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Monkey Island Creator Slams Corporate Control Over Game Publishing
An anonymous reader writes "Ron Gilbert, co-creator of classic games Maniac Mansion, Monkey Island 1 and 2, and many more, has spoken out against corporate censorship — the way of large companies getting a say on what does or does not get published on the distribution channels they control. Although his insightful rant applies to a number of corporations (Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo and Comcast are mentioned), most of the direct examples single out Apple. Quoting: 'Apple has maintained an almost North Koreanish dictatorial control over the devices, becoming the arbitrator over what is good and bad, what is allowed and not allowed. They don't have this control over the Mac because it is a real computer and an open device, but they can do this with the iPhone because we (as consumers) were convinced by the cell phone carriers that they needed this control to protect their networks (in the same way they wouldn't let us own our own telephones in the '70s) and Apple was happy to jump on that ship because they could finally control everything that went on the device and we bought it into it. Apple apologists say that Apple needs this control to maintain the "specialness" of the device. I say that's a load of crap.'" He also mentions Adidas dropping out of iAds because they couldn't accept Apple's excessive creative control, and a photography app that was rejected because it used the volume buttons as trigger."
And we all see how android is filled with back doors and hemmoraging data. Moreover google is now back peddling and starting to lock things down. Sometime you want freedom sometime you want security. I'll take freedom on my desktop and security on my phone. why? because in the future the phone will be my credit card and for that I want something close to trusted plat form computing.
the good news is you have a choice. DOn't buy an iphone, get your freedom, and as the singer said, perhaps nothing left to lose.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
It's a volume button. I don't have a problem with Apple with rejecting an app that subverts the defined usage of a hardware button. I haven't used (or heard of) this app, but what does it do if you try to change the volume of your music or phone call when also trying to take a picture?
Thank you Ron Gilbert! At last someone finally gets what I have been saying for a long time and has the gonads to say it out loud. (Be careful though Ron, some blogs will ban you for such treachery. I know because I tried to say this very same thing and got my account deleted from a female blog dictator.) Now, don't get me wrong. The iThings are very nice products from a hardware point of view with the MAJOR exception of no user replaceable batteries. (Sorry, but having to spend $79 to replace the battery in a $99 iPhone 3GS is just plain idiotic.) The hardware is attractive, user friendly, and usually well designed (with another exception of the user-touchable antenna which de-tunes it.) I just have a major issue with someone else telling me what I can or cannot install for apps on my devices. If I am paying that much, I feel I have bought the right to install what I please as long as it doesn't interfere with the phone company network.
I feel the same way, though. I do not like Apple's policy of keeping things locked down and I hate how they got into bed with the phone companies (and they likely soon will with the content companies), but they do make very, very good devices and good software for them. I haven't come across anything comparable yet, although some Android stuff is getting close. The thing is, Apple's policy of locking stuff down doesn't really hurt the iPhone. It does to some degree on the iPad, but again, until something better comes along I am keeping mine.
The good news is that Apple is slowly relaxing its control, while Google is tightening theirs. Hopefully both will end up in the sweet spot, and we'll have ourselves some healthy competition.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
I wonder if he is one of THOSE Apple Users. I live next to a heavily Apple college and with my shop next to a coffee shop they like to hang out in out of my own curiosity I like to go talk to them about their devices. in my own informal polling I've found while 10-15% can actually give me actually solid concrete reasons why they prefer an Apple product over the competition, Like they found iOS or OSX more intuitive, sadly the rest are actually just like in the video I posted. One girl even actually said "it has the wifi's".....oooookay.
That is why I think old Steve deserves a hell of a lot more credit than he gets. When they brought him back in 97 the Pepsi guy had run that company damned near into the morgue, they had shit for revenue and I bet their R&D wasn't any better. Somehow that man was able to trade in on his personal mythos and by sticking to basic KISS practices and turn pretty damned much anything he wants to sell into instant gold. hell look at the iPad, which is an iPod touch made bigger and just as damned unergonomic, and look at how it is treated like the second coming. Give the man credit folks, I swear he could probably sell ice cream to Eskimos.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
How many fart boob or "x-ray" apps do you need to see before you realise the Apple store is even more dire? At least xbox live restricts the trash to one "abandonded lot" out the back where no-one sees it. It's really hard to distinquish quality on the app store.