This post was migrated from my old blog
From Adam Pash from Lifehacker:
To say that ‘either a device is user friendly or it’s open’ is a false dichotomy.
From Mark Pilgrim’s post:
Now, I am aware that you will be able to develop your own programs for the iPad, the same way you can develop for the iPhone today. Anyone can develop! All you need is a Mac, XCode, an iPhone “simulator,” and $99 for an auto-expiring developer certificate. The “developer certificate” is really a cryptographic key that (temporarily) allows you (slightly) elevated access to… your own computer. And that’s fine — or at least workable — for the developers of today, because they already know that they’re developers. But the developers of tomorrow don’t know it yet. And without the ability to tinker, some of them never will.
…and…
Once upon a time, Apple made the machines that made me who I am. I became who I am by tinkering. Now it seems they’re doing everything in their power to stop my kids from finding that sense of wonder. Apple has declared war on the tinkerers of the world. With every software update, the previous generation of “jailbreaks” stop working, and people have to find new ways to break into their own computers. There won’t ever be a MacsBug for the iPad. There won’t be a ResEdit, or a Copy ][+ sector editor, or an iPad Peeks & Pokes Chart. And that’s a real loss. Maybe not to you, but to somebody who doesn’t even know it yet.
From Alex Payne’s post:
The thing that bothers me most about the iPad is this: if I had an iPad rather than a real computer as a kid, I’d never be a programmer today. I’d never have had the ability to run whatever stupid, potentially harmful, hugely educational programs I could download or write. I wouldn’t have been able to fire up ResEdit and edit out the Mac startup sound so I could tinker on the computer at all hours without waking my parents.
Like many of my generation, my first computer was an Apple IIgs. I learned to program in BASIC (back when you had to number every single line and predict ahead of time how many lines you’d need). Apple is preventing a generation of people (especially kids) from being creative, despite all PR to the contrary. It costs $99 to get the privilege of writing for the iPhone/iPad. Not all parents will do that for their 8 year old. The barriers (both technical and legal) for tinkering with devices you already own is prohibitively high. I can’t risk jailbreaking my iPhone because without a sanctioned process, I still need it to communicate with the world. With my desktop (and laptop to a slightly lesser extent). I have all the avenues in the world to tinker, all legal and encouraged.
I guess, to the extent it needs to be said, I really hope Freedom 0 wins out.