You clearly did not read the letter from jobs. He does discuss the proprietary nature of iPhone OS. But he also covers why it would be bad for apple users to have middleware design tools become popular -- based on their past experience.

It's also worth noting that you can create amazing, open mobile web apps that work great on iPhones and iPads and many other devices. You can thank apple's open source work on WebKit for a big part of that.

Combined with the performance issues, crashing issues, and lack of a good touch interface for Flash, what argument can really be made in favor of it on mobile devices?

Write it in HTML5, JavaScript and CSS and move on with your life.

That wasn't a rebuttal from ars, it was written by the operations manager of the Free Software Foundation. It helps to frame it properly, since that guy has a definite desire to see a proprietary platform like iPhone fail.

Nah, FairTax would be a better choice.

After all, companies don't ever pay taxes. You do. Through higher prices for goods, fewer jobs at lower pay, and fewer dividends to shareholders.

How exactly do you think companies have money to pay taxes, anyway?

Interesting way to spin Apple's accomplishment... that it was somehow evil to unlock iTunes. Wow, how could anyone win with this kind of logic?

What actually happened was that Apple dominated the music business because of the popularity of their HARDWARE and the way it worked seamlessly with their SOFTWARE (iTunes). They made a music store that SELLS MUSIC, in an environment where it was almost as easy to anonymously steal the same stuff.

Steve Jobs wrote an open letter to the music industry where he essentially said, why don't we eliminate this DRM bullshit, because it doesn't work. One by one, they eventually relented, and now most music stores sell music without DRM. You can now buy music from iTunes that plays on any modern music device.

Yet you're convinced Apple only did this because they somehow are now "safe" with this iPod monopoly. Does this make any sense? They removed one factor that might lock someone into their iPod the most -- their music library's portability -- and decimated it. Yet, in your mind this was just a crock of shit or something?

Wow.

Unfortunately, chris.travers@GMAIL.COM, your Google boycott rings a tad hollow.

But when push comes to shove, I'm growing more convinced with the iPhone/iPad they really do see the future as being closed & proprietary.

Is that why they have developed the best mobile browser to date? Pushing HTML5 instead of Flash? Contributing to webkit?

The future is going to continue to be dominated by the web. Apple provides a really good web platform in their products.

You can write any web application you want, and get people on iPhone and iPad to use it. HTML5 has great support in Safari.

You can write any full application you want for the Mac platform, using one of the best development environments in Xcode.

You can write any application you want for the iPhone and iPad, as well, using the exact same environment. The only question is whether or not you're going to be able to distribute it in the App Store. Apple has decided to tightly control that marketplace. Some of their reasoning is valid -- security issues, quality control issues, etc. Some of it has to do with branding, things they don't want to be associated with. Some of it has to do with appealing to the widest audience. And yes, some of it has to do with business.

What I would like to see Apple do, and I think they eventually will be forced by the marketplace to do this -- is to allow apps to be installed from sources outside the App Store. Google Android will push them to do this, if for no other reason than Apple can answer all critics.

Invariably, Apple tends to solve criticisms eventually, before they erode mindshare.

Consider the history of iPhone:

- Criticism #1: What, no native apps, only web apps? Solved in OS 2.0.

- Criticism #2: What, no copy and paste? Solved in OS 3.0.

- Criticisms #3 and #4. Now Android is picking up steam. What are the primary advantages people name for Android? Multi-tasking and an open marketplace.

Well, Apple is rumored to be addressing multi-tasking in OS 4.0. I'm not one of those people that berates them for not having it from the beginning, I think they tackled major problems that plagued earlier "smartphones," i.e. overly complex process management, and battery use issues. As hardware evolves, battery life is less of a problem, and I am confident Apple can solve user interface challenges.

If they did address multi-tasking and application installation, what would all of you guys bitch about? Oh, right. AT&T.

Disclaimer: I own stock in Apple and Google.

I feel that Buzz is a sign that the Google Mail team is losing touch. Most people, myself included, use Google Mail for.....

Wow, you've queried other Gmail users? Please publish your findings!

With Buzz thrown in the mix, now people can check their email as well as follow the people they're emailing through pictures, videos, status updates, etc. All of these things are way outside the realm of emailing, which is, like regular mail, to simply correspond..

Get off your lawn, while we're at it, Mr. Annoying?

TURN IT OFF.

So you don't want to use it, jesus who gives a shit? Just turn it off.

In your opinion, the "Google Mail team" is losing touch by offering a new feature that lets people connect with each other more, in a way very similar to two other extremely popular ways to do the same... yeah, you're right, they're really out there in left field! What were those crazy loons thinking!

Additionally, whatever happened with Wave? Wasn't that platform supposed to be the springboard for this "revolutionized email?"

Oh, wait a second, suddenly you're interested in cutting edge ways to communicate with people? Weren't you just telling us one paragraph ago that Google Mail people are totally out of touch because you and every person you surveyed uses Gmail in one specific way and isn't interested in anything new? But now you're asking about Google Wave?

Google Wave is totally different from this product. They're still beta testing it. For someone that thinks like you do, imagine Google Wave as Google Docs, if the Google Docs team suddenly lost all touch with reality, and decided to add a new feature that let people communicate with each other in new ways.

Cry me a river!

When will you be ditching your TV?

Reading the forums alot of the apple fans don't seem to like it.

Have you considered that people that like something tend not to storm the web and write about it? Of course everyone bitching on the forums hates it... Does that mean it won't sell really well?

I personally love it. I'm a programmer, I work on Windows mostly, but Macs more and more. All I've wanted a tablet for is surfing the web, reading books, and things like that. I'm not trying to do EVERYTHING on this device. I think Apple has reached a very good balance. (I would have liked a front-facing camera for video chat, but other than that I like it.)

Tens of millions of people play farmville or watch hulu and you can't do any of that on the ipad.

Uh huh. Until Hulu switches to HTML5 video embeds and Farmville writes their app in a standard format, like JavaScript + HTML5 canvas.

Fuck Flash.

The Apple ][ was most definitely a tinkerer's machine.

No shit.

This entire article is lame. Did anyone consider that the market for computers back then was ... a bunch of geeks that liked tinkering?

Computers are now ubiquitous. If you don't want to tinker, buy a Mac. If you want to tinker, buy something else.

End of story...

The difference is that this is a fucking media consuming device, not a desktop computer.

Wow, you gave 3D an entire movie experience before deciding it's fate?

And you're skipping blu-ray... uh huh. I'll come back to you in a year when you can't even find a non-bluray DVD player on the market any more.

Ha, where is the time? Oh, I dunno, while I'm sleeping? Which I luckily do every night.

You'd have to recharge your phone every day also, if it actually did everything the iPhone does.

One of the "features" I loathe about people mocking the iPhone is that their arguments are so inane, and in most cases they've never bothered to try the iPhone, because of their preconceived notions about Apple products, or those of us too "stupid" to want to use a Linux-based device.

Oh, so you hated thin clients 25 years ago, and now you could never use one of those, right?

Who would ever want to use a small device that has no hard drive, downloads applications from the cloud, and is web-centric?

Things change.

Anything that is internet-connected and useful poses a threat to your privacy. Period.

I am willing to accept that trade-off, especially since 95% of the privacy stories on YRO are overblown.

Oh no, the power company can determine my peak power usage. They can determine that I leave in the morning and get home at night.

In exchange, the smart grid promises some big benefits. As usual, a trade-off.