Just a thought but with the launch of the iPad, I think we are seeing an attempt to lock people down and remove choice.

In one corner we have Google. It has a dominant presence in searches and online advertising. It wants people to use its Chrome browser (IMHO it will carry on funding firefox to side step governmental interference) it also wants people to use its Crome OS in a google netbook and using Google apps in the google cloud. One company to run them and in the darkness bind them.

in the other corner we have Apple. Through the use of the iPhone (and now iPad) its model is to control and/or supply all applications. You do it the Apple way or its the highway. But there probally an app for that as well!

Both these companies see the mobile market as the market to be in, the market that is the future and the one where they ensure a continuing revenue stream if they can attract customers and "encourage" them to stay.

In another corner we have the faithful Linux crowd doing there own thing destined to survive in its obscurity, unable to gain full traction in the consumer world due to its percieved "geekiness" and lack of identification outside a small circle.
and finally
everyones favourite bad guys MS. Once the big guy but will see its marketshare be chipped away and be forever accused of being reactive to the market. crippled by its need to continue to support its massive customer base and to be all to all people. A behmoth that could go the way of BIG BLUE.


just a few quick thoughts. (that may or maynot be total jimmy bullards!)
comments?

Remove choice? How, exactly?

There is no compulsion buy into the iPhone/iPad world. There are plenty of other ways to do what both those gadgets do, but perhaps people see that having it all in one elegant package makes life simpler.

Its not about now, my thoughts/musings are about whats potentially going to be happening over the next couple/ten years etc (plus add in a smidgen of paranoia )




Sometimes you can make it too simple, just as you can make it too complicated.

You can see other companies trying it. Sony are another example they want you to buy into there digital lifestyle (TV,BR, PS3).

I know other companies are trying to work their stuff into "lifestyles", but it seems they are forever in the footsteps of Apple.

Apple just seems to have a knack of paring something down to its barest essentials, and making it work seamlessly and painlessly. The only company I can see getting anywhere close to that right now is Nintendo with Wii and DS.

Google is the same. Simplicity, hiding complexity from the end user. I don't think that's a bad thing.

And let's not forget all these companies are about one thing - making you part with your cash and adding it to their own stash.

I'd take Google any day. They're nowhere near as restrictive as Apple with what you can do.

If you don't like the big bad corporations, don't buy their stuff!

Use your own webspace for your blog etc etc. Personally I use stuff from all three - Google Search, Gmail, Google Reader, Google Alerts, Chrome, Macbook, iPod Touch, Hotmail, MSN, Windows, MS Office...

Have you read the terms and conditions when you sign up for an account with Google?

They're fairly scary, particularly in how much information about you Google will use to its own ends.

And I've not had Apple tell me what I can do with my Apple kit. I don't buy songs from iTunes, I use my Macs to create artworks and words, and not all of my software comes from Apple. I can install Windows and Linux on my MacBook Pro if I want. Apple don't tell me not to, in fact they almost encourage it.

I don't want to get into an argument about this, just to point out that one man's meat is another's poison. There's plenty of choice out there, if people want to find it. Most people prefer to go with the flow and take the easy way if it's presented to them. You may refer to them as sheep or lemmings, but they have as much free will in the matter as you or I.

The iPad seems to be as much about content as it is about apps - movies, music and books, magazines and newspapers. You will notice that amazon has already shown how this can go wrong with their 1984 problems. Apple will no doubt be working to avoid such stupidity.

I hope that Apple get a better app vetting service going that they currently have. There has been a lot of odd decisions being made about what apps can and can’t be on the app store.

No, because I've never signed up for a Google account. They don't however lock you down so you can only run software they want you to on hardware you've bought. I won't get an iPhone until they allow Firefox to run on it. I don't want to use their insecure browser.

I don't think anyone would dispute the lack of choice at this point. However, one could argue that certain companies may be after more than just money. Globalization is a trend that has been occurring for decades, but the recent push, and mass-adoption of, certain tech does point to just a handful of very large companies. Compare cars and there are far more choices as to how you get from A-B, then there are for what software/hardware to use to access the internet on the move (in an accessible way for the ordinary consumer, not including nerdy things like Linux or phones as modems).

I guess you haven't played with ChromeOS then? That locks it down so far, that you can't load ANY software on the hardware you've bought!

Nope. I've never seen the point in it.