 7 of their devices and find them to be top- notch electronics, But, there's always a but, Apple's proprietary software controls earn them the title of 'Evil'. If Bill Gates even hinted at the kind of BS that Steve Jobs actually gets away with, there would be lawsuits aplenty and rioting in the streets.

Please let me explain.

For those of you outside the hardcore iPhone world, this is what is going on concerning Apple's new iPhone OS called 3.13.

A couple of months ago, Apple released version 3.13. This is not a new polished version of the preceding OS 3.12, but a jailbreak killer. Jailbreaking is a method of removing Apple's requirement to only use digitally signed and approved applications on the iPhone. Jailbreaking allows one to install any custom app they find useful and also allows customization of the graphic portion of the phone. Jailbreaking is a violation of Apple's stated warranty (1 year) and everyone who jailbreaks understands this and takes the financial risk. When you hear complaints that the iPhone doesn't do some function like multitask, once jailbroken, the iPhone now multitasks. In my opinion, jailbreaking allows the iPhone to function as the most useful smartphone on the market. Currently, Apple's competitors in the smart phone market allow and encourage users to make their phones all they can be.

When Apple introduced 3.13, they stopped signing 3.12 and all previous versions, making it impossible to install or reinstall a previous operating system on your phone. There currently is no possible way to downgrade a new iPhone.

You are probably saying to yourself, big deal, just use the new OS. Well think of it this way. Lets say you have a business. Your business is running perfectly using MS XP. One morning you go into the office and find that you have a hard drive going bad. You replace the defective hardware, go to reinstall XP and discover that MS no longer allows you to install XP, you are forced to use Win7. Microsoft tells you they won't charge you for Win7 but XP is gone. There is no possible way to restore your previous OS, it is gone forever. Now imagine that most of your setup is not compatable with Win7 and you simply can't use it anymore. Sorry, too bad. Your screwed. As stated, rioting in the streets would ensue.

But Apple essentially gets away with the same thing because many believe that once you sell a product to an individual, you retain the right to absolutely control that products use and function. I simply want Apple to sell me a device and then let me alone. If I break the phone with my mods, I understand that and can live with the consequences. But that is not good enough for the god-like Mr. Jobs, he wants to tie the strings and make people dance.

Sure I'm bitter. I have weeks of work and some $$ wrapped up in customizing, tweaking and setting up my iPhones which I use to run my business. Now that is all gone.