On Fri, Feb 5, 2010 at 13:17, Mo McRoberts <[email protected]> wrote: > Since Jobs' return to the helm, Macs have become steadily and > increasingly more open with each passing year, both in hardware and > software terms. Remember when the only way to run an alternative OS on > a Mac was by booting Mac OS which then loaded a special extension > which loaded the alternative OS over the top of Mac OS?
Remember when you could buy a Mac clone with Apple's full permission? That you can run an alternative OS on a Mac with ease these days is more due to a grudging acceptance of market demands than a great step towards openness. I'd say Apple are less open since SJ's return - the death of the clones, the death of the Newton (which was licensed to 3rd parties like Siemens), iTunes Fairplay DRM, the iPhone/Pad lock down and Apple TV only working with iTunes. What have they done that's open? > I wouldn't be so sure. I think Apple/Jobs realised that they actually > *can't* lock down Macs and still sell them. The vision of utility > get-stuff-done computing is incongruous with the expectations many > people have of what a computer should let them do. Thus, the solution > is to create a new category of computing product which pulls elements > from both. This way, the new platform can be as locked down or as open > as required with no legacy baggage, while the (rather profitable) more > open systems continue to sell to those who need that sort of thing. What I expect to see is more and more iPhone OS "computers" (like more or less permanently docked iPads with 15 or 17 inch screens) and fewer and fewer midrange Macs (and no low end Macs at all). > > Plus, I don't actually think iPhone OS will remain as locked down as > it is now for too long. Give it 18 months. Two years tops. So you're expecting Steve Jobs to leave in 18 months to two years? That's the about the only way I could see that happening. > >> The only thing I don't get is why people bother to jailbreak their >> pads/pods/phones/apple tvs when more open hardware is available. > > Because the pads/pods/phones/apple tvs are well-designed and do 90%. > switching wholesale for the sake of that 10% is throwing the baby out > with the bathwater. > But there are other products that are also well designed and have 100% functionality, they're just not as fashionable. I think it has more to do with some people wanting to be followers of fashion (and a fashion item is something that Apple products have become since SJ's return) and then finding that fashionable straight jacket is too tight. It's just not rational behaviour. Scot - Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group. To unsubscribe, please visit http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html. Unofficial list archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
