Open beats closed, iPhone edition

Apple apparently doesn't believe that open beats closed, and is therefore trying to close down the iPhone to external software packages. Apple is wrong. Here's Marc Andreessen with some details a few weeks ago on how open has always beaten closed since Microsoft PCs hammered Wang word processors.

Comments

[Friendly Ghost]

The only reason Apple products work so well is that they're closed.

As soon as you open a platform, you start having to cater for multiple hardware/software configurations. Ever tried getting a graphics or soundcard to work properly first time in Windows? Ever had a chronic compatibility problem with supposedly compatible hardware?

Not so with Apple. By virtue of being closed, Apple operating systems just work, properly. They also squeeze a lot more performance out of equivalent hardware for this reason, because suddenly you're working in a known space rather than working with, well, known unknowns.

If nothing else, Apple doesn't seem particularly harmed by being closed in 'talkability' terms. Check out the Apple vs Microsoft chart in Google Trends.

[Seamus McCauley]

Hey FG - no question about it, closed is easier to get right. And lots of people get open wrong. Not sure that's enough to dissuade us from trying for open if we know it can be better.