[EvanAnderson]

During a public Q&A back in 2017 I asked Woz what he thought about control Apple asserts on their "i-device" hardware. My question was to the effect of "What do you think about how I don't own my iPhone or iPad the way I owned my Apple II?" His answer referenced the openness of the Apple II but also included (not verbatim) "sometimes proprietary is the right thing" in reference to the Apple "app store" and the locked-down nature of the iOS device ecosystem.

To have Woz-- the hacker's hacker-- answer like that was really shocking to me. (I was really, really sad to hear one of my childhood heroes answer in that way. I know, I know-- don't meet your heroes...)

In this recording his position sounds a lot more reasonable. It makes me glad to have such a well-respected voice out there driving conversation about this topic.

As an aside: I recorded my question and Woz's answer (albeit via my phone in my breast pocket, so the audio quality isn't very good) back in 2017. This was from his October 30, 2017 visit to Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. I didn't find a recording available online with a quick search, so here's this:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lLz56N2PKCmPIGrzt1WT9n4B08P...

[eddieroger]

I listened to your MP3, and thanks for sharing it. I think Woz's point is more what the App Store enabled, not the fact that it was a walled garden. The rules Apple put in the App Store is what made it feasible for them to exist at all, and then you can create any app you want for the hardware. I think that based on his extension over where the first Tesla Superchargers were - write apps for this hardware that make your life better because they're important to you.

For what it's worth, when I think about the openness of the first computers I had, and how many crappy search bars and garbage things snuck past my unsuspecting parents while they used the computer, I'm surprisingly fine with the App Store, too. I don't have to worry about them installing garbage because it's gated by Apple. This is what made it "life changing" by Woz's words, and I agree with him.

[swiley]

I think even 5 years ago many hackers (especially the pragmatic ones) thought Apple may have been doing the right thing. Woz tends to be on the more pragmatic/accepting side IMO, you have to be if you want to play with/create the newest things.

[eldaisfish]

people bring this up but forget that a cellphone is designed for a minimum denominator i.e. the folks on HN are not the target audience.

There is a lot of benefit to apple's curation of the app store and the locked-down nature of ios brings a lot of security upsides. I have plenty of criticisms of apple's scummy behaviour (e.g. antenna gate) but the app store is not one of them.