[ZeroGravitas]

I am an "Open Source Zealot". If Apple waved a magic wand and killed all the open source software on my Macbook (not even counting the stuff they bake in themselves) then it would be useless to me.

The App store process seem to break the open source model for no obvious gain. I can't modify some app to suit myself, my company or my family. I can't find a bunch of willing collaborators. Everyone has dollar signs in their eyes and is forced to invest in a Mac, a yearly fee and dealing with bureaucracy to get releases out. This is probably accidental but I want the same process that creates all the code I appreciate on my other computers to be at least tolerated, and preferably encouraged on my mobile ones.

I thought we'd left the shareware and freeware days behind, yet here we are again.

[pyre]

The issue isn't so much Apple and the iPad/iPhone, but whether this will start a trend. In 10 years time will all computer platforms be closed, unless you shell out top-dollar for a laptop/desktop computer? I hope to hell not.