How the xbox and Iphone are killing the Net

Is the iPhone killing the Net? That's the question posed by Oxford University Professor Jonathan Zittrain in his new book, The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It .

Zittrain is a bona fide member of the digiterati -- a cyberlaw scholar with multiple degrees from Yale and Harvard. He is the Professor of Internet Government and Regulation at Oxford University and co-founder of Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet & Society. His latest book is due for release April 14.

Zittrain argues that today's Internet appliances such as the iPhone and Xbox hamper innovation. That's because these locked-down devices prohibit the kind of tinkering by end users that made PCs and the Internet such a force of economic, political and artistic change.

Zittrain understands why appliances are attractive to the average Internet user. They're neatly packaged, they're easy to use, and they're reliable.

"We have grown weary not with the unexpected cool stuff that the generative PC had produced, but instead with the unexpected very uncool stuff that came along with it,'' he writes. "Viruses, spam, identity theft, crashes: all of these were the consequences of a certain freedom built into the generative PC. As these problems grow worse, for many the promise of security is enough reason to give up that freedom.''
A More Restricted Internet

Zittrain argues that if the cybersecurity situation doesn't improve, we will migrate to a different kind of Internet. The new Internet will have as its endpoints tethered appliances such as iPhones, which are controlled by their manufacturers, instead of open, changeable PCs attached to an open network that can foster the next round of disruptive innovation. (See our slideshow of iPhone clones.)

"The future is not one of generative PCs attached to a generative network. It is instead of appliances tethered to a network of control,'' he warns.

Zittrain doesn't predict that PCs will become extinct any time soon. But he worries that PCs are being locked down and prohibited from running open source code that has driven much of the Internet's new functionality.

"If the security problems worsen and fear spreads, rank-and-file users will not be far behind in preferring some form of lockdown -- and regulators will speed the process along,'' Zittrain says. What we will lose in this transition is "a world where mainstream technology can be influenced, even revolutionized, out of left field.''

Source: PC World - How the iPhone Is Killing the Net

They could have avoided this bad press by being more open. PS3 with the option to install Linux is the first to pop into my mind when thinking of an example of how to please all people (except Kamisorix who doesn't like anything). Open up your machines and the crowd will love you.

Consoles, Iphones, etc. will never be open. The majority of the (financial) power companies like MS, Apple, Sony etc. posess, is formed by keeping consumers in a stranglehold of "consumeterror". Like a certain Windows update, disallowing people with edition 200x (don't know exact version) of Office to use certain old Office file types (like the 97/200/XP edition of the .doc file). Big electronics/IT companies try to "force" us do buy and treat products as they want us to. That is why I will never buy a console (again), because in merely 3 years I have to buy a new one again. While in case of a pc, you simply make a "start" that is as good as possible (especially when it comnes to the mobo and cpu) and upgrade when necessary. And a pc offers much more then a console, since the possibillities aren't so limited .

lol, that was the dumbest article ever. he probably got banned from xbl for cheatin so he tries to bad mouth it

Sometimes people get so caught up in there opinion that they become an Extremist. I seem to remember the world was suppose to meltdown on January 1,2000. I wonder how that worked out for those Expert's :-)

maybe it did and we are all in limbo. ever thought of that...NO! I'M NOT CRAZY! tinfoils...i need more tinfoils....

Originally Posted by Richard_Rahl

Consoles, Iphones, etc. will never be open. The majority of the (financial) power companies like MS, Apple, Sony etc. posess, is formed by keeping consumers in a stranglehold of "consumeterror". Like a certain Windows update, disallowing people with edition 200x (don't know exact version) of Office to use certain old Office file types (like the 97/200/XP edition of the .doc file). Big electronics/IT companies try to "force" us do buy and treat products as they want us to. That is why I will never buy a console (again), because in merely 3 years I have to buy a new one again. While in case of a pc, you simply make a "start" that is as good as possible (especially when it comnes to the mobo and cpu) and upgrade when necessary. And a pc offers much more then a console, since the possibillities aren't so limited .

Having a closed down environment for your product isn't necessarily a bad thing, but not having an open environment next to it kills innovation. The damage caused by allowing Windows to gain a market share of 98% for example is bigger then we can imagine. Just look at what Opera, Safari and Firefox did for the safety of web browsers when compared to Internet explorer. IE7 has become a almost direct copy of FF because their improvements started to attract people to other browsers then those provided with Windows.

Operating systems would have been way faster and more reliable if more competition actually existed. That's mainly what killed innovation and made the job for hackers way more easier, thus creating the millions of security issues that lead to more closed products right now.

My parents for example only look at their mail, check the net for the news and places like ebay and the site of their granddaughter and that's it. I made them a simple silent pc for 400 Euro, slapped Mandriva Linux on it and put just 4 large symbols on the desktop. Documents, Internet, Mail and Skype (they use it to say goodnight to my little daughter with their webcam from time to time). It's all they needed and with that simple locked down environment they couldn't be happier.

Indeed, but that is the best-of-the-best, nose-of-the-salmon part of Linux: it is rather closed, but at the same time it isn't. It is giving your parents (and your daughter in a few years) a stable, safe and closed-down environment as they need, while at the same time it is giving all the possibillities you are wanting.

Edit: If IE is like FF you should take a good look. In IE 7, the default safety settings are too low (at least in my case they were). And setting stuff in a way of your preference, is very troublesome (unlike in FF and Opera). The tabs in the settings window change in position, which is terrible IMHO. And IE 7 is way to slow, unless you put down all security settings and turn off the phishing filters. It is on my pc even slower then Opera 9 on my dad's (a midrange pc from 2001). Only with FF 2 and Opera 9, I experience any significcant advantage of my High-speed connection (10 to 20 Mb/s). And IE does not support more then 2 downloads a time, and does not show a tab or window with an overview of your downloads. In addition, FF and Opera work with the principle "New site, new tab" when I click on an external link (i.e. a link from one website to another). While in IE 7, the only way to that is right-clicking the link of that type and choosing for "open in new tab".
Thus, I do not agree to you Gazz. IMHO, IE 7 can not be called a FF-copy. Instead, I would like to say it is way behind its concurrence.

I never said IE7 was a succesfull copy of FF. It was copied extremely poor, but if you look at the general feautures you'll see a strong resemblence.

MS did what it does best. Copy ideas and do so poorly with faulty hard- and software. IE7, Xbox 360, Zune, Keyboards and mouses, msn and the list goes on. The main problem is that 98% of the people don't seem to know enough about technology to learn the difference btween quality and a MS product and we as gamers have been pushing Windows for too long.

The constant driver issues, uninstall, reinstall, being ok with decreased performance and all that. We as hardcore pc gamers are ourselves responsible for the demise of pc gaming by taking every error for granted. Driver troubles? Fine, we will wait for ages till some company finally offers a solution. Pc games are cheaper is what every pc gamer keeps saying and ignoring the thousands of dollars spend on hardware running on poorly coded unoptimised software. Ah well, I have so much more to rant but I'll stop now....