i have several friends who are staunch Apple fans. While my first computers I ever used were Apples, I was labeled a “PC” guy. Since I saw Bill Gates more of a benevolent technology dictator, I was comfortable with his vision of a common language called “Windows” (Speaking metaphorically, there is no such language…). Apple was always the aggressive manager of their platform and IP, and as a result, control the Apple Experience well but didn’t plant any Apple trees.
Fast forward to when the iPod came out. back then, there was a small tag line below the commercial that said, “Don’t steal music.” Otherwise, it was pretty darn open. iTunes allowed us all to rip our CDs to mp3s and would take all that old Napster content everyone downloaded like crazy several years ago (I might have…trying to remember). As an open platform, the iPod rocketed to success (88 million were sold through 2007).
Then, all of a sudden, it became harder and harder to move your music around. If you had an iPhone, it was impossible to get music on your phone without iTunes. Apple decides to not support flash on the iPhone (we all know why not; the resource hog argument is a red herring). Slowly but surely, every way to media through Apple devices is through Cupertino.
Now, we have Apple and Oracle making deals about Java. Uh-oh. Neither seems very interested in open source, so you have to ask yourself, does Apple really want an ecosystem of other companies who earn their livelihoods from Apple’s platform? Tell me if you agree or disagree and don’t forget to say why or why not. And just saying Apple’s stuff is cool is not enough (at least not in the long run).
Thanks for reading.
Dave
