[besson3c]

I'm sensing in a number of threads that are active now some pretty strong opinions for/against Apple, Google, Microsoft, Mozilla, Facebook, Linux, and probably Yahoo, AOL, and others as well.

I used to think that the strong opinions were mainly prevalent for platform preference, i didn't realize that a company like Google whom I used to figure was generally viewed pretty neutrally would be the subject of ire for some.

What is it that makes people want to choose sides even outside of their platform? Do people believe that one company is genuinely working in their best interests while others are not? Do you trust some companies more than others? Are you a healthy skeptic of all companies, or are there some that get the benefit of the doubt by default? What makes you cheer for stuff to succeed or fail?

I think we all have various feelings towards various companies and various degrees of cynicism. I'm just interested in learning about what makes or breaks trust and strong feelings for you, personally.

[iMOTOR]

Originally Posted by besson3c 

Facebook Linux,

I have never tried Facebook Linux, but I predict it will suck.

[imitchellg5]

Personally, I never really cheer for a product to fail; whenever a new phone or tablet or computer comes out, I always start thinking that maybe that product could be my next replacement for whatever I have. A good example is webOS: When the Pre came out I thought it was a cheesy and cheap device, but right now it's my phone and I love webOS. I won't buy a product automatically because of branding, but I will be more likely to buy a device or service from a company that has offered good customer support. Every corporation is out there to make money, it's how they survive. But companies that make money while keeping customers happy when something breaks or the customer has an issue (even if it's the customer's fault) will always get my recommendation to my peers.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by iMOTOR 

I have never tried Facebook Linux, but I predict it will suck.

I tried to post a Youtube video in the Terminal, but no luck.

You are right, it sucks.

-t

[Dork.]

Originally Posted by iMOTOR 

I have never tried Facebook Linux, but I predict it will suck.

Isn't that just finger?

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by Dork. 

Isn't that just finger?

-t

[iMOTOR]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

I tried to post a Youtube video in the Terminal, but no luck.


-t

Try this:

Code:
sudo putlamevids | filename

[Lateralus]

I've had a Corporate Shit List since I was a teenager. And I hold grudges, so most of the names on it are constant. But I've turned soft and semi-forgiving in my old age to the degree that there's really only two companies remaining which really draw my ire; Sony and nVidia.

The last time I gave Sony my business was with the purchase of a stack of CD-Rs back in early '09, before that was a CD Walkman back sometime in the 90's. As for nVidia, not counting my MacBook, the last money nVidia saw from me was when I bought a GeForce 2MX for my first PC build around 10 years ago.

Sony pissed me off by screwing over Nintendo in the fiasco that gave birth the original PlayStation, and a litany of other things since. nVidia first drew an eye brow raise from me when they completely failed in their commitment to support 3dfx products after purchasing that company, and went on my shit list as I took notice of what a windbag, hot air blowing company it is.

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by Lateralus 

Sony pissed me off by screwing over Nintendo in the fiasco that gave birth the original PlayStation

Um, I'm curious where you're getting your history. Every thing I've read has indicated Nintendo screwed Sony.

[Lateralus]

Where are you getting yours? I've never seen evidence pointing to anything other than Sony being approached by Nintendo to develop a CD add-on for the SNES, then near completion deciding willy-nilly that they'd done enough of an engineering effort to justify trying to make it into a full fledged console entry, and Nintendo practically allowing them to steal mutual R&D because of their fear over some contractual clause that would have given Sony rights to any software published for that CD-device were it to have ever hit market.

[The Final Dakar]

Wikipedia, currently.

[Lateralus]

The Making Of: PlayStation | Edge Magazine

Currently reading it myself.

Assuming the truth is probably somewhere in the middle, I shall fall back on rootkit. And BetaMax royalties that made VHS more popular than its capabilities should have ever allowed. And Blu-ray copy protection. And ATRAC. And lying about the true capabilities of their modern audio equipment (amplifiers in particular). And the fact that the PlayStation 2 was unreliable in every revision it ever shipped in.

[mattyb]

I'm a complete whore when it comes to tech. If it doesn't cost me too much, then I'll change. Saying that, I am a fanboy of the present products that I use, BUT apart from Xbox games and Snow Leopard I haven't paid for Apple or MS for software for ages.

ATM I really hate Oracle (I'm an Oracle DBA). They have basically bought companies over the past few years, raised software prices and the support behind it has gotten worse. They don't listen to their customers and to be truthful, they are very expensive. They know that its very difficult to change from (for example) Oracle RDBMS to SQL Server without a lot of pain. I have a feeling that IBM were the same in the golden age of the mainframe. People complain about MS alot, but SQL Server is a great database system. Its a pity that it only runs on Windows.

I think that the majority of companies are basically the same. They're driven by greed.

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by Lateralus 

The Making Of: PlayStation | Edge Magazine

Currently reading it myself.

"But the very day after Sony’s announcement, Nintendo declared that it would be breaking its deal with Sony by partnering with Philips instead."

Sounds pretty cut and dry to me. (And it started off a long series of moves that made me hate Nintendo's guts)

Originally Posted by Lateralus 

Assuming the truth is probably somewhere in the middle, I shall fall back on rootkit. And BetaMax royalties that made VHS more popular than its capabilities should have ever allowed. And Blu-ray copy protection. And ATRAC. And lying about the true capabilities of their modern audio equipment (amplifiers in particular). And the fact that the PlayStation 2 was unreliable in every revision it ever shipped in.

Or the hubris of the $599 PS3. Or removing Linux from the PS3 after its release to market. Sony is so large it's hard not to target.

[lpkmckenna]

Google does great search. I heard gMail is also great. But nothing else they have done makes a bit of sense to me. But I'm not worried or paranoid about their influence.

Microsoft creates two products that make them money: Office and Windows. Everything else is an enormous money sink. I pity them more than anything.

Intel's criminal actions against nVidia's superior product makes my blood boil. It was the most user-hostile act I've ever witnessed by a corporation. They get away with it because they've been greasing Washington forever.

Sony is just evil. Besides pointless Sony-exclusive technology, their current war against PS3 hacking is simply corporate terrorism. They actually petitioned the court for the IP addresses of everyone who merely viewed a video on YouTube! At first, I thought the PS3 was gonna be a new era for Sony as a good company. So wrong.

I can't complain about Apple too much. They often nickel'n'dime consumers for features that should be included. Remember when QuickTime couldn't play full screen without paying for Pro? And paying for contact syncing for iOS is just ludicrous. But for their main products, they are worth every penny and are priced competitively.

I think Adobe is irrelevant to consumers. If you're a pro, you might need that stuff. But nothing Adobe makes is worth anything to home users.

I hope RIM can stay relevant, but I doubt it.

NewsCorp is the corporate arm of Satan.

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally Posted by Lateralus 

Assuming the truth is probably somewhere in the middle, I shall fall back on rootkit. And BetaMax royalties that made VHS more popular than its capabilities should have ever allowed. And Blu-ray copy protection. And ATRAC. And lying about the true capabilities of their modern audio equipment (amplifiers in particular). And the fact that the PlayStation 2 was unreliable in every revision it ever shipped in.

And shipping the CDP-7 CD player. Or rather, following it with the new and improved CDP-77 at the same price point, and then with the CDP-777, again at the same price point.

And then offering "upgrades" of the circuitry for the CDP-77 and CDP-777 through third parties, but not for the original CDP-7.

Why is this relevant? Because the only difference between the CDP-7/77/777 was that each subsequent revision sounded worse.

Why was no "upgrade" offered for the CDP-7? Hmm.

[P]

Nintendo and Apple are basically equivalent in my book: They want to sell me expensive things. If I buy them, I know that they work. If I think they're too expensive, I don't buy. Very simple from my point of view. Both companies generate some pretty irrational hatred from certain parts of the population, which annoys me more than anything either company has ever done.

I did think Mozilla were great, until the HTML5 video debate came up and it was clear that user experience came second after "free (not as in beer)" principles. They're pretty OK still, but that did disappoint me.

MS and Sony are very similar right now: They bullshit to the extent that it threatens to distort the universe, and they are utterly unapologetic about it. All companies lie in their advertising, but those two are probably the worst. Both have had some serious problems in execution lately, which makes the contrast even sharper, but it's always been there. Best thing to do is to ignore anything either company says. They do produce good products on occasion, but don't ever listen to their marketing people - and don't listen to reporters who hasn't realized that yet.

Google and Facebook are also very similar in my mind. Both of them pretend to give something away for free as a way to get eyeballs for their ads. As long as you remember TANSTAAFL, you can predict what they will do in almost any situation. They're sneaky, though, so it pays to keep an eye on them. After that, just make the same choice as you did with Apple/Nintendo above: Judge if it's worth paying the price.

[P]

Originally Posted by lpkmckenna 

Intel's criminal actions against nVidia's superior product makes my blood boil. It was the most user-hostile act I've ever witnessed by a corporation. They get away with it because they've been greasing Washington forever.

They got away with it because they paid nVidia 1.5 billion dollars. Billion. With a B. That's a pretty sizable fine even for Intel, and comparable to what they were judged to pay in the EU case on price fixing.

[lpkmckenna]

Maybe Google is evil: Why Has Google Been Collecting Kids' Social Security Numbers Under the Guise of an Art Contest?

[The Final Dakar]

I ceased trusting google the moment they had an IPO.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by lpkmckenna 

Maybe Google is evil: Why Has Google Been Collecting Kids' Social Security Numbers Under the Guise of an Art Contest?

Originally Posted by Google PR

As for the city of birth:

The city of birth helps us identify whether contestants are eligible for the contest, as winners must be either U.S. citizens or permanent legal residents of the U.S. The information isn't used for any other purpose.

...

Originally Posted by article

2.) If they simply want to limit the contest to citizens and permanent legal residents, why not ask that question as a "yes/no"? Then, they could ask more specific questions of the winners, right? Instead, Google's wants every child's city of birth upfront? That's really necessary?

They're just trying to avoid another Obama birther scandal.

[mattyb]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

They're just trying to avoid another Obama birther scandal.

He gave birth? Shit I need to watch the news more.