5 ms·

It's deeply disturbing that the people at Apple feel entitled to radically change the rules of the game whenever it suits them. This is like an extortion racket

It's deeply disturbing that the people at Apple feel entitled to radically change the rules of the game whenever it suits them. This is like an extortion racket. Submit to their demands today only to find out what new whim strikes them tomorrow. How can iOS legitimately be called a "platform" when Apple pulls a leg out from under it every six months? Thank god Android scares them. I can only imagine what they'd dare without any competition.

czhiddy 16y ago
"I can only imagine what they'd dare without any competition." I don't remember anything evil during the height of the iPod era.
- sudont 16y ago
  Well, there was the iPod accessory rings to jump through, but that’s fairly standard. What’s seen as evil here is really a preference for the user over the content provider, and it’s the content providers who are whining about not getting everything their way. You never hear any users complaining about subscription plans not automatically giving away their information.
  - eavc 16y ago
    How is effectively booting popular services from their devices in the interest of their customers?
    - sudont 16y ago
      Don't try and sell it like that. The "services" you obliquely reference (name one) are most likely intended be used at the OS level, which is against the way the platform is built. The entire model of iOS is a node that downloads from several sources, which 3-rd party content providers are calling foul about. The platform is effectively binary: it either works or it doesnt, out of the box. There aren't any drivers or codecs to install. If you don't like it, build your service for some other platform. I hear there's one that's got more marketshare.
gvb 16y ago
See Tim Bray's essay, which should be titled "Are You a Sharecropper?" http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2003/07/12/WebsThePlace http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2003/07/12/WebsThePla... tl;dr: "[Apple] owns the ground you’re building on, and if they decide they don’t like you, or they can do something better with the ground, you’re toast." In this case, if they decide the rent covers your garden plot as well as the fields, you ante up or die.
- cosmicray 16y ago
  Apple owns a very fertile piece of soil. You can grow 10x the crop there that you can grown any where else. Where do you want to farm your crop ?
  - joe_the_user 16y ago
    Ah yes... "Apple owns a very fertile piece of soil. You can grow 10x the crop there that you can grown any where else." And they can change your rent to 11x normal - just before you sell your crops... "Where do you want to farm your crop ?" Go question but it is actually a real question, not a rhetorical question... Do you want to a golden share cropper or do you want to be independent. There may be no easy answer...
    - loewenskind 16y ago
      Simple solution: sell your crops where it is most profitable. Maybe with 11x normal it's still worth it. As soon as it's not, you switch.
jodrellblank 16y ago
Thank god Android scares them. Evidence?
- cageface 16y ago
  http://androidandme.com/2010/03/news/rotten-apple-htc-sued-over-20-patents/ http://androidandme.com/2010/03/news/rotten-apple-htc-sued-o...
  - shaggyfrog 16y ago
    That link is almost 11 months old, and given all the furor we've heard about HTC and Apple suing the pants off each other during those last 11 months -- i.e. zilch -- I don't think this link supports that argument.
loewenskind 16y ago
>It's deeply disturbing that the people at Apple feel entitled to radically change the rules of the game whenever it suits them. What makes you think that's what they're doing? It could also be that they never intended for their platform to be used this way but didn't explicitly deny it because they didn't see this coming. I don't have any way of knowing that is the case, but I don't think you have anyway of knowing your opinion is right either.

czhiddy 16y ago

"I can only imagine what they'd dare without any competition." I don't remember anything evil during the height of the iPod era.

sudont 16y ago
Well, there was the iPod accessory rings to jump through, but that’s fairly standard. What’s seen as evil here is really a preference for the user over the content provider, and it’s the content providers who are whining about not getting everything their way. You never hear any users complaining about subscription plans not automatically giving away their information.
- eavc 16y ago
  How is effectively booting popular services from their devices in the interest of their customers?
  - sudont 16y ago
    Don't try and sell it like that. The "services" you obliquely reference (name one) are most likely intended be used at the OS level, which is against the way the platform is built. The entire model of iOS is a node that downloads from several sources, which 3-rd party content providers are calling foul about. The platform is effectively binary: it either works or it doesnt, out of the box. There aren't any drivers or codecs to install. If you don't like it, build your service for some other platform. I hear there's one that's got more marketshare.

gvb 16y ago

See Tim Bray's essay, which should be titled "Are You a Sharecropper?" http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2003/07/12/WebsThePlace http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2003/07/12/WebsThePla... tl;dr: "[Apple] owns the ground you’re building on, and if they decide they don’t like you, or they can do something better with the ground, you’re toast." In this case, if they decide the rent covers your garden plot as well as the fields, you ante up or die.

cosmicray 16y ago
Apple owns a very fertile piece of soil. You can grow 10x the crop there that you can grown any where else. Where do you want to farm your crop ?
- joe_the_user 16y ago
  Ah yes... "Apple owns a very fertile piece of soil. You can grow 10x the crop there that you can grown any where else." And they can change your rent to 11x normal - just before you sell your crops... "Where do you want to farm your crop ?" Go question but it is actually a real question, not a rhetorical question... Do you want to a golden share cropper or do you want to be independent. There may be no easy answer...
  - loewenskind 16y ago
    Simple solution: sell your crops where it is most profitable. Maybe with 11x normal it's still worth it. As soon as it's not, you switch.

jodrellblank 16y ago

Thank god Android scares them. Evidence?

cageface 16y ago
http://androidandme.com/2010/03/news/rotten-apple-htc-sued-over-20-patents/ http://androidandme.com/2010/03/news/rotten-apple-htc-sued-o...
- shaggyfrog 16y ago
  That link is almost 11 months old, and given all the furor we've heard about HTC and Apple suing the pants off each other during those last 11 months -- i.e. zilch -- I don't think this link supports that argument.

loewenskind 16y ago

>It's deeply disturbing that the people at Apple feel entitled to radically change the rules of the game whenever it suits them. What makes you think that's what they're doing? It could also be that they never intended for their platform to be used this way but didn't explicitly deny it because they didn't see this coming. I don't have any way of knowing that is the case, but I don't think you have anyway of knowing your opinion is right either.