Brands that succeed despite being shite...

ThePrettyDamned

chillidoggy said:

RocknRollDave said:

LinkedIn

Couldn't agree more. It appears to be populated by sharp-suited well-groomed, and coiffured salesmen and middle managers called Darren, who drive Audi's and BMW's.

All of which want to make friends with me. Vomit-inducing.

I find it almost worse than Facebook for adverts, too - endless streams of, "here is how to be an entrepreneur, my course is only £1000 per month!" etc. 

I don't get it really. But then some friends think it's valuable. 

Sporky

slacker said:

professional only means getting paid. 

Provably incorrect.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/professional

7 definitions there.

Foster

crunchman said:

Foster said:

Bucket said:

Apple.

Overpriced, style over substance, with a fucking useless, horrible "walled garden" approach to connectivity that makes everything needlessly difficult unless you do everything Apple's way and buy all their other products as well.

See I disagree, I bought a MBP in 2009 for uni - cost me about £1500.

In that time it has been used and abused. It copes well with protools, ableton, logic, max, aperture, photoshop and various other programs that I use fairly often. Sometimes it gets a bit hot but it still works and i'm happy using it live for pantos, shows, gigs, etc.

I like the fact I can buy pretty much anything I need and it'll work without a load of hassle and pissing about with drivers.

So how long did the MPB last? Still using it, rarely ever update it because it works. I think i'm still running on Lion, couldn't see the point in upgrading the OS (though I miss snow leopard, that was good). Admittedly the CD/DVD drive died but I just took the thing out, rarely ever use CDs or DVDs anyway (when I do I have a £5 USB one that does the job fine).

Got a show next week where my laptop will be running both the sound and lighting at the same time, just got to muck about in max4live so that ableton will control everything and make life so much easier.

Why is the length of time you have had it relevant?  I had a Dell PC that lasted 7 or 8 years.  I've upgraded it but parts of it are still being used 10 years on.  Apple use the same processors, hard drives and memory as PCs anyway.  Some of their hardware is better quality than budget PC laptops but I don't want to pay extra for gimmicks like a light up keyboard.

I also had a MBP from around 2011 or 2012.  Unfortunately I was forced into "upgrading" the OS to make it run with a bit of hardware that wasn't compatible with Snow Leopard.  It ran like a slug after that.  You mention "pissing about with drivers" which is something I never did in 7 years with that PC.  With the Apple I was forced to "upgrade" the whole OS because it wouldn't run with something.

With hindsight, I could have bought a PC latptop with the same processor, memory and hard drive as that Apple for about 40% of the price.  With that kind of maths, even if you end up replacing the PC after 4 years you are still better off financially, and you will have a much faster machine 4 years down the line.

To be fair to Apple, I don't think the price differential is as bad as it was then but @Bucket was correct with his comment.

As for their overpriced phones.....

The length of time i've had it is relevant as it's performed better for longer than when I used to own PCs - hell it shits all over my brand new work laptop (which struggles to load google maps ffs).

I wouldn't call a light up keyboard a gimmick, I've had to work in near pitch black theatres before and it's a godsend to be able to see what keys i'm hitting without causing extra light - just enough dim light to work by.

I recall using my PC when I was studying ND music tech. Trying to install a soundcard was a lesson in futility most of the time, many days of mucking about with drivers just to get the thing to work. 

As far as upgrading, i've done relatively little of it. I put more RAM in, I replaced the hard drive as the original was going to die (stuff like that happens, it's a hard drive). 

So for the length of time i've had it I've done very little repairs to it, I don't run any anti-virus and the occasional scans I do reveal it's not got HIV (I call that a win), Anything I've bought that needs to be plugged into it pretty much works without installing extra software, blah, blah, blah. Why wouldn't I be happy with my purchase?

Oh yeah I forgot, macs are popular now, more expensive than a PC and thus they are bad. 

As for their overpriced phones... Love em. Again it works without faffing about, last ages and I don't have to worry about going on a plane with them.

Foster

Legionreturns said:

The Beetles ... Pile of toss

Agree, 2CVs all the way!

prowla

stickyfiddle said:

@prowla So, to sum up, pretty much everything about modern life?

If you drive a Ford, use Windows , drink Greene King and eat at Nando's, yep!

stickyfiddle

@Foster without wading into the the PC vs Mac thing (I'm a Mac at home but PC for work - excel is literally unworkable on Mac) but you get wisdom purely for the light up keyboard. My previous work laptop had a "lit keyboard" (i.e. from an led that shone onto the keyboard from above the screen), but my latest one has nothing and it's a complete pain to work anywhere dark a usually the back of a car in my case.

crunchman

I guess it's down to your point of view.  For my use, I would have been much happier spending less on something with a cheaper case and without the light up keyboard.

My biggest gripe with the keyboard was not the lighting up.  It was that the keys are in the wrong place.  If you are selling it in the UK then put a UK layout keyboard on it.

Apple do take the mickey on price though.  I remember going on holiday to the US with my wife's family, and both of her sisters bought iPads while they were over there.  Wiht the models that were available at the time, there was a $100 difference just to get 32GB of storage instead of 16GB.  That's utterly ridiculous and just gouging the consumer.  At the time, I could have bought 16GB of storage for around £20.  There was absolutely no excuse for charging $100 just for the extra storage.

When I lost the charger for my MPB, it was £65 for a new one.  Again, that was completely outrageous gouging of the consumer.

Foster

stickyfiddle said:

@Foster without wading into the the PC vs Mac thing (I'm a Mac at home but PC for work - excel is literally unworkable on Mac) but you get wisdom purely for the light up keyboard. My previous work laptop had a "lit keyboard" (i.e. from an led that shone onto the keyboard from above the screen), but my latest one has nothing and it's a complete pain to work anywhere dark a usually the back of a car in my case.

The whole Mac vs PC thing is just a pointless argument - use whatever works for you. I do a fair bit of audio/photography stuff and using a mac makes my life easier. At work I prefer windows 7 and Excel 2013, I can work my magic with those.

I've never been able to get Linux to work but my mate uses it for building insanely massive servers - makes sense as it's the right tool for the job!

Also sometimes the "entire package" is what makes the object a nicer thing to use than the other product that, despite having the same underpinnings, seems clunky in comparison. I guess that's why some people would rather own a Audi than a VW or a Seat or a Skoda.

tone1

Wetherspoons
Poundland
Edinburgh Woolen Mill
Legoland

stratman3142

Tyrrell's crisps. Marketed as some sort of prestige vintage brand, but horrible and greasy. At least Walkers crisps (that you get in a bag of largely air) are edible.

Apple (especially Iphones). A totally constraining and restrictive operation system. Even simple file/music/photo transfers from/to computer are such a pain in the arse. Give me Android and Microsoft any day. I truly hate my wife's Iphone, where things always seem to be harder than they need to be. Totally inferior to my (Android) Galaxy S7.

rsvmark

Pret a manger

It's not even French!

boogieman

tone1 said:

Wetherspoons

I think Wetherspoons are brilliant at what they do. Cheap food, cheap beer, no frills. You always know what you're going to get: yes, it'll probably be generic pre-cooked food but it won't be a poncy burger with sweet potato fries and a pomegranate jus, served on a plank, yours for £30 thank you. 

richardhomer

boogieman said:
served on a plank, yours for £30 thank you. 

Or a slate, paving slab or 'up-cycled' urinal....

chillidoggy

Or the namby-pamby chips-in-a miniature deep-fat fryer cobblers.

boogieman

chillidoggy said:

Or the namby-pamby chips-in-a miniature deep-fat fryer cobblers.

Never seen those. Of course we don't all  live in la-di-dah hipsterville like you Chilli. 


  

Sporky

I've seen the mini fryer basket and the teeny metal bucket thing.

Neither much bothers me, though I do favour the simple plate. I'm more interested in whether the chips are any good than the presentation.

Legionreturns

If I get served stuff on a plank or slate, I send it back and ask for a plate. 

chillidoggy

boogieman said:

chillidoggy said:

Or the namby-pamby chips-in-a miniature deep-fat fryer cobblers.

Never seen those. Of course we don't all  live in la-di-dah hipsterville like you Chilli. 


  

There is a move to smarten up the area, however the old 'You can't polish a turd' adage' rings true. The pub next to my office serves 'hand-cut' chips in the aforementioned wire basket, but I'd rather a machine did it than have some local scrotebag who's probably just been scratching his knackers involved in the food preparation chain.

boogieman

chillidoggy said:

boogieman said:

chillidoggy said:

Or the namby-pamby chips-in-a miniature deep-fat fryer cobblers.

Never seen those. Of course we don't all  live in la-di-dah hipsterville like you Chilli. 


  

There is a move to smarten up the area, however the old 'You can't polish a turd' adage' rings true. The pub next to my office serves 'hand-cut' chips in the aforementioned wire basket, but I'd rather a machine did it than have some local scrotebag who's probably just been scratching his knackers involved in the food preparation chain.

Don't get me wrong, I've got nothing personal against Margate. My missus lived there as a teenager when her mum and dad moved there. Her brother was on the lifeboat crew for a few years too. They both have fond memories of the place. 

chillidoggy

boogieman said:

chillidoggy said:

boogieman said:

chillidoggy said:

Or the namby-pamby chips-in-a miniature deep-fat fryer cobblers.

Never seen those. Of course we don't all  live in la-di-dah hipsterville like you Chilli. 


  

There is a move to smarten up the area, however the old 'You can't polish a turd' adage' rings true. The pub next to my office serves 'hand-cut' chips in the aforementioned wire basket, but I'd rather a machine did it than have some local scrotebag who's probably just been scratching his knackers involved in the food preparation chain.

Don't get me wrong, I've got nothing personal against Margate. My missus lived there as a teenager when her mum and dad moved there. Her brother was on the lifeboat crew for a few years too. They both have fond memories of the place. 

Nah, not suggesting you have anything against Margate old chap, in fact feel free to get stuck in and take the piss, I do all the time.

I was being ironic when I said there was a move to smarten up the area, particularly as the local council is the one with the big pot of turd-polish, but whenever they do smarten anything up, they leave some other piece of crap right next door. Hopeless, they are.