Ramblings of General Geekery

Some similarities between Apple and Steve Jackson Games

Apple is company whose boss is a guy named Steve who is, by reputation, quite charismatic but also a real asshole when it comes to working with him and using his intellectual property. Their main product gives them only a small fraction of the market, and its core of devoted fans can be loyal up to a rather fanatical point. This product is always set against the more popular product, which is seen as outdated, inferior, over-marketed, and riddled with product updates that break compatibility with silly new features. Flamewars about which product is better are frequent. Apple’s product supposedly covers everything you may need, although fans still usually spend large amounts of money to get add-ons and accessories. However, the other product is still the dominant one by far, and most beginners start with it. Ironically, Apple’s most successful product is a small and fun “side” product. It has seen several iterations and lots of additional products are available.

Steve Jackson Games is company whose boss is a guy named Steve who is, by reputation, quite charismatic but also a real asshole when it comes to working with him and using his intellectual property. Their main product gives them only a small fraction of the market, and its core of devoted fans can be loyal up to a rather fanatical point. This product is always set against the more popular product, which is seen as outdated, inferior, over-marketed, and riddled with product updates that break compatibility with silly new features. Flamewars about which product is better are frequent. Steve Jackson Games’ product supposedly covers everything you may need, although fans still usually spend large amounts of money to get add-ons and accessories. However, the other product is still the dominant one by far, and most beginners start with it. Ironically, Steve Jackson Games’ most successful product is a small and fun “side” product. It has seen several iterations and lots of additional products are available.