Sys Admin Friday!
First of all… Happy System Administrator Appreciation Day to all my fellow sys/net/anything-that-plugs-into-the-wall admins out there!
So let’s talk tech since it’s sys admin day. This concerns the AT&T-Apple partnership that is really just bad for everyone except AT&T… and probably also Apple as I’m sure AT&T pays a premium to keep Apple in their clutches. I’m sure everyone is already familiar with Apple’s seemingly arbitrary app approval process. Pretty much anything that steps on the toes of Apple or AT&T is going to get rejected. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think there are alternative browsers on the iPhone are there? Alternative music players? I honestly don’t know since my use of an iPhone is pretty limited, but I’m pretty sure there aren’t and here’s why. Apple has a policy, that any app that replicates functions already present on the iPhone OS will not be approved… and here is the reason for it. Because it will confuse the user. That’s right… they don’t think you can handle choice. The instant you see another application for browsing the web or making phone calls, you will regress into a chimp and start smashing you iPhone against rocks in the hopes of drinking the sweet nectar that is surely trapped inside.
Just recently the Google Voice app was rejected for reasons of “user confusion”. That’s a euphemism for “AT&T doesn’t want people to use Google Voice to send free texts and make cheap international calls.” I really don’t know why Apple would do what AT&T says. But seriously… Google was rejected! I mean if even Google is rejected… what chance does a little guy have.
This is the exact reason I’m such a fan of Android… and to a similar degree… Windows Mobile. Yes, I said Windows Mobile. Both platforms don’t yank apps and both platforms allow you to completely disregard any sort of market place/app store and install your app from where ever you feel like it without jail-breaking anything. Apple’s need for utter control over your (their) phone is going to bit them back some day . Although… maybe not. I suppose aside from the techie crowd, most people don’t even know about the apps that weren’t approved. So they don’t know what’s missing. I need to be able to control my technology and make it do what I want even if I crash it, but I suppose most people are satisfied with a cool phone that “just works.” Android does have it’s issues at the moment that a normal person just would not want to deal with. So I guess there are two sides here… and I guess I’m on the side that’s okay with troublshooting a phone as long as we get to use it however we want. I mean I can replace my dialer, phonebook, desktop, browser, and anything else. Granted I haven’t yet as most of the replacements aren’t spectacular or anything, but they will be someday and until then I still have a choice.
There’s of course one boat that we are all in right now… Lack of Flash. I’m pretty sure Flash runs terribly on any and every phone, which is why we still don’t have it. I really hate Flash because it’s such a resource hog, but there are so many sites that use it. Hulu being a pretty big one. It would be nice if we all moved to the much more efficient Silverlight, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon.
Let’s take the Tegra powered Zune HD and make an awesome phone eh Microsoft?
