Corporations Are Not To Be Loved
Apple’s positive effect on my life should not be underestimated. My Mom once (lovingly, teasingly) said to me that my alternate career, had all this never happened, was “criminal genius.” Which might have been fun too, but possibly more stressful than I might have liked. At any rate, Apple has saved me from a life of crime, and I should love Apple for that.
But I need to remember, now and again, that Apple is a corporation, and corporations aren’t people, and they can’t love you back. You wouldn’t love GE or Exxon or Comcast — and you shouldn’t love Apple. It’s not an exception to the rule: there are no exceptions.
Emphasis mine.
I have long "loved" Apple. My first Mac came at a very lonely time in life (first year of college). Before then, computers were work, literally: my first job was at the local internet service provider in my small town. I had my own desktop at home where I'd play games, but thoughts about drivers and memory and storage and sound cards were never far from my mind.
With a Mac, that all changed. Apple created this functional computer in a beautifully designed enclosure. The Mac OS X was whimsical and fun in a way Windows never was (and never has been). Most of all, Apple was attentive to detail. Sure, it couldn't do everything a Windows computer did, but it sure did what it could do much more thoughtfully.
I've been in the Apple ecosystem for nearly a two decades. More than half my life. I have few regrets about entrusting the company with my data. Hell, their devices enabled me to have a career while living out of my tent. Apple devices have enabled an unprecedented amount of freedom, and for that, I'm grateful.
I am also an Apple shareholder. I became one shortly after the first iPhone was announced. That investment was, back in 2007, risky and ill-advised. But it has paid off, literally, and again, for that I'm grateful.
But Apple is still a corporation. Their computers are just things. iPhone, as central as it is to my life — to my ability to have the kind of life I live — it merely a thing. An incredibly powerful, almost god-like tool, but still just a thing.
People accuse me of loving Apple. At times, I'm ashamed to say I have. But they are a corporation. Their only loyalty is to profit, to the financial benefit of their shareholders. Corporations do not give a shit about anything other than profit.
Do not forget that.