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Apple: I'm just not that into you. Leave me the hell alone!
By Andrew Pollack on 01/09/2012 at 04:57 PM ESTDamn if Apple doesn't still want to take over my PC every chance it gets!
You guys know by now that I'm not a big Apple fan. The only Apple device I own is a second generation iPod Touch that I like for listening to audio books and sometimes music. I don't have or want an iPad (though my wife loves her's), I don't have or want an iPhone, and I don't buy music through iTunes. I have nothing against people who have and like these things, I'm just not one of them.
Since I use my iPod Touch to listen to audio books and I can download those directly to the device with the Audible app, I don't plug it into my PC very often. Every time I do, iTunes launches and insists on adding several startup items to my system. It adds Quicktime -- does anyone still use this? It adds its own "Bonjour" utilty, and it adds its automatic update program. The update program then goes ahead and downloads later versions of Safari (which I use on very, very rare occasions for testing), Quicktime, iTunes, and other stuff.
I do not want Apple loading these things in my startup.
Now, FSM help me, I allowed iTunes to update my iPod Touch and suddenly Apple has (without asking) swept me up into its "iCloud". This includes re-routing messages from my wife's iPhone to my email account (that Apple knows about) so it goes to my iPod Touch instead (which is useless to me). It includes adding new software to my PC that I didn't ask for (the iCloud Control tool). It also auto-starts these things on my PC at boot time (which I did not ask for).
Apple, STOP THIS. It is not good behavior to do things to someone's machine when they don't want it. If any other company behaved this way, this would be labeled crapware or even trojan software. Apple gets away with it because they're so hip and cool. Not with me.
I had to load the "iCloud Control" program just to turn off the iCloud stuff that I NEVER SIGNED UP FOR, and just starting that program put the Apple startup crap BACK in my PC configuration and I had to remove again.
How come nobody in the industry calls these guys on crap like this?
I use iTunes for music. I also use it to demonstrate how to write wrapper
classes in LotusScript and VB.NET when I teach at the local university.
I've chosen to use iTunes: not iCloud, not Quicktime, not Bonjour or Safari, or
any of the rest.
With as much interconnectivity as Apple does, the one thing they DON'T do
(which is another reason I've written LotusScript that integrates with iTunes)
is allow me share my playlists across multiple computers.
I try to make it easy for Apple, really I do.... I save the ripped CDs in the
same directory structure on both laptop and desktop, with the same versions of
the software and everything, but no.... you're gonna have to write code if you
want to sync that stuff up.
Anyway, Andrew, another great article.
Sorry I won't see you at Lotusphere this year... our company is moving slowly
to All MS All The Time so there's no budget for Notes/Domino training. Come to
think of it, there's damn little budget for any other training.... guess you're
supposed to learn it at home in your free time!
Still, all things considered, life is good.... happy new year!
post the code. Probably on my faculty page, but give me a couple of days to
sort it all out.
http://blogs.callutheran.edu/jpdillon/2012/01/23/lotusscript-interface-for-itune
s/
things you mentioned:
- iCloud can be switched off on your device easily. So there wouldn't have been
the need for the control center. BTW, your device should have asked you if wou
want to activate iCloud upon the update.
- Starting iTunes while connecting. I hate iTunes because it's slow and heavy
(that's the main reason I switched to MusicMatch) but even iTunes has a setting
that says "don't start iTunes when a device is connected". That's always the
first thing I activate because quite often I just plug in my devices to charge
without the need of iTunes.
So even if some of the "defaults" are questionable ... most can be customized
if you won't Apple to interact to much!
machines, and that has iTunes installed. I've mostly used apps on Ubuntu for
managing my iPod, and never buy from the iTunes store. Yup, the raft of
auto-installed apps is a pain.
This is why i much prefer Amazon MP3 or Ubuntu One as my music stores
...especially as i use my Android phone more and more for music.
Apple does make some nice interfaces, but they (like Microsoft) have become too
big and have decided that they know what's best. Unfortunately, Google is
perhaps heading this same direction. *sigh*
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