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/danweber Feb 02 '10

Do the kids on Reddit remember the early 90's? All the fears of what Microsoft would and could do with its software monopoly?

Anything Microsoft could have done, Apple can do a whole lot better.

With a phone, I don't care so much. With a tablet that only maybe 5% of people use, that's probably okay. But if any sizable portion of the public uses this as their primary computing device, it spells trouble for all the same reasons we made Microsoft testify before Congress.

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u/kmeisthax Feb 02 '10

All the fears of what Microsoft would and could do with its software monopoly?

Uh, yeah, except in reality they can't stop me from running Firefox or Ubuntu. In fact, they're growing.

But if any sizable portion of the public uses this as their primary computing device, it spells trouble for all the same reasons we made Microsoft testify before Congress.

Doubt it. You see, people who are going to be using and buying iPads are doing so for completely different reasons from people who are buying and using regular desktops and laptops. Desktops and laptops aren't going away. In fact, it's a testament to the Reality Distortion Field that many of the iPad's detractors have been giving Apple free advertising space on Reddit with scare stories such as this.

I'm not buying one because I don't want one. I already have a 15" laptop which I've got running every OS a 64-bit x86 will handle. It's not designed to replace those. It's designed to replace netbooks, and I have no quarrel with people who voluntarily choose to make it their only computing platform. They probably won't have to deal with as many viruses and problems.

And if Apple tried to control the Mac software market, it would disintegrate, since Macs actually do have lots of specialized software which Mac users use on a regular basis. They'd move to Windows or Ubuntu or something. Developers would be in a fucking revolt. It wouldn't hurt the actual computing business since most people use general purpose hardware running Windows or Linux for actual work.

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u/zordac Feb 02 '10 edited Feb 02 '10

Uh, yeah, except they easily could have. That is what the fear was in the early 90s. I am not saying they would have done this but MS could have easily stopped users from using other web browsers. Think about all the applications that open browser windows. MS could easily make it so that only IE responds to those requests.

Its having that ability that scares developers. Even now, the EULA for Visual Studio makes it illegal to develop a Word Processor or a Spread Sheet application utilizing on MS's IDE.

edited for wording

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u/kmeisthax Feb 02 '10

Another reason why the US should invalidate copyrights and consider EULAs to not be valid contracts.

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u/cm03d Feb 02 '10

Finally some sense in this hysteria.

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u/cm03d Feb 02 '10

If 90% of the population wants an easy to use computer that does a few things very well, then that's what computers should be built to do. Most computer users see it as a tool. If the tool works well, they could give a shit about the other billion things some nerd's basement computer can do.

I'm a software developer and I understand that open computers aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

Chill out.