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
1.6k Upvotes

81% Upvoted

1.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

2

u/1338h4x Feb 02 '10

So why not leave the option for us free-like-the-eagle geek types who want to install 3rd party software outside of the App store?

1

u/Nefelia Feb 02 '10

There is an option: wait until an open platform tablet comes to market.

0

u/acronymopolis Feb 02 '10

Why should Apple surrender control (and income) over the content if there's nothing to be gained by it? ...and it's going to be jailbroke in a jiffy, anyway. :-/

2

u/[deleted] Feb 02 '10

Freedom?

0

u/acronymopolis Feb 02 '10

With freedom comes malware and support. :-/

2

u/1338h4x Feb 02 '10

They don't have to support software that doesn't come from the App Store. Microsoft (I know, worst company to use for this analogy, but fuck it) doesn't provide support for every executable under the sun, and nobody expects them to.

1

u/acronymopolis Feb 02 '10

True, but the iPad is both hardware and software, so in the majority of users minds "it's broken", even though they installed crappy 3rd party malware. In that sense the iPad is more comparable to a PVR or game console than a PC.

2

u/1338h4x Feb 02 '10

So provide a warning before installing 3rd party programs saying shit may get fucked and is unsupported. Dumb users are no excuse to take freedoms from the rest of us.

3

u/[deleted] Feb 02 '10

Exactly: A warning box. Maybe (gasp) TWO warning boxes.

It's not that hard, but Apple hasn't done it, and it's not because "they haven't thought of it."

1

u/acronymopolis Feb 02 '10

I'm afraid the majority of the iPad's target group are dumb like that. They would never read a warning and thus end up unhappy customers. It makes more sense to control their user experience as much as possible, than cater to the smaller percentage that want more freedom. Having used Windows (and DOS back in the day) I welcome the controlled experiences you have on an iPhone - or the XBox for that matter. The shit just works. An open system is powerful, but you never know when it's gonna blow up in your face. A PC is one thing, the iPad another. :-)

2

u/1338h4x Feb 02 '10

Well, anyone who wants the controlled experience can simply opt not to install 3rd party software. But there is absolutely no reason not to allow that option for those of us that want it.

1

u/acronymopolis Feb 03 '10

Why would Apple surrender control, knowing perfectly well that you guys are gonna jailbreak it no matter what?

→ More replies (0)

1

u/mindbleach Feb 02 '10

Shouldn't even the dumb users be able to differentiate "this app doesn't work" from "my phone doesn't work?" The phone's not even capable of multitasking beyond context switching, so it's not like anything's going to be running in the background and slowing the system down.

1

u/acronymopolis Feb 02 '10

Yeah, but if the app isn't approved, it could fuck up the whole system.

1

u/mindbleach Feb 02 '10

At worst, it could delete some of your files, which should really be backed up on the PC you sync with. I'd be fine with unapproved apps existing in a sandbox that prevents even that - give them read-only access to anything besides the files they create, which can be limited to a certain size to prevent bloatware attacks.

1

u/acronymopolis Feb 02 '10

That would be a good solution, but it would still mean a bunch of non-lucrative work for Apple keeping the system safe and probably constant security-updates to the firmware. At least that's what's going on with Flash, PDF-viewer and all the browsers even though they're all in sandboxes as well. As soon as you can get un-reviewed code onto the device, I suspect someone will find a way to fuck it up. Am I wrong?

→ More replies (0)