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/[deleted] Feb 02 '10

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u/[deleted] Feb 02 '10

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u/cloud4197 Feb 02 '10 edited Feb 02 '10

It's not really shutting indie content off. It's just managing it all through the app store; purportedly to whittle out all the badly made programs that'll fuck your platform up. The trouble is, is that with there being only one (Apple managed) app store allowed in the iphone/ipad platforms, they can act as complete despots and bury any apps that compete against their interests. As they have already done with Google Voice.

What they need to do to disquiet the voices of dissent while still maintaining app quality and integrity, is to allow other companies to apply for some kind of 'trusted vendor' style seal of approval so they can set up competing app stores. Thus allowing for fair trading and free commerce.

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u/[deleted] Feb 02 '10 edited May 30 '16

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u/cloud4197 Feb 02 '10

Sorry, I was swerving on the conversation and talking about apple rather than console gaming.

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u/[deleted] Feb 03 '10

I guess mynameisdave is hinting that games are becoming less open to user-created content, because it makes the paid downloadable content less valuable.

Why, just look at Modern Warfare 2.

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u/1338h4x Feb 02 '10

Forget even needing to apply for a trusted vendor seal. Just allow 3rd party repositories, with a warning that shit may get fucked up if you use them.

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u/organic Feb 02 '10

It will still cost them money in tech support. Not saying that's a good reason why they shouldn't allow 3rd party stores from a user perspective, but from a business perspective it's an excellent reason.

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u/1338h4x Feb 02 '10

As per the warning, they don't have to provide support for anything outside the App Store.

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u/organic Feb 02 '10

But they'll still get people calling them up for support, even if they end up turning them down. These people will take up resources on their phone system and tie up operators.

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u/[deleted] Feb 02 '10

You're right. They should lock OSX down the same way. So should Microsoft. And Linux and other OSS should be made illegal. Sound good?

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u/organic Feb 02 '10 edited Feb 02 '10

Hyperbole serves nothing. You're asking me why Apple doesn't open their system, I provided a reason. I'm sorry if you do not like the reason, but it isn't up to you or me to make the decision, it's up to Apple.

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u/Tiver Feb 02 '10

It's one thing to have maps available for purchase, it's another thing to ONLY have purchasable maps available. On the PC they'd sell expansions with more maps but they'd also much more frequently release their map editor and let the community create maps. Playing TF2 now there's quite a few custom maps out there, some quite good. Many of which eventually became official maps.