Scoble’s Link Blog

http://danbricklin.com/log/2005_02_12.htm#apple

Weblog: Dan Bricklin’s Log
Source: Minor Apple protest
Link: http://danbricklin.com/log/2005_02_12.htm#apple

I’ve seen the stories about Apple using the courts to try to find the source of some leaked information. I’ve seen how they are dragging what are basically bloggers into this, having a potential chilling effect in areas much wider than their narrow complaint. I see how many others have reacted, from Hiawatha Bray of the Boston Globe, to David Weinberger, to the EFF. Apple complains how “The unauthorized disclosure of Future Product Information causes Apple to lose control over the timing and nature of product releases.” Apple has apparently also complained how leaks cost it money. They don’t say how fan-blogs help keep the Apple-lovers happy and help sales. I think that needs to be in the cost equation. I think the cost of doing this lawsuit, which is hostile to the blogging community (they must have known that, and if they didn’t they are wasting their PR dollars somewhere), needs to be factored in, too.

So here I had a problem. I like Apple’s products, and more specifically I have invested in them for my video work. I needed to upgrade some software and buy another, among other things. I had $900 I was about to spend on Apple products yet my heart was telling me to boycott them in some way to protest. If they are talking costs, they should see that their actions had costs, too. What should I do?

I usually buy my Apple products at the local Apple store. By buying a product direct from someone you feel you are giving them more of your money. I thought of going to the store and telling the salesperson how I felt, but if I then spent money, what kind of message was that sending? Anyway, would my complaint go anywhere? I thought of buying a competitor’s products, but for an upgrade to a product you’ve devoted weeks to learning or when you need a specific product for other reasons that’s not a viable option.

What I decided to do was this: I bought what I planned, but I bought it from a reseller I like (PC/Mac Connection) that’s sort of local (an hour north of me in NH), hoping that Apple will get a smaller piece of the pie (depending upon how much of a loss leader the stores are), and write about it here on my blog. A small protest, but a protest nonetheless. In the future, I’ll see Apple as more of a “big bad” thing, and Microsoft (with it’s acquisition of Massachusetts-based P2P company Groove and hiring of Ray Ozzie, and support for Scoble and the internal blogging community) as a little more of a “good thing”.

I’m sad that I felt I had to do something, but Apple’s moves seem less about the revenue they lose and more about a fear of a lack of control. The ability to tolerate a lack of control and being a member of a community, not ruling one, is part of what is exciting about the connected world that Open Source software and blogging exemplify. Those that learn how to be part of a community benefit from it. It’s strange to have a situation where Microsoft “gets it” and Apple apparently doesn’t. That bodes well for Microsoft and poorly for Apple.

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