So you buy into an ecosystem, because of the ease of interoperability of the ecosystem... and then complain about being inside the ecosystem, and not being able to bring unstable stuff in from outside?
Really? A monopoly?
Buy a fucking Android instead.
The reason the Apple ecosystem works so well, is because it is a highly curated and controlled environment.
Is it really a monopoly?
By that way of thinking, the fact that Ford only sells Ford parts for their Ford cars, is also a monopoly.
The Supreme Court is off their fucking nut, to accept this case.
Counter argument. iTunes. You can buy non OEM parts to maintain and repair your Ford vehicle and you do not have to take your vehicle to a licensed Ford dealership for maintenance. At the same time, purchasing a Ford vehicle does not create a system that incentivises you to purchase additional Ford vehicles down the road no does it in any way cause any barriers if you also own a Hyundai simultaneously. Where as, if you buy an Apple product and get locked in the Apple ecosystem, there are built in incentives that encourage you to continue buying Apple products instead of changing platforms.The reason the Apple ecosystem works so well, is because it is a highly curated and controlled environment.
By that way of thinking, the fact that Ford only sells Ford parts for their Ford cars, is also a monopoly.
No fuck that. I bought Apple because they had synchronous audio transfer whereas ActiveX was packetized. I used Apple for a long-ass time because it's the friendliest form of UNIX there is and that's where all my professional apps lived. But then this happened And then this happened And now I'm forced to deal with GalapagosOS because Apple utterly and completely shit the bed. Do not for one minute think I have any iDevices in my life because I want talking fucking dog avatars.
Not legally. It's not a monopoly. It's not illegal to be not consumer friendly. I gladly bought into an ecosystem that doesn't allow me to install whatever code I want. If you don't like it, you are free to buy an Android phone. And install a shady app programmed in Russia that will steal your credit card information and use it to pay for a kilo of cocaine. The App Store ecosystem is the best example of Apple locking down their shit. I've had Android phones and iPhones and Google Play is a nightmare. If you want to whinge about something Apple does that's shitty, bitch about the Mac App Store and how you have to go into System Preferences to authorize the installation of programs from developers that they don't recognize or whatever their pay rate is for music.
Really. A monopoly. Let's say you want to swap text messages with people on iMessage. Except whoops. You're on Android. Those giant media files that Apple shoves everywhere over an ad-hoc mix of wifi and 3G? Yeah, we're gonna crunch it down to 16kbps mp4s that, by the way, can be middle-manned via stagefright.. Except whoops you had an iOS device in the past 36 weeks so you don't get MMS from iOS devices because Apple refuses to disconnect iMessage from texting until it hits their 8-month cap because fuck you for going to Android. But, you know, maybe there are other ways to do this, like Join.. Except fuck you, it's a competitor to iMessage so you can't download it from the App Store because So now you've got a rubegoldbergian workaround that involves "buy a cheap Android device." Legitimately: I am missing work communication right now because I don't have an iOS device. Because fuck you, we're Apple.Really? A monopoly?
Really? A monopoly?
A company goes through an enormous amount of careful work to release a product that works beautifully and elegantly, and exactly in the manner it was designed.... and you want to blame them for not ALSO bending over backwards to provide that same level of elegance and functionality on multiple antagonistic competitors' platforms? I get your current irritation with MMS is very present in your mind. That sucks. But applying fault and blame solely to one party for a fouled up transaction - when the execution of that transaction involves at least three intermediate vendors with extraordinarily shitty platforms - is just not reasonable. And the App Store/iTunes hate? It's a curated, gated community. You know that when you buy in to it, and that's part of the attraction. There are plenty of other options that have mountains of toxic shit you can install on a whim. Feel free to live there. I don't choose to. In my estimation, my time is more valuable than that. (Footnote: My wife and I have been texting between iPhone and Android for close to 10 years now, without a hitch. And she HATES to upgrade, and is often using tech 5 years old, or more.)
FUCK YES. This is a platform that shipped without Copy&Paste. This is "You're holding it wrong." This is an ecosystem that does everything proprietarily. This is a company that takes things from open-source to closed. This is a company where the review process happens in the dark, where any app that fills in gaps around what Apple doesn't think is worth doing is usually eliminated through a version integrated into the operating system that does it worse. 'member Growl? 'member how it was so much better than that which was baked in? 'member how you hadn't thought of Growl since it suddenly went away? I beta test for a half-dozen companies that deal with Apple. There's nothing "careful" about what they do. I once had a firmware update rolled for the Airport Express because they had launched it with no provisions for configuring it over a hardwired network. Nope. Forgot about that. I called 'em up and they're all "uh, yeah. Lemme take down some notes. We're gonna get on that." Next day software update rolled. But that was 2005 or so, back when Apple still admitted they made mistakes. Apple is deliberately anti-interoprability. They've now got a proprietary file system running on a proprietary BIOS even on their spinning-platter hard drives; everyone else is out here rawkin' M.2 and loving the shit out of it but Apple is still trying to get people to believe in Lightning years after everyone else went USB-C. MMS is an open protocol. iMessage is not. And when you're on MMS, and everyone else is on iMessage, you are being prohibited from communicating.and you want to blame them for not ALSO bending over backwards to provide that same level of elegance and functionality on multiple antagonistic competitors' platforms?
They're anti-interoperability except when it comes to those good damn fucking "like" and "laughed at" buttons. I swear to God I would like to sue Apple for emotional distress when some jerk (usually one of my dear sweet aunts) goes through and "likes" and "laughs at" all 25 messages in a group thread. I wish they would prohibit Android phones from that 'communication'.