Wikipedia Wales says Apple's App Store is a threat to openness online(thinq.co.uk)
thinq.co.uk
Wikipedia Wales says Apple's App Store is a threat to openness online
http://www.thinq.co.uk/2011/1/15/wikipedia-wales-apple-could-ruin-internet/
14 comments
Also, compare Apple's impact through the app store with the potential of:
- Mobile providers throttling particular apps
- Mobile providers and bandwidth caps
- The balkanization of networking (Facebook)
- Pushing a patent-encumbered standard for video
(Apple is involved here, but is only one player of several.)
It can't be "technically" open because there's no technical definition of open. Under one side's definition, just having a lot of industry players collaborate on it in public makes it open (the definition you're using) whereas the other side says if its freedom is encumbered by patents then it's not open.
Open is a horribly diluted word and there's no way imaginable you can say anything is "technically" or "not technically" open.
Open is a horribly diluted word and there's no way imaginable you can say anything is "technically" or "not technically" open.
This is the reason for the scare quotes.
h.264 is an open standard.
h.264 is also patent and royalty encumbered, which is the real issue here.
It’s still what is usually called an “open standard”. Saying it is not open is confusing and misleading. If you don’t like the commonly used definition you are obviously free to redefine your terms, but you should mention that you are using an uncommon definition. Saying “patent and royalty encumbered” would be preferable because it’s not as misleading and much more precise as calling h.264 “not open”.
No, using a vague and loaded word like "open" at all is what is confusing and misleading. It's watered down to "Web 2.0" levels.
Compare Apple's impact to openness online to Microsoft's back in early 2000. There were a lot of banking and corporate websites that only worked with IE and Active-X. As a result, every corporate machine (and many users of these banking sites) - had to have a copy of IE floating around to fully access the Internet - and good portions of the internet just weren't usable for many Linux/BSD users.
Now - how much of the Mobile Internet requires that you use an Apple product? Apple just doesn't have enough market dominance to result in more than a trivial portion of the Mobile Internet to be written _specifically_ for Safari/IOS Browers.
Wales is completely off his rocker here. As long as Firefox, Opera, Chrome, and yes, IE, continue to have a strong presence as browsers (and I don't see that changing anytime soon), and as long as Anddroid, WP7, and others start rolling out first class smart phones, Apple will not be a threat to the Mobile Internet.
This is one of those cases where lack of a market leader actually results in a better adherence to standards. As long as the focus is "Build an ACID3 Compliance Browser" for the vendors, and developers write "ACID3 Compliant Websites" - we'll be in fine shape (modulo the recent Video controversy)
Now - how much of the Mobile Internet requires that you use an Apple product? Apple just doesn't have enough market dominance to result in more than a trivial portion of the Mobile Internet to be written _specifically_ for Safari/IOS Browers.
Wales is completely off his rocker here. As long as Firefox, Opera, Chrome, and yes, IE, continue to have a strong presence as browsers (and I don't see that changing anytime soon), and as long as Anddroid, WP7, and others start rolling out first class smart phones, Apple will not be a threat to the Mobile Internet.
This is one of those cases where lack of a market leader actually results in a better adherence to standards. As long as the focus is "Build an ACID3 Compliance Browser" for the vendors, and developers write "ACID3 Compliant Websites" - we'll be in fine shape (modulo the recent Video controversy)
Title is linkbait.
He doesn't like that Apple is the gatekeeper on their App Stores, as if the consumer doesn't have any other hardware options out there...
He doesn't like that Apple is the gatekeeper on their App Stores, as if the consumer doesn't have any other hardware options out there...
Fixed. Sorry about that. Didn't see it until it was too late. :)
If Wales had his way, the Apple Inc Wikipedia entry would read:
> Founders: Steve Wozniak, Ronald Wayne and DEFINITELY NOT Larry Sanger
> Founders: Steve Wozniak, Ronald Wayne and DEFINITELY NOT Larry Sanger
We can critique Apple in a lot of places with regards to their AppStore (though, it's gotten much better lately) - but, ruining the Mobile Internet is not one of them.
I seem to recall that the iPhone was actually the _first_ really decent phone browser that you could use to connect to the internet - if anything, Apple spawned the "Open" Mobile Internet.