iPad

[Richard Pieri]

On Apr 6, 2010, at 9:15 PM, Edward Ned Harvey wrote:
> 
> Let me put it this way:  MS was sued for bundling IE with Windows.  But

You are mistaken.  The key points in the IE lawsuits are a) Microsoft's use of private, custom APIs unavailable to competing browsers and b) Microsoft's licensing deals with third-party OEMs prohibiting them from bundling other browsers with their hardware if they included Microsoft Windows.

Apple is in a fundamentally different position.  First, the core of Safari is KHTML.  The UI is proprietary Cocoa code but the meat of the browser is Open Source and Apple has been feeding changes back to the community in the form of WebKit.   And even though the Cocoa shell is proprietary, the APIs are openly published and very well documented.

Second, there are no third party iPad OEMs.

> The iPad and iPhone prohibit you from installing anything other than safari.

You are mistaken.  Apple has yet to prohibit a full-fledged third-party browser.  The first ever was submitted only a few days ago (that'd be Opera Mini) and, last I knew, approval is still pending.  There are numerous SSBs available that use the same APIs that Mobile Safari uses.

> They prohibit flash.

So... Apple is evil for not opening up everything about iPad but Adobe is good despite Flash being 100% proprietary.  I smell a double-standard here.

(Never mind my opinions about Flash -- which start with "it's an abomination that needs to disappear" and go down from there).

> And google voice.

I've not used it, but:
http://www.google.com/mobile/voice/
works on iPhone and iPod Touch.

> And java.  And a million other

Again, I don't see the lack of Java being a bad thing.  The iPhone platform isn't a general purpose computing platform.  It's not your PC or Mac.  It's an appliance like your iPod or TV set or microwave oven.

Newton was severely flawed in many ways.  Apple learned a lot from those flaws and is adamantly refusing to make them again with the iPhone platform.  The requirement that apps use the public APIs, the proscription against interpreters and portable runtimes, and all the rest are there to ensure that the platform as a whole is stable, that your iPhone or iPod Touch or iPad Just Work.  And I'll be perfectly up front about this: my iPod Touch has been a hell of a lot more stable and reliable than 4 Newtons, 3 (or is it 5?) Palms, 2 NITs and 1 iRex iLiad that I've owned and used over the years.

All that said, I personally see nothing compelling about iPad.

--Rich P.