This is one of those weeks being an Apple user that I want just want to bin the devices due to Apples archaic over bearing out right dumb policing policy. There's been two instances this week that they've hit the press for.
Itether the tethering application that they first approved then pulled hours later either due to pressure from the mobile networks or realised they had approved it in error. The second instance removing the shortcut trick to most system settings.
Itether didn't really bother me as I use the tethering built into iOS on Three's AYCE One plan. But it really grates on me that people bought the application then it's removed so no further updates especially after approving it.
The second item of the shortcuts is one of the best tricks I have seen in along while that doesn't need a jailbreak and is really useful as it removes the need to navigate the cumbersome settings screen. I can understand from a security
perpsective they might wish to remove the URLS that are used incase it can be exploited and begin damaging a device. But overall it just enhanced the usuability of the iPhone.
I've been very tolerant since owning now 3 IPhone devices putting up with the outdated interface. I am more than happy having a launcher just to run applications and the notification revision in iOS 5 was a welcome refreshment.
But the latest decision to reverse the shortcuts and the removal of the tethering application are just two recent examples Apple are out of touch with reality.
When Lion was announced the Mac App Store was launched, again I feared the same policing and the Mac changing into another dumb interface. Just look at mission control a complete waste of resource and code. I have found applications in the Mac App Store dumbed down when compared to the same piece of software available on a publisher's website. One example being an application removal tool that is able to move items to the trash but not delete due to App store restrictions. But the equivalent web version out of the app store has features that are missing.
Apple has announced sandboxed applications for next year in the application store. Will this mean any application I buy that no longer fits the rules will be banned and I will need to buy it again outside of the walled garden to get updates?
I remember the quotes of Edgar Friendly in Demolition Man about the Cuban cigar.
Here it is in full:
Edgar Friendly: You see, according to Cocteau's plan, I'm the enemy, 'cause I like to think; I like to read. I'm into freedom of speech and freedom of choice. I'm the kind of guy who likes to sit in a greasy spoon and wonder, "Gee, should I have the T-bone steak or the jumbo rack of barbecued ribs with the side order of gravy fries?" I WANT high cholesterol. I wanna eat bacon and butter and BUCKETS of cheese, okay? I want to smoke a Cuban cigar the size of Cincinnati in the non-smoking section. I want to run through the streets naked with green Jell-o all over my body reading Playboy magazine. Why? Because I suddenly might feel the need to, okay, pal? I've SEEN the future. Do you know what it is? It's a 47-year-old virgin sitting around in his beige pajamas, drinking a banana-broccoli shake, singing "I'm an Oscar Meyer Wiener".
You know:
- I want choice on all my devices.
- I am happy to use them as you intended but please don't tell me what I can and cannot do.
- Please don't take away functionality to make it an expensive brick and worst of all stop being a hypocrite with apps like Itether.
- Listen to your customers as we can think, can make decisions and don't need to be told what's bad for us!
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