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So what happens if the Vision Pro becomes the best interface to general-purpose computing, Apple still insists on "owning the experience", and their patents pre

So what happens if the Vision Pro becomes the best interface to general-purpose computing, Apple still insists on "owning the experience", and their patents prevent full competition from devices whose experience you can own? I lean towards your philosophy but I worry that a near-duopoly on advanced devices plus IP restrictions and the like will keep us who value control over our own Turing machines stuck with laptops and desktops.

cmdli 3y ago
In that instance, I would say the problem is that the laws around patents are preventing competition, not that one competitor chooses to lock down their system. We have seen that more open systems like Android can exist, so I would expect those systems to stick around for the people that want them. Having both types of systems actually increases user choice.
zmmmmm 3y ago
> So what happens if the Vision Pro becomes the best interface to general-purpose computing this is exactly my fear The people who present Android vs iOS as a matter of personal choice are being slightly disingenuous. They are pretending that this choice is a natural inevitable result and will always exist. Their whole reasoning that iOS is "ok" is based on the fact that Android - another totally independent ecosystem, exists. And let's not forget, it's one which Steve Jobs vowed to sue out of existence. The "android" of that ecosystem is the Meta Quest devices. At the moment, yes, you can sideload there and Zuckerberg is on the record saying he will maintain an open ecosystem. Yet it's still very tenuous. The sideloading experience is very poor, worse than Android (something you sideload can't appear as a first class citizen on the device - there's no way to have it show up in the main app menu, random permissions don't work sometimes etc). And the Quest OS layer is not open source - only the underlying Android OS. The technical hurdles required for VR/AR are much bigger than general computing. It's not at all clear to me that an open alternative will emerge. So we are potentially headed into an era where effectively there's no option for general computing that isn't locked down and owned by a Mega corporation. And all these iOS users who are preaching tolerance of Apple's approach will have been the key enablers of this dystopia.
- _ea1k 3y ago
  > The people who present Android vs iOS as a matter of personal choice are being slightly disingenuous. TBH, there is already tremendous social pressure to choose iOS.

cmdli 3y ago

In that instance, I would say the problem is that the laws around patents are preventing competition, not that one competitor chooses to lock down their system. We have seen that more open systems like Android can exist, so I would expect those systems to stick around for the people that want them. Having both types of systems actually increases user choice.

zmmmmm 3y ago

> So what happens if the Vision Pro becomes the best interface to general-purpose computing this is exactly my fear The people who present Android vs iOS as a matter of personal choice are being slightly disingenuous. They are pretending that this choice is a natural inevitable result and will always exist. Their whole reasoning that iOS is "ok" is based on the fact that Android - another totally independent ecosystem, exists. And let's not forget, it's one which Steve Jobs vowed to sue out of existence. The "android" of that ecosystem is the Meta Quest devices. At the moment, yes, you can sideload there and Zuckerberg is on the record saying he will maintain an open ecosystem. Yet it's still very tenuous. The sideloading experience is very poor, worse than Android (something you sideload can't appear as a first class citizen on the device - there's no way to have it show up in the main app menu, random permissions don't work sometimes etc). And the Quest OS layer is not open source - only the underlying Android OS. The technical hurdles required for VR/AR are much bigger than general computing. It's not at all clear to me that an open alternative will emerge. So we are potentially headed into an era where effectively there's no option for general computing that isn't locked down and owned by a Mega corporation. And all these iOS users who are preaching tolerance of Apple's approach will have been the key enablers of this dystopia.

_ea1k 3y ago
> The people who present Android vs iOS as a matter of personal choice are being slightly disingenuous. TBH, there is already tremendous social pressure to choose iOS.