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You can say that Flash is crappy, all right. But it certainty isn't a monopoly. If someone is not satisfied with Flash, they can go ahead and build another Ric

You can say that Flash is crappy, all right. But it certainty isn't a monopoly. If someone is not satisfied with Flash, they can go ahead and build another Rich Internet Application Plaftorm, as Microsoft is doing with Silverlight and Sun is (was?) with JavaFX. So everyone can, in principle, have access to the part of the Web that Flash "conquered". It is hard, but possible. Apple, on the other hand, is the one true gatekeeper that ultimately defines what runs in their systems. You can only have access to their platform by abiding to their terms. They are just impossible to bypass.

evgen 17y ago
And if someone is not satisfied with Apple's mobile product and policies related to same they can go ahead and build their own phone OS, as Google is doing with Android and MS is doing with whatever dumb name they have for their phone platform this week. Anyone can have access to the part of the mobile space that the iPhone OS "conquered." It is hard, but possible. Apple is a gatekeeper to their platform, as those other companies mentioned are gatekeepers to their own platforms...as Adobe is a gatekeeper to their own platform. It is not impossible to bypass any of them. If Apple decides that they don't want you pissing in the shallow end of their pool they can ask you to leave; you can go swim in someone else's pond or you can get yourself a shovel and start digging your own, but there is no monopoly involved here at all.