Off their rockers
Wednesday April 14, 2010
Don’t get me wrong, occasionally I will enjoy bending over backwards to workaround the shortcomings of a quality product, cherry-picking the good bits and putting the stinking obvious sour points to rest. But I gotta admit Stevie Jobbys, I’m feeling a little disillusioned…
If you don’t know what I’m talking about by now, you might not own an iPhone. If you do own one and you still don’t know what I’m talking about, you probably haven’t jailbroken it.
So after a while owning their product, the rose-tint starts to fade on my Apple-issue beer goggles, and as I’m sobering up all I can see in the drugged haze is Jobo sliding his trousers back on… faded memories slowly returning, of yet another commercial shafting. At this point I don’t know what I’m more disappointed by. The fact that Apple sell hobbled technology, or myself for being suckered in by their shiny disposition.
Either way, doing what apple do is underhanded and megalomaniacal. And Apple aren’t the only archcriminals smiting sensibility, as the UK government wash-up, in all it’s oligarchical glory, pushes through another piece of ill-considered tripe that can be used by opportunists and crotch-minded alike, to screw anyone, anywhere, anytime.
I refer of course, to the much maligned Digital Economy Bill. At least, as some satirical aside it can provide a smidgen of amusement before biting us firmly in the arse a few months down the line. Of course it’s not the first time something has been rushed through in a hurry…
In recent news, Apple have effectively revoked developer license to use other languages on their shiny product platforms. “Stability” and “quality control” have become ever-more tiresome arguments, in defending what is tantamount to technological fascism. It used to be a more civil elitism, but it has evolved. Time to shine, Adobe. Pull out your biggest lawsuit and don’t be gentle.
Big props to those who have the time to tinker with the fruity innards, restoring our rights to freely explore the potential of a great tool. I’m holding out hope that there are similar “law hackers” who can undo the cock-ups in the Digital Economy Bill. Otherwise we may as well lock ourselves in the bronze age and smelt away the key.
Perhaps we need a commonsense superhero to come and pummel some of the basics back into the clueless. Maybe afterward they could come and save me from the ongoing, guilt-tripping, booze addled affair with Jobs and chums. Now where did I put those beer goggles…