The results have been tallied from Internet Evolution's latest in-site poll asking which technology companies you love and which you loathe.
According to our admittedly unscientific poll results, the readers of Internet Evolution have officially declared Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) as their most hated Internet company. In a somewhat surprising turn of events, Apple, which received 30 percent of the vote, ranked higher on the hated chart than Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT), which came in second with 22 percent.
And despite the IE community recently admitting it would ditch Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) for a Wikipedia-run search engine, our results show Google reigns as the most liked Internet company, with 32 percent of the vote.
The complete results are as follows:
While the poll will remain open in our archives unto the end of time, we can use the aforementioned results to draw some highly unscientific, yet highly smart, conclusions:
We are split on Apple. Despite its first-place ranking in the most hated crowd, Apple also came in second place in the most liked category. Although a bit inconsistent, this makes good sense. After being a favorite among tech lovers for many years, we've recently seen the Microsoft v. Apple tables begin to turn. (See Apple’s Arrogant Attitude About Security.) While it hasn't lost all its lackies just yet, Apple has at very least been knocked off its pedestal.
Nobody cares about Yahoo. Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO) barely made a dent in either of the categories, thus demonstrating its practically invisible footprint in the current Web soil of public opinion. However, based on Yahoo's plans to kick its staffers to the curb and revamp its platform, I'd be curious to re-ask this question again a year from now. (Mark your calendars...)
We like free services. Taking the third and fourth places as the most liked companies behind Google and Apple are Craigslist (18 percent) and Wikipedia (12 percent). Both of these companies also received only between 2 to 3 percent of the most hated vote. We like services that do their job without (any evident) hope or agenda outside of user satisfaction.
Social networks are the pits. A collective 13 readers voted for Facebook or MySpace as the companies they like most. Based on the gloms of traffic and membership numbers boasted by these sites, one would think a few more Internetters would toss some love to their favorite online hangouts (at least 15!). However, according to our poll, more people hate Facebook and MySpace than love them. As IQCrewer M Hulot puts it, "News Corp wins my Hate Most vote... because it (and Faux News, which
I do not choose to get) are the unholy spawns of Rupert 'Screwtape'
Murdoch, the man who -- as some clever wag has put it -- has dedicated
his life to wasting yours."
That could be it. Or... Perhaps all the former hotties driving us to these sites in the first place have just gotten a bit old and haggard looking.
I'm surprised Craigslist is even hated at all. How do you hate something that is free, works, and doesn't even try to dress up and be something it's not?
It's like saying you don't like puppies, or that gravity is just a theory. Hate just seems like a strong word, even if you don't like the generic look of it all or, maybe, are tired of the many Xlists that have come out to mimic Craigslist.
I would agree with you, no one SEEMS to care, but look at the facts. Microsoft has 90 - 92% of the desktop market (and about 55% of the server market). A lot of businesses run Windows alone, some with mixes of MS, UNIX, Novell, Dominio etc. Apple gets away with it because the "Microsoft Hating Media" is focused on Microsoft. Their truly is a double standard with Apple supporters. Could it be the slanted, negative reporting of Microsoft and Windows in the technical media?: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1872175,00.asp
It's easy to hate the big, rich guy. Plain fact of the matter is their stuff works, they've been wildly successful, many people in the U.S. hate big business etc etc etc. If there were better (as in WOW this new OS is soooooo much easier to use, to switch to and ALL my business apps will work on it too) desktop OS out there, people would be using it.
I've wondered about this question for so long, and nobody seems to care.
When Microsoft was at its peak, with their monopoly, and seems as no one could
bring them down, people started to complain that it's making users who buy a PC
use Windows (and a hundred-million other complains), they were all heard in
court and the monopoly was (taken?) away from them.
But what about Apple? they are worse than Microsoft at its peak... they
control the hardware AND software. One of their products says it all: iLife...
everything from apple OR ELSE!
And don't get me wrong, I'm not routing for Microsoft either... I just as
for fair play.
"1. It's not open source. 2. Proprietary techniques are consistently and unfairly used to ruthlessly undermine competition. 3. I don't like schoolyard bullies. 4. There is more concern about 'valid licenses' than about correcting bugs. 5. There is more concern about paid support programs than about providing simple ways to report bugs. 6. Microsoft has actually gone so far as to sue competitors for the use of techniques it stole from someone else. That's just a bit much."
Answers: 1. So? Open source has plenty of issues all on its own, but DOES have value as competition to closed source. But it is far, far from being truly organized and competitive.
2. Not to TOTALLY stick up for MS, but their methods follow successful business practices, plain & simple truth – like it or not. I think some people just hate big business. Many, many companies do this, why single out Microsoft?
3. Either do I, but those bullies helped me grow and push me into new directions and to take on new challenges (like fighting! ha ha ha).
4. I would disagree. Bugs do get fixed, they do take time as they have to follow stringent checks & balances as to avoid screwing up millions of OS’s even more, and MS’s functionality and security bug records are clearly misrepresented (negatively) by the “Microsoft Hating Media”. RE: Licenses: When people are stealing from you and affecting your bottom line, shouldn’t you stop that? If you say no, then why are you in business? To make make $ or to be Santa Claus? Up until XP, MS wasn’t really hell bent on protecting its product with their validation software program. “As humans must breathe, corporations must make $”.
5. Got me there. Yes MS is truly a Goliath, reporting bugs can be done, but you do sometimes have to jump through hoops (like with my Windows 2000 Windows Updates issues last year – it was a mess!). But, many companies do this to make more moola, good business practice however.
6. Good business practice…again! If you can’t beat them, BUY them, undercut them or sue them.
Well, FAIR is FAIR in love & war…AND in business oddball (It’s a mother beautiful bridge…and it’s gonna be there.).
Apple has been around long enough that if they didn't want the high negatives, they would do something about it. But I think they do. It helps them look "cool and hip" with the younger, artistic, and rebellious crowd that make up their user base. Want an analogy? Look at the VW Bug. People either love it or hate it. It is a powerful symbol in our society, a symbol that says "hey, we are non-conformists". And there are a lot of non-conformists out there with cash to spend...
You are most gracious and very kind to forgive me for showing my backside. I'll be sure not to make that kind of error in judgement again. It's just hard to be diplomatic, when some things make you want to scream and statisics do that for me.
Hi wolfram - thanks for clearing that up - I appreciate it - apology accepted. As I mentioned, we know this is an informal, unscientific poll which we just used to draw some general, speculative conclusions. --Nicole
My deepest apologies to you Nicole. I didn't mean to imply you personally, the "bimbo" comment is a generalization, as I have seen this actually be the case in the work place. However, I realize there are many more hard working people doing a truely useless job, since stats tend to be manipulated more then truely reported with all the facts. Again, it wasn't a personal attack, in fact I wasn't even aware that you did this report. BTW these days Bimbo can apply to both sexes.
The ThinkerNet does not reflect the views of TechWeb. The ThinkerNet is an informal means of communication to members and visitors of the Internet Evolution site. Individual authors are chosen by Internet Evolution to blog. Neither Internet Evolution nor TechWeb assume responsibility for comments, claims, or opinions made by authors and ThinkerNet bloggers. They are no substitute for your own research and should not be relied upon for trading or any other purpose.
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