An ongoing debate at Samizdata has sparked quite a bit of interest. The initial premise of the post was “Apple products are far too samey and totalitarian”. And then the comments came flooding in.

Me, I don’t particularly like Apple either. I was never particularly fond of the interface at school, and nothing I’ve seen since has convinced me that I’d prefer the newer versions. But a bigger reason these days has emerged: the aesthetic, the branding, and the obsession that both bring.

I mean, look at the stores.It’s like a bright, sterile, modernist hell; I’m half expecting Azrael to walk down the stairs in a fetching white suit.

And the branding allows shit like this to not only happen, but to be expected. Tying up two of the best known brands in the world to add a couple of quid to the prices of both, for a system that nobody needs. Brilliant.

Of course, it’s all a matter of personal taste. And, personally, I don’t like them. Are they inferior/superior? Not enough so that they’d make me switch. So why the evangelicism?