Apple's Education Event: On the Road to Vendor Lock-in
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Thu 19th Jan 2012 17:41 UTC
Apple Apple's education event just ended, and just as Ars Technica said, Apple announced better support for textbooks, as well as a textbook authoring tool. The textbook authoring tool is heavily inspired by Keynote and Pages, and hence, I already know it's going to be top-notch and very pleasant to use. In addition, the company also repositioned iTunes U as a Blackboard competitor. As great as all these new tools are, several large red flags went up in my mind: I remember what it was like being the only student who didn't use Windows. Update: "Any e-textbook author that wants access to the iPad-toting masses must make his or her work an exclusive to iBooks 2."
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RE: Ballpoint pens
by darknexus on Sun 22nd Jan 2012 22:36 UTC in reply to "Ballpoint pens"
darknexus
Member since:
2008-07-15

I have a question for everyone who think that Apple are doing the right thing : what would you do if Bic suddenly stated that everything written using their ballpoint pens is their property and cannot be sold without their permission and involvement ?

I agree with your underlying point, but that's a horrible analogy. Exactly how many books do you know of that were written by hand with a ballpoint pen? If Bic did this, no one would care since nothing written with a pen is sold professionally. Even if the original text were written with one, it would most certainly be printed professionally at the time of publishing and Bic would have no idea of it one way or the other. Let me reitorate that I agree with your point about vendor lock-in, and I for one think it should be avoided at all costs not only to avoid censorship, but also to make certain we can still read our media in a hundred years. Apple isn't going to last forever, and what happens to all the content locked up in their formats after that?

Reply Parent Score: 2

RE[2]: Ballpoint pens
by Neolander on Mon 23rd Jan 2012 08:14 in reply to "RE: Ballpoint pens"
Neolander Member since:
2010-03-08

Well, I am not in the publishing business so I don't know which brands of printing machines are to this business what Bic is to everyday writing. Besides, much less people would get the analogy. So I think some logical shortcuts had to be taken.

My problem in the end is that everyone would find it revolting that manufacturers of physical content creation tools impose conditions on the usage of these tools, yet somehow some can close their eyes when it comes to software-based content creation tools. In my opinion, the artificial boundary which the software world sets between personal and professional use should not exist, since the software costs the same price to manufacture for everyone.

Reply Parent Score: 1