Open As They Wanna Be

The whole idea of what constitutes being “open” in this crazy mixed-up world of software and operating systems, is, like so many things, so much more a matter of perspective, pragmatism, execution and context than many may consider. It seems to be a conventional wisdom of sorts that Windows has always been (and still is) more “open” than the Mac, despite how easily this notion breaks down upon futher scrutiny.

With the burgeoning success of Apple’s iPod/iPhone/iTunes ecosystem and the resurgence of the Mac platform itself it’s becoming quite clear that not only has this idea always been baseless, but that in fact it is a mix of both “open” (OSX’s BSD Unix subsystem, QuickTime/H.264, the use of and lobbying for open file formats whenever possible, etc.) and proprietary solutions (their NeXtStep derived frameworks and development tools which only work in OSX) in concert with award winning industrial design that are the key to Apple’s ability to create great products that very many people enjoy using. Of course great marketing has it’s role to play, but without a burning dedication to designing high quality products that are as close to Arthur C. Clarke’s idea that, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” as anything I’ve ever seen, Apple would be just another HP, or Dell or (enter generic Intel PC compatible company name here).

In his recent article, Six Reasons Why Apple May Never Open The iPhone Daniel Eran Dilger of Roughly Drafted whacks this proverbial nail on the head. I mean really smashes it. I am glad I am not that nail, I tell you.

Great engineering, like great product design (and design in general) is about trade-offs and is at least as much about what to leave out as what to put in, and Apple seems to have figured out how better to act on this than pretty much all of their competitors. And now they are.. errmm.. reaping the fruit of their rewards.