Why do smart people hate Apple products?

[Jim Maryland]

All the people I know choose the proper tool for the job and don't worry about the brand. For server side solutions, we often (but not exclusively) go with Linux (generally virtual machines off a high end Linux box or a Sun/Oracle server) for the flexibility and customization. For desktops, Microsoft is generally chosen since a majority of the business applications run exclusively on that platform. We do have some Mac systems for testing of our products and would use appropriate solutions as needed.

As for why smart people hate Apple products, I think it is mostly the fact that the products are "black boxes" that aren't really friendly to hobbyist. Scientist, physicist, engineers, and technology enthusiast prefer to "hack" and customize so open source is usually preferred.

For home use, sadly my 4 PCs are Microsoft Windows based since they are mostly for gaming and only runs on MS Windows. I wouldn't object to getting a Mac, but it simply doesn't meet my needs and I can't see spending a premium if it doesn't run the software I use. I do run Sun/Oracle VirtualBox and would love a Mac image, but Apple is very restrictive with their OS. I currently run an older Windows version (XP) and a few Linux distros (one designed to look like the Commodore 64...lol) to play around with them at home.