Money is the root of all evil. With Apple, it is money, therefore the first question is "Is Apple Evil?".
Apple joins IBM in being known within the following saying "You can always find better, but you can't pay more". ------------------ Regards Leslie Mr. Leslie Satenstein On Sat, Jan 30, 2010 at 11:49:01AM -0500, Jeremy wrote: > You know what is funny to me with this idea of a gatekeeper and locked > down apps? Ever seen how repos are run for distros? > > Of all the people out there, linux users should be most used to this > idea, the debian maintainers have been "keeping us safe" for a long time > now :) > > I know it is not the same with DRM and all, just an interesting parallel. On Sat, Jan 30, 2010 at 11:58:09AM -0500, Jeremy wrote: > Andrew Oulton wrote: > > I wouldn't draw the same parallel. Repo's make common software > > acquisition EASY... bu t all of these distro's give you the complete > > toolset to install whatever you want from wherever you want. That's > > what compiling is for :) > > > > Andrew > > Just like you can do with a jailbroken iphone, you have the option. That's simply not true. As was seen in the recent Android/Rogers debacle, those people are actively working *against* you being the owner of your own machine. They are actively removing you root access. They are actively preventing you to install your own software. They are also actively refusing to accept software (e.g. flash, google voice) that go against their own interest. The parallel with open source software distributions is preposterous. I see where you come from, and I have some experience with new Ubuntu users trying to work around the "synaptic straightjacket", but the limitation is technical, it's is not political: nobody is trying to keep users from learning and trying their own applications on their machine. For me, it's even the exact opposite: I encourage people to follow howtos and tutorials, and the Ubuntu forums are crowded with step by step examples of how to compile applications not provided by upstream for whatever reason. I strive to help people understand and learn, and while the learning curve is sometimes steep, it's nothing compared to the firewall of proprietary software. Besides, if it compiles and works, it will very probably be packaged and shipped with the distribution. The distribution is an enabler, not something that is in the way. We provide compilers, development kits, for zillions of languages, all this for free. And what's more, you're free to not use all of this and build your own, because it's your machine, your software. In parallel, Apple *enforces* the applications distributed. The application development kit were proprietary until recently (I may be wrong here) and they actively keep you from running your own stuff on your machine. This is all very patronizing for everyone. Us geeks are especially touched by this, but it's simply false to assume that "regular people" are not frustrated by being completely stripped out of control over their things. Just look at how cars can't be repaired by your brother-in-law anymore... People are not happy about that, and rightly so. They will connect the dots with Apple and the other suckers eventually. -- Seul a un caractère scientifique ce qui peut être réfuté. Ce qui n'est pas réfutable relève de la magie ou de la mystique. - Popper, Karl
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