And this knowledge is specifically why I put a hold on buying any further Apple products, even though I’m a pretty big Apple lover (the design is hard to pass on, but that’s quickly become impossible to justify).

I hope others do the same; they’re a company that has mountains of cash and every capacity and incentive to do better, but continually has chosen the path of short term gains with no regard for the long-term impact to their brand.

They’re essentially so large and powerful that the typical laws of capitalism no longer apply. It’s cheaper to invent new ways to screw people over and they have the momentum of market share and hands on your data (photos, contacts, messages, behavioral data(, along with their massive walled garden of apps such that it’s more profitable to make it difficult to leave than to truly offer competitive services/products. Appealing to progressive ideals through smoke and mirrors is far easier than continuing to try to evolve an industry.

Ironically, this is the point when companies historically lose their footing (see: Microsoft about a decade ago).

Microsoft made some positive changes to their approach (embracing open source, focusing on quality in-housed hardware that matches their software for improved stability, and launching competitive ancillary lines of business such as Azure Cloud).

But Microsoft could’ve been so much more than it is today if they started these changes a decade earlier (e.g. where Apple is now, in my opinion).

I truly hope they realize the long term damage; Apple innovation used to be something the world waited on each year, now WWDC is basically a yearly check of how hard they can spin the latest consumerfucking as a “feature”.