The Macalope loves it when writers from other disciplines decide we need to know why they hate Apple. It’s exactly why the horny one so often pontificates about pre-Columbian South American art (don’t even talk to him about the post-classic period).

Writing for Mother Jones, political blogger Kevin Drum publicly scratches an itch:

“Apple Hates Me. I Hate Them Right Back.” (tip o’ the antlers to Francesco Casale and @JonyIveParody)

Ooh, Apple hates him so much. [fist shake]

No, the Macalope has no idea what he’s talking about, either.

Apple has never allowed ad-blocking software on the iPhone or iPad. This is one among many reasons that I ditched both. Not because I hate ads all that passionately, but because it’s an example of the obsessive corporate control Apple maintains over its environment.

Not having features and then having them is one of the signs of the devil. Read a Bible, people.

But it’s my iPad, dammit. If I want a different virtual keyboard, why can’t I get one?

Uh, you can now? Sure, it might not work very well, but…

OK, yes, Apple’s platform is more locked down and Apple is slow to open features to developers, mostly for reasons of security and user experience. iOS is more secure than any other operating system and that’s largely due to their strict control over it. Yeah, not all of that security necessarily follows the control and of course there’s frequently an associated profit motive (gasp), but this benefit bears mentioning and it never is in these rants because, well, they’re rants. That’s how rants work.

The basic lay of the land here—assuming the Wall Street Journal has this right…

One wonders if Drum takes the Journal’s word for everything in his day job as a liberal blogger.

“Hmm, it says here that Bernie Sanders sprouts fangs at night and drains the blood of the living. Well, guess it must be true.”

…—is that Apple’s move is aimed at Google, which makes most of its revenue from browser ads.

What does the Journalsay?

…Apple says it won’t allow ad blocking within apps, because ads inside apps don’t compromise performance as they do on the browser. That distinction serves Apple’s interests.

Also the interests of reality.

It takes a 30 percent cut on money generated from apps, and has a business serving ads inside apps.

There’s a key difference between web ads and ads in apps. Web ads are not only obnoxious, they’re often malware. App ads can sometimes be obnoxious, but they’re usually less so and, because Apple vets apps, they’re not malware.

What’s more, iOS 9 will include an Apple News app, which will host articles from major news publishers. Apple may receive a share of the revenue from ads that accompany those articles.

Good. Luck. The Macalope would like to see what would happen if Apple went to John Gruber and asked him for a cut of his sponsorships. The company has already blown it once with Newsstand. Shaking down publishers for this one would not exactly get it off on the right foot. Your stream doesn’t have to appear in News and most publishers would simply choose to walk.

Away from the Journal’s scary and unfounded speculation and back to Drum’s misinformed antipathy.

In the big picture, this motivates more and more companies to build Apple-specific apps, since those will become more lucrative over time. And it helps Apple’s bottom line since it gets a cut of the revenue.

But not all iOS apps use iAds. There are other ad-delivery networks for iOS apps—such as Unity Ads—and Apple takes no cut of revenue generated from those. Wasn’t the Macalope hearing how iAds is a flop? Such is the duality of Apple: Even its flopping platforms that advertisers and developers reportedly eschew are INESCAPABLE MONOPOLIES DRAINING OUR PRECIOUS PERSONAL LIBERTIES.

This is why I generally loathe Apple.

Your broad-based misunderstanding of its platforms? Yeah, that’s usually the reason.

Say what you will about Microsoft, but they’ve never pulled this kind of crap on their customers.

No! Certainly not! Violating your privacy is apparently more their thing!

Nowhere mentioned: Windows 10 privacy concerns as well as Google’s attempts to squeeze Apple for more user data in Maps. Apple is not perfect. Apple acts in its own interests. Google and Microsoft do the exact same thing, just over different things because their business models are different.

If I buy a Windows machine, I can do pretty much anything I want to it.

Indeed. If only Apple made its own desktop operating system that was not locked down like iOS. OH, WELL.

…Apple has never cared much about allowing me to choose how I prefer to use a computer.

Just lousy with malware and not an inch of privacy! That’s the ways I likes ‘em! Welp, suit yourself. You don’t have to use Apple’s products or even like them. Just be accurate in your criticism of them.