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>> Everyone "needs" a phone, not everyone "needs" an xbox. I would add "not everyone 'needs' an iPhone" to this. iOS is not the only major OS in the phone mar

>> Everyone "needs" a phone, not everyone "needs" an xbox. I would add "not everyone 'needs' an iPhone" to this. iOS is not the only major OS in the phone market. And like Macs, a significant chunk of people (including normals) choose iOS, knowing that they're participating in Apple's walled garden. I'm not a huge fan of Apple's rent-seeking behaviour (which is why I left Apple), but because Android exists and is flourishing, I don't think you can necessarily call Apple a monopoly. They only have a monopoly on their own customers, which isn't very different from a lot of businesses who have created their own platform.

microcolonel 8y ago
Seconded. I do not use a smartphone (my last one broke and the RMA process was too much trouble on top of moving and doing my job, and now I'm used to not having it), and while it seems that some people assume you have one, you can generally get by without one just fine. Now, I will say: given that Microsoft was charged for bundling IE with Windows in a highly integrated way which competing browsers could not replicate; it seems that some case can be made. Granted, I'd sooner make the case that Paypal is enforcing the anti-competitive desires of their neighbours against those neighbours' competitors.
simion314 8y ago
So if Android would be similar to iOS, no side loading, and we have only 2 bad choices each with 50% market share we are still in a shit situation but no monopoly. What we need is laws for ownership of the hardware, I should be able to ask Apple or Sony to unlock my hardware because it is mine, the warranty is debatable but ownership should not be debatable.
- dhimes 8y ago
  My belief is even more draconian: I believe you shouldn't be able to cross "industries" like that. If you are hardware, you don't do software, and vice-versa. If you deliver content (cable companies) then you don't make content. It's like we're now back to the Andrew Carnegie days.
  - scarface74 8y ago
    Right because having hardware and software separate has done amazing things for the usability of Android devices and Windows PCs....
    - dhimes 8y ago
      I don't know about android, but I can put virtualbox and a dev stack on windows and do all kinds of stuff. I have a broken terminal emulator on my iphone. So, to your point, yeah. Edit: I'll add to this point. A couple of nights ago my son accidentally (? i dunno how) a crapload of text messages from his iphone. There's no "eco-friendly" way to get them back. This is a disasterous situation for a teenage boy who struggles socially. They are still on his phone, but he can't get to them because Apple won't let me get to them. There are some sketchy third-party apps that claim for a king's ransom to be able to do it (they showed him a preview then asked him to pay up- that's how he knows they were still there). But I can't get to it at all from linux. Apple deliberately blocks me from accessing my own file system. That's just mean.
      - scarface74 8y ago
        Yes because it makes total sense for an app to be able to access another apps private storage. What could possibly go wrong.... If the messages are deleted and still accessible, that’s an even bigger problem. I would hope if I delete s message there would be no way for anyone to retrieve them.
        simion314 8y ago
        But what if Apple delete function does not really deletes things you would need to run a better deleting application like you can on other OSs to be sure a delete is unrecoverable. The point is about freedom to do what you want with your hardware, give the people a way to remove the restrictions, put a huge warning but let me do what I want with a physical object I own.
        dhimes 8y ago

microcolonel 8y ago

Seconded. I do not use a smartphone (my last one broke and the RMA process was too much trouble on top of moving and doing my job, and now I'm used to not having it), and while it seems that some people assume you have one, you can generally get by without one just fine. Now, I will say: given that Microsoft was charged for bundling IE with Windows in a highly integrated way which competing browsers could not replicate; it seems that some case can be made. Granted, I'd sooner make the case that Paypal is enforcing the anti-competitive desires of their neighbours against those neighbours' competitors.

simion314 8y ago

So if Android would be similar to iOS, no side loading, and we have only 2 bad choices each with 50% market share we are still in a shit situation but no monopoly. What we need is laws for ownership of the hardware, I should be able to ask Apple or Sony to unlock my hardware because it is mine, the warranty is debatable but ownership should not be debatable.

dhimes 8y ago
My belief is even more draconian: I believe you shouldn't be able to cross "industries" like that. If you are hardware, you don't do software, and vice-versa. If you deliver content (cable companies) then you don't make content. It's like we're now back to the Andrew Carnegie days.
- scarface74 8y ago
  Right because having hardware and software separate has done amazing things for the usability of Android devices and Windows PCs....
  - dhimes 8y ago
    I don't know about android, but I can put virtualbox and a dev stack on windows and do all kinds of stuff. I have a broken terminal emulator on my iphone. So, to your point, yeah. Edit: I'll add to this point. A couple of nights ago my son accidentally (? i dunno how) a crapload of text messages from his iphone. There's no "eco-friendly" way to get them back. This is a disasterous situation for a teenage boy who struggles socially. They are still on his phone, but he can't get to them because Apple won't let me get to them. There are some sketchy third-party apps that claim for a king's ransom to be able to do it (they showed him a preview then asked him to pay up- that's how he knows they were still there). But I can't get to it at all from linux. Apple deliberately blocks me from accessing my own file system. That's just mean.
    - scarface74 8y ago
      Yes because it makes total sense for an app to be able to access another apps private storage. What could possibly go wrong.... If the messages are deleted and still accessible, that’s an even bigger problem. I would hope if I delete s message there would be no way for anyone to retrieve them.
      - simion314 8y ago
        But what if Apple delete function does not really deletes things you would need to run a better deleting application like you can on other OSs to be sure a delete is unrecoverable. The point is about freedom to do what you want with your hardware, give the people a way to remove the restrictions, put a huge warning but let me do what I want with a physical object I own.
      - dhimes 8y ago