Quote:
Originally Posted by HansTWN
Apple is responsible to their shareholders and customers only. Closed systems are not good for society as a whole but good for the companies that successfully run them. It is just business, can't blame the hawk for trying to kill the chicken.
You are right to make people aware of the pitfalls of using this software, but blaming Apple makes no sense.
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Well, there goes the concept of corporate responsibility. Companies shouldn't complain when the state comes down on them to curb their Standard Oil behaviour with that sort of attitude. Unfortunately there always is someone who will justify even the most predatory business practice. I guess that they would even find some sort of excuse if there were some hidden clause in the terms that in exchange for using the software you have to work for free as a cotton picker.
Providing software for free isn't something so particularly special. There is excellent software available that doesn't come with any onerous clauses attached to them, e.g. Calibre, Sigil, Irfanview, the Open Office Suite etc.
Apart from that "Apple ibook author" isn't "free". It is exceedingly expensive for anyone who creates successful products with it.
What we are currently seeing is the war on electronic devices as powerful tools in the hands of their users. Corporations want them to be dumbed down as mere devices to consume commercial media while the content providers are being shackled into "ecosystems". Together with Amazon Apple is at the forefront of this development and deserves whatever criticism is being directed at it.
BTW, whining about people who criticize one of the world's richest corporations as "bashers" and "haters" is just pathetic.