I think it’s time for Apple to give up on the idea of mystery updates. By that I mean updates that tell the user nothing or almost nothing about what’s changed, what impact it might have, and why the user should install the update.

Apple does this, I believe, because they don’t want their customers to be either dismayed with the realities of the updates nor confused by them. Too much information, like the world of Linux, can cause the customer to feel overwhelmed. Buying and owning a Macintosh should be a happy experience.

Unfortunately, that’s a fantasy world. Even the most Pollyanna Apple customer is confronted with a vast array of technologies to integrate. There are dedicated backup devices, other external drives, printers, iPhones and iPods and who knows what else that all have to be kept working in unison, perfectly.

Worse, it looks unprofessional and it makes Apple look like it has something to hide. While security updates are detailed fairly well as to the documented vulnerabilities that have been patched, other updates, like the recent Apple TV 2.0.1 update appear with no explanation at all. At iLounge on Monday it was reported that some users were having issues with the update. There’s nothing more frustrating than applying an update, because Apple puts it out there, and then having problems that must be solved by asking others in the forums, “What the hell just happened?”

Corporate users hardly ever install updates until they understand the impact on their systems — the ones they try so hard to maintain in a delicate balance of usability and stability. That’s why Red Hat and Fedora Linux branched. Red Hat remains stable and supported for the enterprise. Fedora is free to experiment. Constant tinkering and fine tuning leads to unstable systems.

It takes some time to understand what a problem is, then create a solution and test it. As a result, Apple engineers know what the problems was, why they fixed it and how. Hiding that information from the paying customer for the sake of the illusion of carefree simplicity is out of sync with the needs of customers.

Today, it was announced that Apple is being sued for allegedly making false claims about their 2nd generation iMac 20-inch screens. This is another trust related issue. One of the keys to making a no-brainer decision for Apple is that the customer trusts what Apple is doing in all areas, design, hardware, user interface and security. Backing away from full disclosure may make Apple look like a happy-go-lucky company, but it also strains our trust.

Right now, today, we need trust a lot more.

[23:15 UTC] On Tuesday, Steve Jobs mentioned some possible candidates to become his successor. Two were Apple COO Tim Cook and CFO Peter Oppenheimer. These recommendations to the board say a lot about Apple’s future.

In the not too distant past, Apple was a beleaguered company, at risk of going bankrupt. When Mr. Jobs returned, Apple was struggling to generate revenues of US$5B. Now, in 2008, Apple is a $25B company, almost certainly headed for $40B in just a few years. They have more money in the bank than the gross domestic product of Nicaragua.

Mr. Jobs’ choices say several things to me. First, Apple is a confident company. While many enjoyed kicking them around in the past, the stark reality today is that Apple is a force to contend with and no one is making fun of them anymore. That’s going to translate into a substantive threat to Microsoft — just as father Steve intended.

Next, Apple is looking for a stable, sober manager to manage Apple’s growth and finances. The next CEO will be a seasoned businessman, an executive to guide the company through its new found success. Mr. Cook may be a little on the sedate side and Mr. Oppenheimer isn’t exactly rock star material, but that no longer matters. Apple won’t be in desperate need of a firebrand to resurrect the company. Instead, it will need someone to guide it through the international introductions of future iPhones, advanced iPod touches, and new products to come.

What Apple will miss will be the taste and judgment of Mr. Jobs who knows just as much about features to omit as features to add. Even so, after ten years of Mr. Jobs at the helm, the culture is firmly in place.

Finally, as I mentioned, the threat to other companies will become even harder to ignore. Apple is well on its way to double digit market share with Macs. When we get into double digit market share of, say, 16 percent, that’s one in six Macs. The banking industry, developers, and the U.S. government will suddenly find that it’s no longer easy or convenient to ignore the Mac. American technical culture will change.

When the end of Mr. Jobs’ reign comes, and I hope that’s a long time from now, we’ll look back fondly on the fireworks and the RDF. But change is certain, and Apple will be a more mature, confident, wealthy and businesslike company in that future. What else could we wish for?

My wife uses Linux, Java, Perl, and C++ at work. Recently, she wanted to get a new PC with Fedora 8 so that she could do work and research at home on a fast system. Her old custom built PC was aging and is really only suitable for interface testing. The local shop that built it is out of business.

Now, running Fedora 8 is possible in Parallels on a MacBook, but she didn’t want to do that — she wanted direct access to the hardware with no hassles.

We looked around. PC Connection and the local Microcenter have various PCs, but Lea’s colleagues have advised that Hewlett Packard PCs don’t have the best quality parts. And she’s very allergic to Dell. We had a bad experience buying a notebook from Dell a few years ago and ended up sending it back. Also, the cheap retail PCs use shared memory for the graphics card which we wanted to avoid.

A friend of mine suggested we look into eracks.com. These guys will build a custom PC to your specifications, install the OS of your choice, and ship it to you. The order page has popups just like Apple’s store. If options you chose are incompatible or haven’t been tested, they’re generally blocked. In any case, the technicians at eRacks will size up your machine profile and let you know if you’ve done something too far out of the mainstream. We ordered one of the BOOQ series computers with a Core 2 Duo, 2 GHz, 2 GB RAM, 320 GB drive, and a very good graphics card with 256 MB VRAM.

I was very impressed with this outfit in California. I had a personal sales rep who clarified some ordering options, kept me advised of fab progress and provided the tracking number when it shipped. They’ll even include the install disk for the Linux distribution you select.

It took a little longer than quoted for build process, and we had a one day delay for President’s Day, but it was well worth the wait. Order day was Feb 5th and delivery was Feb 22nd, UPS Ground. (You get to pick the carrier.) It was packed very well. If you don’t want to build your own PC from scratch, and you want a solid PC built to order, these guys are the next best thing. I recommended them.

Please welcome John Martellaro, Afternoon Editor for TMO, to Blogs.TMO!