Comments on: Agora phone exposes Android’s Achilles Heel

By: Fragmandroid: Google’s mad dash to Microsoftdom « David's Blog

Fragmandroid: Google’s mad dash to Microsoftdom « David's Blog — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 22:25:23 +0000

[...] realized the futility of “one OS, many hardware manufacturers” approach (as we underscored previously) in an internal memo from Steve Ballmer: In the competition between PCs and Macs, we outsell Apple [...]

By: Kontra

Kontra — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 09:40:21 +0000

OK, some year will be the Year of Desktop Linux. How can anyone say otherwise?

By: Kontra

Kontra — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 09:39:17 +0000

WordPress.com is neither large nor profitable by the scale I’m talking about.

By: murrquan

murrquan — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 08:39:27 +0000

Er, not trying to be facetious, sorry. >.> It’s just that the WordPress ecosystem has enriched a ton of consultants / webhosts / theme developers, and this site is the primary commercial outlet for the company behind it … for the “consumers” who don’t want to host their own sites. And some technologies that WordPress depends on (Akismet, Gravatars) are closed-source, but when I talked to Matt about that he said he felt those were necessary and it wouldn’t be hard to whip up and open-source alternative to either.

Just because others — whether marketing VPs or Linux kernel hackers — can’t think of a way to make money from openness doesn’t mean it’s not possible. In fact, the history of the Internet suggests that anything not open dies, like AOL. I expect that where hardware’s concerned this lesson will have to be combined with the one Apple’s taught us … but then, I also expect that the “whose App Store is bigger” contest will eventually be won by the Internet. Which would change the dynamics a bit.

Maybe the Internet also views closed-source code and proprietary platforms as damage, and routs around them.

By: murrquan

murrquan — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 08:30:15 +0000

So while the power of proprietary platforms to create large markets has been demonstrated, the ability of open source to create large and lucrative markets coherent enough to attract commercial developers in the consumer markets is yet to be proven.

You realize, of course, that you said this on WordPress.com.

By: Fragmandroid: Google’s mad dash to Microsoftdom « counternotions

Fragmandroid: Google’s mad dash to Microsoftdom « counternotions — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 09:37:33 +0000

[...] the futility of “one OS, many hardware manufacturers” approach (as we underscored previously) in an internal memo from Steve Ballmer: In the competition between PCs and Macs, we outsell Apple [...]

By: Android Takes a Hit; Agora Will Not Release Smartphone Running Google’s Open OS | Camera Cellular Phone

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 06:27:00 +0000

[...] Kontra picked up on the news that Australian (by way of Russia) device maker Agora’s smartphone [...]

By: scorch

scorch — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 21:10:54 +0000

heh! “delicate balance” indeed

cuz.. here you’ve got ballmer calling for openness on mobile platforms!

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-269605.html

lol

By: Kontra

Kontra — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 11:08:00 +0000

Steven: "Every time Apple decides to do things in a way which does not cater to the Mac geeks..." Quite. A one-time MacUser UK editor, recent Apple-basher and now Ubuntu-convert says he switched because open file format trumps innovation. Nose. Despite. Face.

By: Steven

Steven — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 10:09:25 +0000

This is probably a bit off-topic, but it’s quite interesting that it took a Microsoft CEO to explain, not to the Windows world, but to the Mac geeks, in part why Apple does things the way they do. Every time Apple decides to do things in a way which does not cater to the Mac geeks, they scream bloody murder. “Why can’t we put any software we like on the iPhone?” “Why must we have your approval to sell on the App Store?” “Why can’t we replace the batteries on our iPhones or iPods or 17-inch Macbook Pros?” “Why can’t we upgrade and alter and tinker with our iMacs?” I think Ballmer said it best – Apple provides an experience which is narrow and complete. In Apple’s view, you cannot have one without the other, and this is their objective. Of course, Ballmer’s contention that one “can provide complete experiences with absolutely no compromises” is a bit naive – engineering is all about compromise. However, if you seek a “wider” experience, Apple has no problem with you looking elsewhere.