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Apple Platform Lock-Ins, A 3rd Party Dev's Opinion
Iftekhar writes "Wil Shipley, of Delicious Monster fame, has written a very candid essay on what he perceives as Apple's growing trend toward platform lock-ins. He writes: 'Why is the iPhone locked to a single carrier, so I can't travel internationally with it? There's really only one viable reason: Apple wanted a share of the carrier's profits, which meant giving AT&T an exclusive deal. Which meant, we get screwed so Apple can make more money. It's that simple. [...] As Apple gets more and more of its revenue from non-Mac devices, they are also getting more and more of their revenue from devices that simply exclude third parties. Consumers suffer from this. We suffer from increased prices and decreased competition and innovation. We suffer so Apple can make a few more bucks, when Apple is clearly not hurting for money.'"
Yes, and this is all good except when the company is MS.
So, you're saying that Apple software is not proprietary except for the millions of lines of code that happen to be proprietary for no other reason than that Apple likes to lock people into their platform. Seems like we are in agreement.
but anyone can write Mac apps with just gcc / gdb and a bash shell [...] just run X and X apps,
So, you're saying that if I want to use non-proprietary technologies, the Macintosh gives me the option of using it as a UNIX workstation that is less capable than what Sun shipped 15 years ago. You are absolutely right: I can do that. I just can't figure out any reason why I would want to.
The only reason to buy and use a Mac is the proprietary technologies Apple adds. That's not what I'm saying, it's what Apple is saying.
At the same time, it also looks like the OS X architecture wasn't designed from the start to accommodate open development, so providing open access now is not just a matter of "letting people in," but in making sure the system can handle it.
So what you're saying is, it's too hard for Apple's engineers?
You're a slave, groveling for his masters. Apple is playing you for a chump, and all you can do is rationalize it as for your own good.
"Oh, it's not closed, no, wait, it's only sort of closed, but wait, you don't really want it open anyway."
Make up your mind, spin-man. Do you want them to fuck you hard, or fuck you gently?
Ah, with ample evidence that Apple is becoming more like Microsoft, you can do nothing but pour more hate on Microsoft. Maybe Apple will look better if Microsoft looks worse!
Your brand submission is showing, zealot.