Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.
Re: Rant
Author: Leos Kral Posted: 1/6/2000; 5:03:20 PM Topic: HTML Renderer in the MacOS Msg #: 14146 (In response to 14118) Prev/Next: 14145 / 14147
I did finally listen to Jobs' speech. They're clearly on the way to creating their own web. In the normal web context, this would be seen as a Bad Thing. If it were Bill Gates on stage people would be screaming bloody murder at the idea of locking people into an OS thru web services.Perhaps I am naive or just dense, but I don’t see it that way. I don’t see iTools as splitting the web. If I understand it correctly, iTools makes it easy for Mac owners to easily create web content that is served to the rest of the internet using standard web protocols. In a sense Apple is creating their own version of (admittedly not as full featured or flexible) frontier/manila like services for Mac owners. You pop your content into the right folders and the content gets rendered through templates into a website that any browser can view. Is there a lock in? Not really, you can always move content somewhere else. It is no more a lock in than choosing any other content management system.
As far as some of the other functions that iTools provide for Mac owners only, I don’t see how they split the web. With the possible exception of not being able to comment on ratings, all of the other services just add value to owning a Mac (I am not taking a stand on the worth of the value) but don’t take anything away from those that don’t own a Mac. They just use the internet as a transport mechanism. Sure, iTools could evolve into something more sinister over time, but at this point that is just a "Slippery Slope” argument. In a world where Windows dominates, it would be foolish for Apple to try and create an “incompatible neighborhood”.
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