I also strongly suspect that Apple’s executive team does not really give two shits about its shareholders. They build systems that they would want to use and would be quite happy to see anyone unsatisfied with their decisions (whether customers, shareholders, or employees) go elsewhere.

Yes but they are IMPORTANT people. People who MATTER. People whose needs are so important that they must over-ride the needs of the rest of us. People without whom the world as we know it….

I.E. They are not you or me.  Sheesh, haven’t you GOT it yet?

With the iPhone, I may be locked into Apple’s store but I also have a choice as to which of Apple’s other services I want to use. If I don’t want to use MobileMe (or now, iCloud), I can disable that – which means Apple doesn’t get to play with my mail, contacts & other related data.

Android on the other hand *requires* that you set it up with your Google account during install. Sure, you can set up a fake account, but hey, Google Doesn’t Like That (http://infotrope.net/2011/08/0… - and yes, that’s just for Google+ at the moment, but I don’t like where they’re going).

Srsly?  So you would rather be locked into a single all consuming empire of 3vil because you are afraid that Google will suddenly demand that everyone has to send in their license and prove that they are indeed ScrottyMcBalls in real life?  Take the tin foil hat off fella.  Yes, Google’s social networking site makes you use something that sounds vaguely like a real name for better or for ill, but to then leap off a cliff and declare that they are going to put a gun to your head and make you give them  your passport and first born to verify your junk mail account is beyond stupid.If you are still paranoid, I guess  you can stick with iOS, but that is a bit like moving to North Korea because you think the Canadian government is starting to roll back freedom of speech.

And if you are a programmer, it’s arguably easier to write your own than with a ‘droid (Python and QT knowledge are all you need.)

And Google already has too much of my data; until they start actively paying me for it, I’m not interested in giving them more. Especially since data on the phone gets into serious privacy and confidentiality issues.

See http://playbiolab.com/, http://www.limejs.com/static/zlizer/index.html and http://www.limejs.com/static/roundball/index.html for a few examples.

That’s why I use iOS.

I don’t love the Android system any more or less than iOs, but I DO love the way it trends towards openness. That potential, and the Android/Cyanogen community that fosters more development is a nice flavor, compared to the one-size, one-source oversight emanating from Cupertino. You’ll see more surprises and innovation out of a diverse group than you will out of a top-down organization.

Apple views us (you and me) as their customers.  They want to do right by us because they want to sell us products.

Google views advertisers as their customers.  They want to make advertisers happy and therefor have an incentive to sell us out (literally and figuratively).

Apple views us (you and me) as their customers.  They want to do right by us because they want to sell us products.

Google views advertisers as their customers.  They want to make advertisers happy and therefor have an incentive to sell us out (literally and figuratively). 

Now let’s paradoxically claim that Apple condones jailbreaking because they haven’t closed all the security holes, and also that Apple has great security.

If I go to a store that sells computers (desktops/laptops) and I purchase (for example) a HP laptop, it is within my rights to take that laptop home, erase the hard drive and reinstall Windows without all of the additional partitions, extra software and various other add-ons that HP has included to help lower their bottom line in the sale.  It is then within my rights to install alternatives to those programs (if desired).  I may even install an alternative operating system such as one of several LINUX distributions, OpenBSD, UNIX, etc. if I so choose, with the understanding that should I require technical support, HP is no longer required to provide it to me due to my removal of their OS.

In my mind, a smartphone is no different from a computer, save for having the additional function of connecting to a cellular network (this can also be done on a computer).  It is hardware, with an operating system that supports software.  If I don’t like the operating system that ships with the phone, it should be within my rights to change it.  If I want to install software that is not supported by the marketplace, it should be within my rights to do so, provided that I understand that my phone will no longer be supported by the manufacturer or vendor should I have an issue that might require technical support to resolve.

Regardless of whether I am using a computer or a smartphone, the only time the word “illegal” should be used is if I am infringing upon copyrighted material.

Anytime I get slightly annoyed with yet another anti-Apple rant from Cory, I just have to remember that I have the same attitude toward Microsoft (for different reasons, I guess).

The DMCA makes it illegal to cross the Bay Bridge by somehow sneaking past the toll. You’re circumventing protections (the toll) meant to make you pay for something (the bridge).

Jailbreaking is getting there without using the Bay Bridge. And jailbreaking is not illegal under the DMCA.

Samizdat is always hairy and wild; hairy and wild is what happens when you let civilization self-organize organically rather than imposing a structure on it from above. But, samizdat is where it happens. It’s only in the hairy and wild domains on the edge of civilization where innovation really happens, because innovation is defined by its incompatibility with (or ignorance of, or structural improvements upon) that which is established.

Provisioning is meant so organizations can install private apps that aren’t on the App Store. (Apple does it with the iTouches the store employees use, for one)

But… there are many websites that will provision (for a nominal fee) a non-jailbroken phone so you can install pirated apps that have been re-signed with their certificate. This is a DMCA violation on their part (because the app store DRM had to be stripped to allow re-signing) so don’t be shocked when things stop working (Apple can’t remove provisioned apps from your phone, but Apple can revoke their cert because Apple signed it)

The android market is full of shit. So is the iOS app store.  The difference is almost anyone can post anything to the market while apple uses an inconsistent set of rules, and applies them inconsistently, to allow or deny apps that tends to block some apps that some people really want, often without valid reason, or with asinine reasons.

Android does NOT require you to have a Google account to use it. You can skip the registration and not use any of the Google apps. There are other market apps available (ie: Amazon) to give you access to the wide array of apps available to Android. In fact, should you go the route of installing your own Android firmware, the Google apps are entirely optional. Google even requires that these apps be provided separately.

I honestly dislike the iOS vs Android debate because while they do compete, and I will always prefer Android, I will never spout religious dogma on someone else about it (maybe this is the atheist in me). Sure, I poke fun at my iPhone and Blackberry user friends, but these people chose their devices for whatever reasons they have and will only change if another platform provides whatever it is they are looking for as well as providing a better experience.

All in all, i think Doctorow have the right idea here. I have managed to rescue more Linux installs then Windows installs simply because the former is better able to “fail well”. Logs that use something other then undocumented hex codes as “information”, various levels of functionality that degrade in a controlled manner (going from X to terminal to bare bones boot or livecd).