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Thread ID: 107336 2010-02-12 20:11:00 Open Societies need open systems fred_fish (15241) PC World Chat
Post ID Timestamp Content User
857710 2010-02-12 20:11:00 news.bbc.co.uk


One hundred and fifty years ago Karl Marx argued that religion was "the opium of the people", keeping the masses at bay with a promise of a better world to come.

Today the promised antidote to critical thinking is provided by closed systems, locked-down technologies and wholly-owned supply chains, which make life easier by removing our freedoms.

Apple and Amazon, like the priests of Marx's day, no doubt sincerely believe that the world they would build if given free rein would be better than the chaos that always seems to come with democracy, openness and freedom of choice, but they are wrong and will always be wrong.

...

Just as we must work to retain our democratic forms of government in the face of adversity, so we must constantly be alert for those who would remove open systems in the name of efficiency and effectiveness.
fred_fish (15241)
857711 2010-02-12 22:00:00 news.bbc.co.uk

Amen to that.
Twelvevolts (5457)
857712 2010-02-13 00:05:00 Yeah on the one hand, it's annoying not having flash on the iPhone

On the other hand, I still seem to survive just fine without it, and as an application I don't really like it at all... HTML5 + H.264 video FTW ;)
Chilling_Silence (9)
857713 2010-02-13 00:10:00 H.264 = corporate lock-in:yuck:
Ogg Theora FTW (hopefully, at some stage in the future....sigh):xmouth:
KarameaDave (15222)
857714 2010-02-13 02:08:00 The lack of flash, the lack of keys, the crappy camera and the minute battery life on the iPhone don't bother me a bit ;) R2x1 (4628)
857715 2010-02-13 03:49:00 Me neither if it did I would get one gary67 (56)
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