Doctorow: Why I won't buy an iPad

Re:Doctorow: Why I won't buy an iPad by stanleydrew on Friday April 02, 2010 @02:11PM (#1237103)

Linux on the desktop is still irrelevant (although I do love it, so it's been great for this consumer). But what fraction of the web wouldn't exist today if not for Linux servers and Apache? Are you willing to say consumers aren't better off because of those open systems?

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Re:Doctorow: Why I won't buy an iPad by lurkinggrue on Friday April 02, 2010 @02:53PM (#1237202)

The internet was based on open technologies and we wouldn't be where we are without that.

Companies want to reverse that trend and close it up and we do need to fight that.

We don't want the future to be AOL.

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Re:Doctorow: Why I won't buy an iPad by GHFigs on Friday April 02, 2010 @08:19PM (#1237886)

Are you willing to say consumers aren't better off because of those open systems?

I'm willing to say that consumers are better off because Linux and Apache are used in places where they are the best tool for the job. I am not convinced that being open is inherently the best thing for anybody. How much of the web wouldn't exist if not for people just trying to make a buck? Would Y Combinator?

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Re:Doctorow: Why I won't buy an iPad by stanleydrew on Friday April 02, 2010 @09:47PM (#1237999)

Open systems and making a buck aren't mutually exclusive. See e.g. the MacBook.

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Re:Doctorow: Why I won't buy an iPad by GHFigs on Saturday April 03, 2010 @04:26PM (#1239081)

My point exactly.

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Re:Doctorow: Why I won't buy an iPad by mishmash on Friday April 02, 2010 @02:25PM (#1237128)

No, you have a point about open systems in general, to which I agree wholeheartedly, I simply referring to consumer-facing devices.

And if the consumer really wanted an open system, again Linux on the desktop (Ubuntu?) should be have much more market share than it does.

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Re:Doctorow: Why I won't buy an iPad by JulianMorrison on Friday April 02, 2010 @03:10PM (#1237249)

The consumer doesn't have to want an open system. The importance is that they're there, keeping the others honest.

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Re:Doctorow: Why I won't buy an iPad by papachito on Friday April 02, 2010 @06:13PM (#1237717)

> And if the consumer really wanted an open system, again Linux on the desktop (Ubuntu?) should be have much more market share than it does.

Not really, the thing is that MS has a monopoly on the desktop, hard to reverse that trend. Look at Apple, even with their billions of dollars in revenue, they only get 5% of the desktop, Linux is at 1-2% with $0 in campaigning, so not that bad really.

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