Marco.org

Via azspot, the official supplier of Marco.org links. I, of course, would like to argue these points in the context of regular people (not free-software nerds).

iPhone completely blocks free software. Developers must pay a tax to Apple, who becomes the sole authority over what can and can’t be on everyone’s phones.

This is only partially accurate. They block anonymous distribution and installation of software, but I don’t think there’s any prohibition of sharing your source code. Regardless, regular people don’t care that they can’t recompile their $2.99 copy of Bejeweled.

iPhone endorses and supports Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) technology.

Apple supports DRM for content, but they certainly don’t endorse it. And they only support it because they have to — the content industry won’t let them distribute most content without it. But you’re not obligated to use Apple’s DRM. It gives you the option to play DRM-protected content, but it doesn’t force DRM on you if you just want to play unprotected files.

They also wrap DRM around the apps in the App Store. As an App Store developer, I see absolutely no problem with this. Sure, you can’t pirate my app… but what legitimate complaint would you have about apps being DRM-protected?

iPhone exposes your whereabouts and provides ways for others to track you without your knowledge.

No, it doesn’t. Every time a new app requests location data from the API, the phone pops up a dialog to ask your permission. There’s no way for apps to get around this.

iPhone won’t play patent- and DRM-free formats like Ogg Vorbis and Theora.

That’s because there’s no demand. What percentage of iPhone owners do you think have ever had a single Ogg Vorbis or Theora file on their computers? Does anyone reading this post even know what these are?

iPhone is not the only option. There are better alternatives on the horizon that respect your freedom, don’t spy on you, play free media formats, and let you use free software — like the FreeRunner.

Alternatives always exist. That doesn’t mean the iPhone should be avoided.

The FreeRunner doesn’t yet do as much as the iPhone and it’s certainly not as pretty. But in terms of potential, the fact that it’s supported by a worldwide community of people rather than a single greedy, dishonest and secretive entity puts it light-years ahead.

Regular people don’t care about these issues. All they want is a phone that’s great and does what they want to do now — not one that might be great and might do what they want to do at some point in the future. People replace their phones every year or two. The vague, distant promise of future improvement is completely irrelevant.

I don’t know how dumb articles like this can be taken seriously.