Rule #1 - Any positive comments about Apple will get you modded troll it seems. Slashdot has turned from rational thinking and actual intelligent discourse in regards to Apple to simply "they are anti-geek or anti-hacker and therefore evil".
Slashdot is "news for nerds". Many things that Apple does goes straight against things nerds want to do. So I find it entirely unsurprising that are considered evil by many people.
And for me at least it is indeed that simple: They are anti-geek or anti-hacker and therefore unworthy of my support. Supporting them would be going squarely against my interests.
It doesn't matter what the context or the content of the post is. Any 'fuck apple' will get an immediate 5 Insightful. Look to the top of this entire thread for a prime example.
Apple gives plenty to the community:
Clang, Blocks (in llvm), libdispatch (Grand Central Dispatch services), OpenCL, WebKit (including a whole new JavaScript VM), CUPS, Darwin, blocks, Bonjour, Calendar and Contacts Server, Darwin Streaming Server, launchd and XQuartz, MacRuby. Many of those not insignificant, and something which could have generated a lot of revenue in patents. I'm sure there are more, but those are just off the top of my head.
That is irrelevant. Doing good doesn't erase your evil deeds. The court might be a bit more lenient if you're generally upstanding character and did nothing too heinous, but I've never heard of anybody get declared innocent due to a good deed cancelling out some wrongdoing. Al Capone ran soup kitchens, but that didn't help, which is precisely the way things should work.
I have no problem with recognizing that they did some good work there, but don't see why that suddenly absolve them of anything.
They are a far more responsible corporation than some,
What any other company does or doesn't do doesn't enter into it. My neighbour stealing a lot doesn't justify me stealing a bit.
[...] but they ARE a company, and given who they are competing with, they have to protect their profits. Apparently they are supposed to simply allow anyone to use their patents and copyrights, and defending those patents will immediately make you even more evil, even if it's justified (something that has yet to be determined by the courts, but has already been decided here).
I do think patents should be greatly reduced, and software ones shouldn't exist at all. That said, there are plenty companies that manage to exist perfectly fine while being a lot less heavy handed, so improvement must be possible.
They are also not allowed to control their product sales, terms of service, or anything else that is accepted in thousands of other products around the world, all because they have 'insulted' the geek crowd.
It's not specifically about Apple. Personally I believe that there should be as much freedom as possible for the individual, but that companies should be much more limited in what they can do. Again, that somebody else does it isn't an excuse. Right of first sale should be absolute, for all companies, not just Apple. I have just as much of a problem with game companies wanting to end second hand sales, but their fanboys seem to be less numerous, so pointing out I don't agree with it seems to be a lot less controversial.