Quote:
Originally Posted by stustaff
closed box is great for some things and not others if anything it's not bad or good but different and it's the buyers choice if they choose a closed system, I jailbreak because I'm prepared to deal with the crashes I get and very occasional slow down. My wides isn't jailbroken and the fact that she can just use it and install anything from apple without worrying what it is and knowing things will always run smoothly is a big advantage to us.
I'm not saying open source is bad I have a Linux server and have used various open software I am even waiting onthe open source handheld pandora I love open source.
But you seem negative about an apple product because it isn't open source and I don't get that because lots of devices are closed as I mentioned, can you not see that for sone devices and some users it's a better option and that it's a good thing that we have a choice?
I don't really understand your point about if things go wrong? If my battery on my iPhone goes wrong I can send it to apple or buy a battery and fit it look around all parts are available in fact probably more readily available than many other 3 year old gadgets. My open source pandora for example I'd be worried how I get that repaired if it breaks in three years what with it having been made by some guys off of a forum! Just because it's open or closed doesn't really mean anything there are many other factors in the parts/ repair situation that open closed is almost irrelevant.
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Sigh...
There are three levels of digital environments
1. Open - like Linux
2. Proprietary - like Windoze and Mac OS (I run mostly Windoze on my machines)
3. Closed - Xbox, iphone, iPad, ect...
I want to run something. Program, file (e-book, music, video), whatever. I can buy it to run on any one of the three environments - today. Will I be able to run it 10 years from now, 20 years from now, 30 years from now?
(Please note - the software, not the current hardware you run it on. With luck, you can run the same files for many generations of hardware.)
1. Almost certainly. There may need to be a tweak in the environment, but the source is there to be tweaked (for a fee if necessary).
2. Maybe, maybe not. For pure files, such as e-books and music, probably. If not, they would be convertible to a more modern file type, and conversion programs would be readily available. Programs are more dicey, but there is a world of emulators out there to run old software on, at least in the Windoze world. I've got a Windoze emulator that will run any (non DRM'ed) software back to Windoze 1.0. I don't know if there are any equally capable emulators for Mac back to the 128K monochrome days. And there are Apple II, Atari, Commodore, and CP-M emulators as well.
3. Fat chance. When the company decided to stop supporting your machines, soon your investment in software will be scrap. You can't just go buy another company's machine to run it on. Do you think that apple will be supporting today's iPhone apps 20 years from now? Does Apple support Motorola 680x0 Mac apps today?
A good piece of software should outlast
you. Treating it as a throwaway, to me, is the same as lighting a fire with $20 bills.
But what do I know? I've just played with these little beasties since 1977....