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When forum posts ruled the world

iPhone lawsuit threat somewhat exaggerated.

The Macalope
Born of the earth, forged in fire, the Macalope was branded "nonstandard" and "proprietary" by the IT world and considered a freak of nature. Part man, part Mac, and part antelope, the Macalope set forth on a quest to save his beloved platform. Long-eclipsed by his more prodigious cousin, the jackalope (they breed like rabbits, you know), the Macalope's time has come. Apple news and rumormonger extraordinaire, the Macalope provides a uniquely polymorphic approach. Disclosure.
The Macalope
3 min read

Information Week's Alexander Wolfe may be having some trouble with the plural.

His piece on how iPhone users are talking "lawsuit" is entirely based on...

Well, wait. Before we proceed, the Macalope should state that due to disturbingly high inanity content, the following should not be viewed by small children or pregnant women.

OK. Just a little warning the FCC has asked the Macalope to start using. Apparently there were some problems. Nothing serious, just some "nosers" at some of the Enderle material. But, better safe than sorry.

Anyway, Wolfe's piece is based entirely off of a post on Apple's support forums that threatens to start a class action lawsuit against Apple over bricked iPhones.

Wow.

Will Apple survive this juggernaut?

A quick search indicates that "myndex" likely isn't a lawyer.

What?! Get out of town!

More probably he's a Mac guy.

Well, he says he's a Mac guy in this thread at MacRumors, and his web site has a bitchin' circa 1995 "Made with a Macintosh" logo. Reading that thread shows myndex's real beef: that he used iPhoneDrive with his phone and when he started having syncing problems, Apple wouldn't service it.

So, unless he's got another iPhone that was bricked by the 1.1.1 update, "myndex" (if that's his real name!) wasn't affected by the impetus for this latest round of "I'm apparently unable to understand the basic capabilities of the things I buy". He's just trying to make hay while the sun is shining.

Let's state that again for clarity because myndex's post is the basis for Wolfe's thesis which says -- while discussing a myriad of things, including the options scandal even -- that Apple's culpable for bricking hacked phones: mydex's phone was not affected by the 1.1.1 update. He used a third-party application that does unsupported things to the file system and expected Apple to continue to service his phone.

We all clear on that now?

The sheer hypocrisy of it all rankles.

The hypocrisy of refusing to take responsibility for your own actions? That kind of hypocrisy?

To a layperson, it seems like there's a difference between damage that's out of Apple's control...

Like what myndex probably did to his phone?

... and Apple going out of its way to mess up your phone.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Who was it exactly who went out of their way to mess up their phone again? Was it the people who ran unsupported applications or was it the company that warned people that the next update might brick their phones so you might want to think twice before running it?!

Holy Zeus.

Remember, this is not about unhacked iPhones that have been bricked. Apple should be roundly chastised for mucking up anyone's unhacked iPhone and there are some signs that a number of those were bricked, but those are under warranty and will get fixed. No, this is about doing something deliberately to your phone that voids your warranty and then expecting to still get new features and bug fixes and free cupcakes and stuff.

Wolfe's next piece will ask why Apple doesn't support iPods that users have installed Linux on.

Myndex's missive seems to be the first chatter about a "brick" suit.

Dude, it's a forum post. Wake the Macalope when there's more than one member of this classless class.

What's next? Will Mr. Jobs tell iPhone users who they can and can't call, and when.

Ha-ha! With Apple iPhone...

Oh, forget it.

[Edited for clarity.]