Charlie Stross: The real reason why Steve Jobs hates Flash
Charlie Stross: The real reason why Steve Jobs hates Flash
Posted Apr 30, 2010 17:43 UTC (Fri) by novemberain (guest, #53942)Parent article: Charlie Stross: The real reason why Steve Jobs hates Flash
Posted Apr 30, 2010 19:47 UTC (Fri)
by drag (guest, #31333)
[Link] (3 responses)
Well it is.
It's a massive American for-profit, publicly traded corporation, that is ever bit as proprietary and restrictive as somebody like Microsoft or IBM.
> It is a movement. Just like Linux is.
Not like 'Linux' is. Linux (as used as a movement) is a open community were users are participants and developers in it's creation and development.
It's a open system were anybody can participate, sell, modify, redistribute, and profit from as they see fit with the only one major restriction: they have to distribute the source code to others as the source code was distributed to them.
Apple, in comparison, is a publicly traded corporation that makes money selling hardware with their software on it. The only people that can actively participate in it's development is Apple employees. The board of directors and management determine the focus and path of that corporation and it's products.
Except for the purchasing power of the public (to either buy or not buy Apple products) most anybody using Apple products is passive participants at best.
> Hardware was never the point,
Well it is for Apple, since that is were their profits come from and if Apple can't make money from that or something else then they will fail as a corporation and be relegated to the dustbin of history along with all the other thousands of proprietary computer companies that have come and gone.
> Design and marketing will be just as valuable in cloud era as they are today. In last 20 years people were buying what they _want_, what they _believe in_, not what they _need_.
Except people are _VERY_ need oriented and are also affected greatly by incentives (to the point were you can probably control the habits of the majority of the population of the world by carefully manipulating incentives). It's just that incentives and personal rewards are diverse...
The problem is not that Apple or anybody could not create compelling 'cloud based' applications. The problem is trying to figure out a business model to profit from it. It will be very difficult to pull in the same level of returns on internet applications as it would from their premium-priced hardware.
Posted Apr 30, 2010 20:57 UTC (Fri)
by Kit (guest, #55925)
[Link] (2 responses)
>Well it is.
>It's a massive American for-profit, publicly traded corporation,
You completely misunderstood what he meant (like many in the tech industry). You see Apple, and you think 'corporation that sells overpriced hardware', and while that's technically 100% correct, it's entirely incorrect of what Apple *really* is.
Apple is a boutique. Apple is a marketing company. Apple *manipulates* a movement, based around their image. They're not a tech company at their core.
Posted May 1, 2010 15:02 UTC (Sat)
by AndreE (guest, #60148)
[Link] (1 responses)
Apple makes money off hardware. They ARE a tech company at the core. That's why they buy companies like, you know, chip designers. Just because they are a boutique TECHNOLOGY company with unique and successful methods doesn't negate the fact that they in the business of providing technology. The marketing campaigns are in support of a product, not a means to themselves.
Not buying into the marketing hype doesn't mean he misunderstands the point. If you think ANY publicly traded company is comparable to an actual software movement like one espoused by the FSF, then you truly are blinded.
Posted May 3, 2010 17:15 UTC (Mon)
by robla (subscriber, #424)
[Link]
Charlie Stross: The real reason why Steve Jobs hates Flash
Everything you said applies to any other corporation or any product that anybody sells for anything. It applies just as well to Microsoft to Linux to Buick to anything.
Charlie Stross: The real reason why Steve Jobs hates Flash
>>is not a hardware company.
>that is ever bit as proprietary and restrictive as somebody like
>Microsoft or IBM.
Charlie Stross: The real reason why Steve Jobs hates Flash
If you think ANY publicly traded company is comparable to an actual software movement like one espoused by the FSF, then you truly are blinded.
A movement can be a manufactured product of a publicly-traded company. If you join the movement, you're probably a tool, but that doesn't mean it's not a movement.
Charlie Stross: The real reason why Steve Jobs hates Flash