" Anyone who calls Apple a "monopoly" does not understand the meaning of the term."
If this was meant for me, I didn't call Apple a monopoly, I called them monopolistic ... You can be bearish without being a bear, bullish without being a bull, etc, etc, etc ... Yes, they are HIGHLY proprietary, and if their market share *was* bigger, there would be lawsuits from somebody, I'm sure ... "But at the same time, it limits freedom and limits creativity. Sure, creativity can exist, but only in the channels Apple defines. "Thinking outside the box" is strictly forbidden, unless it comes from Apple itself." Too bad you couldn't see my ironic grin at this one, while I remembered their 1984 introductory commercial <g> Sure, you can be a noncomformist, as long as you follow the rest of the non-conformists <grin> Erik Goldoff IT Consultant Systems, Networks, & Security -----Original Message----- From: Ben Scott [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, May 18, 2009 5:50 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: Re: iPhone and battery life On Mon, May 18, 2009 at 3:26 PM, Mayo, Bill <[email protected]> wrote: > Moreover, Apple is not a monopoly any more than Tivo is, for example. Absolutely. Anyone who calls Apple a "monopoly" does not understand the meaning of the term. A monopoly exists when a single company controls such a large share of the total market that they can dictate terms to practically all participants in the market. Apple doesn't have a monopoly share of the general-purpose computer hardware, general-purpose computer OS, mobile phone, or portable music player markets. In some cases, they've got significant share (e.g., iPod); in other cases, a fairly small fraction (Mac OS X). What Apple *is* is a highly proprietary manufacturer. They want to control everything about what they sell. Their hardware is intended only to run their OS (native MS Windows support was mostly an accident); their OS is licensed only for their hardware. Their phone can only run apps they approve. Their music players will only work with their music management software. And so on and so forth, et cetera, et cetera, ad infinitum, ad nauseum. Back in the day, you couldn't even use a *hard drive* with their computers unless the mfg ID was "APPLE". People keep claiming they've changed their ways, but they keep continuing old habits. To some extent, this is what gives Apple an edge in the "ease of use" area. It's a lot easier to make sure everything works together when you control the definition of "everything". But at the same time, it limits freedom and limits creativity. Sure, creativity can exist, but only in the channels Apple defines. "Thinking outside the box" is strictly forbidden, unless it comes from Apple itself. "We've taken care of everything, the words you read, the songs you sing. The pictures that bring pleasure to your eyes." Some people -- most people, I'd wager -- don't care about that. But some of us do. -- Ben ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~
