If You Ever Wondered if Apple Was a Progressive Company, CHECK THIS OUT===>

[berni_mccoy]

The following is a demo of the new iPhone Internet feature.

http://www.apple.com/iphone/internet/

CHECK OUT THE NY TIMES HEADLINE THEY SHOW!!!!

This ought to tick-off a few RWer's!!!!!

[Atman]

1. Al Gore's name shows up in Steve's address book, too

The demo is sweet, huh?

.

[Wiley50]

11. Gore's On Apple's Board of Directors

and is a major stockholder

[Richard D]

2. LOL!

I want one!

[Viva_La_Revolution]

3. can't...

:( quicktime and my computer don't get along well together. :(

what's it say?

[parasim]

5. Here...

I posted it on another thread:

[Viva_La_Revolution]

10. thanks!

:D

[mod mom]

"Dems take Back Contol of Congress" and it zooms in a few times.

[madokie]

36. almost enough to make me want to rush out and buy one

[lvx35]

4. Gotta have it.

that's just too cool.

[ntesla]

6. Technology companies usually lean left

Employees are not like the average soccer mom or moran.

[mod mom]

7. not Dell.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

14. Go on over to Slashdot...

Read a bit and tell me that them guys is left-leaning. Cause I haven't seen it. ;-)

[Beelzebud]

19. When was the last time you read slashdot? Much more lefties there than righties.

[ntesla]

43. Yup

I read Slashdot every day and concur with your statement.

[hunter]

More lefties and libertarians...

That's the way I see it. A gay rights supporting anti-war environmentalist libertarian is not a righty, but that's not the same as being a lefty.

[Beelzebud]

45. I agree with that. Mostly good people there.

Certainly not a hive of republican scum and villainy.

[hunter]

44. More lefties and libertarians...

That's the way I see it. A gay rights supporting anti-war environmentalist libertarian is not a righty, but that's not the same as being a lefty.

[Elwood P Dowd]

8. The Apple haters on DU won't like you anymore

And there are some serious Apple haters here.

:toast:

[billbuckhead]

9. Once iPhone takes off like the iPod, Apple haters will have nowhere to hide

What's NeXT?

[gordontron]

32. what's sadder the fact that you made a NeXT joke or

the fact that I picked up on it? :hi:

http://www.kernelthread.com/mac/oshistory/

[DRoseDARs]

12. Yeah, but it's outrageously expensive...

4GB, 2-yr contract = $499
8GB, 2-yr contract = $599

!!!

...and they probably come with a 1-yr limited warranty too. Thanks, but no thanks. I like not being played for a sucker. :eyes:

[Atman]

15. The first iPod was $499 and did NOTHING

One man's "outrageously expensive" is another man's "sweet! Gotta have it!"

.

[originalpckelly]

17. It's a hell of a lot better than the crap other companies have...

and it's probably going to get a lot better.

I noticed some performance issues with scrolling and loading programs. Hopefully, they'll get a faster processor/better battery in there.

They also need to put in more flash memory as well.

[w4rma]

33. That's less than $30 per month. *Goes to read the contract and thinks about signing one*. (nt)

[NYC Liberal]

34. SmartPhone and an iPod...I wouldn't say "outrageously expensive"

[mondo joe]

40. Cost of a smart phone + iPod = iPhone

And the iPhone is a lot cooler.

[C_U_L8R]

13. I've never WANTED a cell phone before

but goodness.... that's all gonna change !
Jobs does it again... what a beautiful new machine.
Kudos to Apple for finally FIXING the phone .
It's beautiful.

[NYCGirl]

18. Apple's design aesthetics are just so magnificent. NT

[originalpckelly]

20. It's so freaking simple. Now that I've seen a person use it, it's very easy...

looking. Even simpler than a computer. And that gesture, pinch, that's fucking cool!

Apple has the patent on that screen for about 16 years. So they're going to have a monopoly on the multi-touch thing.

[high density]

16. So some art designer working on Apple's website is probably a liberal...

AMAZING!!!!!!!!

[berni_mccoy]

21. Al Gore is on the Board of Directors for Apple

http://www.apple.com/pr/bios/bod.html

[helderheid]

22. I am willing to part with my PC for Apple (GASP!)

This coming from a gal who grew up on MS Dos from age 10. 22 (almost) years on a PC and I would switch ...

[Elwood P Dowd]

23. Escape the dark side

and join us.

:hippie:

[Clarkie1]

24. Ah, I'm liking my ibook even more now. nt

[Kablooie]

25. Take a look at this demo of Apple's multitouch capabilities.

http://loop.worldofapple.com/archives/2006/02/08/multi-touch-interaction-video/

Apple's still got a few pretty big surprises up their sleeves. (Assume corporate entities have sleeves)

[cascadiance]

26. Unfortunately Steve Jobs is also on Disney's board...

... and is noted to have the largest amount of stock amongst the board members. You know the same company that pushed ABC to air "Path to 9/11"? I think we have to be careful not to make too big a conclusion that Jobs is "liberal" with just this instance of info.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steven-g-brant/re-the-path-to-911-s_b_28838.html

[NYC Liberal]

28. So? All that means is that he potentially has influence there.

Don't you think, him being more of a leftie, that would be a GOOD thing?

[cascadiance]

42. I'd like to think so...

... but as others point out, a company is a mixture of a lot of parts, some more conservative and some more liberal.

Miramax tends to be a more liberal component of Disney too, even though many others are far more conservative there. But with Jobs having the most money there on the appropriate board, you'd think he'd have put more pressure on them to pull that film instead of releasing it, if he valued progressive principles over making money, that airing it was probably sold as providing Disney.

There's a lot of things that Apple does which is good. I certainly love Mac's and use one myself as my main machine when they switched over to OSX. But I do also know some stories behind the scenes on how they did some less than decent business practices with my old company that they did business with before they went to Itunes, which I wouldn't expect to be done by a true "progressive" principled company. I don't want to get into the dirty details of that, but let's just say that like many other businesses, Apple has its good points and has its bad points. On balance, I think they're pretty good, but I still have some healthy skepticism too.

I also used to work at Sun earlier too. A lot of good progressive people worked there in powerful positions, and they tried to bring more of an open systems approach to the computing market too which was a good thing from most progressive people's feelings. But Scott McNeilly was also a Republican, though not an extreme one like some other CEO's, and so I also took some of what he did with a grain of salt too.

I really hate Microsoft's monopolistic practices, though I do like Bill Gates efforts (I think prompted a lot by his wife) of what he's doing with the Gates Foundation. That also was tempered too yesterday though, when seeing on Democracy Now an author of a book that notes that the Gates Foundation also is plagued with some hypocrisy too, when it invests in big multinational companies that work against the very things it tries to fix in less developed countries like poverty, pollution, etc.

I think ultimately, the corporate laws and charters need to be fixed, as discussed in the documentary "The Corporation", so that there is less an overriding goal of profit, and that there are additional responsibilities in terms of not dumping "external costs" onto the surrounding community that helps them maximize profits at society's expense. Ultimately if these rules get fixed, it will allow more conscientious CEO's, etc. to be more empowered to have their companies do the right thing, rather than have them have to fight investor community to do the right thing, as companies like Costco have to continually do to keep working more for their employees' benefits than their competitors.

In short, I like Apple, but I feel that it's important to reign people back who treat it as a religious experience, which I think leads us to not look at it more completely and accurately.

[NYC Liberal]

27. Steve also played a voicemail from Al Gore wishing him luck on the presentation

and also during the demo of the browser, went to the DVD section of Amazon.com and zoomed in on the Top Sellers to show Inconvenient Truth at #1 :)

[Nomad559]

29. Actually Apple Is

more of a Conservative Company, that's based on Apple's business practices, but the majority of Apple employees are Progressives.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Employees offer mixed reactions to Apple corporate life
http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=974

And while most employees enjoyed the leisurely dress code and excitement associated with the company, they cited a lack of compensation and difficulties climbing the corporate ladder.

"I never dressed nicer than sweat pants. I often came in whatever I slept in the night before and walked around the office barefoot. Nobody cared." said a customer solutions specialist who works for Apple in Austin, TX. But the opportunities for advancement were not that great, the employee said. "There were a lot of communications problems. Micro management to the extreme. I had six different supervisors that did not communicate together and gave me six different answers."

Another employee remarked on the lack of consumer focus in the workplace.

"There is a definite lack of emphasis on customers," said the employee, who holds a senior management position. The employee wrote that there is "a significant fear factor perpetuated of the CEO" by "empire building dinosaurs who operate in antiquated modes and only promote their favorites." The same employee said it's a company policy "not to take notes in meetings," which can make it "quite daunting" to try to operate under such "impossible circumstances."

Meanwhile, a product manager stationed at Apple's home-base in Cupertino sums up Apple as the average conservative company, which works its employees "to the bone" without enough compensation. "When I started it felt like Apple knew my name and what I did," the employee wrote, "but now am nothing more than employee XXX."

------------------------------------------------------------
Apple uses slave labor In China to build iPods and computers.

Inside Apple's iPod factories
http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?NewsID=14915&Page=1&pagePos=2

Apple approved sweat-shop labour

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=32644


Apple lobbied against state e-waste recycling legislation and continues to lobby against takeback bills.
http://www.texasenvironment.org/ewaste_apple.cfm

http://www.computertakeback.com/bad_apple/bad_apple_biz.cfm

Campaign Finance
http://cal-access.ss.ca.gov/Campaign/Committees/Detail.aspx?id=1012686&view=contributions&session=2003

[Name removed]

30. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[LeftCoast]

31. Factiness

The word for 2007!

[REP]

37. Couldn't Get an Interview, Eh

That's all right. I know more Apple employees - real ones - than you do and I know how the company is really run. So, post your snippets from people who got canned and think it's the truth - it's all right - you wouldn't've liked working there anyway.

[greyl]

35. It's not a good idea to judge the progressiveness of a company by their advertising.

It tells about who the company is marketing to, but it doesn't provide evidence that the company follows progressive practices. Does it?

[Irreverend IX]

38. Why do people buy this junk?

I like my MP3s and Internet access as much as anyone, but I've never been able to think of a pressing reason why I'd want to bring them along to every damn place. I'd rather stay aware of what's happening around me than cut myself off from the outside world with a pair of earbuds. As for cell phones, I despise them but the nature of my business forces me to carry one. But if someone sees a need for features above and beyond the basic ones you get free with a phone plan, I wonder if they're not just fashion victims. And regardless of Apple's purported progressive policies, I'll never respect a company that doesn't respect its users' intelligence. It took them what, more than a decade to acknowledge that their customers could figure out a mouse with more than one button?

[Bridget Burke]

39. I've got internet access at work & at home.

And earbuds aren't good for someone with a bit of tinnitus. (Yes, I worked where loud music was played, back in the day.)

I disconnected my land line & depend on a cell phone, but I don't regard it as a fashion accessory. (AT&T couldn't keep the land line working & Virgin makes economic sense for someone who doesn't chat on the phone incessantly)

When commuting by bus & train, I "read." Books!

[mondo joe]

41. Because one man's junk is another's treasure?

Honestly, what an idiotic post.

Of course everyone should be exactly like you - what were they all thinking?

[blueraven95]

46. they are awfully helpful

on the bus when there is some strange person sitting next to you that you really, really don't want to talk to.

[NYC Liberal]

47. Lol ain't that the truth.

;)

[DRoseDARs]

48. The funny part about all this is Apple is being sued by Cisco for using "iPhone"...

...which was trademarked I believe in 2000 by a company Cisco absorbed. Creative got their piece of Apple's ass for infringement (to the tune of $100 million), now maybe its Cisco's turn. :)

[fujiyama]

49. BTW what was Creative's trademark beef with them?

[DRoseDARs]

51. Technical patent mumbo-jumbo, but your answer nonetheless...

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060515-6838.html

[fujiyama]

50. LOL

I have to admit that is pretty clever.

[jgraz]

52. Apple is a standard Silicon Valley company

They'll do whatever it takes to increase revenue and profits. Many Apple employees have progressive values (including Steve to some extent), but at the end of the day, it's all about the $$, just like with any company.

(And yes, I'm speaking from first-hand knowledge)