Main >> Geek Out >> Blog attacks the iPhone, gets lots of hits
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I got a link for this post from the newsletter from Defective by Design.
Ordinarily, I agree with a lot of what these guys say but I really have to take issue with this article. It might well be the Apple fanboy in me but this seems like the worst kind of sensationalist crap designed to get loads of hits from the Digg crowd who hate DRM and the Apple crowd, no doubt keen to rise to the bait in defence of Apple.
The main points summarised neatly at the top of the article are as follows
Quote:
Let's take these in order, shall we?
Frankly, we're likely to see a lot of silly posts like this over the coming few days as the 3G iPhone gets dispersed into the crowds of people that want it but it really annoyed me that defectivebydesign.org felt that this was worth sending out. Maybe it's a slow DRM news week...
Ordinarily, I agree with a lot of what these guys say but I really have to take issue with this article. It might well be the Apple fanboy in me but this seems like the worst kind of sensationalist crap designed to get loads of hits from the Digg crowd who hate DRM and the Apple crowd, no doubt keen to rise to the bait in defence of Apple.
The main points summarised neatly at the top of the article are as follows
Quote:
- iPhone completely blocks free software. Developers must pay a tax to Apple, who becomes the sole authority over what can and can't be on everyone's phones.
- iPhone endorses and supports Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) technology.
- iPhone exposes your whereabouts and provides ways for others to track you without your knowledge.
- iPhone won't play patent- and DRM-free formats like Ogg Vorbis and Theora.
- iPhone is not the only option. There are better alternatives on the horizon that respect your freedom, don't spy on you, play free media formats, and let you use free software -- like the FreeRunner.
Let's take these in order, shall we?
- Not true - there is plenty of free software on the iPhone but Apple is doing what Apple always does with it's devices and that is to enforce a rigid signature procedure to stop malware and spyware and stop developers having carte blanche to wreck the experience that Apple has worked so hard to achieve. If you want any further reasons, go and get a Windows smartphone, Crackberry smartphone or a Symbian smartphone, load in a bunch of random apps from a bunch of random sites and see what happens to your phone. It may be fun but it's certainly not pretty.
- It's true that it still does this but it's at the behest of the Recording Industry®™© and until they are convinced that DRM is a bad idea, Apple will comply to get the music. There is a well documented and commented upon rivalry between the recording industry and Apple because of Apple's previous dominance over the online distribution of music (which the recording industry believes it should be the only purveyors of).
- Okay they're really reaching here. The iPhone has a GPS unit that allows it to position you within any one of it's location aware application (including the built-in Google maps) and it's very easy to disengage if you're this paranoid about being found. These GPS units can be found in most of the iPhones competitors. Getting paranoid about this is like getting paranoid about using a mobile phone registered in your name in case 'they' find you. Seriously.
- No iPod plays those formats and while the names ring a tiny bell to me, I'm a huge nerd and really should probably know something about them. The general public care about 2 formats - the one they get from iTunes and MP3. Anything else is gravy, frankly.
- I really like the OpenMoko project but it's very far from being an iPhone replacement. The iPhone is a beautifully designed, well thought-out piece of hardware with revolutionary interface design, easy access to software and a system that in spite of it's complexity, delivers on the promises of mobile computing from the last 10 years in that it 'just works'. The OpenMoko is a product that you will be updating every day of it's life with the latest firmware in order to squash bugs left by the enthusiastic but unpaid developers while trying to hunt down software that will be hidden right across the web. It might one day become an iPhone competitor but as it stands at the moment it suffers from a technophile feel, like it's been designed by engineers rather than designers and software engineers rather than interface guys.
Frankly, we're likely to see a lot of silly posts like this over the coming few days as the 3G iPhone gets dispersed into the crowds of people that want it but it really annoyed me that defectivebydesign.org felt that this was worth sending out. Maybe it's a slow DRM news week...
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