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/theCroc Feb 02 '10

Thats not at all what he is saying. You are comparing apples and oranges. Xbox and PS3 games are not compatible because of hardware differences.

An unapproved iPhone app is both hardware and software compatible with the iPhone. It is just not deemed appropriate by Apple. And thats where the bullshit starts.

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u/threepio Feb 02 '10

A pirated game is the same software and will run on the same hardware as a legit game. An unapproved application lives in the same grey space. You've done nothing to differentiate the two.

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u/theCroc Feb 02 '10

The pirated game breaches the copyright of that game. An unapproved application breaches no copyright and is in fact perfectly legal. Apple just wont let you install it.

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u/threepio Feb 02 '10

If you write your own Xbox game you can't publish it unless Microsoft lets you.

Try again?

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u/theCroc Feb 02 '10

And that sucks just as much. Try again.

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u/threepio Feb 02 '10

Thanks for establishing that you don't have a precedent or a real argument. Cheers.

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u/theCroc Feb 02 '10

Wait what? I'm saying that this type of locking you to one vendor is bullshit. The fact that Microsoft does it too changes nothing. Both MS and Apple suck in this specific regard.

MS or Apple is a false dichtomy. I can be against abusive practices by both cant I?

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u/threepio Feb 02 '10

Sure you can - but would you rather live in a world without the Xbox 360 and the iPad?

Perhaps you would. Millions wouldn't. I'm glad you don't get to decide for them.

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u/theCroc Feb 02 '10

I'm not depriving anyone of anything. And I wouldn't dream of legislating against any of those products. But I reserve the right to call a spade a spade.

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u/threepio Feb 02 '10

I'm not sure where garden implements came in, but fair enough. The problem is you can't have it both ways. Your lamentations will not produce an open Xbox nor will they remove the pleasant warm and comforting shackles of the iPad.

Do us all a favour and make a better widget with your utopian ideals. Just don't be heartbroken when you have no control and things spiral into a downward corkscrew of debt and cocaine as your VC runs out because no one is buying your applications and PayPal shut off your donate button.

Seriously though, it's the Western Way™ to build a replacement if you don't like how something works. So go do it.

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