I really, really hope this "Apple is the devil" theme ends in the next few weeks. It's nauseating to see the same headlines multiple times a day on HN, all making the same ridiculous arguments.
The reality is, this time next year, people (pros and causal users) are going to love the Touch Bar, and nobody is going to care about the Surface Dial. I just hope it happens sooner rather than later.
Seems to me that if Apple suffers from anything, it's the ol' Microsoft conundrum: "our competition is the previous version of Windows". My 2012 rMBP is chugging along just fine, running VMs and IDEs, and just being a general workhorse. Though I imagine I'll go against the grain and find the Touch Bar actually useful, I'm not dropping $2500 to find out. I'm not of the opinion that Apple is losing it, gone off the rails, or whatever the cool kids on Medium are saying. I just don't see enough of a jump to warrant spending more money. Which I imagine is a problem a lot of computer manufacturers are coming to grips with.
And perhaps that's the source of the angst. Many, like me, were probably looking for a reason, any reason to go drop $2500 to replace their 3-4 year old laptop. The big announcement came, and no such reasons were given. Doesn't bother me, it's a tool not a toy. But I can understand some disappointment.
It certainly scores bloggers some ad revenue....