> Sure, and so does Microsoft. That argument works for any company.
I wish I could agree with you. In fact, for many companies, the customer is the last consideration. Especially in the case you've brought up here. Microsoft's financial might in the 90's was all about strategic relationships, three dimensional chess and out-maneuvering their competition through ethically dubious tactics, definitely not creating value for users.
"Primarily in the 1990s, critics contend Microsoft used monopolistic business practices and anti-competitive strategies including refusal to deal and tying, put unreasonable restrictions in the use of its software, and used misrepresentative marketing tactics; both the U.S. Department of Justice and European Commission found the company in violation of antitrust laws"
But MS would argue, as Apple does, that they did this in the interest of the customer. Frankly, some of the things they were accused of, such as bundling IE, were absurd. Sure MS should have been more open about the fact that it really wasn't necessary, but bundling a browser is a requirement for a modern OS -- even as of 1998.
In any case, these are all religious as this point, and me proving your God is wrong is something one can't easily win.
Especially in the case you've brought up here. Microsoft's financial might in the 90's was all about strategic relationships, three dimensional chess and out-maneuvering their competition, definitely not creating value for users.
Microsoft and Apple both engage in identical behaviors. Many Microsoft boosters used the identical "for the consumer" arguments in defending Microsoft activities. Forcing IE while prohibiting competitive browser installations, for instance, simplified and created a cleaner, more user-accessible platform that would just work, blah blah blah. Same sort of nonsense you hear today.
That you would link to the anti-trust decree is bizarre. Do you think I or anyone else don't know about that? Do you think Apple's actions are so different, or is Apple simply not in control as much market as Microsoft (yet). Then again, they've already drawn anti-trust attention, so ten years from now some booster of the then-big-dog will point back at the DOJ-vs-Apple lawsuit as proof of....something.
> Do you think I or anyone else don't know about that?
Kinda.
> Many Microsoft boosters used the identical "for the consumer" arguments in defending Microsoft activities.
I think the big difference here is that Apple is actually right. Flash on mobile is terrible for battery life and its implementations, so far, are shoddy.
There's a big difference on imposing your will over 25% of the market of rich people with fancy phones versus 96% of the market of everyone who needed a computer to get anything useful done. Apple has nowhere near the power Microsoft did.
>I think the big difference here is that Apple is actually right. Flash on mobile is terrible for battery life and its implementations, so far, are shoddy.
On top of that, Apple is in no hurry to bring the speed improvements of their Nitro JS engine to apps pinned to the homescreen. After all, they prefer devs to make native apps so that there is a lockin.
>There's a big difference on imposing your will over 25% of the market versus 96% of the market. Apple has nowhere near the power Microsoft did
What about tablets where Apple is deemed to have 94% of the market?
> On top of that, Apple is in no hurry to bring the speed improvements of their Nitro JS engine to apps pinned to the homescreen. After all, they prefer devs to make native apps so that there is a lockin.
I think minds smarter than I have put this particular notion to bed.
> Apple can't turn on the ability to do executable, dynamically written to memory pages just for their library: they'd have to turn it on for the entire process, at which point you could also do crazy things like download native code and execute it, bypassing the entire concept of their "codesign" mechanism.
Says saurik, of Cydia fame, in that and other comments. It's a security concern for Apple, not necessarily a strategic one.
Apple controls the tablet market only because they invented it as it currently exists a year ago. That's not really a useful comparison to the 90's, as desktop computers as a category had existed for a couple of decades. Moreover, tablets aren't currently essential to doing work, so the true power Apple has over others is negligible.
>It's a security concern for Apple, not necessarily a strategic one.
You want me to believe that the engineering might of Apple haven't figured out the security for apps to make use of the new JS engine without getting full privileges? I think it's just not a priority for Apple.
I wish I could agree with you. In fact, for many companies, the customer is the last consideration. Especially in the case you've brought up here. Microsoft's financial might in the 90's was all about strategic relationships, three dimensional chess and out-maneuvering their competition through ethically dubious tactics, definitely not creating value for users.
"Primarily in the 1990s, critics contend Microsoft used monopolistic business practices and anti-competitive strategies including refusal to deal and tying, put unreasonable restrictions in the use of its software, and used misrepresentative marketing tactics; both the U.S. Department of Justice and European Commission found the company in violation of antitrust laws"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft