2010: The Beginning of the End of Your Control
Posted by Wade Burchette at 9:47 AM General
Perhaps you remember the famous 1984 Apple Super Bowl commercial. It was revolutionary, it was what made Apple seem hip, an idea that carries over until today. I have jokingly noted that if Apple sold iDirt for $20 a box, people would buy it. Apple makes great products. They better with the price you pay for them. But Apple has morphed into the very thing their 1984 commercial was talking about.
The 1984 commercial depicts someone rebelling against the establisment because the establisment seeks conformity. Well, guess what? If you want an app for your iPod touch or iPhone, it must conform to Steve Jobs' standard. In order to maintain the "it just works" idea, Apple tightly controls their computers. Want to build your own Mac? Nope, not going to happen. In contrast, Microsoft Windows allows you to do so much more, sometimes to a fault. The result for allowing you to do what you want is it doesn't always work. But at least you can do it, even if you shouldn't do it. Does this mean Microsoft is now good and Apple evil? Not at all. I wouldn't trust either of them. My point is that Apple is not as saintly as think they are.
Google is another company that has changed to a "do no evil" company. Google's quest is to know the web and everything that is on it, and exploit it for money. You are part of that everything. I know I have an ad on the side for Google. The reason why I choose Google ads is because it isn't annoying or obtrusive. Be that as it may, I am careful with Google. To better improve their search results, Google does a lot of tracking and behind the scenes stuff. It must work, because I can always find what I want faster with Google. Even still, even with Google, just because it is free does not mean it is free. There is an angle for Google somewhere down the line. Be that as it may, Google is just ahead of the curve. What Google is doing is what others want to do.
An article you should read if you are interested in this is found at The Register: Welcome to the out-of-control decade. It goes into more detail. The article makes several points which may or may not be too extreme. I do know that companies are seeking more and more control over how you use the device, program, or file you purchased. Record companies want you to lease your music instead of owning it. This is why music subscribtion programs like Napster are still around even though they are very unpopular. If everyone had to subscribe to a service to listen to music, Big Record would have you pay a fee for the rest of your life to them. It starts with control.
Losing control of how you can use something starts small. And then it snowballs from there. Get ready for a future in which someone else decides how you use your new computer or new device you just purchased.