Boycott Apple
Man oh man. So here I was - getting ready to write a big post on Apple’s Dashboard and it’s similarity to Konfabulator - and Russell Beattie does it for me.
Thanks Russ!
As bad as Microsoft is - Apple is worse. But they’re doing our R&D for us - so hey - we too can play at that game - right?
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Dear Independent Apple Developers,
Walk out.
It’s very simple. Support your fellow developer or watch as the next application Apple copies wholesale is yours. They’ve done it to Adobe, they’ve done it to Watson, they’ve done it to OmniWeb and now they’re doing it to Konfabulator. I’m a wanna be switcher and a Jobs-devotee and if you’ve been reading this weblog for any amount of time you know I normally never miss a keynote once it’s available online, but this time I don’t have the stomache to bother watching it. This is the biggest ripoff ever.
I think in the past I’ve seen some justification for Apple’s infringing on third party developers. I think we’ve all done that - things that “should” be part of the OS and make wholistic sense, well, we’ll give Apple some leeway. A menu widget or extensions to Sherlock. Okay. A web browser? Why not. Even Brent saw the practicality in adding RSS to Safari, no? RSS is getting more popular every day, it’s only a matter of time before Apple and Microsoft add it in.
But copying the JavaScript-enabled Desktop Widgets? Nonononono. That’s not right. I remember when I first read about Konfabulator about a year ago I was amazed at how cool the app was and how ingenious it was as well. We *all* love elegant, simple to expand solutions like Konfabulator. But vital to the Mac OS? No. Not in any respect. For Apple to copy Konfabulator like they did is just stealing. Not “Great Artist” stealing like what Jobs did at PARC, just plain outright idea theft. A common robbery. A mugging.
If I was at the WWDC tomorrow I’d walk out. Pick a time. Say Noon. Go out and stop traffic on Mission St. for 30 minutes, get the local press to cover it, maybe someone can give a call to CNN. Give Apple a black eye, they just put one of your fellow developers out of business. They want to poke fun at Redmond about copying ideas and then turn around and rip off ideas and implementations like this wholesale? It’s hypocrisy at the highest level. Don’t stand for it.
Pass the word.
-Russ
And Arlo Rose has something to say about this - too.
In case it wasn’t clear why I will never never never never ever produce anything for Macs again.
My initials are Marc Aaron Canter. We were the 10th Macintosh developers (back in 1984) - and all they ever did for us was lie about us, steal, cheat, try to put us out of business and…. you wonder why I feel this way?
Maybe Arlo does too.
The worst thing is - they’re fucking hypocrites.
I say we all go copy and steal the entire Apple OS and make it open source.
Look at all the locked in folks who buy Macs - that’s what REALLY pisses me off. There really is no alternatuve - is there?
Where’s the Linux desktop alternative?
By supporting Apple by giving them money - we’re all perpetuating evil (well not me - I don’t buy Apple products - haven’t since 1996.) These guys have no scruples.
Especially Doc and Joi and Loic and Anil and Dan Gillmor and Weinberger and Kevin Burton and other people who can make a difference. You guys GOTTA get Michael Robertson, IBM, Dell - SOMEBODY to solve this connundrum!
We know what Microsoft is gonna do. We know what’s possible and what we can do. So let’s map out what we can clone in 1-2-3 years (make sure it supports Indigo and everyting MS is doing), base it upon a world of open micro-content standards, present that to the public as our roadmap - and start the migration - NOW!
What if Pierre Omidyar put up $100M - $200M - fuck it - $500M - couldn’t we just clone the Mac and put it out there - and give it to Dell, etc.?
That would serve them right.
So stop buying Macs - PLEASE!
It’s like buying stock in Haliburton.