whoever invented these public nuisances probably has an especialy saved spot in one of the lower “bolges” of dante’s disneyland inferno – right next to the inventors of the time clock, and double-entry book-keeping.

the only BRIGHT spot in this dark and dreary “brave new world” is perhaps the fact that these little buggers are, even as i hunt for these letters to write this screed, mutating the users’ genes.

or at least disrupting their bodies’ cellular structure.

but why blame Apple?

this trend of using a particular technological platform as a means of exclusive control over the media is hardly new. remember the BETAMAX/VHS wars a generation ago?

Carpe Emptor!

Also, you can jailbreak your iphone to increase these options. And as far as the recent security problems seen with jailbroken phones is concerned….this is easily circumvented if the person jailbreaking their phone knew what they were doing or bothered to look anything up in google.

Apple’s system is aimed at controlling and making thing easy for the masses. For those who know what to do, you can take control of your iphone if you deem fit.

What’s wrong with buying (or obtaining) software from any known trusted source? After all, it’s the buyers device, right? Oh wait, it is except that you cannot do what you want with it.

I agree, it’s a great debate.

Seriously, is there any sort of review process Android Apps have to endure? Or are they free to create anything and dump it on you? I see thousands of virus’, malware, spyware, etc, etc. What’s to stop all of that?

Case in point, I did notice recently that jail-broken iPhones are getting hacked due to their open platform.

I wont have those issues with the iPhone. I don’t worry about them on my Mac, nor my Touch, nor my iPhone.

great debate by the way. )

You are right. I checked and there is an App for home automation called AutoHTN. It is not nearly as refined or feature rich as my Indigo system, but it has potential. I also see that some of the car diagnostic Apps are multi-platform now.

It looks like Apple has a real contender. I hope it makes them up their game.

I do have one question though? What’s to stop someone from writing malicious apps and creating all sorts of havoc on the Android platform?

But you are wrong about all the things you think that only the iPhone can do. All that can be done on an an Android – and more – since the hardware is much better – give it a year and you’ll be shocked how many applications are available for the Android. My worry is that they will not all work on all Android phones due to the hardware platform fragmentation (every phone being a little different).

And I don’t say Apple did anything illegal, just evil. If they want to control their ecosystem to maximize their revenues, no problem.

But you missed my point too – which is that the closed ecosystem has created an environment where lots of folks like you *want* all the side effects and *don’t care* about the loss of freedoms – and that Android will not compete with that if it’s fragmented by lots of incompatible phone models.

If you like your iPhone, fine. I just don’t want to give up my freedoms for a lesser phone, and I want to see another phone in the market compete with Apple.