At least I can write a Windows, Mac, or Linux app without donating 100 bucks and praying for approval. All three of those systems will execute anything you compile for it. So will Android.

So is this the new definition of open: less than $100 and no approval process?

No, "open" means "I can do whatever the heck I want with it". It's not open if you need to ask permission to run your code on it.

> I'm getting a little tired of this "open" vs. "closed" debate.

That's because it's not a debate. This isn't something that we are sitting around arguing about in the abstract. It's an actual real ongoing issue in the real world that affects people. The "debate" will go away when the issue goes away - either because Apple changes their policy or they get marginalised and turned into a minority player like they are in every other market. It looks to me like the latter is going to be what happens, but it didn't have to be that way.

"like they are in every other market" - last I checked, the iPod is doing pretty good.

The debate is happening with people who need things that the most of the people buying cellphones don't need. Will Apple modify its policies? Maybe,they have in the past. I think it more likely they will add carriers in the US before changing their policies. I really believe the last thing they want is the type of app on the iPhone / iPad that Mac's gets from Adobe.

Best-selling industry-standard applications?

I think the "fake" interface ways more heavily on Apple's thoughts then sales numbers.

You don't need to ask. He has already told you that using proprietary software is against his ethics, because you have to give up on freedoms he values to do it.

The iPhone on the other hand denies freedoms that even more people care about.

Anyone can play in Microsoft and Apple's OS garden. The major difference in Apple's mobile garden is that they strictly control who can enter AND what you can do once your in it.

Windows Phone 7 Apps Must Be Microsoft Approved - http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2010/03/wi... http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/15/confirmed-marketplace-wil...

You should re-read your links:

>Update: Microsoft wanted us to clarify that enterprise customers will be able to deploy apps to employees outside the consumer-facing Marketplace -- details on that will be released in the future.

So you'll be able to do whatever you want if you're willing to pay, which is pretty much open in the traditional Microsoft sense.

You should read up on stuff yourself.

This is exactly what Apple allows you to do, now, as well. If you want to go enterprise, you pay more (as you will for MS), and you can deploy to 100,000s of devices.

It looks so much like MS just took Apples model for Apps. MS have added nothing.

It's not a computer, it's a console.

Replay the comparison, but versus Sony and Nintendo.