iPhone Hackers: Quit your bitchin'

Wow, it amazes me how stupid people can be when they really want to take the moral high ground. The Price cut backlash was bad enough, but at least there the anger was justified.

But these people who are crying foul at Apple nixing their unauthorised 3rd party software? No sympathy for you at all. Know why? It's your fault, not Apple's.

Apple gave you fair warning on several occasions that if you fecked around with the gadget world's collest phone and joint coolest Personal Media Player and you tried to update it (Essentially getting support from Apple) you were probably gonna end up with a $400 brick.

And yet, despite the warnings, you updated. And now you have a brick.

And you're surprised?

I think you did it on purpose to get pissed off, I really do. This sort of thing seems to happen to a surprisingly high number of allegedly tech-savvy people. Either you're actually tech-n00bs who should not be hacking anything anyway, or you just like whinging and probably own 2 or 3 iPhones, 5-8 N95s and a Terabyte of MP3s.

But I digress. Ignoring that stuff for a second, what makes you think your outrage is justified anyway?

Apple created iPhone as a closed device and told you as such on many occasions. They encouraged Web App development, probably propelling such advancements forward far faster than previously possible. And yet, you chose to go against them.

Okay, you believe open devices are better? Buy an OpenMoko or an N95. Do not hack a closed phone and then cry foul when they close it again behind you.

And screaming in outrage and threatening frivolous lawsuits is not going to endear your open idealism to Apple. You want Apple to open stuff up? Vote with your wallet. Buy something else. If you want an iPhone (Or an iPod Touch), get that knowing it is closed.

But more than that, open standards are not the be-all and end-all. There is a very real need in the world for closed devices like iPhone and iPod Touch. Some people prefer cohesive, stable platforms. Some people prefer simple platforms.

iPhone is for those of us who do. If you support open standards, why buy an iPhone? Sure, open standards have their place - the more open our file formats are the better for example - but you can not and must not demand that every device on earth be open.

It doesn't work like that.

In other news, mad props to Radiohead for allowing customers to set their own prices for your next album.

Feel Good

Jens