Apple's phenomenal dickery is making me seriously consider divesting myself of their products, so yes. Then again, I'm not the typical consumer. Their rectalitude certainly doesn't seem to have hurt their sales any.
There is certainly the fans that will buy anything Apple because it's Apple regardless of what Apple does. That being said, like you, I'm not sure if I can bring myself to support undoubtedly one of the most unethical companies in the world. They haven't have a big product release since the Samsung case but any sales lost were certainly more than made up for with their patent winnings.
Thanks, this is exactly what I was intending to convey. Never did I say the Apple lawsuits were my justification for thinking Apple is unethical. I simply alluded that recent patent bullying is one of the bigger public outcries against the company and we are yet to see how consumers will react to it. We are all in agreement that it won't noticeably hurt their sales, but it is also further swaying those without brand loyalty to the company.
I realize if I kept tabs on all large corporation's ethics, in all likelihood I would find myself unable to purchase anything from someone respectable. That being said, despite becoming a large company being synonymous with it losing it's innocence, it doesn't mean that they all have to become porn stars.
Anyone who thinks my opinion is cheery picked or hyperbole doesn't follow the sweatshop labor, environmental destruction, discrimination against customers, etc in Apple's last few years alone. Using other unethical companies (none of whom were tech might I add) to justify their atrocious actions is borderline retarded. We might as well just let murders off the hook because those serial killers are so much worse in comparison, right?
As a consumer, all I'm trying to do is support companies that act the best, even if that means picking whomever is the least undesirable.
> undoubtedly one of the most unethical companies
> in the world
Oh please. I now people are irrational, but we can be wiser as to delude ourselves that some company is ethical and other is not based on cherry-picked tidbits.
> I'm not sure if I can bring myself to support undoubtedly one of the most unethical companies in the world.
Really? I wish Apple was one of the most unethical companies in the world, because if suing some companies over patents was grounds for that, then the world would seriously be a much better place.
In the real world, I probably wouldn't rate Apple in the top thousand unethical companies... Real unethical companies are ones like James Hardie [1], which manufactured building materials from asbestos that gave thousands of people mesothelioma, despite knowing the health effects for about 10 years.
Being unethical or not is based on moral values and Apple did breach the moral code of conduct in their recent lawsuits by acting vigorously bullish but they did nothing wrong(at least not legally). But what James Hardie did was borderline illegal so they are two different things.
Comments
Apple's phenomenal dickery is making me seriously consider divesting myself of their products, so yes. Then again, I'm not the typical consumer. Their rectalitude certainly doesn't seem to have hurt their sales any.
There is certainly the fans that will buy anything Apple because it's Apple regardless of what Apple does. That being said, like you, I'm not sure if I can bring myself to support undoubtedly one of the most unethical companies in the world. They haven't have a big product release since the Samsung case but any sales lost were certainly more than made up for with their patent winnings.
> one of the most unethical companies in the world.
Less ethical than Total? Philip Morris? Freeport-McMoRan? Halliburton? Monsanto?
Save the hyperbole. Companies sue one another.
Less ethical doesn't mean least ethical. One of the most unethical doesn't mean the most unethical.
Thanks, this is exactly what I was intending to convey. Never did I say the Apple lawsuits were my justification for thinking Apple is unethical. I simply alluded that recent patent bullying is one of the bigger public outcries against the company and we are yet to see how consumers will react to it. We are all in agreement that it won't noticeably hurt their sales, but it is also further swaying those without brand loyalty to the company.
I realize if I kept tabs on all large corporation's ethics, in all likelihood I would find myself unable to purchase anything from someone respectable. That being said, despite becoming a large company being synonymous with it losing it's innocence, it doesn't mean that they all have to become porn stars.
Anyone who thinks my opinion is cheery picked or hyperbole doesn't follow the sweatshop labor, environmental destruction, discrimination against customers, etc in Apple's last few years alone. Using other unethical companies (none of whom were tech might I add) to justify their atrocious actions is borderline retarded. We might as well just let murders off the hook because those serial killers are so much worse in comparison, right?
As a consumer, all I'm trying to do is support companies that act the best, even if that means picking whomever is the least undesirable.
Blackwater? Chiquita? Coca-Cola? De Beers? And between the both of us we've barely gone past the ones that commit outright murder.
> I'm not sure if I can bring myself to support undoubtedly one of the most unethical companies in the world.
Really? I wish Apple was one of the most unethical companies in the world, because if suing some companies over patents was grounds for that, then the world would seriously be a much better place.
In the real world, I probably wouldn't rate Apple in the top thousand unethical companies... Real unethical companies are ones like James Hardie [1], which manufactured building materials from asbestos that gave thousands of people mesothelioma, despite knowing the health effects for about 10 years.
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hardie
Being unethical or not is based on moral values and Apple did breach the moral code of conduct in their recent lawsuits by acting vigorously bullish but they did nothing wrong(at least not legally). But what James Hardie did was borderline illegal so they are two different things.
The difference I would toss out there is that what Hardie did was not unethical, it was criminal.