After reading this, and the usual 'OMFG iPod's are teh suck' comments, if a company builds a device that syncs with iTunes, then fine. Apple shouldn't care one way or another. I doubt if it'll be a big threat to the iPod. That phrase has become almost Hoover like in it's usage.
You don't need to use iTunes with your iPod if you don't want to. There are alternatives available, some of the forumites use them in fact. As Heather said, you can even stick Linux on your iPod if you fancy.
So let's move past the iPod/iTunes lock in. It's just not the case any more. Although, arguably, you'll get the most out of your iPod if you use iTunes. YMMV.
Personally, I don't care if Palm (a bunch of ex-Apple software folk) get the Pre working with iTunes. I doubt if Apple are terribly bothered either, to be honest.
Whether or not they can keep up with the next release of iTunes, that's the question.

As far as 'Apple are bad for proprietary software lock-ins' - meh. Every OS has it's favourite play things that it doesn't like letting others play with.

With Linux and Windows people expect to shove in anything and it to work, but that isn't the case 100% of the time, why give the impression you support 100% of the market when you don't?



Buy an iPod and we all know we must use iTunes. Buy an Xbox controller and don't expect it to work on a PS3. Buy a Parker refillable ink cartridge, don't expect it to fit in all other fountain pens.

It's the way the world works at the moment, like it or not.

Microsoft does it, Apple does it. Even Linux does it with their awkward licensing, want to use DTrace, ZFS, or pretty much anything that comes under the CDDL or BSD license? Oh sorry, the GPL license forbids developers to add it for distribution, so unless you want to compile your own kernel, you're stuck with running things in user land.

Unless we all give everything away for free, it's not 'fair'. Proprietary systems are always going to exist, they may have large parts of open source code in them, but there will still be large chucks of proprietary code. And then there is the fact that people don't just want to give things away.

In these instances, if you don't like it, don't buy/use it.

With Linux?

Really?

No, I know they don't, but from this extract:

One could get the impression they do...

Truth is, with anything you've got to be careful, I can't buy any cheap tat for my Mac because it probably won't work, same goes for my OpenSolaris server, I've got to check the box or the HCL...