You really want an iPhone, uh?
Well, at least you can feel guilty for yourself.
Gina Trapani (from Lifehacker) writes a great (and honest too) post about the locked_as_usual Apple device (the new iPhone 3G) and why you shouldn't buy that JesusPhone.
She talks the five reasons the Free Software Foundation gave us not to buy the iPhone.
- iPhone completely blocks free software. Developers must pay a tax to Apple, who becomes the sole authority over what can and can't be on everyone's phones.
- iPhone endorses and supports Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) technology.
- iPhone exposes your whereabouts and provides ways for others to track you without your knowledge.
- iPhone won't play patent- and DRM-free formats like Ogg Vorbis and Theora.
- iPhone is not the only option. There are better alternatives on the horizon that respect your freedom, don't spy on you, play free media formats, and let you use free software -- like the FreeRunner.
Gina writes also that
I bought my iPhone after I left my Nokia handset in a cab which drove away faster than I could catch it. The decision was a tough one, since Apple's model does rub my free software-loving self the wrong way. But Mobile Safari's tabbed browsing convinced me to trade in my principles for convenience.
And this is why I think she has been really honest writing this post.
I think one of the worst thing in the new iPhone is the very way the so-long best feature, imho, works: App Store. Finally you can install "official" software the way you were used with jailbroken iPhone and internet repositories: Apple learned from the hackers (maybe our Jobs still remembers his past :) and gave the users a fast and flexible way to install further apps.
The real problem with that is how the applications become available trough the App Store: every single application has to be authorized from Apple. I don't how many monkeys Apple hired for that but this restriction is definitely terrible. Even Microsoft didn't do anything like this, never.
We already know that Apple loves to close you in cages but I think this step is really the last straw. So far the first limitation is for third-party developers to publish GPS software intended for turn-to-turn use (like the TomTom or Garmin, used in cars). But what if they decide something else?
Say, for example, a way to sync your iPhone with Linux (since iTunes is published only for Mac and Windows, Linux users can't use the iPhone)?
a way to reproduce flac/ogg/theora tracks (not supported by iTunes)?
Don't get me wrong: the iPhone is super-cool and I'd like to play with some toy like that.
Like Gina Trapani writes, I understand who (in this example, of course) trades in his principles for convenience, but - still - we should think about that and about the creepy road some companies want us to take.
.2 cents