[LINK] Steve Jobs: Great unwashed don't need PCs

[Ivan Trundle]

On 03/06/2010, at 12:29 PM, Richard Chirgwin wrote:

> "So that I can use it the way I want it" - breaks if you can't run the 
> software you want and/or need.

My car (and all other technology) has a number of limitations, but I live with them. All such things are compromises. Indeed, progress in car technology and safety, durability and other improvements could frustrate me if it bothered me at all. But it doesn't. I have adapted to the tool, which most people do unless they are insatiable. Same applies to the fast-moving world of computers and technology.

> But more importantly, the control I have in mind is over the content you 
> can view, or easily view. This is, IMO, quite vulnerable (c.f. 
> censorship debates).

I'm much more concerned about the Australian government's ability to restrict what I view. They have far greater power than Apple.

Other than Flash content on two device platforms, Apple has no ability to restrict what content I choose to view. This is a technical limitation, not an ethical view (Steve Jobs has said as much in the D8 interview) - though there are people who will suggest that Jobs has a pathological hatred of Adobe.

Apple makes choices about what software (not content) is available in the way that Nintendo does (for example). On the other hand, television companies make choices about what content I get to view, radio stations do the same with what they offer, newspapers too.

If I have a desire to do something that is not afforded by the technology or channel that I choose to use, it is my prerogative to find an alternative that does. If there is no alternative, I would lobby to effect change.

In the same way, if the Australian government restricts what I do in a way that proves to be too restrictive, I would seek to live elsewhere, and if that option were not available, I would lobby to make changes.

iT