On using Apple products

Could I switch away from Apple? Sure, I could ditch my iPhone and buy another phone, and I could ditch my Mac and buy a laptop with Linux, I guess. But the only thing I’d be accomplishing is to make life easier for myself, and I’d also stop using software developed by those developers I care about. And also, nobody would care. Because nobody should. Tools are tools; they either do the job you need them to do or they don’t. And the sad reality of this world we live in is that most big companies out there are awful. If you spend some time digging, you’ll find despicable things done by probably 99% of CEOs of big companies.

If I find out that the Volvo CEO is eating babies in their spare time, what should I do? Sell my car? Do I need to check if the Suunto CEO is a piece of shit to make sure I can wear this watch on my wrist and still feel at peace with myself? Frankly, I think it’s an exhausting way to live a life, and I’d be better off focusing all those energies somewhere else, trying to make something good, something that has a positive impact on the people around me.

The first time I bought a MacBook Pro, I remember feeling electric at all the possibilities that lay before me. I knew the processor speed, the amount of RAM I needed, every single spec that powered that beast.

Over time, it’s become almost a non-factor. I don’t even get excited about it; I just buy the one that has the specs I need for the job I need done, and I move on.

At one point in time, I was fully bought in on anything Apple did. I was buying an identity, passage into a community of people who had “taste” and “cared” about things like user experience and design. I’d eagerly watch as much WWDC content as I could, consuming every blog post from John Gruber and podcast from 5by5.

I just don’t care about it anymore. It’s not worth my time anymore. I just wanna build cool things. Is that an okay identity to buy into?