Why “Think quadratic.”?
“Think quadratic.” is obviously a reference to Apple’s classic “Think Different” marketing campaign from 1997, but with a twist. A derisive homage, ultimately, the idea behind “Think quadratic.” says Apple didn’t think different enough, or they’ve simply fallen into the same trap they railed against all those years ago. Clearly, they have been “big brothering” the user experience more than Microsoft ever dreamed of doing since 1984.
A controlled experience might not be such a bad thing, except when you also take note of the fact: over the last 30 or so years, they’ve made needless market segmentation and forced device obsolescence the norms. Even those aspects of Apple’s business approach might not seem so bad, until you factor in how they’ve got the FCC in their back pocket, enabling their shady practices and ensuring there’s never a true “all-in-one” device.
We get it, vertical market segmentation – desktops, laptops, tablets, smartphones, watches, and now goggles – guarantees everyone can choose the form-factor that works best for them, but omitting features just to push users to purchase more than one device . . .year-after-year . . . that’s ridiculous. And it’s not even a hardware omission. The hardware is present in all these devices; it’s just locked down via the software that’s running on it.
Think about it, if an iPad Pro could make calls, professional users could probably get away with just that single device. They would need earbuds, while the iPad was packed away, but otherwise, there’d certainly be no need for a desktop, laptop, smartphone, watch, or goggles. Or what if their watches could make calls and/or take photos, which would be easily possible. Even casual consumers would probably just opt for that watch alone.
Hyper-control over market segmentation is also happening horizontally, but rather than create several needless segments, Apple’s clumping very distinct segments together, and focusing on satisfying the most common needs. Apple wants everyone to believe they can achieve their goals within the ecosystem Apple has created, but that’s only true for those within the “bell-curve,” and not the “misfits” they’ve traditionally exploited in their advertising.
Most superusers not only have to buy multiple devices in order to maximize their productivity, but they also have to buy multiple devices from different manufacturers in order to have access to a wide array of software tools. Apple has the most complete ecosystem, but it’s not without its gaps. And the other manufacturers have even bigger holes, such as Microsoft’s lack of a mobile OS and Google’s lack of business class products.
In short, superuser should refuse to abide by Apple’s (and all the other manufacturers’) nefarious tactics and instead use THE device that best balances power, efficiency, versatility, and stability, while configuring it to access the complete suite of tools within each ecosystem – Apple’s, Microsoft’s, Linux’s, and Google’s. In this way, these “Quadratic Thinkers” will express their demands and demonstrate where our tech should be headed.
What’s next?
If all that seems a bit far-fetched for you and you’re just here to toy around with your Mac and see if you can get it to quad-boot, that’s fine. Taking on the tech giants is a bit unrealistic, but showing solidarity as consumers isn’t, so why not see just how far we can go? Maybe they’ll listen or maybe this could turn into something bigger. Point is, there’s no utility in thinking small and even less in sticking with the status quo.
That being said, if you found any portion of this Compendium or the thinkquadratic.com website useful, please let us know one way or another. Donating to one of the contributors certainly helps the most, but just signing up for the “Think quadratic.” newsletter, subscribing on YouTube, or joining in on chats anywhere goes a long way too. The aim really is to establish a community of “quad-minded thinkers,” so if you partake, please consider giving back.
If you wish to get involved in a bigger way, please reach out. We have a list of planned improvements you could help tackle to immediately improve the “Think quadratic.” experience. Or, if you’re thinking even bigger, like, “Let’s take on the tech giants!”, that works even better! Let’s! How awesome would it be to revive the Ultra Mobile PC market?? At the very least, it would be amazing to have an ultra slim USB-C device. Let’s talk!
How to Use this Compendium
This document started in Word and because the ToC, headers, and links were already in place, it stayed in Word once thinkquadratic.com went live. It will eventually be ported over into a better technical authoring tool, but it’s sufficient for now. The fact it’s in HTML allows you to easily view it on any device or readily print it. The logo at the top will take you back to thinkquadratic.com and the headers in the purple bars are navigation buttons.
Pictures will eventually replace all of the “/” marks. If you would prefer not to have the pictures, let us know and maybe we’ll create a separate Compendium without pictures. Do take note of warnings in RED TEXT. Orange text is subject to change with further testing and green highlight indicates planned improvements for whatever drawback or hassle is being mentioned. Other than that, please excuse typos, as this is still a WIP.