And the comparison each of you made showed the difference in mindsets once again:
People who like OSX/iPhones/etc. enjoy their stuff in the same way one enjoys a relationship—it's not a necessity, it's just useful and fun and beneficial. They may come to rely on it, but they won't expect anything of it that it can't do; they'll just figure out their own way of doing it that won't "hurt their relationship."
People who like Linux/Android/etc., on the other hand, demand things of their hardware and software, the same way you are demanded to work if you want to earn money. In the same way one optimizes a business, they will ruthlessly hill-climb toward efficiency, taking any new feature that provides even a 1% profit-benefit, as long as it has a less-than-1% working-time cost.
To put it another way, Apple users anthropomorphize Apple products, and thus have empathy/respect/admiration/etc. for them. Linux users objectify hardware and software, and do things to them (and require things from them) that would be considered sociopathic if done to people. Neither approach is "correct", mind you—software (Operating System software in particular) is a bit like a living thing, with needs and desires and the ability to cooperate with you, but it's also most definitely less "alive" than a real animal.
That's one way of looking at it, with which I disagree. I mean, which is more sociopathic: thinking you "can do better" while in a relationship, or valuing someone because she's here for you now? I can't speak for other Linux/Android users, but I don't personally think that Linux/Android is perfect or blow their competition out of the water. I've used friends' iPhones and there's loads to like, not least of which is the ability to play Bejeweled on the commute. :p But I use them and support them with my dollars because they were built on a foundation of ideals which I think should be encouraged. Hell, I bought a Freerunner (that OpenMoko phone) even though I knew it wouldn't serve me well in any capacity and that I wouldn't have time to enjoy hacking on it. I bought it as a gesture of support because I thought it was a worthy effort and I wanted it to continue. If they were still in business, I'd probably support them over the Android. To put it into perspective, that cost me about 1/5 of my monthly income at the time.
Going with the relationship analogy, isn't that like dating someone ugly and annoying because she has character?
So you are willing to have a worse experience and pay more for it for some ideology that ends up failing in the end anyway? Who are you arguing is more practical here? :)
Personally I think ideology must always bend to practicality or you end up with some really ridiculous results. I personally think Jobs wants to make the experience for the user the best possible. Not because he is benevolent, but rather because he is worried about what people will say about things he made. And in his case that takes priority over any open ideology that will actually result in a worse experience (that people will associate with him/Apple).
People who like OSX/iPhones/etc. enjoy their stuff in the same way one enjoys a relationship—it's not a necessity, it's just useful and fun and beneficial. They may come to rely on it, but they won't expect anything of it that it can't do; they'll just figure out their own way of doing it that won't "hurt their relationship."
People who like Linux/Android/etc., on the other hand, demand things of their hardware and software, the same way you are demanded to work if you want to earn money. In the same way one optimizes a business, they will ruthlessly hill-climb toward efficiency, taking any new feature that provides even a 1% profit-benefit, as long as it has a less-than-1% working-time cost.
To put it another way, Apple users anthropomorphize Apple products, and thus have empathy/respect/admiration/etc. for them. Linux users objectify hardware and software, and do things to them (and require things from them) that would be considered sociopathic if done to people. Neither approach is "correct", mind you—software (Operating System software in particular) is a bit like a living thing, with needs and desires and the ability to cooperate with you, but it's also most definitely less "alive" than a real animal.