We are a fair bit off topic here, but what I see in Apple's policies is a desire to ensure that their devices behave in consistent, well-designed ways and to make that happen they have decided to do things like charge more money for them (presumably to pain for the extra work that goes into the design process), design their own hardware & software platform together, and to limit the kinds of third-party stuff that can go on them. They do this in order to guarantee they are easy to use and thus hope to sell more of them. While I certainly agree with the sentiment that they go to far to achieve this end (and I personally find their earlier PL-based restrictions to be very disappointing) I can't see how this could be considered an ethical issue.
Robby On Friday, June 18, 2010, Neil Van Dyke <n...@neilvandyke.org> wrote: > I think it's both. I mentioned the ethical question because one could > probably find a worthwhile risk-reward solution for the short-term > self-interest economics question, or one could find a way to cover one's own > butt (perhaps involving a backroom deal and PR leverage), but I think that > the ethics (collective, long-term) problem of supporting the iPhone > iron-fisting is harder to resolve. > > Robby Findler wrote at 06/18/2010 10:33 AM: > > Why is this an ethical question and not an economic one? > > Robby > > On Friday, June 18, 2010, Neil Van Dyke <n...@neilvandyke.org> wrote: > > > Apple has been brutal with iPhone developers, running the platform as a > ruthless and fickle dictatorship. I believe that this is the general > perception of iPhone developers. > > Even if one is willing to jump through Apple's hoops, and one accepts that, > at any time and for any reason, Apple will have no qualms about simply > kicking one off the platform, instantly and without explanation... I believe > that there is also an ethical question of whether supporting the iPhone > platform is contributing to the success of Apple's ruthless, > anti-competitive, and closed-platform practices. > > Android, Symbian, the new Nokia Qt stuff, Java... all alternative mobile > device platforms for civic-minded techies to consider. > > > > > _________________________________________________ For list-related administrative tasks: http://lists.racket-lang.org/listinfo/users
