Ross Kendall

Authored Comments

Excellent post, although some people will never 'get' it even if they read about it.

What I don't understand is why anyone would want to work for a big business at all.

First, to answer the questions...

<em>1) Does the quote above, that Apple products inspire open innovation even if they weren't created in an open way, give us an easy way out?</em>
Um, no! How is it possible to have open innovation on a closed platform? (Hint, it's not possible) You might have 'innovation', but it won't be 'open'.
<em>Can we still love Apple and consider ourselves open source true believers at the same time?</em>
Um, no! You have compromised your ideals and been tempted away by a shinny bit of kit.

<em>2) How can something so closed be so darned good? How do we explain the Apple exception?</em>
The false assumption here is that open-source will always produce a 'better' product. The reason why apple products are good is because they have enough dedicated, passionate and talented people working to produce the products. (but over the long term, it will harm consumer choice, inhibit innovation, create a monopoly and result in slower development)

<strong>Why is Open Source better?</strong>
I think this is a key question. There are a lot of people that would argue that it is better from <em>pragmatic</em> reasons, that is - because it produces 'more innovation' or 'better products'.

However, I would argue that open source is better simply <em>because</em> it is open! That is to say, it is <em>morally</em> better, but not <em>necessarily</em> pragmatically better (at least in the short term, or from the perspective of one company or country).