Re:Patent war goes nuclear: Microsoft, Apple-owned “Rockstar...
by ZanyProgrammer on Friday November 01, 2013 @08:22AM
(#6653172)
I'd go so far as to say that Windows RT is more open than iOS-with Windows RT you have built in Windows Explorer, and command line access. And a non crippled browser (desktop IE 11 vs mobile Safari).
For the average consumer, control of "the next big advertising platform" is a meaningless abstraction, it matters to people in the ad buying business, not consumers who generally don't like ads in the first place, and tolerate them mostly to get free stuff. And how does Android "control" mobile web advertising anyway?
But for the average consumer, telling them they can't install App X on their device that they spent $300 on because Apple censors don't like it is much more direct.
No company is perfect, but I can say as a Googler, your cynicism is basically wrong, that open source isn't just a marketing tactic, but that the rank and file at the lowest levels of the company, culturally believe in it. Google has disappointed in the past on the degree of openness, and there is much to improve, so I am not uncritical of it in this regard, but if you were to query the rank of file of Microsoft and Apple with regards to open source, and Googlers, you'd find a lot more zealots at Google.
The world isn't black and white, it's shades of gray, and some are just a much brighter shade of gray than others.