An open letter to my dad about my relationship with Apple Computer
When I showed you my Ubuntu-based netbook and the CAD software I was running through WINE last summer, you almost seemed hurt when you asked if I had given up on Apple. At the time I quickly dismissed the possibility but looking at the intervening months (even as I compose this on my venerable MacBook Pro) I think the honest truth is a little less shiny.
We got that Apple IIgs in ‘87 or ‘88. Its capabilities were broad-ranging and we used it in every way possible short of compiling new software. Looking back now, though, its most compelling feature for me was its ability to accept and run BASIC programs, even without disk drives connected. Like the old Sinclair computers in England, there was an understanding that the most basic function of a computer was to run user-created code.
To my unskilled 9-year-old mind, that built-in BASIC interpreter seemed like a bottomless well of possibility, sparkling in the dark. My desire to explore that hidden realm was what drew me to computers most profoundly. It is the ever-more-infinite possibility offered by processing machines which continues to interest me.
You told me once that you didn’t think the public would widely accept computers into their homes until the devices were as approachable as telephones. I think that was a sound theory until the startling popularity of the Internet in the mid-’90s outran the improvement of computer interfaces. Everyone suddenly had to get savvy or stay home, which was both thrilling and troublesome. Nevertheless, those who care have continued to strive for usability and approachability in computing, and I have always championed Apple because they have always cared more than anyone else. I know you have gotten more mileage out of your iMac than either of us ever thought.
But Apple and I are parting ways. The digital world is a new frontier engendering open possibility above all else, and has done so for my entire life. I’d like it to stay that way, but I’m seeing Apple as less of an enabler and more of a patriarch. It comes down to the old assertion that the product of freedom and safety is a constant.
More concretely, a comparison between the iPhone and the new Droid phone is illustrative. iPhones are brilliant pieces of hardware without a doubt. Yet in spite of their enormous abilities and lustworthy design & quality, they are stymied by an ugly truth. See, the unique feature of these phones is that they can run user-selected software, but only that provided through Apple. That’s not bad on its own, but Apple’s approval process has an unhealthy dose of We Know What’s Best For You mixed in. A variety of talented developers have had their hard work rejected from the App Store for less-than-compelling reasons. The greatest personal offense is that Apple looks down on any sort of programmability within these applications, lest it be used to somehow wrest control of the hardware from Apple’s locked-down operating system. Apple encourages users to carry powerful computing devices around with them, but prohibits the most basic joy of computing.
Conversely, the Droid (which runs the open-source Android operating system) is equally-impressive hardware, but is far less controlled. The Android App Market welcomes all comers, and though that does introduce some risk, it also means that the user of an Android-based phone is not restricted in how they use a device which they own. This crucial philosophical difference seems lost on Apple, and I’ve never gotten excited about their offering as a result.
In the coming decades I suspect that more and more clever people will attempt to engage usability and safety as means of limiting choice. It may already make me an anachronism, but these days I am leaning toward the option that gives me the most flexibility in the use of my digital devices, even at the expense of safety. That option rarely resides with Apple these days.
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Well said, and well thought out. I’ve always enjoyed a certain amount of potential chaos when it comes to technology, and as much as I might admire Apple’s designs and execution, I simply can’t commit myself to an OEM controlled computing environment on any platform. I’ve no love of MS especially, and I lack the technical touch for Linux, but I still want my gear to be essentially mine once it leaves the store.