A fight over freedom at Apple’s core
By Jonathan Zittrain
In 1977, a 21-year-old Steve Jobs unveiled something the world had never
seen before: a ready-to-program personal computer. After powering the
machine up, proud Apple II owners were confronted with a cryptic
blinking cursor, awaiting instructions.
The Apple II was a clean slate, a device built – boldly – with no
specific tasks in mind. Yet, despite the cursor, you did not have to
know how to write programs. Instead, with a few keystrokes you could run
software acquired from anyone, anywhere. The Apple II was generative.
After the launch, Apple had no clue what would happen next, which meant
that what happened was not limited by Mr Jobs’ hunches...
Thirty years later Apple gave us the iPhone. It was easy to use, elegant
and cool – and had lots of applications right out of the box...the App
Store has a catch: app developers and their software must be approved by
Apple. If Apple does not like the app, for any reason, it is gone...
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/fcabc720-10fb-11df-9a9e-00144feab49a.html?nclick_check=1
FYI, related and very revealing, from Steve Wozniak:
"Exclusive Video: Apple Co-Founder Gives Revealing Look at Steve Jobs
and the Birth of the Mac"
http://macgroup.org/blog/2009/12/21/woz-video-the-beginnings-of-apple-computer-with-steve-jobs/
*************************************************************************
** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy **
** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ **
*************************************************************************
