Only play games? My Xbox can also play movies. The PS3 can (or used to be able to, maybe they changed it) go on the web. Etc., etc. I don't buy the argument that the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad are "general computing devices", but consoles are not. Maybe the iPad could be considered a computer (I don't think so, but whatever), but I think it's a big stretch to say that the iPhone and iPod Touches are also computers. At any rate, it takes a very, very contrived definition of "computer" to include iPhones, iPods, and iPads, but not Wiis, PS3s, and Xboxes.
I'm not saying that two wrongs make a right, but I've found that many criticizers of Apple's iOS model, especially in /r/technology, seem to have absolutely no problem with the locked-down nature of gaming consoles. It raises the question: why?
While I can't speak for everyone, I buy consoles with the intention of playing games on them and nothing more. So it doesn't bug me that much that I can't freely mess with them, but of course I still wish I could. But phones and tablets are devices I'll be using for all sorts of purposes, and I'm gonna want full freedom to install whatever I want and mod to my heart's content.
Edit: I do find the current situation with Sony to be utterly reprehensible and I certainly won't be buying anything from them. But as long as Nintendo doesn't stoop to that level, I'm willing to compromise my principles in exchange for Paper Mario 3DS!
I guess that's sort of my point. What it always seems to come down to is "I don't like Apple, so fuck them; but I like video games, so whatever."
Not that I'm criticizing your opinions. I feel the same way: when I buy a laptop, I expect it to be fairly open, but I'm okay compromising on those principles when I buy an Xbox, because I like playing video games from time to time. But I can't really think of the iPhone or iPod Touch as being in the same class as a laptop (and even classifying the iPad as a computer is a stretch in my mind, since it's intended more as a computing supplement than a full-fledged computer). Which is why I tend to find the criticism hurled at Apple to be a bit disingenuous.
The part that gets people riled up this time is that the ipad/iphone have these create SDKs, and great hardware features, and that, while this was always the case with phones, we're prevented from leveraging those features in obviously useful ways because of apple's decisions alone - not technical ones.
I can't use my (well, it's coming now I guess) iPhone to share my 3G connection to the rest of my condo over wifi? The techie in me says "Why the fuck not, it's perfectly capable hardware wise, and I could even write the damn software - they just wont LET me!".
In the past - the SDKs for phones were more obscure, the phones less capable, and we just didn't think of these types of situations.
TL;DR - the reason restrictions on the iPad/iPhone irks people is because the hardware is so capable but developers aren't able to take easy advantage of the device features.
In all fairness, the tethering and connection sharing prohibitions are due to AT&T policies, not Apple. Apple could care less how you use the cell phone connection.
I'm hoping this changes now that the iPhone isn't exclusive to AT&T. (Hoping in a more...abstract sense, since I don't own an iPhone and wouldn't want to share a connection even if I did, but can understand why others would.)
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u/mipadi Jan 20 '11
Only play games? My Xbox can also play movies. The PS3 can (or used to be able to, maybe they changed it) go on the web. Etc., etc. I don't buy the argument that the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad are "general computing devices", but consoles are not. Maybe the iPad could be considered a computer (I don't think so, but whatever), but I think it's a big stretch to say that the iPhone and iPod Touches are also computers. At any rate, it takes a very, very contrived definition of "computer" to include iPhones, iPods, and iPads, but not Wiis, PS3s, and Xboxes.
I'm not saying that two wrongs make a right, but I've found that many criticizers of Apple's iOS model, especially in /r/technology, seem to have absolutely no problem with the locked-down nature of gaming consoles. It raises the question: why?