Apple critic, get facts straight before writing

Ihave just finished reading an opinion piece that, even by the lenient standards of opinion pieces, does a severe injustice to Apple Inc.

[stefn]

I own a highly functional 2002 5G iPod, not to mention my 1987 Mac SE as well, in working condition.

[Mark Staller]

Well, between my wife and I , we have 4 ipods. One is 4 years old and works fine. The other 2 ( and Ipod 30gig and a Nano) are about 2 years old and continue to chug along fine. The 4th one is an original iPod and is used daily by our 8yo son. All are docked weekly have been updated accordingly by Apple's software update via iTunes. No problems.

I'll be buying a 3G iPhone when it's released and the 8yo wil get a new Nano for Christmas.

[Maj]

My first generation ipod would still work if I wasn't to cheap to pay to get the headphone jack fixed...

[Tedious]

The authors of the unlocking software admit that the cause of the bricking was their fault and there was nothing Apple could have done to prevent it. Well, SOME of the authors admit it.
The bricking incident caused a mutiny within the team, as many members did not want to admit it was their actions (erasing a segment of the basic input/output system that is required to LOAD the firmware operating system) that caused the bricking and wanted to let Apple take the heat.
They wanted to tweak the unlock code to no longer do that and act as if it never happened. Luckily, Erica Sudan wanted to publicly say "oops" and try to fix the phones the software they released wrecked. This caused a mutiny within the unlocking team (Google "IPod Dev Team vs IPod Elite" for more details.) and they split in two.
For a while, they vied to be the "official" unlock team, but now most people trust Erica's team at TUAW.com for their honesty.
...but it makes better headlines to say that Apple purposefully shut down users phones for unlocking them (a technically unfeasible task), an no one in the media followed up the story or printed retractions and another myth was born.
The irony of the situation is that the unlocking software that caused the bricking wasn't the only unlock available... but it was the only one of the four available that resulted in "bricking". If Apple were trying to shut down unlocked phones, it would have gone after ALL unlocks, not just those of one team.
The other irony is that "newbies to hacking" have been misusing the term "bricked".
CLUE: If a software glitch can be repaired, it's only "wrecked". A "bricked" device is beyond repair and only useful as a paperweight or a "brick" to throw at someone. A "brick" is at the final stage of failure.

[justthinking]

any chance it could be that the nano is flash memory based and his wife's 30 gig is hard drive based, i mean jeez think it through people. i have gone through two portable hard drives in the last 2 years. constantly moving something that is literally rubbing the disc to retrieve information is bound to cause it to fail eventually. Moron. thanks for the article

[The 18th Letter]

Tedious wrote:

The authors of the unlocking software admit that the cause of the bricking was their fault and there was nothing Apple could have done to prevent it. Well, SOME of the authors admit it.
The bricking incident caused a mutiny within the team, as many members did not want to admit it was their actions (erasing a segment of the basic input/output system that is required to LOAD the firmware operating system) that caused the bricking and wanted to let Apple take the heat.
They wanted to tweak the unlock code to no longer do that and act as if it never happened. Luckily, Erica Sudan wanted to publicly say "oops" and try to fix the phones the software they released wrecked. This caused a mutiny within the unlocking team (Google "IPod Dev Team vs IPod Elite" for more details.) and they split in two.
For a while, they vied to be the "official" unlock team, but now most people trust Erica's team at TUAW.com for their honesty.
...but it makes better headlines to say that Apple purposefully shut down users phones for unlocking them (a technically unfeasible task), an no one in the media followed up the story or printed retractions and another myth was born.
The irony of the situation is that the unlocking software that caused the bricking wasn't the only unlock available... but it was the only one of the four available that resulted in "bricking". If Apple were trying to shut down unlocked phones, it would have gone after ALL unlocks, not just those of one team.
The other irony is that "newbies to hacking" have been misusing the term "bricked".
CLUE: If a software glitch can be repaired, it's only "wrecked". A "bricked" device is beyond repair and only useful as a paperweight or a "brick" to throw at someone. A "brick" is at the final stage of failure.

Tedious,
Thank you for posting this. I feel like paying for a full page ad in the new york times with your explanation as the centerpiece. You explained perfectly what the "unlocking public" didn't - and still doesn't - understand. Not to mention - and I'm not a lawyer so maybe I'm wrong - if it were true that Apple purposely bricked phones, they'd be taken to court with the quickness by the techie fanboys who would've discovered their evil plot 10 minutes into breaking the firmware.
In any case, Tedious, you da' man!

[The 18th Letter]

Wow... This Sun ripped this guy apart. Way to go, Sun!

I read the article also; it was the worst piece of Journalism I've seen in a while. But, like many other "journalists", taking a bite out of the big Apple sells articles.

[steve]

I have a 10gb click wheel version circa 2002 sitting in front of me that I currently use as a portable FW drive... Its only problem is that the battery will only hold a charge for a few days.... pretty good for 6 years old... I update it reasonably often... just a couple of weeks ago for instance.