Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Apple Makes Cool Stuff!

That's why I give them all my money!
The move came after another employee at the plant died after falling off a building yesterday morning. Shenzhen police confirmed the death but said they were still investigating whether it was suicide. Nine people have died this year in the series of incidents among workers, while there have been two failed suicide attempts.

Foxconn is the world's largest contract electronics manufacturer, making devices for leading global electronics brands.

Labour activists in Hong Kong have threatened to start a campaign for a boycott of Apple's iPhone, one of the many electronic devices made by the 300,000 workers at the Shenzhen plant. Workers are paid the minimum wage and regularly work heavy overtime.
Getting most of my gizmos used seems somehow nicer. Doesn't it? DOESN'T IT?

I may need to drink some fancy bottled water.

38 comments:

zombie rotten mcdonald said...

OK, so how many other companies are at fault for hiring Chinese manufacturers for their components, and the relative employee treatment of those various companies?

Plus, how many of THEM have destroyed an entire ecosystem?

Look, I am not thrilled about people committing suicide due to their employers demands. But I saw a recent article saying a LARGE AMOUNT of fisherman in the Gulf basin have considered suicide because they have no way o making a living and see no improvement in the near or even long term.

But I guess I forget that Cory Doctorow has declared Apple to be the source of all evil in the modern world, so I guess that's their fault too.

Substance McGravitas said...

OK, so how many other companies are at fault for hiring Chinese manufacturers for their components, and the relative employee treatment of those various companies?

Oooh, all of 'em I'd guess.

fish said...

Takebacko likes fancy bottled water.

fish said...

It takes like poop.

zombie rotten mcdonald said...

Oooh, all of 'em I'd guess.

good point. I am not buying ANYTHING EVER AGAIN.

..actually, given the condition of the construction industry, that might be an accurate statement.

zombie rotten mcdonald said...

I would guess the only option is to bomb the shit out of China. They're brownish.

...o but wait, they have nuclear weapons, don't they? we've already demonstrated that as accomplished bullies, we only go after countries who can't fight back.

Leave 'em be, I guess.

...holy hell, I have been exhorting young zombie to not be so cynical. I guess I fall short in providing him reasons not to be.

mikey said...

Umm, no.

The answer is cheap, uniform, off the shelf hardware. No wins for "cool", for "design", for "magic".

It's a commodity like tires or pants. And that's problem enough to police. Give them some "magic" and they're fucking untouchable.

For chrissakes. We all live in a browser and a mail client, maybe a twitter client. Stop with the "we're cooler than you are", for fucks sake.

It doesn't matter what you use. It matters what you do with it. This is the stoopidest argument I've seen, and I've been here for all of them.

Go ahead. Gimme special pleading. "But mikey, I use this application that won't run on..."

Know what? Bite me.

Use linux, and free open source apps, or shut the hell up...

zombie rotten mcdonald said...

um, mikey, the question wasn't the software so much as the provenance of the hardware it is run on; provenance of which is all pretty much the same, as Subby admits.

I know the word Apple elicits certain reactions, as well as I know that those of us who use commercial software expose ourselves to the scorn of those who are more morally pure, but that is not the battlefield which has been laid before us.

I don't work for a big international company, but if I commit suicide, is it going to be chalked up to Apples deviltry? I suspect so. they are so very evil.,

zombie rotten mcdonald said...

No wins for "cool", for "design", for "magic".

also, as an architect, this kills not only my market for wealthy people to pay me to give them "cool", "designed" or "magic" houses and buildings, very nearly giving me no career, but also eliminates pretty much the entire automotive and fashion industry.

...OK, dammit, I can see the plus side of that. Shit. Maybe I should have gone into killing.

zombie rotten mcdonald said...

...wait, let's see if Cory Doctorow shows up, and I can pick a fight with him too...

mikey said...

Zombie, computers are not houses or office spaces. They are lawn mowers. They are refrigerators. They are just devices that are expected to operate in standards-based fashion, without special tools or rules.

Open source is effective because it recognizes that this isn't the way the third generation of computing should function. It shouldn't be owned, it shouldn't be special - the idea is that the people making the content are providing the value, and the people making the devices that access the content should follow a basic set of rules so everybody's content will play.

I don't know how anyone who GETS what the web is about can support either microsoft or apple. But Canonical is trying to save us from our worst instincts, and people want to push back. Gad. Why is that??

zombie rotten mcdonald said...

Zombie, computers are not houses or office spaces. They are lawn mowers.

well, exactly. And I buy a John Deere, and you buy a Sears, and Substance buys a reel-push mower (because he's kind of a masochist) and why do you care if I use a John Deere?

Meanwhile, the idea that intellectual property is available for free kills every writer, and musician, and architect....

And I'm not sure I support that. Not for myself, so much, but it worries me that musicians are being starved at the same time.

OK, I am concerned about myself also. I suck. I admit it.

the idea is that the people making the content are providing the value, and the people making the devices that access the content should follow a basic set of rules so everybody's content will play.

Ok, this sounds like it makes sense, but it is basically what Rand Paul has been saying about Civil Rights. That the Great Open Source (or Free Market) will force everybody to work in a positive way. But you and I both know that people are shit, and will devolve to being shitheads.

the sticking point is the "basic set of rules" and those have to be created somewhere, at some time.

I am happy to be the source of those rules, at which point I will make sure Open Source is allowed free reign; right after I have become the source of the country's design and zoning rules (not the world; see I am not greedy.)

Substance McGravitas said...

Others have said this better than I have, but what would help artists far more than copyright fiddling is a meaningful social safety net.

But back to the post: it's about hardware and labour, and ruining the joy of toys I find cool.

Open source software is of course a thing I like to see proliferate, and I have pointed to a bunch of it on this very blog: I recall Inkscape not having some very valuable feature. But anyway I dunno who wants to pay through the nose for fucking Microsoft Office when you show them OpenOffice for free.

And Open Source should be remembered as distinct from people ripping shit off on the internet.

zombie rotten mcdonald said...

a meaningful social safety net.

SOCIALEST!!!!

Substance McGravitas said...

Many ramen noodles have I eaten in pursuit of the right to be given the tax dollars of my betters.

mikey said...

And I'm not sure I support that. Not for myself, so much, but it worries me that musicians are being starved at the same time.

But they're not. The idea that the only way for artists and musicians to be financially successful is that some corporate entity must act as their interlocutor into the marketplace has been effectively disproven at this point.

the sticking point is the "basic set of rules" and those have to be created somewhere, at some time.

False scare tactics. Why does the web work? Why does the same content work in IE, Firefox, Chrome, Safari?

The industry is capable, indeed, required, to produce a set of standards. Thats why software runs on a specific platform and why you can browse the web using the browser of your choice. What part of this is challenging?

The thing is, we've gone beyond the need for the microsofts and apples and AOLs. There ARE standards (go ahead and argue - it's beyond dispute) and within those standards the innovation is NOT in the client software, but in the things you can do WITH the client software. Whether it's Pandora or Google Docs or Zoho or whatever, THATS where it's interesting, and to try to award some special standing to a hardware company that won't even put memory expansion slots in their music players because that FORCES us to buy a new one when we run out of room, rather than just buy a 12 dollar memory card is something I cannot abide...

Substance McGravitas said...

False scare tactics. Why does the web work? Why does the same content work in IE, Firefox, Chrome, Safari?

I have spent two fucking years disproving that with something that is supposed to be a simple gateway to buy a simple service.

I am a badass tester.

mikey said...

Hey, sub. It's not you're fault when THEY won't follow the rules. It COULD be easy.

But there's all that greed and shit...

J— said...

For those with the time and interest, a long but often entertaining thread on copyright, performance rights organizations, and cover songs at bars and similar businesses. The site has a no politics policy which the moderators enforce, so it's fun because you get to see the wingnuts apply their political ideas and tools to something that isn't strictly political.

mikey said...

Imagine if TeeVee sets worked this way. Apple tee vees would be awesome, but expensive and every now and then you'd find a show it couldn't display.

Microsoft tee vees would show microsoft and their partners shows in a very special unsupported hi resolution format, and every time microsoft got in a spat with one of their partners you would find you couldn't display their shows anymore.

A plain old generic tee vee built to standards would display any show that was encoded to standard, no matter whose.

So now it stops being about tee vees and it becomes all about the stuff you can watch on tee vee...

Substance McGravitas said...

It's nice to see this entry still up. Microsoft guy says they introduced popup blocking and does a microsoft proprietary smiley which reads as a possibly-mistyped "J" in all sensible browsers, and internet drive-by haters go bananas.

Substance McGravitas said...

For those with the time and interest, a long but often entertaining thread on copyright, performance rights organizations, and cover songs at bars and similar businesses.

That was indeed interesting.

A local place here went belly-up not paying their license fees. It was an awesome place on stage or off. Plus one of the staff broke the arm of a guy from Urge Overkill, and they were assholes.

Andrew said...

I have a Nokia N800, that I hang on to more dearly by the day. It does things even Nokia's N900 follow on device won't do because it's actually a cell phone and not a separate device (a la the iTouch). It has tethering integrated into the software, it even has tethering to a GPS device integrated—so I get 3G access and location based service without having to buy anything I don't already have.

If this thing quits working—and it's already got some issues with the touchscreen—I'm headed to eBay to get another one or possibly the 2.5 model, the N810. Basically the same thing except with more flash memory and a couple of goodies like integrated GPS.

My sister has an iTouch and I've considered both that and some Android based device but none of them will do everything I want/need. And I'm not really keen on locking into a contract for this sort of thing.

I'm sure I will be like the Amiga people in 20 years.

zombie rotten mcdonald said...

Does Nokia use Chinese fabricators who drive their employees to suicide?

zombie rotten mcdonald said...

A plain old generic tee vee built to standards would display any show that was encoded to standard, no matter whose.

Not any more.

zombie rotten mcdonald said...

But they're not. The idea that the only way for artists and musicians to be financially successful is that some corporate entity must act as their interlocutor into the marketplace has been effectively disproven at this point.


I'm not talking about that. I agree with that. Many of the musicians I support use small labels and direct distribution (also, iTunes has a program that allows independents to be marketed through the iTunes Store, so a band can have the best of both worlds. But that's another argument, I guess, since Apple is Evil in any incarnation).

I'm talking about the idea that content is free, the BoingBoing idea that "Information Wants To Be Free"

Well, I deal in information and expertise, and it's not free.

zombie rotten mcdonald said...

Imagine if TeeVee sets worked this way. Apple tee vees would be awesome, but expensive and every now and then you'd find a show it couldn't display.


FUD. Old skool FUD, in fact.

Macs display everything that PCs can, run all the Open Source software you might want, and since migrating to Intel processors even run Windows, arguably better than PCs do.

As you point out, if they didn't people would be less likely to use them.

Wait, I take that back; there are some things that Macs don't run as well as PCs. Malware.

Substance McGravitas said...

Macs display everything that PCs can, run all the Open Source software you might want, and since migrating to Intel processors even run Windows, arguably better than PCs do.

Not entirely true unless the Mac hardware is running Windows or Linux, and no, not all the Open Source software that I might want is ported yet to the Mac OS I want to run it in. As far as malware and viruses go, I don't think mikey's Linux installs are a problem.

I'm not moving to Linux until the wallet demands it, as a lot of the Mac's multimedia flexibility is too slick to abandon right now and I have been extraordinarily lucky with freebies.

Andrew said...

Nokia actually has some plants in Eastern Europe, which made the N800. I know this because there were some defects in some batches that were tracked to...I think it was Estonia.

I'm sure they have Chinese operations, although I have no idea if they do business with Foxconn.

fish said...

I bought a coffee maker that was more expensive because I liked the way it looked. Kitchenaid mixer too. I buy things not just based on functionality (although important) but on their design, art, and interface quality. These qualities are worth money to me.
My 3 year old figured out how to use my iPhone. She hasn't run much command line yet.
Apple will rise until the get too big and controlling, then other companies more nimble and flexible will take their place (see Microsoft, History of). This is an area where capitalism actually seems to work (at least for now).

fish said...

The worker abuse thing sucks though. Makes me have a sad. But I wouldn't assume good treatment because the factory is in Eastern Europe.

zombie rotten mcdonald said...

hell, you can't assume good worker treatment when the plants are in AMERICA.

zombie rotten mcdonald said...

I buy things not just based on functionality (although important) but on their design, art, and interface quality. These qualities are worth money to me.


thank you for that, friend fish.

Buildings are more than just machines for living or containers of corporate profit. Well, they should be, anyway.

mikey said...

Dead right, Zombie. I don't like Microsoft and windows either, for different reasons than I don't like apple, and in neither case is it ideological.

I can much more readily understand someone preferring apple hardware over generic, and my dislike of windows is predicated on it's size, problems, bugs and risks that it's true you don't get in an apple device.

My problem with apple is one part cost and two parts corporate greed. Why wouldn't they put a microSD slot in the iPod or iPhone? Only one possible reason - they WANT you to run out of space and have to buy a new one, rather than just expand the one you own. That's some pretty crappy treatment from a company you obviously have a great deal of loyalty to. Hey, if it works for you, vaya con dios, but I've got more than my share of dysfunctional relationships already.

My whole point is that about ten years ago it stopped being about the device, and became entirely about the network. I don't care what I USE to work and play in the web as long as it works RIGHT. I switched to chrome because of the performance, sure, but mainly because it gets it's own self out of the way and lets you focus on the content/application you're using.

Linux is smart, powerful, modern and free. It runs on any generic box, and it does everything you'd want it to do. If you want to extend it's functionality, that's free too. I can't understand why anyone would find some big greedy corporate implementation superior to the open source solution, but we all put our dollars where we want to.

zombie rotten mcdonald said...

Dead right, Zombie

I see what you do there.

Dragon-King Wangchuck said...

I get the feeling that I'm way over my head here as my tech-geekery is novice at best.

Anyways - OS Wars? Rilly?

Here's teh perspective from someone who ain't all that steeped in teh IT. This whole thing is galling because Apple, way back when, built itself on being the more human and humane choice. They were the technology of artists and musicians and creative folks and <a href="http://www.wired.com/gadgets/mac/news/2002/05/52559>teh good guys on teevees</a>. Windoze was a sterile pit of spreadsheets and soul-less automatons and middle managers and idiots who asked about the "any key".

If this was about any other tech company, except maybe "Don't be evil" Google, it'd be meh. It's the hypocrisy that makes it.

Anyways, I use MS crap because I enjoyed playing Fallout 3 on release day.

Also, in related sweatshop news:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/27/technology/27apple.html

Dragon-King Wangchuck said...

The tag fail was, uh.. intentional. uh, to show my newbness at the electronic gadget understandingness.

fish said...

Close, just a missing endquote and greater than sign.