If you have read any newspaper as of late, you have to wonder where people’s heads are at politically, socially, etc.

But this recent brouhaha over Apple’s mucking with its iOS code for ill gotten gain would be laughable if so many people didn’t really believe it. Here’s a direct quote that I read online from an OpEd:

“I don’t buy for a second that Apple hadn’t intended to make people feel they had to buy new hardware when their old device slowed down. Perhaps they truly had good intentions on adding this “feature” to iOS 10.2 for iPhone 6 and newer, but the way Apple executed this was beyond deceiving and borderline corrupt. You just don’t add code that modifies the way a user’s device functions on a hardware level without making them aware of that fact.”

Note the way the author ‘massages’ his wording to grab your attention: “Perhaps they truly had good intentions on adding this “feature” to iOS 10.2 for iPhone 6 and newer …” Let’s look closely at this snippet.

“Perhaps.” Here the author is covering his butt. Simultaneously, he’s condemning Apple as he did in the first sentence of the paragraph, but claiming that there is a chance that they really had no intention of forcing you to buy the latest, greatest and likely more profitable model of iPhone. In other words, maybe they meant well. ‘Misguided’ to be polite.

But then he drops in the middle of the sentence “feature” in quotes. Now we are casting Apple as evil, predatory capitalists. ‘Can’t you see that we all have obviously been betrayed!?! And after all of our years of devotion!’

Did it ever occur to the author that they merely ‘screwed the pooch?’ Which would you prefer – your iPhone crashing in the middle of an important business call or having everything still work but at a slightly slower pace, allowing you to continue whatever you’re doing and keeping that phone for a bit longer if you’d like?

“Perhaps they truly had good intentions  …” Look, whether you like it or not, the gains in software aren’t keeping pace with the gains in hardware currently. They’re both moving forward but for now software is the tortoise and hardware is the hare. And that will flip-flop back and forth for the rest of time.

Do you think that 4K and HDR was imbedded into new HDTVs to force you to run out and buy a new TV? I mean you’re now stuck with an older model with only 1080p or 1080i resolution. “Perhaps” you should run down to your big box store, torch in hand, and demand restitution!

Folks, kick back and take a deep breath. At the next WWDC, I highly doubt that Tim is going to come out on stage, peel of his skin and reveal that he’s a lizard-like alien from three planets down the solar system. There’s no conspiracy theory to be seen here. Everyone can go home now.

No bones about it. Apple screwed up in a major, major way. There should have been a press release on their home page. The fact that nobody thought that letting people know about this is infuriating.

But tell me, honestly, have you never screwed up ROYALLY? Or do you live in a glass house?