Slashdot Mirror
Apple Reverses Rejection of Ulysses Comic
gyrogeerloose writes "In yet another of what's become an almost predictable cycle of events, Apple today reversed its rejection of the 'Ulysses Seen' web comic, admitting, 'We made a mistake.' The comic is now available in the App Store — just in time for Bloomsday, June 16. The comic's author, Robert Berry, is pleased, and adds that Apple 'never acted as a censor, never told us what we could or could not say. ... We didn't believe these were good guidelines for art, but respected their rights to sell content that met their guidelines at their own store. Apple is not a museum or a library for new content then, so much as they are a grocer.'"
Then don't buy their phone if you disagree with the terms of use. Did Apple force you or anyone else to buy an iPhone and agree to their terms?
No, they prevented anyone who owns an iPad/iPhone from obtaining it via the Apple App Store.
If the publisher made a web-accessible version of the same content, the iPad/Phone owners could access it just fine. And if they made an Android version of the app, then people who don't like Apple's policies could just buy a different device and buy it from a different app store.
Further, they admitted their mistake, so the accurate answer would actually be that they delayed anyone who owns an iPad/iPhone from obtaining the program from the Apple App Store.
Finally, even if they made it totally impossible for people to view this content on the iPad/iPhone, since when did the right to display content on your mobile device become a first amendment right? I mean, what about all those carrier specific deals where you can "get exclusive clips from American Idol on your Sprint phone"? Are they censoring me because I can't access them on my Blackberry because it's on the AT&T network?
The CB App. What's your 20?
People find Apple products easy to use and reliable, so they buy them. The reason slashdotters get upset is that there are much more important issues at work - we bite the bullet and use and test free software even when it's not the best option, because it's important to many of us to own and control our own computers. The common Apple user doesn't care about the big issues, they only like how smooth and shiny the device is, so Apple becomes successful despite being evil. Especially frustrating is that their users are so outspoken, and Apple fanboys are outspoken about ignoring philosophical issues and focusing on it "just working."