To be honest I have seen the same happen here as on other sites. The community seems to pass through phases with its view about a company. From initial interest, near blind loyalty, to OMG WTF they are evil. This happens with individuals in tech too, though there are examples where many end up redeemed in the eyes of the community.
Apple began inching into the OMG WTF EVIL category awhile back for some and others eventually tagged along. That herd mentality that many sites develop does happen here too.
Face it, HN is a community within each community are cliques that rise and fall in their influence and that comes out in how stories and comments are views and voted on
You imply that "the community" changed opinions... but "the community" is not a person. It's not necessarily minds that change rather than the people. The readers of HN are the teenagers of yesterday, who have never stopped disliking Apple.
Apple began inching into the OMG WTF EVIL category awhile back for some and others eventually tagged along. That herd mentality that many sites develop does happen here too.
Face it, HN is a community within each community are cliques that rise and fall in their influence and that comes out in how stories and comments are views and voted on