Waiting for Apple to meet 'computer detox' promise

Um, are a "stated goal" and a "promise" really as unrelated as you appear to think? If the government sets a target to keep inflation below 3%, say, and then fails, has it broken a promise because it didn't achieve it's stated goal? Not technically maybe, but you can bet that's not the way a lot of media commentators would see it.

In this case Apple themselves were very confident that they could achieve their "stated goal" and deliver a PVC and BFR free MacBook (and they got very close, it appears that only the peripherals - power cord, battery charger - still contain these toxic materials). And what I neglected to mention in the blog was that they led Greenpeace to believe that that's what would be announced at Macworld, but at the last moment were unable to do so (in fact I'd already written an initial version praising Apple for it's achievement when the bad news came in).

Hopefully though, these last pieces of the jigsaw will be sorted out soon and Apple will be able to promote their new product range as being as genuinely environmentally friendly as we'd all like it to be.

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised at the storm of abuse that's come my way since my blog yesterday expressing disappointment that Apple hasn't yet quite lived up to its stated goal of removing toxic PVC and BFRs from its new products - Mac users are often obsessively loyal to the brand - and I've been one myself for 14 years (since the old Motorola days). But being a fan doesn't destroy my critical faculties, I hope, or mean that I have to take everything Apple says at face value. If you look at the wording of the press release you quoted to me, you'll see interesting references to "BFR free internal components" and "PVC free internal cables". Why these particular forms of words? Well, "BFR free internal components" means BFRs are still used in 'external' components (possibly the charger) - so its not BFR free. And "PVC free internal cables" means there's still PVC in the external cables (probably for the AC power cable). This is not to say that they're not improving - they are - but they are not there yet. Greenpeace was led to believe by the company that they would be announcing that they'd achieved a PVC and BFR free MacBook at this year's Macworld (in line with the schedule set, not by us, but by Steve Jobs himself). If they had they'd eliminated all the PVC and BFRs you can bet that their PR guys would be shouting it from the roof tops of MacWorld - they didn't, because they haven't. Nobody I know at Greenpeace hates Apple or wants to do them down. On the contrary, we want them to live up to the high expectations we have for them based on their own statements - after all, how unreasonable is it to expect that the company running the "greenest laptops" ads should stick to it's highest profile environmental promise?

People should still realise that many older Apple products pre-May 07 are full of toxic materials, Steve Jobs et al only seemed to care when it hit their (already bulging capitalist) pockets as it would spoil the commercial image they have developed. The company have ripped off consumers for years, especially more now since they started using generic PC parts in their computers a couple of years back. They sell computers that cost a massive amount less to produce than they are priced, and use artists to make them look appealing (although if you look into their computers and support they are shafting consumers far more than any other PC manufacturer). That aside, they make the geek in anyone happy with their pretty interfaces and design. Personally I prefer to save 50% on products and opt for a less pretty but functional system, but quite a few of the programmers and designers love their Macs like it was a partner! Personally I enjoy spending the extra cash on things I find more important that a designer PC or hand-held computer (that can sometimes act as a phone ;)