I've actually been interested in the ways that Apple promotes itself -- on one hand they wrap themselves in counter-cultural rhetoric (though they've thankfully dispensed with the "Think Different" campaign and its use of cultural heroes) but on the other hand, as this story suggests, now that they're at the top of the digital music heap they're engaging in questionable practices, as Udell suggests.
<br><br>As this writer mentions, many of us use and love our Apple products, from iPods to Powerbooks to, um, the Mighty Mouse I just bought. They make nice stuff. But I also love the concept and practice of open source, and use open source products as much as possible. And although Apple has embraced (or usurped) open source projects like Unix and Konquerer, they don't seem much concerned about the culture of openness that made those projects possible.
<span class="artText"><br><br></span>They way they've clamped down on copyright issues, attacked those who leak secrets, and restrict the use of digital music reminds me of another computing behemoth... and I wonder what Apple would become if they grew half has large as Microsoft is.
<br><br>Udell says:<br><br><blockquote style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;" class="gmail_quote"><span class="artText">The Web was first conceived as a means of academic
collaboration. Blogging and podcasting represent the long-awaited fulfillment of that dream. </span></blockquote><div><br>But I fear Apple is only in it for the money, collaboration and openness be damned.
<br><br>-Josh<br></div><br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 3/5/06, <b class="gmail_sendername">Andrea Polli</b> <<a href="mailto:apolli@hunter.cuny.edu" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">
apolli@hunter.cuny.edu</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">An article in Infoworld called 'Opening Up iTunes U' that might be of
<br>interest to this group:<br><a href="http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/02/01/74855_06OPstrategic_1.html" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/02/01/74855_06OPstrategic_1.html
</a><br>--<br>Andrea Polli<br>MFA Director<br>
Associate Professor of Integrated Media Arts<br>The Department of Film and Media, Hunter College<br>695 Park Ave. New York, NY 10021<br>t (212) 772-5589<br><a href="http://www.andreapolli.com" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">
http://www.andreapolli.com</a>
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