[X3D-Public] Everybody’s Business - How Apple Has Rethought a Gospel of the Web - NYTimes.com

[Don Brutzman]

Interesting article regarding economic success on the Web
via closed platforms.  Excerpts below.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/11/technology/internet/11every.htm

> April 9, 2010
> Rethinking a Gospel of the Web
> By STEVEN JOHNSON
>
> FOR about a decade now, ever since it became clear that the jungle of the World Wide Web would triumph over the walled gardens of CompuServe, AOL and MSN, a general consensus has solidified among the otherwise fractious population of People Who Think Big Thoughts About the Internet.
>
> That unifying creed is this: Open platforms promote innovation and diversity more effectively than proprietary ones.
> [...]
> Over the last two years, however, that story has grown far more complicated, thanks to the runaway success of the iPhone (and now iPad) developers platform — known as the App Store to consumers.
> [...]
> Those of us who have championed open platforms cannot ignore these facts. It’s conceivable that, had Apple loosened the restrictions surrounding the App Store, the iPhone ecosystem would have been even more innovative, even more democratic. But I suspect that this view is too simplistic. The more complicated reality is that the closed architecture of the iPhone platform has contributed to its generativity in important ways.
> [...]
>None of which is to suggest that the iPhone/iPad ecosystem couldn’t benefit from 
a little more openness. Apple should stop blocking apps that compete with the 
iPhone’s default apps — e-mail clients, for instance — as this is the one area 
where innovation has truly suffered.
>
> Of course, innovation and democratization are not the only reasons to champion open platforms. Given the current size of the iPhone’s installed base, as well as the projections for the iPad’s adoption, it is troubling that one company can single-handedly veto any new application on a whim.
> [...]
>But whatever Apple chooses to do with its platform in the coming years, it has 
made one thing clear: sometimes, if you get the conditions right, a walled 
garden can turn into a rain forest.
>
> Steven Johnson is an author and entrepreneur. His new book, “Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation,” will be published in October.

Is everyone resigned to having to always pay for their 3D graphics,
and always being vulnerable to losing everything if a company tanks
or changes hands?

all the best, Don
-- 
Don Brutzman  Naval Postgraduate School, Code USW/Br           brutzman at nps.edu
Watkins 270   MOVES Institute, Monterey CA 93943-5000 USA  work +1.831.656.2149
X3D, virtual worlds, underwater robots, XMSF  http://web.nps.navy.mil/~brutzman