“Popular Science bitches and moans about how the rumored Apple Tablet could ruin computing,” Shannon Love writes for Chicago Boyz.
“The Apple Tablet is rumored to be a cross between a laptop and an iPhone. The iPhone isn’t really a cell phone, rather, it is a handheld computer employing a touch interface with a cell phone built-in. It uses a slimmed down version of Apple’s MacOS X operating system that Apple uses on all its computers,” Love writes. “This makes it easy to make an actual laptop-like device that uses the iPhone’s operating system complete with the special cell-phone associated attributes of the handheld.”
“In PopSci’s thinking, this is a problem because the iPhone’s default setup only allows people to use software written by independent developers but approved by Apple installed exclusively by being downloaded from Apple’s App Store. According to PopSci, this is bad because if this model spreads to all computers, people wouldn’t have the same level of flexibility to run any software they please on the new type of computer as they do on current ones,” Love writes.
“PopSci needs to rethink that because without a new business model to pay for the creation and distribution of software, there won’t be any software for people to run. You can’t make money anymore writing and selling software using the current business models. PopSci isn’t saving freedom for end users, they’re killing it,” Love writes. “Apple is saving the freedom of end users by making it possible for software developers who aren’t giant corporations to make a living at writing software.”
Love writes, “The iPhone and its App store recently convinced me to return to writing software directly for end users and I am far from alone in doing so. The iPhone app store has ignited a renaissance in software development… The App store makes it simple for small developers to write, distribute, sell and — drumroll please — get paid for, computer software. The App Store has created a boom time for small, creative software developers and provided iPhone users with a staggering degree of software choices. At the time of this writing, there are an estimated 65,000 iPhone apps.”
Much more in the full article – recommended – here.
Vapor story.
gah! Yadts (yet another damn tablet story). Enough! This is almost as annoying as the Obama ads MDN had pasted all over it.
Obama ads all over MDN???
Delusional Joe is delusional!
The app store is becoming a fascinating thing to follow.
1. Apple is beloved by developers, who are making good money – IF their app is accepted by Apple.
2. Apple is vilified by some users who want the freedom to put any app they want on their phones
3. Apple is praised by some users who appreciate that apps are screened and the vast majority of apps are not too buggy and work as advertised and are just really useful or fun
4. Apple is lambasted by the press for censoring what content can go on the phone, yet would certainly be lambasted by watchdog groups if they allowed porn and so on.
As a librarian, I can tell you that anyone who is in charge of putting a lot of content before a large group of users is going to catch hell from SOMEONE eventually, because they find something offensive or harmful or controversial or whatever. Librarians constantly have to be concerned with trying to provide appropriate content for ALL users (meaning that, yes, we censor while adding to our collections yet will still have something to offend someone). Apple took this upon themselves and it’s interesting to watch them walk the tightrope.
@Ichabod Mudd
MDN had Obama ads all over the damn place during the campaign. So who is delusional now?
@Joe & Ichabod Mudd
I never saw the ads during the campaign. Then again, I’m smart enough to run an ad blocking scheme; so are many other discerning MDN readers.
(Go ahead MDN, delete this. It rains on your ad parade.)
I wasn’t aware that computing needed saving! In fact, I’d say that the very notion is a crock of you-know-what.
Ads? Where? I don’t see any ads. You poor Safari users.
I read that PopSci article last week and thought it was pretty convoluted reasoning. “Computing” is not some monolithic entity. Most of the world’s computing is handled by embedded systems that most of us have never seen or heard of. Apple’s system is just one of many. It will be a perfect fit for some, but not for others. Nothing new here. I am willing to sacrifice some “power” for “simplicity” and “reliability”.
Although they have gotten better, for decades it was well accepted that automatic transmissions robbed cars of power to the wheels. The vast majority of car buyers still swarmed to automatics because they were just easier to drive, while purists couldn’t tell you enough how much more driving power and control you have with a manual transmission.
The point is you can be right about what is being given up, and still wrong in a conclusion that it means doom.
Love has some points but the app approval process is still in danger of being an innovation stifling totalitarian blockade to the advancement of technology.
The app approval process MUST be addressed.
My idea is to have the app approval process done by jury instead of just one company. If this is the future then one company will not have the last say in an app’s approval.
raskol;
I use Safari.
I don’t see any ads.
So do I.
And I don’t see any ads either.
Safari AdBlock.
Free.
His Holy Steveness better cometh down soon from Mountain Top
And delivereth unto us the iTablet to Smite the Wicked
Cure the Sick, Heal the Lame, and give us Whirled Peas
Rabble getteth restless
BC
And can I get an “Amen” from the Shout Out Pew ? …
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”tongue laugh” style=”border:0;” />
I was at lunch the other day with half a dozen friends, and a question came up that I could answer “then and there” with my iPhone. Later, one of the guys mentioned he got the new Kindle and “loved it.” When asked where it was, he said, “Oh, it’s in the car.”
Enough said.
Size matters.
Size matters ?
Heard that on my Honeymoon …
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”hmmm” style=”border:0;” />
(badda boom badda bing)
SHUT THE FUCK UP!
IT IS GOING TO HAVE SNOW LEOPARD, ANYTHING LESS THAN THAT WILL BE A WASTE OF HARDWARE
Wow. Anti-Obama ref only two comments in. I’m proud of you!