The Moderate's Position on iPad Openness
1–10 of 33 posts
Re: The Moderate's Position on iPad Openness
#2It's the rare person who changes their mind when they've taken a very strong position. Kudos to Alex for being willing to take a real look at the iPad and figure out what his real concerns with the device were.
Re: The Moderate's Position on iPad Openness
#3The AppStore is a huge deal and was barely even mentioned. Censoring what they sell in the AppStore is fine with me. Maintaining a monopoly on the sales of software for use with their devices by exploiting contract law and the DCMA is not. Yet we are supposed to forgive them because they are doing cool things with hardware/software? Enjoy.
Re: The Moderate's Position on iPad Openness
#4Apple has demonstrated ingenuity in a segment that showed little of it for years. I had and still have reservation about this device, and as it stands, after playing with it a good amount, I will hold on till version 2 (soon i am sure) or when a real credible competitor surfaces (soon perhaps).
This is not to distract from the fact that the Ipad is pretty amazing, and i think anybody who engages with technology, and is able to look beyond his own personal passions and biases will concede this is a ground breaking elegant device.
There is much to like about this brilliant device. but for me, who relies (and prefers) Linux, the reliance on Itunes is a complete no for me, and many other aspects are giving me pause. The centralized approach Apple projects as a philosophy is very troubling to me, on level that goes beyond just tech. it gives me the creeps (while Google still at a level that merely annoys me and keeps me suspicious)
Open source models largely failed (don't bite my head on this one) to gain a real substantial piece of the desktop environment, however, on specialized devices such as pads and phones the platform demonstrates stability and capabilities that give it a real chance.this approach is by and large promoted by Google, and it certainly has the potential for a very strong showing.
in terms of stability and capability of the engine we can argue on merits here and there, but the end user experience is largely successful when there is a tight coherence in the metaphors used, that is the winning ticket.
Apple understands this very well, Open source designers need to figure out a better way to make the metaphors used coherent, it remains to be seen if its possible in this environment. Style is not trivial
Re: The Moderate's Position on iPad Openness
#5The AppStore is a huge deal and was barely even mentioned. Censoring what they sell in the AppStore is fine with me. Maintaining a monopoly on the sales of software for use with their devices by exploiting contract law and the DCMA is not. Yet we are supposed to forgive them because they are doing cool things with hardware/software? Enjoy.
I'd actually be O.K. with the restrictions in the App store if there was any non-jailbreak method of loading apps outside the app store. That would allow you to install things like Google Voice, Opera, or whatever if you the user want to, while still providing a squeaky clean simplified view to the average user.
For example, on an Android phone, by default you can only install apps from the Android Market. However, by checking one checkbox in the phone's preferences, you can install non-market apps. Those might be apps you upload using the Android developer tools (if you're a dev), or you can download and install apps from a website, or you can use a third party market (like SlideMe).
Re: The Moderate's Position on iPad Openness
#6It's the rare person who changes their mind when they've taken a very strong position. Kudos to Alex for being willing to take a real look at the iPad and figure out what his real concerns with the device were.
Agree. I did not expect to read this.
Great article, Alex.
Re: The Moderate's Position on iPad Openness
#7[deleted]
Re: The Moderate's Position on iPad Openness
#8"Finally, there’s the issue of the App Store. I’m on the fence about it. My hunch is that Apple should follow Palm’s lead and allow users to install applications from the web, albeit after prompting for the user’s consent and warning against whatever security issues might arise despite the platform’s sandboxing... However, I don’t feel strongly enough about these positions to make them part of my “platform” above."
I don't get how one would feel less strongly about this point than the others. To me, the notion that smart kids would stop tinkering with things never seemed like a real threat. It's more fun to tinker with things when it's against the rules, anyway. My concern has always been the long term implications of embracing this closed app distribution platform.
I've read plenty of arguments for and against it. Inevitably, I am left with a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. Yes, I understand that this gatekeeper system could help keep users from hurting themselves. But Apple has also shown that it is not just looking out for its users — it's also being anti-competitive, namely with its decision to block new Google apps.
I've seen people try to argue that Apple is in fact very open because it includes Safari, which is HTML5 compliant. But I've yet to experience many HTML5 apps that are as snappy or easy to use as their native counterparts, and it seems like 'native' will continue to evolve faster than 'web' for quite a while.
I bought an iPad. I really like it, and was thrilled by how quickly my parents learned to use it. But I can't shake this feeling that the App Store's entirely closed ecosystem is a bad thing.
Re: The Moderate's Position on iPad Openness
#9The AppStore is a huge deal and was barely even mentioned. Censoring what they sell in the AppStore is fine with me. Maintaining a monopoly on the sales of software for use with their devices by exploiting contract law and the DCMA is not. Yet we are supposed to forgive them because they are doing cool things with hardware/software? Enjoy.
I'd actually be O.K. with the restrictions in the App store if there was any non-jailbreak method of loading apps outside the app store. That would allow you to install things like Google Voice, Opera, or whatever if you the user want to, while still providing a squeaky clean simplified view to the average user. For example, on an Android phone, by default you can only install apps from the Android Market. However, b…
I think you might have trouble really maintaining squeaky cleanliness.
The 'average user' still might want or need Google Voice, Opera, or something she needs for work. She sees it on someone else's phone, she asks how you get it. The tell her: Go to preferences, untick 'allow only app store apps', click OK after scary warning, download app to your PC, follow installation instructions... The iphone just got a bit more difficult. People outside of the top 5% users will be exposed to this stuff, on their phones or on other people if it is available and semi-sanctioned.
Precisely because Apple is heavily censoring and annoying developers in the app store, average users are likely to want non-app-store-apps. Maybe even more on the iPad.
This power user who is a programmer vs average user who log in to facebook via readwriteweb is not really a useful description of the world. Most iPhones are in in between hands.
Re: The Moderate's Position on iPad Openness
#10>the device launched with a PHP IDE in the App Store on day one, amongst other code-related applications.
I can't seem to find any of these applications (I'm not sure how to browse for iPad specific apps in iTunes). Does anyone know which apps he's talking about?