Since Apple won’t let me publish this letter on their forums (It was thrown out of their user forums) I’ll take my chances in publishing it here instead.
My only aim is for someone senior enough at Apple to read it and take action.
Let’s see what happens. Feel free to hop on the bus and turn this ship around.
________________________________________________________
Dear Apple.
I wish to express my great discomfort with your exclusion of USB/Bluetooth sync between Maverick and iOS7. To my astonishment I have abruptly realized that the company I've trusted to bring me better things in life, have taken a turn for the worse, forcing its users to use iCloud even if they don't want to.
I've been an Apple client since 1987 and have through my companies and advocacy to family, friends and associates generated millions upon millions of revenue for Apple. Seriously. Through the years my enterprises have been responsible for thousands of computers, printers, (you had those in the past), screens, laptops, iPhones, iPods, iPads, etc, etc...* It's through customers like me that Apple even survived the late 90's when your products where anything but best in class, yet the prices were way up there... We did stay loyal thou because we so much loved the basic concept of placing the user in the front seat which is what Apple technology has always done…
But now... I’m worried. The user in the front seat seems to have been abandoned. Not because iCloud isn’t great technology - it is!. But because this is not a technical issue, it's a philosophical and moral one. As such it relates to fundamental values in me as a human.
If it was only about a change of GUI or a change in my behaviour as a computer user, I’d be happy to comply. I have in the past, and once getting used to how Apple thinks things should be handled, I've adapted and been OK.
But this is not a change of behaviour it's a change of values and that's where I, and many with me, draw the line.
The idea of every single person that I know and every single appointment in my calendar being sent to a data center before returning to my cell phone is just not acceptable. If I trusted governments (and that goes for ALL governments - not just the US) I’d be happy to go along with transparent data. But so far, in the past 100 years, democratically elected governments are responsible for about 50 million more innocent deaths than any organised crime or terrorist network is, so I choose to be somewhat selective about who I share my personal data with.
I don't trust cloud services, period. Especially not in times where major IT players are under suspicion of supplying personal data to government agencies.
What you have forced upon us users is inconvenience and workflows many of us don’t trust.
Yes I should have read the Terms of Use and Update Notes before upgrading to Maverick. But for nearly 30 years (!) I’ve had no reason to doubt Apple’s integrity so I’ve simply trusted downloads without reading the fine print - never again!
Your reasons elude me. Big Data mining? Government agency compliance… why?
Others who don't mind can surely have it, but don't force me to use it against beliefs and values that are at the core of how I define myself and my freedom of choice! I will sacrifice convenience and ease of use for integrity any day of the week and to many of your most faithful client THIS IS an integrity issue.
If there isn't a fix, giving me, the user, back the power to choose for myself how and when I wish to synchronise my sensitive, personal data (calendar and contacts), then my journey with OSX will come to an end or I’ll start using smartphones from other users. There are alternatives out there and I will change my behaviour, adapt and even learn to live with lesser designs if necessary.
I'm giving until new year for Apple to bring back my freedom of choice before I start looking into other options.
*
Respectfully but disturbed and not very happy!
/Fnuffnert
My only aim is for someone senior enough at Apple to read it and take action.
Let’s see what happens. Feel free to hop on the bus and turn this ship around.
________________________________________________________
Dear Apple.
I wish to express my great discomfort with your exclusion of USB/Bluetooth sync between Maverick and iOS7. To my astonishment I have abruptly realized that the company I've trusted to bring me better things in life, have taken a turn for the worse, forcing its users to use iCloud even if they don't want to.
I've been an Apple client since 1987 and have through my companies and advocacy to family, friends and associates generated millions upon millions of revenue for Apple. Seriously. Through the years my enterprises have been responsible for thousands of computers, printers, (you had those in the past), screens, laptops, iPhones, iPods, iPads, etc, etc...* It's through customers like me that Apple even survived the late 90's when your products where anything but best in class, yet the prices were way up there... We did stay loyal thou because we so much loved the basic concept of placing the user in the front seat which is what Apple technology has always done…
But now... I’m worried. The user in the front seat seems to have been abandoned. Not because iCloud isn’t great technology - it is!. But because this is not a technical issue, it's a philosophical and moral one. As such it relates to fundamental values in me as a human.
If it was only about a change of GUI or a change in my behaviour as a computer user, I’d be happy to comply. I have in the past, and once getting used to how Apple thinks things should be handled, I've adapted and been OK.
But this is not a change of behaviour it's a change of values and that's where I, and many with me, draw the line.
The idea of every single person that I know and every single appointment in my calendar being sent to a data center before returning to my cell phone is just not acceptable. If I trusted governments (and that goes for ALL governments - not just the US) I’d be happy to go along with transparent data. But so far, in the past 100 years, democratically elected governments are responsible for about 50 million more innocent deaths than any organised crime or terrorist network is, so I choose to be somewhat selective about who I share my personal data with.
I don't trust cloud services, period. Especially not in times where major IT players are under suspicion of supplying personal data to government agencies.
What you have forced upon us users is inconvenience and workflows many of us don’t trust.
Yes I should have read the Terms of Use and Update Notes before upgrading to Maverick. But for nearly 30 years (!) I’ve had no reason to doubt Apple’s integrity so I’ve simply trusted downloads without reading the fine print - never again!
Your reasons elude me. Big Data mining? Government agency compliance… why?
Others who don't mind can surely have it, but don't force me to use it against beliefs and values that are at the core of how I define myself and my freedom of choice! I will sacrifice convenience and ease of use for integrity any day of the week and to many of your most faithful client THIS IS an integrity issue.
If there isn't a fix, giving me, the user, back the power to choose for myself how and when I wish to synchronise my sensitive, personal data (calendar and contacts), then my journey with OSX will come to an end or I’ll start using smartphones from other users. There are alternatives out there and I will change my behaviour, adapt and even learn to live with lesser designs if necessary.
I'm giving until new year for Apple to bring back my freedom of choice before I start looking into other options.
*
Respectfully but disturbed and not very happy!
/Fnuffnert