Me too. I'm constantly surprised by the amount of Stockholm Syndrome reminding behavior in the tech world. I'm not sure if this behavior is more common in this world or I see it more because that's the bubble I'm living in. Watching people bending backwards to rationalize their irrational decisions never ceases to confuse me.
> (...) any decision other than what you would have made is "irrational."
Of course! How would rationality be independent of one's values? When I'm choosing, I choose what I choose because I think the other options are, even if very slightly, worse than the one I'm choosing. If I know the full context, options and the decision made from another individual and that decision isn't the one I would make, I would call it irrational and that would be my opinion. That situation could mean that we don't share the same values/beliefs or have different information.
My curiosity stated in my comment was genuine as one would expect higher information equality and similar values/beliefs among the people in the same community compared to a random set of people. However, my experience is different. Even when new information becomes available, I see people bending their values to keep their previous decisions "rational" and interestingly this, if you ask me, is more common in the tech world.
> (...) jerks like you (...)
I think that was uncalled for, but then, I guess you have strong beliefs in this area. Have a nice day.
I don't think it's uncalled for that someone who would judge others and call them "irrational" for something like their smartphone choice be called out as a jerk.
I didn't call anyone being irrational and definitely didn't have anyone's smartphone decision in my mind (I had, instead, people arguing for their favorite programming language in mind, to be honest). Also, I think you are more judging than I am.
At this point, I can't take what you are saying as anything more than random attacks, sorry.
Except that's exactly what we were talking about here: Saying that people are "irrational" for not buying the same thing the poster did, in this case, Apple products. And I believe that if you care that much about what other people are using to the point where you would have to question their rationality, then you're a class-A jerk.
> The amount straw grasping I've seen when people try to justify their purchases leaves me unable to tell anymore
The Mac mention in the grand-(...)-parent is just an example there. Surprise: I own a Mac.
> Except that's exactly what we were talking about here: Saying that people are "irrational" for not buying the same thing the poster did, in this case, Apple products.
It seems to me that you are the only one talking about people being irrational or not. People can't be irrational. Decisions can and only with different knowledge and/or values.
> I believe that if you care that much about what other people are using to the point where you would have to question their rationality, then you're a class-A jerk.
Class-A attack towards a straw man! :) Your potential issues with a stereotype have nothing to do with what I said. Good luck in your crusade, though.
But not the DVD playback, which has to be licensed additionally. Being the person who also legally bought the DVDs (all of them are DRMd nowadays) it really hurts:
To which I already replied in the same thread - use VLC which decodes CSS on the fly, unless you live in a country that doesn't believe in your freedom to play legally purchased content and prohibits doing that(United States of America).
Of course, it would be nice if Windows 10 just included that and saved everyone the trouble.
Why can't I just play my media (which I paid for) on my hardware (which I paid for) in "normal" software (which... I thought I paid for). Instead I have to have the Xbox brand shoved in my face at every opportunity?
I don't find it very different from having the "Windows" brand shoved in my face with Windows Media Player, Windows Media Center, Windows Internet Explorer (formerly) etc. or the "Microsoft" brand shoved in my face with Microsoft Office, Microsoft Internet Explorer (formerly)... the OS is made by Microsoft, I expect to see mentions to Microsoft's properties and trademarks.
It would be like that if you were running these apps on an Xbox. But when you are running a PC, it doesn't make sense to brand them with Xbox branding unless they are services specifically related to the Xbox (e.g., Xbox Live account management or something). Otherwise it sounds like a weak attempt at cross-branding.
> Instead I have to have the Xbox brand shoved in my face at every opportunity?
I know this isn't your point, but you might be happy to learn that Xbox Music and Xbox Video have been renamed in Windows 10 to "Groove Music" and "Video", respectively. According to Microsoft, most users thought "I don't have an Xbox, why would I want to use Xbox Music?" — so they rebranded those apps.
Nobody is forcing you to upgrade. If you bought Windows 7 and have it on disc you can keep using it, even without installing any updates, ever! Then you can continue enjoying IE7, Windows Media Player, Windows Media Centre - all of which you paid for. But if you want to upgrade to a new version which doesn't have those "features" - then it's your choice. It's not mandatory, nobody is shoving anything in your face.
That's bonkers. Ok, it was never a great player and every half-decent geek uses VLC or better, but still, plenty of people use MediaPlayer every day.
Tech support hotlines will be overwhelmed by furious customers.