October 14, 2012

Hating on Software Companies

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This is from an LA Times article titled “Top 10 features in Apple iOS 6”:

By far the coolest new feature in iOS 6 is the ability to set your alarm clock to play any of the songs in your music library.

Seriously? That’s the best feature in the new operating system? And you still expect me to bother reading about features 2-10?

Speaking of which, here’s a question for all of you who aren’t hopeless Apple fanboys: are there any large-ish software companies you like? I hate Microsoft, of course. I hate Adobe. I hate Symantec. I hate Intuit. I don’t even remember why anymore. It’s all buried so deep in my psyche that it’s like asking why the Hatfields hated the McCoys. And now that I’ve been using Apple products for a while, I’ve developed an almost unreasoning hatred of Apple. Microsoft always just seemed big and clumsy and power hungry to me: I hated them, but mostly the way I hate earthquakes and hurricanes and bad drivers. Apple, on the other hand, has a corporate attitude carefully and cunningly designed to be as arrogant, unhelpful, and control freakish as it’s possible for a corporation to be, all wrapped up in a marketing persona that’s almost Orwellian in its winsomeness. It drives me crazy. One result of this newfound enmity has been an improbable infatuation with the current series of Galaxy S III ads, especially the one I’ve embedded on the right. I suppose I’ll get over it soon. After all, I don’t own any Samsung products and don’t plan to.

On the other hand, I am thinking about getting an Android tablet. If I do, will I soon come to hate Google?

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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