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Wozniak calls for open Apple

itnews.com.au

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Re: Wozniak calls for open Apple

#11

Post by jacquesm »

I absolutely love Steve Wozniak for stuff like this, he's everything I could ever dream of being.

At the same time that lovely naivete about what would happen is exactly why this will never fly.

Apple is the golden goose and nobody will sign off on a risky move that might kill the goose or stop it from laying those golden eggs. If there is one thing that makes CEO's conservative it is very large streams of income. You can take risks when you're small.

If 'the Woz' wants to have a more open platform comparable with Apple then I'm pretty sure he'd find tons of people willing to follow him if he decided to go down that road himself. What will happen is that sooner or later he'll need a business guy to take care of all of those non-technical details and at some point in time after that we'd have a new Apple, just as bad as the old.

Re: Wozniak calls for open Apple

#12

Post by MattGrommes »

loverobots wrote: post #3

"I think that Apple could be just as strong and good and be open, but how can you challenge it when a company is making that much money?" I think he knows it well. Like it or not Apple is AAPL, or there to make money for shareholders. Would "being open" result in more money for the people that bought a tiny slice of a $500 Billion pie? Will any CEO try when they're making $50 Billion or whatever they're making this y…

Having the extra slots on the Apple ][ allowed for there to be more uses of Apple's computer, and almost certainly led to more profit. It also did no damage since you couldn't use the slots to do anything to the computer that would cost Apple money. If Apple opened up, say, the licensing on the adapter plug on the bottom of iPads and iPhones, that would do just what Woz is talking about with the only impact to their bottom line being the licensing revenue for the plug. It would also allow more uses of their devices. I think there's plenty of places they could "open up" and still keep their river of money flowing in.

Re: Wozniak calls for open Apple

#13

Post by swedenborg »

jacquesm wrote: post #11

I absolutely love Steve Wozniak for stuff like this, he's everything I could ever dream of being. At the same time that lovely naivete about what would happen is exactly why this will never fly. Apple is the golden goose and nobody will sign off on a risky move that might kill the goose or stop it from laying those golden eggs. If there is one thing that makes CEO's conservative it is very large streams of income. Yo…

true

Q: is that human nature or indoctrination of democracy at play ...

Re: Wozniak calls for open Apple

#14

Post by rbanffy »

RandallBrown wrote: post #2

I think Apple can be more open and be just as successful. I don't think they can be as open as Wozniak wants and still be successful. Apple's biggest strength to me is timing and execution. They didn't invent the tablet, but they made it better and at a time when more people were ready for it. I think the time is coming that being more open will be an advantage. Right now controlling your entire experience (to me) pr…

> I don't think they can be as open as Wozniak wants and still be successful.

I don't think they could make the existing product lines more open, but they could explore the idea of a developer version of the iPad. Sure someone would find a way to download music or copying installed software without paying, but I don't think that would be even measurable.

I'd love if it came in beige, with a rainbow logo ;-)

Re: Wozniak calls for open Apple

#15

Post by rbanffy »

jacquesm wrote: post #11

I absolutely love Steve Wozniak for stuff like this, he's everything I could ever dream of being. At the same time that lovely naivete about what would happen is exactly why this will never fly. Apple is the golden goose and nobody will sign off on a risky move that might kill the goose or stop it from laying those golden eggs. If there is one thing that makes CEO's conservative it is very large streams of income. Yo…

I'm not sure.

Apple has been faithful to its principles since Jobs returned - to offer a few products, not to compete in features and to provide a seamless experience. It's successful because its clients like it that way.

I don't think Woz has as many fans as Jobs had, but I still suspect the "tablet ][" is yet to be invented.

Re: Wozniak calls for open Apple

#16

Post by rbanffy »

gouranga wrote: post #9
swedenborg wrote: post #4

Apple was hope . now its the new MS ... comes with the territory . if you the one and in bed with CIA who's to say open up ...

DEC is the new Unisys. IBM is the new DEC. Microsoft is the new IBM. Apple is the new Microsoft. Linux is the new... err ahh... BSD is the new.. err umm... Screw opening corporations. Break the cycle entirely I say.

You forgot one: Java is the new COBOL.

Now, more seriously, such cycles do exist and we can observe them easily. History repeats imperfectly in subtly different ways. If Apple is to be the new Microsoft, it won't be exactly like it just as Microsoft is not exactly the new IBM - both have learned from their predecessors. Will they make mistakes that doom themselves? Eventually yes, but they won't be the same mistakes that doomed their predecessors.

Re: Wozniak calls for open Apple

#18

Post by oldschooltaper »

What would he say to the idea of selling Apple hardware without tying it to an OS?

In other words, you can buy the great Apple form factor and design, but you don't have to deal with the restrictions of the OS. You could install your own OS.

Obviously this would initially only target hackers. NetBSD can run on some Apple hardware. And there is all the Hackintosh work to build on. Eventually there would be more free OS offerings to install after giving the hacker community some time to adjust to the newfound freedom.

Apple could even sell OSX and iOS separately.

There is a lot of value just in the Apple hardware. Even without the Apple OS offerings. Apple is primarily a hardware company.

Re: Wozniak calls for open Apple

#19

Post by maz29 »

I always wondered what would happen if someone leaked the source code to OSX or iOS. Would the forked versions outshine new releases? In my opinion normal users would prefer apple's versions while hackers would take the other route for greater flexibility. Maybe Woz should anonymously leak iOS 4 or OSX 10.4 source. Apple wouldn't have to worry about maintaining documentation and it would also give them a nice buffer to outshine any competition.

Re: Wozniak calls for open Apple

#20

Post by swedenborg »

maz29 wrote: post #19

I always wondered what would happen if someone leaked the source code to OSX or iOS. Would the forked versions outshine new releases? In my opinion normal users would prefer apple's versions while hackers would take the other route for greater flexibility. Maybe Woz should anonymously leak iOS 4 or OSX 10.4 source. Apple wouldn't have to worry about maintaining documentation and it would also give them a nice buffer…

it is not only source code . its moral & ethics at play ...
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