[NTLK] Updates

[Ryan]

Joe:

You make really good points. And ya, I do see this stuff as a utopian  
future. If you grab a copy of my upcoming book, this view will be  
confirmed.

You are right in that Apple does have closed systems. Example: how  
easy is it to share your iTunes music? They don't make that easy. Or  
how they blocked Google's voice app on the iPhone (partly AT&Ts  
fault)... But things are open as well. Podcasts are one example. Lots  
of average consumers publish podcasts on iTunes for free.

The reason I think Apple should support self publishing is because 1.  
They can make money at it like Lulu and Amazon. 2. It's good for  
people and authors to make information available largely uninhibited  
by corporations. 3. Authors can also make money. 4. It will push more  
iPad sales. 5. They will compete with Amazon and Lulu, and that's good  
for the consumer... more competition.

You are right though, I'm not holding my breath.

To me Apple's "closed systems"... their controlling nature, stems from  
how focussed they are on the user experience. Imagine if they were no  
app approvals? We would probably have double the apps, most of them  
useless spam.

But what I want from Apple is what many of you guys want. I want more  
powerful productivity apps, as in Mail, Address Book, and Pages. I  
want more focus on the working professional, while still having them  
focus on the average consumer with iTunes, iPods, etc. And where Joe  
and I really converge, I suspect, is a desire for Apple to give the  
consumer, the working professional, more power and control over their  
technology. Example: their huge, new data center and rumored music and  
video cloud store. Apple, we want home servers, we don't want to fork  
over our data to you for you to control.

So while I agree with a lot of what Apple does, I want them to realize  
that there has been a massive blurring of enterprise customers and  
average consumers/working professionals. Example: a lot of average  
people have push services on their iPhone. 10 years ago that was  
unheard of in non-enterprise environments.

With this realization is that consumers should then be given more  
power and control over their personal technology. They can start by  
launching a very easy to use, powerful home server product...

Right now I feel like Apple is a big brother holding all our hands  
into a bright, utopian future where everyone is self actualized. If  
there were ever to be such a big brother, I would want it to be Apple.  
But I wish for ultimate freedom like many of you, so if the hand  
holding would slowly wane as we march forward, I'll be happy.

Thank you,

> Ryan