
fanbois and fandroids - counterproductive
Been reading the Reg for a long, long time. It's always been a place where linux was regarded as obviously the single best OS for everything, where Microsoft was the Beast of Redmond and where Apple was regarded as the tech world's equivalent to Scientology.
And there's some justification for all of this. None of it's all true but there's enough to truth there to amuse everyone.
The real problem I have with it nowadays is the lengths some people will go to over it. I'm going to assume that this is not new and that I've just got old, tired and contrary because otherwise it'd be a "kids these days" rant of the Daily Mail variety and anyone who knowingly posts that shit should have their fingers cut off. So let's assume it's just me. But let me show you what I mean.
Take any article about Windows 8. Take a look at the comments. Exhibit A - Bob Vistakin telling us all over and over and over how it's a massive failure. Before it's ever released.
Take any article where iOS is compared to Android. Exhibit B - a whole load of little penguin icons telling us how bad walled gardens are. As if people were unaware of the walled garden.
Take any article about XBox or WP7. Exhibit C - Barry Shitpeas wanting them both nuked from orbit, seemingly convinced that competition is a bad thing.
And exhibit D - Mikel actively inventing FUD about existing handsets not upgrading (note - MS staffers confirm that this is a lie) and refusing to give sources, with the tag line "if you want something more open, you know what to do". And a penguin.
Now, I can't speak for anyone else but this puts my back up. Every instinct I have says "fuck you, don't ever try to tell me what I can and can't use". And then there's the competition thing too - I approve of competition. I want RIM and webOS to do well too, however unlikely that may be. Because the thing is, if Apple wins or if Google wins or if Microsoft, wins, I lose. We all lose.
Reading those comments and those posts which seem deliberately designed to hurt the prospects of any item or company to succeed actively makes me want to go buy that product.
And it also puts me off the products they evangelize. Because if those products have such an appeal for fucktards like this then they must be as crass and brain-killing as those fucktards themselves are.
Every time you spew hate about something that's not "your team" - and it's really not your team, those companies do not give a flying fuck about you - you make me want to support whatever it is you hate. "Fuck you," I think. "Whatever you tell me is exactly what I won't do".
You bastards, you're even making me dislike my debian installs and I've had those since Bruce Perens took over from Murdock. Don't make me nuke them.