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Despite operating within the profit-driven world of consumer technology, Apple has often maintained a distinctly rebellious public persona. Launched by two former telephone hackers Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak (in addition to Ronald Wayne), Apple forged their own path by ignoring the status quo and offering such innovations as the first widespread GUI and desktop publishing software which was easy for anyone to use.

As Apple lost a series of running battles with Microsoft over market share and the company faced a number of vicissitudes, Apple embraced their underdog status and turned their near destruction into a rallying cry. Never had a technology company made financial disaster seem so cool and owning an Apple computer could feel like being part of an exclusive club. However, as Steve Jobs and co guided Apple back from the brink to renewed success, there is a perception that perhaps they lost something of their free-thinking spirit along the way, that Apple have become part of the establishment which they once so gleefully ignored.

Thinking Different

Consider the following piece of text taken from the ‘Crazy Ones’ poster as part of the Think Different campaign of around fifteen years ago.

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

This was more than mere marketing spiel and though brash advertisements have often been seen something of a tradition at Apple, the text makes a rather bold statement in itself about the kind of company who would pursue such an advertising campaign – with all due respect to the firms in question, it’s hard to imagine such values being extolled by Microsoft or Hewlett-Packard, for example.

Now let’s contrast this with the almost maniacal control wielded over designers, developers and even users in Apple’s iOS App Store – there are no misfits, troublemakers or round pegs to be found on an iPhone, though there is a boatload of fantastic software to be sure. Clearly Apple have either had a change of heart, or perhaps the rebel act was just that, an act?

Aiming For Ubiquity

In the past, Apple acted like the underdog because they were the underdog and in a typically gutsy move, they embraced this. However, while those working at Apple back then will have genuinely (and rightly) considered themselves outsiders in a world dominated by beige PC’s, I’d argue that this was more of a means to an end than any inherent desire to be cast as in the role of a rebel of computing.

We can see Apple’s aims toward putting their computers and devices into as many hands as possible when considering their efforts to popularize the first widespread GUI and we can also detect it in Apple’s admirable work toward making OS X accessible for all people, regardless of physical abilities. iOS is merely an evolution of this, a form of hassle free computing, without the worry of malware or complex decisions on the user’s part. The question is not if Apple has grabbed hold of the controls, because they most certainly have, but if they’re using their new power effectively.

Conclusion

In the pursuit of technological greatness, Apple is steadily growing into a more controlling company, increasingly concerned with the content their users are digesting and keen to keep a clean platform fit for all. Never exactly an open platform to begin with, Apple’s computers and devices have become steadily more closed – though at the same time, have also become that much more compelling to use. Whether the tradeoff is worth it is a matter of opinion, though I’d personally be inclined toward thinking it is, so long as OS X doesn’t go the way of iOS and become completely closed, which seems exceedingly unlikely.

Apple has certainly moved away from the rebellious attitude it once had and evolved from the role of plucky rebel to caring big brother, but the negative connotations of this have been mitigated by Apple’s will to wield their new influence and position to change the way we all interact with technology, which, in its own way, is really quite revolutionary in itself.

Today we’re going to take a look at a couple apps that can help you post content directly to your Tumblr account. As you no doubt already know, Tumblr is one of the hottest blogging platforms on the web today, largely due to its strong emphasis on being social and incredibly easy to pick up workflow.

The two apps that we are comparing are Tumblita and PostWarden. At first glance, they seem quite similar, but let’s find out just how different they are.

Tumblita For Mac

While Tumblita is perhaps known more as an iOS app, it also has a Mac version which is surely worth a look. It’s a pretty simple Tumblr editor that runs in your menu bar, but it probably has more features than you would expect it to have. At $0.99 (at the time of this writing), Tumblita is the cheapest (and perhaps, lower-end) competitor in this review. Let’s get deeper into its details.

Interface

Tumblita has no real windowed interface, it runs from your menu bar and if you want to post something new you just select the option from the drop down and an editor will appear in a new window. This makes it more based on speed, ideal for sharing just a quick image or note.

When you try to add a new post, you have a very similar sight to the Tumblr editor. You have the different post categories or templates on the top, just like on the site. These are Text, Quote, Video, Link, Image, Audio and Video; and all of which are represented by an icon. You can even quickly select one of these by using keyboard shortcuts.

Features

Depending on the type of post you selected, the editor below will display different fields for you to fill, again much like Tumblr’s editor does. For example: if you select a link post you get to fill out the title, URL and description for the post; if you select an image you get a description field and an uploader so that you can share content from your desktop or a URL.

Every feature that you can find on the Tumblr entry editor, you can find here. It’s basically just a little desktop version of that editor. You can upload videos, images, audio files and anything else text-related with as much ease as you can with Tumblr’s web interface.

Extras

Along with all the post types and all the options available for you to post, the app also has a sidebar where you can tweak a few useful things, like the account and blog that you are going to be posting from (you can have several blogs under one account, in case you didn’t know), select the tags for the post, the URL you’d like it to end to, and the option to save it as a draft or publish it right there.

One of the most useful things I found that I honestly wasn’t expecting this app to have, is the “Share to Twitter” field that the Tumblr editor has. In it, you can select whether you want to send your new post to Twitter and what you want the tweet to say (the link to the post is automatically added).

There are also some extra hidden features under the settings, like the ability to publish something right as you drag it to the app, and to send posts to Tumblr as Markdown text.

PostWarden

PostWarden is the more expensive (it’s currently at $9.99 on the App Store) and more complete app that we are going to be reviewing. It actually feels more like a real app and not like a simple menu-bar tool. Unlike Tumblita, PostWarden is a little bit more professional and complete. It actually reminds me a little bit of some email client apps.

Interface

PostWarden, unlike Tumblita, has its own main window where you can find your different accounts neatly arranged. In the main window, you have the text editor right in the center of the app, and a sidebar where all the posts for your active blog are shown. There’s a drop-down menu above this sidebar where you can switch accounts or blogs, as well as add new ones. You also have another drop-down where you can select the posts you want to be shown, if you want to see them by date or if you just want to see your drafts.

 

The entry editor is also similar to that of Tumblr, as it also has the division for each post type. Although the editor seems a little bit more complicated than the Tumblita one does, it also has all the same features that you would expect (even Twitter, tags and custom URLs).

Features

The first and most important advantage that PostWarden has over Tumblita is the ability to look and edit old posts. It’s also very easy to do so. When you are reading any of your posts on the main app window, you can just hit the “Edit” button on the top and start typing away.

On the text editor, the available features are a little bit harder to find than in Tumblita, but they’re there. It’s also not quite as pretty as the Tumblita editor, but it still gets the job done quite well. Actually, it has a special feature that Tumblita does not: saving offline drafts of what you write, which gives the app a very cool ability to become an entry editor even when you don’t have access to Internet.

Extras

An advantage of being a complete window app is that PostWarden has fullscreen Lion support, which makes it a much more comfortable app for writing and editing posts. Besides that, there aren’t many extras other than what we’ve mentioned here. It actually lacks a few things that Tumblita has, like Markdown support, although it makes up for that by having other features like an offline mode.

Verdict

I should begin my conclusion by stating that none of these apps really provide a complete substitute for Tumblr. They don’t let you browse your feed or interact with users, which are both big parts of what Tumblr is about (after all, it is a social network). These apps are just a quick way to post stuff from your Desktop to Tumblr, something that you might find convenient if you share tons of content periodically.

Does the “you get what you pay for” phrase work here? It’s hard to say; while the difference between the two apps is quite noticeable, deciding on which to get also depends on what use you plan on giving to these apps. PostWarden is more elaborate than Tumblita and has more features, but they both achieve pretty much the same results. If you’d like to edit old posts and have a more full writing experience, then PostWarden is the way to go. But if you are just looking for a cheap and quick app for posting pictures and related content to your Tumblr, then Tumblita might do just fine for you.

Which one would you choose? Perhaps you’d rather keep using the Tumblr web interface? Do you even use Tumblr, or are you absorbed by the other dozens of relevant social networks available? Let us know in the comments!