What next Google?
- Just say NO to the iPhone
Your rights are under attack. Apple have filed a twenty seven page statement to the U.S. Copyright office arguing that the modification of an iPhone’s software is in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The ruling as to this issue is expected this autumn. If they are successful it will mean that when you buy an iPhone, not only can they dictate which service provider you use, but also what you can do with the phone. It will erode the basic concept of ownership still further.
Things used to be simple – you bought something, it became your property and you could do what you wanted with it. Isn’t this simple? Isn’t it a good thing? Well, that depends on your view of property, but in essence, in a capitalist society, where ownership is a lynchpin of the economic method, you’d expect the simple elegance of this proposition to hold sway.
You buy it, you own it, you do what you want with it.
This is no longer the case. Microsoft et al saw to that with software, which they licensed it to you without ceding ownership. Then it became: You buy, we still own, you do what you want within certain limitations detailed in this twenty page document. Now Apple are seeking to take it still further – it’s about to become:
You buy, we own it, we tell you what you can do with it.
Well screw you Apple, screw you Jobs. I’ve bought a Google Android Phone – running open source software which I can modify to my heart’s content. Okay, only T-Mobile are allowed to sell them, but hey, Google are part of the great Satan too, just a more cuddly version. Anyway, the phone is great – maybe the one day battery life is something to whine about, but the rest is great. I’ll admit, it’s not as slick as the iPhone in some respects, but in others it’s better. Size is one – you don’t feel like you’re holding a dinner plate to your head when making call, for example.
Moreover, Google are bringing out a new operating system called Chrome OS. It’s going to be a professionally built GUI bolted on top of a Linux core. Better still, it’s going to be Open Source. It’s going to be a Windows Killer – I can’t wait. I use Linux now, but even I have to admit that the user interface is pretty amateurish. Even the latest K desktop, which is far slicker than anything I’ve seen previously and looks absolutely fab on my 42” monitor, but there are still things that irritate the tits off me. Simple things like changing the screen resolution are arcane. Why can’t you right click on the desktop and have a menu item that allows you to do it? Also, try installing something that you can’t find in the repositories, it’s not quite a nightmare, but it does require a level of patience and in some cases, expertise that isn’t available to the average PC user. Hopefully Google will sort this out.
On the other hand, I’m not quite sure about the idea of a huge corporate getting involved with Open Source software – because there will be a price to pay. In Google’s case it may be advertising around every corner. Which leads us to a question – because the code is open, it will be possible to foobar their advertising and remove it. What then, Google?
