As much as we like to stay away from letting real-world politics bleed over into our ongoing discussion of tech politics, I found an interesting essay over at The Economist's "Democracy in America" blog that draws a parallel between Apple's Mac/iPhone user-friendly ecosystem and the Microsoft Windows freer-but-more-chaotic ecosystem and how that lines up along the authoritarian/libertarian spectrum of real-world political division. They don't mention Open Source in this essay, but I'm sure it could make an interesting addition to the discussion. The essay's main point is that, in governance, attempts to make life more user-friendly for citizens usually ends up giving them less freedom of choice, and a certain segment of the political establishment will reliably oppose such moves. The idea that the tradeoff between choice and usability persists into the world of governance really set me to thinking. What kind of country would you rather live in? An Apple one, a Microsoft one, or an Open Source one?
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Member since:2005-11-14
If by "getting done" you mean only doing the simplest tasks, or perhaps playing several mp3s backwards and forwards at different speed, and at the same time, without skipping -- only that each instance of the app crashes when playing back to the start of the track and nags you now and then for not having paid for it.
Come on, BeOS is/was cute and all, but politically it's like one of those utopias in which everything that annoys you has been removed from the beginning -- along with almost everything you need. And when you try to build on it, you notice that most new building blocks cost money and are still only half-baked anyway.
BeOS, if it were a political ideology, would be a Libertarian utopia: no taxes after the initial cost of citizenship, but you'll have to pay through the nose for even the most basic service, or do without it at all. And of course it wouldn't last.
Member since:1997-10-01
Member since:
2006-08-16
Where I can get things done quickly while being cool without having to wear a pretentious black turtleneck.