1. Anybody who knows anything about Apple, or read anything about the iPhone.

2. Anybody who knows anything about Google, or has read about their corporate policies.

Uh, hi, Google, Kris Kristofferson is on the line, says he wants to tell you about someone named Bobby McGee and this whole "freedom's not just another word for anything" business.

Doesn't Google have more important things to worry about other than no boobies on the iPhone?

How's that Chinese-dissidents-gmail-getting-hacked thing going?

@1 summed it up expertly

Both of your "thoughts" show how little you know about tech and how much you shouldn't be writing about it.

What #1 said. Old news in tech circles...

@7, et al: Paul's point is that Apple's started taking mainstream criticism. What's changed is not so much a function of the company's traditional control-freakishness (which, when they're making better decisions, is called perfectionism) as its magnitude of recent success.

@3: Do not tease about subcutaneous phones. I want something blitting against the backs of my eyeballs before I die. Preferably not immediately before I die.

@1 ftw. Seriously, keep up.

@10 we already have that. It's just not finished testing.

Apple censored my iPhone app last year. Fuckers.

Apple has always been like this. Anyone who follows the industry knows that Apple would make a terrible monopoly--and we're seeing this play out now in the mobile space. The problem is that they STILL make the best damn products out there. And until other companies step up their game, consumers will continue to vote for Apple with their wallets. And Apple (Steve Jobs) will still continue to be a douchebag.

Also, Google has always been like this. Seriously, keep up. That's why Google is so disruptive in every industry they go into. They're a liberal company with populous ideals. For now...

@1: I was pretty much gonna post that.

I believe Paul is going for a bit of the rhetorical with his questions - but maybe not. Whatever.

I wish my crappy phone just worked.

I don't need boobies. I don't need 50 thousand half-baked open source applications that I can download for free. I don't need to look at anybody's source code. I just want a phone that works.

@13
The iPhone is certainly the best damn product out there.

However, I'm baffled that everyone is so crazy about Macs. You can't maximize windows. You can't select an item and delete it - you have to drag it to the fucking trashcan. And the nice looking but useless keyboard and mouse will give you a debilitating case of carpel tunnels within a week of heavy use. 3rd party software for the Mac usually sucks. The development tools suck. Can someone please explain why I'd ever use the Mac OS instead of Windows 7.

The thing is, I love their walled garden. I love the fact that my iPhone works reliably and simply, unlike every other computer I use that has all kinds of random bullshit problems because it's not a walled garden.

You know what? My fucking toaster is a walled garden. It just makes toast and it works every time. That's what I want from my phone.

@17

Uh, I just totally maximized my window, dude. What are you talking about? Seriously, what the fuck are you talking about? It's a different operating system, things are slightly different. Oh, wait, there, I just clicked on an item and deleted it.

You can do whatever you want on the internet with Safari. I don't see the problem with not letting people sell bouncing titties applications. Who cares.

Ah…the post-hipsters keep trying to figure out new ways to criticize Apple, as though that makes them uber-cool. But, with knowledge, most of these criticisms are bogus.

I'm a long time, hard core, Mac guy. Still, I think Apple has gone too far here.

I think it is smart for them to exert a lot of control over apps, to make sure they work smoothly, and are bug free, and don't conflict with other apps. That has always been a strong point for the Macs. Their control-freakishness works in their favor in this regard.

But they shouldn't censor content. There is no legitimate technical reason to censor bouncing boobie apps, so long as they work and don't conflict with other apps. And I say this as someone who has no interest in boobies whatsoever.

Apple is not my mother. I haven't needed my mother to make moral choices for me for about 30 years now.

@18 - I'm with you. I have yet to download an app to my iPod Touch that just plain doesn't work. I've done that a dozen times on my Android phone.

Apple's app store suffers from its censorship, but it's better than the mess that is the Android app store. Google needs to institute this bare-minimum quality bar: The app has to work on every handset running the target Android OS.

Look, I'm going to help you all out and tell you the news from January 2012.

Apple sets record annual sale of iPad devices, and is market leader with largest market share.

There, now go ahead and whinge away and deny reality.

The market doesn't care how geek you are, it just IS.

@20 - You didn't hear? Safari is gone. Apple removed it after they found out people use it to look at boobies.

@17 - at least you no longer have to drag a disc into the trash to eject it. That was the stupidest idea ever.

Now I just wish they'd let me resize a window from any edge. I also wish the green "maximize" button behaved the same on every app. Sorry, @19: it doesn't. Compare Safari to Firefox.

@1 on the dot.

Yep, what #1 said. Welcome to the tech world.

The Books Editor schooled by asparagus. Known everywhere as, at best, only a moderately tech savvy vegetable.

Asparagus @1 is right. Apple has been engaged for years in pretty egregious behavior regarding controls and restrictions it places on users. I work in computer science and am always surprised by how many Apple fanboys and fangirls there are among my colleagues, considering that CS people are otherwise generally pretty in to the FOSS movement and users' rights.

I'd like to go on record and say that I FUCKING HATE THE CONTROL APPLE HOLDS OVER ME. Yet, I still end up with a iMac and an iPod touch. Why? Because they're the best products on the market for what I need. It's because of this that I seriously pray for the Courier and Windows Mobile 7 to be as good as they seem at first glance... because high quality products are no good if you have to use them under a dictatorship.

PS. This article is a great primer into why Steve Jobs is the devil incarnate:

5 Reasons You Should be Scared of Apple

I think the value proposition for Apple goes something like this - the number of people who actually care about openness and freedom of their information and development environment is smaller than the market that's opened up by creating a guaranteed "safe" market for parents to let their children roam around them.

It's the same basic idea as cigarettes, right? Hook 'em young and they're yours forever.

It's on Google (and Microsoft - go team!) to prove Apple wrong here, and the only way they're going to do it is by making a better product that leverages an open mobile platform in smart ways. But both of them are playing catch up, and Apple hasn't really run into any large problems yet with their standards boards.

At any rate, if you don't like it, the absolute least constructive thing you can do about it is to bitch and moan on the internet. You'd do a lot more "good" by voting with your dollar and actually purchasing a Droid or Win7 Phone, and then using it in public all the damn time.

1. Anybody who knows anything about Apple, or read anything about the iPhone.

I'd like to add that we knew this before the phone even came out. Apple has a long history of releasing their products without freedom (in the GNU free software movement way), Apple users rarely give a shit. Their customer base sees more value in programmers telling them how to do it well, while PC users will find some way to do it themselves. This is a paradox that has faced the computing world since developers closed down platforms, and the debate will likely never end so long as some developers live in constant fear that people are stealing their ideas. I don't see the value in letting the market decide on how to best to serve the needs of the average consumer in the computer market, I don't see it as a useful driving force, especially when the apple store has thousands of apps dedicated to making butt noises. Sure, maybe it's great and people will buy lots of farts, but really, I don't give a shit.

2. Anybody who knows anything about Google, or has read about their corporate policies.

"Do no evil", and many people in the software community see closed application as a restriction on our freedom. Google's entire purpose has been about making more information accessible by more people, which is in many ways selfish because that's their entire business model. They aren't perfect by a long shot, they certainly have a side many would consider to be "evil" but their commitment to openness is why they're so big. Google would not be the top dog in the search world if their app store looked anything Apple, and vise versa, The 2 companies are for different types of people, though I would assume many people think about it more as to what their needs are right now. So the people going with Apple may think "oh em gee kick ass games" while the people buying a google phone would go "hey, I could play any media file I want, and retain the capability to load in newer codecs without breaking the law".

I mean like...does the Stranger need a real technology writer here? These statements have been obvious in the tech community for years.

In Paul's defense, it's not like the Stranger routinely reports on the minutiae of the tech industry, FOSS, botnets why Apple/MS/Linux/Google/the FCC/RIAA/MPAA/other acronym is routinely lawful good/chaotic evil, and so on. You go to /., Ars Technica, Cnet, Tech Dirt, Valley Wag, Network World, and Security Focus for all that.

@31 My boyfriend builds custom, high end computers as his job and we still have a macbook and a couple iphones around. Altho locked down and inflexible, Apple does make the best laptops out there. No need to feel guilty! Just make up for it with other PC hardware like a BOXEE box etc. :)

@19: I have a photo file on my desktop. I select it. I press delete. The Mac ignores me. Every time.

@26: Wow, you are right - maximize is app specific. As a design, that's might be even more stupid than no maximize at all. Thanks for the tip.