An Apple is an Apple and Apple loves Apple
A few days ago I wanted to install Mac OS X on my PC to test-drive the operating system and see for myself why there's so much hype about it. Is it because of the user-experience? Or because of the supposedly elegant metal look with some kind of blue? I somehow managed to get my hands on a version of Mac OS X and proceeded with the installation.
I was surprised to see that Mac OS X is in fact an operating system that works as follows:
- it only understands Mac products
- it only works with Mac products
- it does not support third-party products
Let's take an example: let's suppose Apple is in the manufacturing sector - it makes screws, screwdrivers and doors. Incidentally, the screws are designed so that only an Apple screwdriver could be used to fix the screws and the screws have such a design that they would only fit in the Apple doors. The Apple screwdrivers can't be used to open other makes of screws. And the doors can only be fixed using Apple screws. The Apple doors themselves can only be mounted on an Apple wall. And the wall can be mounted only in an Apple building. And the building can only be built on Apple land and the latter can only exist in Apple world, which may only exist in Apple universe.
The latest case that's been reported is this one from the BBC. Palm's latest phone Pre was claiming seamless syncing with Apple's iPhone iTunes (update). Apple has updated its firmware claiming the latest version fixes a bug which allowed some non-Apple devices to be detected as Apple's. Therefore, the Palm Pre, and perhaps other devices as well, is no more compatible with the iPhone
Can a company build something that's closed, the inverse of being open, as in open-connectivity? As it seems to me, Apple's way of working is more restrictive than its rival Microsoft in some way.
To complete my story, of course I've been unsuccessful at installing Mac OS X on my PC. As expected? Perhaps.
Update: The Pre was synced to iTunes, not iPhone as I mentionned.
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