The comment went a bit of track but it is an appropriate comparison.
The Smartphone market is very quickly beginning to look like the PC market in the 90's.
A commodity OS (Windows) that can run on any PC completely dominated the PC market against Apple's all in one solution with limited flexibility but in some cases better usability.
Hardware makers utilizing windows had the further advantage of not having to mess with the overhead of developing and maintaining proprietary operating systems (combined with other factors) allowing them to bring systems to market at lower price points.
Of course this is a over-simplification of the history of that market however it is quite easy to see some stark parallels.
What will be interesting is how the fragmentation problem finally shakes things out. At least with Windows you had one code base and one unified OS. Android being OSS makes for many different flavors across the market. Whether this will ultimately hurt Android or simply be a stumbling block remains to be seen.
I have heard this refrain from so many people I know it's crazy.
Maybe we should start a marketing campaign:
"DRM is a gateway drug......to Piracy"
After all, once you go through the trouble of figuring out how to bypass DRM on something you own you realize how easy it is. Combine that with the ill will one is filled with after having to go through such a process for their own property and all of a sudden it becomes very easy to shrug away any "morality" about it and hit up the Bay.
On the post: Nokia VP Compares Android To Peeing In Your Pants To Stay Warm
Re:
The Smartphone market is very quickly beginning to look like the PC market in the 90's.
A commodity OS (Windows) that can run on any PC completely dominated the PC market against Apple's all in one solution with limited flexibility but in some cases better usability.
Hardware makers utilizing windows had the further advantage of not having to mess with the overhead of developing and maintaining proprietary operating systems (combined with other factors) allowing them to bring systems to market at lower price points.
Of course this is a over-simplification of the history of that market however it is quite easy to see some stark parallels.
What will be interesting is how the fragmentation problem finally shakes things out. At least with Windows you had one code base and one unified OS. Android being OSS makes for many different flavors across the market. Whether this will ultimately hurt Android or simply be a stumbling block remains to be seen.
On the post: Once Again, How Does DRM Benefit Anyone?
Re: Re: LoL ebooks...
FWIW There are a lot of ebooks that you can get unprotected, its just a little more work to get them on the device.
On the post: Once Again, How Does DRM Benefit Anyone?
Re: The *hidden* cost of DRM ...
Maybe we should start a marketing campaign:
"DRM is a gateway drug......to Piracy"
After all, once you go through the trouble of figuring out how to bypass DRM on something you own you realize how easy it is. Combine that with the ill will one is filled with after having to go through such a process for their own property and all of a sudden it becomes very easy to shrug away any "morality" about it and hit up the Bay.
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