Random thoughts on most things from A. M. Craig.

Monday, August 04, 2008

The Future


I'm lucky.

Jonathan Zittrain, author of The Future of the Internet and How to Sop
It, is here speaking to us lowly tech people.

I have never owned an iPod. Zittrain explains why that's a good thing.

Sometimes, I really like working here.

-Sent from Austin's phone.

UPDATE: You can read his book for free and find out more online at futureoftheinternet.org

8 comments:

Brittany said...

why is it good to never own an ipod? i'm very intrigued..

austinmcraig said...

Read Zittrain's book.

Actually, I'll tell you more later.

austinmcraig said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
austinmcraig said...

For starters, they can do things like this and never answer to anybody for it. It happens a lot, and will happen a lot more in the future.

Imagine your TIVo started deleting programs you've recorded, because those programs promoted products or services that weren't in line with TIVo's business plan.

There's more in Zittrain's book. I'll get back to you after I read it.

austinmcraig said...

Also, I'm probably reading between the lines when I say that Zittrain explains why never owning an iPod is a good thing. I don't think he ever actually said those words, but thats part of what I'm getting from what he said.

Angela said...

So the article you linked to is about iPhones, not iPods?

austinmcraig said...

They're the same product in my mind. It's the business philosophy and practices that Zittrain argues against, not the actual product. It's that Apple (and a lot of other companies) and more and more deciding to keep a stranglehold on how you use their products after you buy them. I downloaded "Ronald Reagan: In His Own Words" from iTunes. Guess what? I can't play it on my mp3 player. Because it isn't an iPod. How fair is that? I PAID for that recording, I should be able to listen to it on whatever I want!

austinmcraig said...

Also this kind of thing. It's more and more common all the time.