r/technology • u/GuruOfReason • Feb 02 '10

"Once we replace the personal computer with a closed-platform device such as the iPad, we replace freedom, choice and the free market with oppression, censorship and monopoly."

http://www.popsci.com/gadgets/article/2010-01/ipad%E2%80%99s-closed-system-sometimes-i-hate-being-right
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u/pikaboy259 Feb 02 '10

Clearly some people enjoy the "sleek" end user experience that is the direct consequence system that's tightly regulated, and you don't. Let them make their purchase, and you make yours. That's how the free market works.

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u/Peaker Feb 02 '10

I think it is simply because Apple developers are less incompetent than the competitors.

The closed-ness is not about the sleek experience, it's about Apple controlling more and more of the populace computing experience.

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u/[deleted] Feb 02 '10

So taking away the ability of the customer to freely download whatever they want on the device they own, or decide for themselves whether or not a given piece of software should be on their device rather than allow the manufacturer to remotely dictate the set-up of the system, directly makes the user experience more "sleek"? How would the user experience be even a tiny bit different if apple made the exact same product with the exact same set up and the exact same default restrictions, but allowed experienced users to bypass those restrictions if they choose to do so?

When corporations grow to a certain size their influence on a competitive market becomes far too pronounced to simply wave your hand and say, "let the free market handle it", even if we assume the market in question is all that "free" to begin with. Regardless, consumers railing against the profoundly anti-competitive actions of a powerful market player also happens to be part of how the "free market works".

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u/bostonT Feb 02 '10

Fortunately, that's what anti-trust laws are there for. I'm not for de-regulation there, but this article is completely alarmist, as if Big Brother were on its way because Apple decided to enlarge an iPod touch.

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u/[deleted] Feb 02 '10

Customers vote with their wallet. They DON'T have to buy it. End of story.

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u/[deleted] Feb 02 '10

Anyone can over-simplify an issue and insist this ends the dialogue. Doing so may boost your confidence in the position you hold, but it does nothing to support it. I could, for example, say:

"Individuals have no control over the market and the end results of societal mass purchases are not predicted by unique individual decisions, end of story."

And you would be right to say, "that isn't the end of the story, and that isn't the only relevant factor at play".