You are part of the small few that “jailbreak” your their devices. Does that make you a fugitive? Playing Edgar Friendly(Denis Leary) from Demolition Man. Most people just wanted to listen to their music and access the internet. I can’t imagine quality software prior to the launch of 2.0. At least now with all the new developer components that was included (ie: 3D audio, motion controls?). The original point is that the 2.0 software would allow 2.0 apps from 3rd parties (ie: video console, communication abilities)

As far as I know, everyone is allowed to develop on the iPhone. Name one person who was denied development rights. There are hundreds of available Apps from plenty of companies. What do they control in the Apps store? People submit and they appear in the store.

It’s like thinking about nagging kids, who gets to play with it. I thought since it was Apple’s idea to create a Touch platform, shouldn’t they be allowed to use it how they wish? The Apps store shows their ability to share.
Apple came up with another great idea and people want a piece of it. What sucks is that people want to start infusing politics into the system.

Software update is great, and the constant stream of updates Apple makes to OSX, iTunes, etc. are useful, and make computing using Apple products a joy. My criticism isn’t of software update, or getting free updates to existing software. It’s of the cloaking/bundling of new software along with a package labeled a Software Update. Companies are free to charge whatever they want for their software, but once a price tag accompanies a piece of software, it should no longer be called an update. It’s new.

My iPod already does most of the things the 2.0 software update adds (thanks to http://ijailbreak.com/), except for the App Store and MobileMe, neither of which I want. If I did buy it, it wouldn’t ‘turn my iPod into an iPhone.’ And what do you mean it would turn my iPod into a ‘video console’? It’s played video since day 1.

Anyway, we obviously have different opinions, but hopefully I’ve made myself clearer. My frustrations voiced here are part of my larger concern over Apple’s increasingly monopolistic practices over the devices and software they produce, the examples above being two instances of this trend. Another is their handling of the App Store, and Apple’s total control over who gets to develop for the iPhone/Touch platform, and how they can distribute it. I see these things as bad for consumers, damaging to Apple’s reputation with developers, and reminiscent of the kind of technology lock-in that Microsoft continues to practice.

If you don’t want the update, then you don’t have to buy it. It sounds like you were inclined to pay the extra $100 for the extra 16GB version though. The device was great til you learned there was an update. So it’s not so great anymore and you have to shell out $10 bucks for it? This is no simple update! This turns your iPod into a video console and more. How much would you pay if you could have software installed to turn your iPod into an iPhone? Is $10 too much, especially after paying $400 for the device.

Then John Lilly complains when we get free software like Safari on our iPods and iPhones. Bullshit, he only saw Safari taking over his domain in Windows.

I disagree that John Lilly’s intention in his criticism of Apple’s strategy is to discredit or steal market share from a Mozilla competitor (Safari). However, others in the comments on his blog have brought up the same conflict-of-interest issue, and you’re entitled to your opinion. As someone who has no direct (financial) stake in who wins the browser wars, I happen to agree with him that Apple’s tactics undermine the software industry. I also think Mozilla’s open-source status and history lend some weight to his words. If the same blog post had been written by Steve Ballmer I would have paid it less attention.

As for your second point, I also disagree that I’m “blowing this up into a self-righteous feeding frenzy,” but there you go. Nevertheless, it’s just incorrect for you to state that Apple is “giving away free software”. MobileMe is not free. It costs $109/year. Also, how is my iPod Touch software ‘free’ when I paid $400 for the device? Or when the updates cost $10? Also, ads on websites are unavoidable but voluntary in some respect. Ads on my desktop are unavoidable and involuntary.

So, I am serious. But…thanks for offering another point of view, I guess!

These issues are minor. Folks like you like to blow it up into a self righteous feeding frenzy to pick on Apple who is giving away “free” software and offering a small $9.99 upgrade. In comparison to all the ads you get on websites, you want to complain and cry about one mediocre dialog box?! C’mon get serious.

You can create your own Flickr badge here: http://www.flickr.com/badge.gne. It’s a step by step wizard.

I will definitely try this neat hacking on one of my blog.

But shouldn’t IFRAME create problems with browsers!? Like it may not work with Firefox although I am not sure.

And I didn’t understand the Flickr part so will go through it again.