The difference is that google search is a service, and the ipod and iphones are products. Once a person buys an ipod/iphone, it is their property. It would be n

The difference is that google search is a service, and the ipod and iphones are products. Once a person buys an ipod/iphone, it is their property. It would be nice if the owner of an item could do whatever he wants with it -- for example, install any particular piece of software on it, without needing for Apple, who no longer owns the device, to approve that action. Google search, on the other hand, is a service provided by Google, not a product to be purchased. Google runs it at enormous expense. For you to be able to use google results to make money by running your own ads, without paying google for the use of their service, is not at all the same as the situation with the ipod/iphone. You _can_ use google results and run your own ads, of course, you just have to partner with Google to do it and pay them for the use of their service. I think the author is confusing "open" with "no cost".