It's amazing how many people besides a few unjustly despise Apple over here. Personally, I love most of Apple's products, especially the operating system OS X. However, I dislike that Apple keeps filing lawsuits continuously, even though I do understand their point of view. These trials are a result of the US Patent Office's stupidity, they shouldn't have granted Apple patents for features that were too obvious. Once a patent has been granted to a company though, they have every right to enforce their patent. There is no blame on Apple for that. The only reason I want Apple to lose, settle, or withdraw from these lawsuits is because as a consumer, I appreciate the variety of choices available to me when deciding to purchase a new smartphone. It is necessary to repeat that Samsung shouldn't have ripped off so many ideas from iOS for the TouchWiz UI either.
Moving on to Apple's business tactics, every company desires to attain a large market share, increase revenue, profits, & gain a loyal customer base. Apple attempts at eliminating competition isn't something unique to them, there are accusations against Microsoft of intentionally eliminating competition as well. There is a rumor that when Microsoft originally released Internet Explorer, they made use of messed up tactics to gain a majority market share. Some people may remember that at that time, the most popular Internet browser was Netscape. Netscape used to cost money, Microsoft included their own browser in Windows for free to intentionally kill off competition. Besides that, some people even claim that programmers at Microsoft intentionally programmed Windows to not work well with Netscape. This led to Internet Explorer becoming a dominant web browser, & every website developer had to conform to IE standards while developing websites. This clearly shows that most companies tend to look after their own interests, in the end it's all about making a profit.
Let me clarify a few other things, OS X is based on freeBSD Unix, not on Linux. Linux is another Unix-like operating system that was essentially meant to be a free clone of Unix. The GNU & BSD licenses are kind off different. The Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) license basically allows people to do whatever the hell they want with program's code as long as they receive some credit for the original code it self. Besides, OS X is a Unix certified operating system, some purists may not consider OS X true Unix, but the fact remains that OS X is the easiest to use Unix certified OS. Moving on to the GUI, Apple purchased the GUI from Xerox, they did not steal it or copy it the way Microsoft did. Although, it's a good thing that Apple lost the case against Microsoft or they would have had complete control over the GUI. Unfortunately, Microsoft had its own dreams of monopolization & they made loads of deals with PC manufacturers to bundle Windows on computers alone. Xerox never understood how useful the GUI that they themselves had created was. Besides, the original GUI created by Xerox was incomplete & flawed, it was Apple's efforts that made it useful. For example, features like the recycle bin & productive window management was originally thought off by Apple as far as I know. There are many more examples of Apple innovating.
Lastly, I just want to add that Apple makes some amazing products. OS X as an operating system is extremely stable & reliable, many professionals trust their careers & personal information to their Macintosh & OS X. Apple focuses on every little detail when it comes to software & hardware design, that is why they have managed to build an amazing ecosystem around their products. People that consistently complain about how Apple limits freedom should simply not use their products instead of complaining. It's true that Apple regulates, controls, & monitors their products' & software's ecosystem, but the purpose of this is to ensure a good experience for their consumers. Microsoft is attempting to do the same thing now with Windows 8 & Windows Phone 8. Technology is improved & developed to make the lives of consumers easier, it doesn't matter if a person can't install some buggy custom ROM on the iPhone. Apple isn't even a monopoly, neither do they have a dominant market share in the desktop market, those who don't like Apple's products are free to use others. When it comes to the desktop market though, there is only one company that is responsible for destroying competition, & that happens to be Microsoft.
A person should simply use whatever works best for him or her. Anyway, these were my views on the subject.
