Comment Re:Rational decisions are relative to wants (Score 1) 439
The difference is, you could write your own software to run on that SPARC, you weren't at the mercy of whatever was in the 'SPARC App Store'. You weren't made to jump through many many burning hoops to get the toolchain to build new SPARC apps. You could distribute those new apps any way you wanted, you weren't dependent on the 'guardians of the gate' at the 'SPARC App Store'. You could get a wild hair up your ass, sit down, code and compile your new app however you wanted it. Try that with your iphone.
The development tools are free, and for $99/yr you can run any app you care to write on the iPhone. No, you aren't guaranteed to be able to put it in the App Store, but that's Apple's storefront so they get to make the rules. I'm fine with that.