I work beside a young guy who, for reasons best known to himself, enjoys playing rugby at the weekends. He’s a big bundle of fun and we get along great, but he’s not the maturest gent I’ve ever met.
He’s been talking for a few weeks about buying an iPhone, cos, you know, they’re cool, right? I explained to him that whilst I think the iPhone is a beautifully designed piece of kit, I won’t buy into Apple’s locked down, proprietary world. He asked me what I meant by this. (I think proprietary was a new word to him). I tried to explain the virtues of an open platform and the freedoms that this choice entails. Normally when I start talking like this, he starts muttering “geek geek geek” under his breath and I’m forced to beat him up. (Whilst I would never normally condone violence in the workplace, or anywhere for that matter, I specifically asked my boss about this and he said that provided I did no permanent damage it was fine. Hey, I don’t want to get fired!)
Anyway, I could see that my monologue on the joys of open source were gaining no traction whatsoever, when I remembered a story I’d read on the web over the weekend. Apparently, Apple are withdrawing apps which contain any sexual content from the App Store. This includes even mildly risque applications with pictures of women (and men!) in bikinis, and the iWobble app (use your imagination). I’ve no desire to get into a debate on the pros and cons of borderline soft-core pornography; the issue here is that Apple has allowed these apps to flourish in the App Store, then unceremoniously yanked them without explanation. In a nutshell, it is censorship. The iPhone has parental control, so I see no reason why Apple needs to block this type of app from adults, when clearly there is a market for them. And the irony is that an iPhone user can open their browser and, within seconds, be looking at lots of pics of ladies (and men!) without their bikinis.
I realised that the simplest way to explain to my rugby-playing colleague the difference between an open source platform and Apple’s “walled garden” approach is as follows:
Locked-down, proprietary platform (i.e. iPhone) = No wobbly bits
Free and open platform (i.e. Android, Maemo) = Boobies galore
I think I made a convert!
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