Open source is great for infrastructure software. The number of high quality open source tools that exist now is actually quite amazing. All you need to start learning cutting-edge software development is an internet connection, an old computer, and a desire to learn. This has changed drastically in the past 20 years, and much of that can be attributed to Stallman's efforts.
But for consumer-facing software, I don't think open source is the right solution. The auto-updating marketplaces provide tremendous value to the average consumer. Installing software and keeping a machine up to date is a job. Most people don't have the time or inclination to do it. If I give someone an iPad, I can be 99% certain they won't make it unusable or full of viruses in a month. Have you seen the average person's Windows desktop?
You may disagree with what Apple deems an "approved" app, but we do have competing marketplaces. I think that is an important check and balance.
Apple also did a magnificent job at creating a DRM-free marketplace for music. It didn't happen all at once. Their negotiation with the music industry was gradual. That is something that an ideologue like Stallman is completely incapable of accomplishing, I'm sorry to say.
Sorry but this post is so full of rubbish it's almost trolling.
>for consumer-facing software, I don't think open source is the right solution..
Firefox, chrome, vlc, android.. think they work pretty well. Maybe not always, but yours was a pretty sweeping statement.
>..The auto-updating marketplaces provide tremendous value to the average consumer.
And have almost nothing to do with open vs walled-garden. What are these competing marketplaces on iOS? (besides, non-proprietary apps usually update themselves in the desktop world, which i can't see a big problem with).
Then you use windows as an example of 'open source' failure? Completely ignoring linux, which (as well as actually being open source and primarily running FLOSS apps) both won't get viruses in the hands of an average user (which i accept--android aside-- it is not normally in the hands of; but that's another discussion), and has also had package management for an eternity, as well as eg. ubuntu software centre for discovery (NB: not the only choice for software). That windows is not perfect is not an argument for the apple model (which IMO is largely better because it is much newer/no baggage; apple have made good software but that is no argument for its walled nature).
>Apple also did a magnificent job at creating a DRM-free marketplace for music. It didn't happen all at once
Apple created the locked nature with regard to the apps, it is not battling music labels to free them up. To insinuate that apple really wants an open system, but that it just needs time to mature, is.. contrary to reality (see also: the direction they are taking computer hardware).
NB: this, obviously, does not mean i share every opinion of RMS.
response: silent updating != walled-garden, FF is controlled by mozilla too, and basic VLC function is as easy to use as a DVD player. Yes moore's law has brought us great things, and apple makes nice stuff (relevance?).
Honestly, Chrome takes more of an app store model. It updates behind the scenes and always works. While it may be backed by open source work, it is released and controlled as product by Google.
Firefox is a disaster. I don't open it much, but I every time I do, it prompts for updates and things I don't care about.
VLC is wonderful program, and I use it almost every day. But it is way too complicated for most people. Something that plays videos should be as simple as a DVD player. VLC is a power tool.
I believe Apple wants to make computing that is easy, fun, and productive to use for non-programmers. They also want to make money. I don't think they want spy on and control their users for some arbitrary evil reason. At some point, there may be a need to take antitrust action against Apple, and those laws are there for a good reason.
I resisted buying an iPad for a long time. Then I saw Garage Band on the iPad. It is not a professional recording suite, that's true. But it's the modern day version of a home 16 track recorder + amp simulator + drum machine + MIDI sound back + effects unit. To get all this in a $500 package is literally quite amazing. 15 years ago, you'd have half a room full of equipment, a much clunkier interface, and endless wires. Even Garage Band on the Mac doesn't work as well.
I didn't insist that Apple wants an open system for apps. I said that it takes someone with negotiating skills to change an existing reality. You might even argue that free software would not be as successful today without someone like Linus who is more pragmatic.
I like freeform computing platforms for my programming tasks, like running web servers and the like. So long as Linux is around, we don't have to worry about that going away.
Not sure what is complicated about VLC? It's the simplest player I have ever used, you point it at a video file and it plays it. You get standard DVD player like controls for pause/play etc.
In contrast WMP refuses to play a bunch of filetypes altogether unless you mess with codecs and asks me a bunch of questions every time I start it up.
App stores are broken package managers. The auto-updating systems and absence of viruses that you attribute to Apple have long existed in the Free Softrware world.
There are no competing marketplaces for iOS apps.
And the DRM-encumbered marketplace of iTunes wasn't a good thing for consumers or for producers. So an ideologue like Jobs producing it wasn't a good thing.
Running "update all" on my iPhone has been way more stable than "apt-get update && apt-get upgrade" on my Linux servers over the years. It is a good model, but it is far from perfect. Could you just fire your sysadmin and put in a cron to auto update? I really don't think so.
Going through the phase of the DRM marketplace was necessary to get to the non-DRM marketplace that exists now. Politics, however unsightly, do exist. It is now more convenient to buy DRM-free music than to pirate it. That was honestly inconceivable in the Napster days.
Running "update all" on your iPhone is something almost completely different than running "apt-get update && apt-get upgrade" on a Linux machine.
On the Linux machine this might even include kernel upgrades. iPhones didn't do OTA upgrades for the system until quite recently and then is obviously a different process than just a simple app upgrade.
iPhone apps don't have dependencies because Apple doesn't allow them to. So every app update is just a small box update without affecting any other applications.
> iPhone apps don't have dependencies because Apple doesn't allow them to. So every app update is just a small box update without affecting any other applications.
Yeah and now compare how limited an iPhone is compared to a general computing device where programs are allowed to talk to each other and rely on each other.
You only get the functionality a single app gives you. For many things this is sufficient or at least you can live with. For games it almost doesn't matter.
This only works because 99% of the people don't use iPhones for creating stuff but for consuming content.
I don't have a good feel for the amount of malware on the various platforms. How do you think a well-curated app store differs from "a place" where you can get executables?
If I give someone an iPad, I can be 99% certain they won't make it unusable or full of viruses in a month. Have you seen the average person's Windows desktop?
I'm not sure that's a magic bullet. Amongst my family and friends at least, I have seen the following problems instead:
The iPad is now broken because they gave it to their kids to play "poke santa until he falls over" or whatever it is, they dropped it and it had all their stuff on it and they can't get it back because they have no idea what all their sign ins were and whether or not stuff was on facebook or the device or not. Can't get it off either because it's stuck together and the flash is soldered on the board.
The Windows PC is still full of crap, but at least we can get most of it back every time by yanking the drive, plopping it in a spare machine, virus scanning it, cleaning it up and sticking it back in their PC. Worst case, they lose a few infected jpgs or their WoW account details.
We get a lot more "fuck you iPad!" than we do with a PC to be honest.
I'd say the worst thing about the iOS environment is that everything isn't synced to the cloud consistently. It's approaching that. Restoring your stuff should be a matter of knowing a single sign in. We're getting there. But yes, you're right, there may be stuff on the flash drive that you can't necessarily get out.
Not everyone has a tech support person to restore their Windows machine from a crash. It sounds easy to you, but it is not. The average person should not need to run a redundant backup system in their house.
I love "open" computing and I would never want to be without it. But I've played tech support for my friends and family long enough to know it's never going to be for everyone.
echo "deb http://ftp.dk.debian.org/debian/ sid main contrib non-free" > /etc/sources.list
Linux has had software repositories for ages now. Unlike Apple's broken-by-design implementation, you can even have more than one on the same machine AND sideload apps, all out-of-the box. Sounds incredible, doesn't it?
But for consumer-facing software, I don't think open source is the right solution. The auto-updating marketplaces provide tremendous value to the average consumer. Installing software and keeping a machine up to date is a job. Most people don't have the time or inclination to do it. If I give someone an iPad, I can be 99% certain they won't make it unusable or full of viruses in a month. Have you seen the average person's Windows desktop?
You may disagree with what Apple deems an "approved" app, but we do have competing marketplaces. I think that is an important check and balance.
Apple also did a magnificent job at creating a DRM-free marketplace for music. It didn't happen all at once. Their negotiation with the music industry was gradual. That is something that an ideologue like Stallman is completely incapable of accomplishing, I'm sorry to say.