It seems that Apple’s critics keep using the same playbook. They repeat the same tired old arguments in a desperate hope that, after a while, the dire predictions will somehow come true.

Just today, in fact,  I read a piece suggesting that “Apple remains the best company in the world but it’s starting to show its age.”

That’s an extreme statement, and it’s based several wrongheaded assumptions that reveal absolute ignorance as to how Apple does things. The first argument is that the newest products are merely “tweaked up versions of the old ones rather than the innovative leaps to which users have become accustomed.”

Lest we forget, six years passed between the debut of the original iPod and the arrival of the first iPhone. So I suppose you could argue that, for six years, Apple’s products were “tweaked up versions of old ones.” Yes, I realize there was a PowerPC to Intel transition on the Mac platform in 2006, but the OS for those two processors didn’t look any different, and the new Macs were modest physical refreshes, rather than major upgrades. If you didn’t know anything about the PowerPC and Intel, you might switch from the former to the latter without noticing any real differences.

But that’s the Apple way. There is the “innovative leap,” followed by modest refreshes for several years. Even within a product category, the regular updates tend to include new parts, but the external looks may look essentially the same. The last serious update to the iMac was in late 2009, and only now is a major redesign forthcoming.

When it comes to “software ‘glitches,'” the lessons of history indicate that Apple has suffered from worse problems in the past. Consider my recent commentary reminding you of the “glitches” that could cause you to lose data in older versions of OS X. That hasn’t happened recently. Compared to data loss, I hardly think the troubled introduction of Apple’s mapping service comes close.

Another argument is that Apple’s market share in smartphones, and now tablets, is going down. Well, that’s half true. Recent smartphone sales figures show that the iPhone is growing at a somewhat faster clip than the Android platform. As to tablets, there’s one survey indicating Apple’s share, then consisting of two models, is down to 50% as of the last quarter. Boy are they in trouble!

Of course there are now three iPad models available and a variety of configurations. No doubt Apple released the iPad mini to shore up sales against low-end product, such as the Amazon Kindle Fire and the Google Nexus 7. But we won’t know till this quarter’s sales are reported early in 2013 whether Apple has boosted market share. Even in a larger market, having one product line with half the market, and hundreds of other products dividing up the rest, doesn’t mean Apple is in trouble, and has forgotten how to innovate.

Oh yes, there is that recent corporate makeover. But the changing of the guard at Apple, while it doesn’t happen all that often, does happen. Take a look at two key executives, regarded as among the best in their field, who are no longer with Apple. Do you remember Avie Tevanian, considered one of the main architects of the NeXT OS and OS X? He left Apple in 2006. I wonder how many pundits predicted Apple’s demise as a result.

Another key executive, John Rubinstein, one of the key figures in the creation of the iPod, also left Apple at the top of his game in 2006. He become the chief executive at Palm, Inc. Most of you surely know Palm’s tortured path after Rubinstein joined that company, where he was serving as CEO when HP took them over.

In the early days of the iPhone, before the Google Android platform gained ascendancy, some tech analysts suggested that Palm and their WebOS presented the most credible potential competitor to Apple’s smartphone. But very little went right for Palm. In the wake of the abject failure of their would-be iPad killer, the TouchPad, HP gave up on the platform and soon made WebOS open source. Rubinstein left the company earlier this year.

Obviously Apple is still here despite the departure of important executives. Among the current crew, Tim Cook and design guru Jonathan Ive are perhaps the most indispensable. Some might suggest Eddie Cue also fits into that category, and there are certainly other executives and members of the various teams at Apple whose work has really made a difference.

But, as we learned with the departure and death of co-founder Steve Jobs, if the right succession plan is put in effect, the loss of any one person is not apt to do in the company. Even if Ive left, there may be members of his team who are fully capable of taking charge if given the opportunity. After all Ive doesn’t do everything by himself, despite his amazing contributions to industrial design.

I suppose, though, that it is a good time for some to get on the “Apple is doomed bandwagon,” although I would hardly regard a company that continues to report record sales and profits as doomed.

When Apple decided that the icons on the OS X Finder and iTunes sidebars must be gray, did you accept the decision as something that really made sense? I suppose if you’re color blind, but otherwise, it just makes it that much more difficult to identify them.

Well, at least the icons are larger in the Finder, but is it large enough? Well, I suppose you could always use one of those third-party system enhancement apps to fix things, but why should that be necessary?

The move also doesn’t make much sense from a human interface point of view. Why make something gray when you can use different colors to have them stand out and be more discoverable? Isn’t Apple supposed to be the interface champ? Shouldn’t OS X — and the iOS for that matter — be easier to use than all the rest?

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So it was time. After using the public preview of Windows 8 for a number of months, I decided recently that it was time to install the RTM version, the one released to manufacturing by Microsoft. This should have been a trivial matter, but it wasn’t.

The story about how I got a reviewer’s copy is a prime example of where Microsoft’s PR agency conveys an impression of cluelessness. Over the years, I’ve never had a problem, until now, in receiving reviewer access. This time, I kept getting excuses that they didn’t have a copy to send me. When I would explain I just need a user license to download a copy, they again claimed they didn’t have anything to offer, despite the fact that many reviewers had already installed their copies and published Windows 8 reviews.

Well, I suppose I can understand their behavior in a way. It’s not as if I’ve been terribly kind to Microsoft over the years, and I definitely was not impressed with the beta versions of Windows 8. However, it’s also true that Microsoft has made some changes from preview to release, and I wanted to be fair in my coverage.

Yes, I could have purchased a copy, but there’s a matter of principle here. In any case, after making a complaint to higher-ups at Microsoft, I got access, and installed the update Wednesday.

While the original installation was fairly quick, perhaps as fast or faster than Mountain Lion, this wasn’t the case with the release version. Part of the problem is that I opted to upgrade an existing copy of Windows 7. In both cases, though, I used the latest Parallels Desktop to run a virtual machine on my 2009 iMac; yes, it’s compatible with Windows 8.

While elements of the interface formerly known as Metro infuse the somewhat simplified installation screens, you are still warned of the possible need for several restarts before the installation completes itself. Actually, there was one, when I was asked to delete the anti-malware app installed by Parallels. From there, the installation process continued fairly smoothly, with a procession of silly messages.

So for example, there was a dumb message that, “We’re getting your PC ready,” which repeated itself with different color backgrounds, as if to demonstrate something was really going on behind the scenes. After following up with messages about installing apps, I got a notice that Windows 8 was “Taking care of a few things.” Other than boring you to death, again I witnessed those ever-changing background colors. Microsoft has also devised a peculiar scheme to show progress. Instead of a progress bar or the traditional spinning  hour-glass effect, you get little circular stars, randomly spinning in a circle, which somehow resemble pixie dust. I wonder what the Windows 8 interface team was drinking (or smoking) when they came up with that silly idea.

Finally I was assured the OS was “Almost ready,” but the process still took a few more minutes to complete, restart and deliver the famous (or infamous) procession of Windows 8 tiles.

In the end, from start to end, the process of updating Windows 7 to Windows 8 consumed nearly two hours. I realize that the fact that I was using a virtual machine may be a suitable excuse, but I’m more inclined to blame the slow installation on the fact that this was an upgrade install, and not done fresh.

Regardless, at first brush I didn’t see any significant differences between the public preview and the release version. Again, there’s that schizophrenic environment that takes you from the “Modern UI” to the desktop and back again.

Among the obvious changes, it was good to see that Windows 8 Mail has been enhanced (or fixed) to include support for IMAP email accounts, something missing from the preview version. But the interface is thoroughly dumbed down to resemble the simplified version of what you’d find on a smartphone. But even Mail for iOS is far, far better.

Worse, when setting up the various email accounts I use for this site and others, the Mail app choked. I ended up having to enter some of the geeky details myself to complete the process. Even then, I had to go into the Charms control panel to make a few changes to correctly map local email boxes to the ones on the server. This problem, unfortunately, is typical of pretty much all email clients. But if you don’t map the local folders to the right ones on the server, your Sent messages, for example, won’t be in sync from device to device.

I would have thought that a PC OS designed for simplicity would perform such configuration steps behind the scenes, so you didn’t have to get your hands dirty. Instead, the settings still require manual labor or aren’t even present. This is typical of the failures in Windows 8.

Indeed, experienced Windows users are bound to be frustrated over the lack of customizations to which they’ve grown accustomed. Unfortunately, the traditional keyboard and mouse play second fiddle to touch. That might make sense on a tablet, but not on a regular ole PC.

In any case, Windows 8 is, as reviewers state, clean, relatively smooth, snappy and stable. But usability with real world apps remains a serious concern. I’ll keep at it and do an update soon.

So the first reviews are in for the iPad mini and the fourth generation iPad. It’s pretty clear where the tech media stands, but how will customers react? Will Apple be able to keep up the sales momentum in the face of increased competition from the Google Android platform and the arrival of the Microsoft Surface?

Let’s put the facts on the table: The Surface is getting mostly mixed reviews. The hardware is good enough, though there are some glitches. The kickstand has sharp edges, for example, which threaten to bite into a delicate surface, such as a glass computer table, and it’s definitely not suited to use on your lap. The portrait mode for reading books and magazines may be an afterthought.

Getting past the hardware, the curious way in which Windows 8 was ported to ARM can only cause confusion. It appears to simply mirror the traditional x86 version, meaning there’s actually a Windows desktop lurking in there. Aside from touch support, it appears Microsoft has done nothing to tailor the OS towards a tablet rather than a traditional PC. Worse, there’s a dearth of apps, and the situation will only get better if lots of customers buy Surfaces. It’s the cart before the horse syndrome, where customers wait for apps, and developers wait for market share.

With the iPad mini, the major criticism is price. Apple should have found a way to keep the final cost below $300. There is the perception that Amazon and Google have set a $199 standard, admittedly with little or no prospect for decent profits, and Apple has no business asking for $130 more for a product they perceive to be in the same category.

But is it the same category? After all, the iPad mini has a 7.9-inch screen with a standard aspect ratio, while the others are 7 inches, with widescreen displays. That makes for a huge difference in screen real estate, particularly in the landscape orientation. They’re hardly comparable even if you ignore the iOS and large app ecosystem that Apple offers.

The reviews offer the usual complements. The iPad mini is slim, sleek, snappy and great to look at. That the display isn’t retina is only a minor impediment, with text only a tad fuzzier than on a higher resolution Android tablet. In the scheme of things, a real retina display ought to be at the top of Apple’s list for the next version.

The fourth generation iPad does what the third generation model does, only faster. The key changes are use of the new Lightning connection port, which will help spur accessory makers to get with the program and update their add-ons. There’s also a true HD FaceTime camera. But if you own the previous version, these factors are probably not enough to encourage you to switch. Wait till next year, when Apple may actually find ways to make it thinner and lighter, and, of course, a bit more powerful.

Through all this, it’s clear that Apple had to revitalize the iPad lineup ahead of the holiday season. Amazon and Google are very aggressively marketing their tablets. Microsoft is putting loads of money into boosting Windows 8 and the Surface RT, although the ads seem poorly produced. In fact, they’re downright annoying, and do little to tempt people to consider Microsoft as relevant, at least in my opinion.

Meantime, early demand for the new iPads is clearly high. You have to wait two weeks if you place your online order for an iPad mini right now; it’s a week for the new (new new?) iPad. Both will be available at retailers on November 2, assuming stocks hold up, and, if sales are encouraging, Apple will report the first weekend’s results next week.

As far as Apple’s executive shakeup is concerned, most people won’t notice, or care if they did. This is a game of inside baseball, but there are clearly strong reasons for Tim Cook to have acted as he did in getting rid of the iOS chief, Scott Forstall, and the head of the retail division, John Browett. In the wake of this announcement, the media has been filled with unconfirmed reports about the alleged bad blood between Forstall and other Apple executives. I’m sure reports of such behavior, if true, aren’t going to help enhance Forstall’s resume or prospects for future employment. But he’s also a multimillionaire several times over, so it’s not as if he has to worry about his next paycheck. He’s still going to get a salary from Apple as an advisor to Tim Cook for a while, but maybe that’s being done to keep him off the employment market till next year.

If there’s any negative in Apple’s current situation, it’s in Mac sales. The late arrival of the iMac, with the 21.5-inch version due in November and the 27-inch version due in December, will depress sales somewhat, although note-books get an 80% share. Current iMacs are going to hit the closeout bins, but it may not help, except, perhaps, for people who still crave an internal optical drive.