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5 reasons to avoid iPhone 3G

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Re: 5 reasons to avoid iPhone 3G

#11

Post by jotto »

mdasen wrote: post #5
swombat wrote: post #2

Blah blah blah... Can anyone say "broken record"? FSF claims to be about choice. Well, I exercise my choice by choosing to buy the phone that I prefer.

The FSF can be like that, but they also have a good point. Only Apple could get away with creating a smartphone where they hold all the cards - deciding what and who can and can't develop for it. If Microsoft tried to pull something like that, we'd all cry foul. /yeah, I'm still getting an iPhone today. //hoping that in two years there will be other competitors who are more open and match the iPhone's quality

This is the main reason Apple can ensure quality. They limit the scope of their hardware so there are no unexpected use cases. Visual voicemail "just works", the app store "just works". The problem is that the iphone appeals to geeks, and many geeks are privacy/FSF/EFF purists.

Re: 5 reasons to avoid iPhone 3G

#12

Post by jotto »

cosmok wrote: post #9

'iPhone completely blocks free software. Developers must pay a tax to Apple, who becomes the sole authority over what can and can't be on everyone's phones.' I dislike the fact that Apple has considerable (compltete?) control over the distribution of an iPhone app and even charges the developer for doing so.Frigging unbelivable!

Why are people so upset about this? They provide a great shopping experience for their customers, and a great distribution channel for your apps. This is a service worth paying for.

Re: 5 reasons to avoid iPhone 3G

#13

Post by Tichy »

Is it true that the iPhone can't play .ogg? Couldn't you write an app for the iPhone that plays ogg, or would that be impossible because the audio files can't be accessed from applications?

I've started using ogg again because I couldn't be bothered to make my Linux system encode MP3s...

Re: 5 reasons to avoid iPhone 3G

#14

Post by crescendo »

A snake oil salesman not satisfied with his business of pushing proprietary software and Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) technology into your home, Jobs has set his sights on getting DRM and proprietary software into your pocket as well.

Is it just me, or does the rhetoric from FSF often times border on spiteful? Snake oil salesman? Come on, guys. You're not going to win over sensible people with this kind of attack.

Re: 5 reasons to avoid iPhone 3G

#15

Post by felideon »

ozanonay wrote: post #6
dejb wrote: post #4

Thank god for some sanity. I cannot for the life of me understand why otherwise intelligent geeks fawn over locked Apple products and the iPhone in particular.

Perhaps because it's a delight to use and look at? Occasionally, when something is designed better than any other comparable device, you have to pay to use it. In this case, you pay by following a few of their rules.

Right.

And unless my main reason for buying a mobile phone is "for hacking," I don't see why I should pay $400 for the alternative (i.e. the Neo FreeRunner) when the iPhone "just works"--and nicely at that. How sure are we that the Neo FreeRunner would even be stable enough for use as a main phone?

When the day comes that I want to hack my phone, I'll get the FreeRunner. (Hopefully by then it'll be cheaper.) For now, I just want to use my phone.

Re: 5 reasons to avoid iPhone 3G

#18

Post by auston »

Can any iPhone developers chime in on the location tracking?

Is it not so that ONLY one application can track your location at a time? Additionally, when using a downloaded iPhone application you should assume that it will access some form of your personal data, in most cases that is the utility of the application.

Re: 5 reasons to avoid iPhone 3G

#19

Post by pavelludiq »

jotto wrote: post #12
cosmok wrote: post #9

'iPhone completely blocks free software. Developers must pay a tax to Apple, who becomes the sole authority over what can and can't be on everyone's phones.' I dislike the fact that Apple has considerable (compltete?) control over the distribution of an iPhone app and even charges the developer for doing so.Frigging unbelivable!

Why are people so upset about this? They provide a great shopping experience for their customers, and a great distribution channel for your apps. This is a service worth paying for.

The problem is that this channel is THE ONLY ONE.

Re: 5 reasons to avoid iPhone 3G

#20

Post by nonrecursive »

crescendo wrote: post #14

A snake oil salesman not satisfied with his business of pushing proprietary software and Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) technology into your home, Jobs has set his sights on getting DRM and proprietary software into your pocket as well. Is it just me, or does the rhetoric from FSF often times border on spiteful? Snake oil salesman? Come on, guys. You're not going to win over sensible people with this kind of a…

"into your home... into your pocket as well."

Lock your doors! ...Sew up your pockets! This has to stop, before Jobs has DRM technology dating our women.

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