I want to talk about this because of a conversation I had with a colleague on a lunch break a few days ago. I am a doctor, and I was talking to him about how angry I was (and still am) about the fact that the COVID vaccines, when they were first invented, were not made public, but instead were patented and sold. This basic fact made millions of people around the world suffer. I was rambling about how scientific information should always be free. How we should be able to use the internet as the greatest library our ancestors could have only dreamt of, instead of putting information behind paywalls. Even back in med school I was an avid user of sci-hub and I wasn’t ashamed of it one bit. I still use sci-hub to keep up with new researches so I can treat/inform my patients better. And I hate how some of my colleagues think that I am stealing others’ work.
Anyways, so I was rambling on and on. I sometimes do that. And my friend said something so strange and unrelated (in my eyes) to the conversation. He said “Look at you, defending open access to medical information for everyone, yet you only use Apple products.” I was like, “What? What do you mean?” He explained, “Man, all the things you use are made by Apple. Your laptop, tablet, phone, watch, earbuds or whatever, made by the company that is one of the main adversaries when it comes to right-to-repair and open source software.” So you need to see here, I’m not a tech guy. It’s just not my field. My job only requires me to read textbooks and keep up with new researches in my field, which any device can do. So I was like, “I… I don’t think I follow.” So he briefly explained what open-source software is, and how it’s related to my idea of free and open access to information for everyone, but this time it’s not in our field but programmers’. And when I almost reflexively said “Well we’re not programmers” he said “I mean, when it comes to software, it’s the programmers’ and developers’ thing. But free and open source is an idea. It applies to everything. And I think you’re supporting a company that opposes your views by buying their products.”
We didn’t have much time left so that was the end of that conversation. And I have been thinking about it since. When buying tech products I mainly care about if they are integrated with each other or not. Like if I turn on Do not Disturb on my watch, I want my phone, tablet and laptop to go quiet as well. Or I like being able to answer a phone call on my laptop. And I love the aesthetics of Apple products, at least more than what other companies have to offer.
Every evening since that conversation I’ve been looking up stuff related to open source software. Linux, distros, the philosophy behind it all, Linus Torvalds, Steve Wozniak, Arch, "read the wiki", terminal, GUI, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA my brain is filled with so many things at this point that I don’t understand anything at all.
So, TLDR; I’d love to hear your opinions about Apple. Most people (myself included) buy Apple devices because of the ecosystem, the design, privacy (?), consistent updates (especially on mobile), or for you might say, a lack of knowledge in the field of tech. Do you support Apple or are you against them, or are you indifferent? Do you think people who are not in the tech field as well should look into and use open source software? Leave your thoughts below! ^^
First, thank you for taking the time to think about this and post this here. Your question and the responses have been quite informative and thought provoking :)
People have talked excellently about closed ecosystems, anti-competative practices and some of the corporate issues. Let me pitch in my 2 cents without repeating any of those valid things.
The central question in all of this debates come down to ownership. I believe that I can give away parts of things I create and most of the stuff eventually so that other people can build things based on that. I also believe that I can still sell things I make because there is enough space for all of us. Would you not provide references you used to learn something you excel at to another doctor because you're afraid they'll affect your income or make more money than you?
Apple at its core opposes this idea. They believe that if they share how their stuff is made or how to make stuff that works well with their ecosystem, they will lose their competitive advantage. So they basically do all sorts of things like sabotaging your fellow doctors or removing references to make sure you're in the best position.
I believe that this is basically driven by corporate greed. They don't want other players to thrive in the market or build new and amazing things based on what they've developed. So they hoard all their stuff.
They aren't a fledgling startup, they're one of the biggest companies in the world, yet they've become more greedy, not less.
The sad thing is that macos is built on Unix and there is no reason for things to be the way they are. If the open-sourced their code, people would still buy their very well integrated laptops with an amazing ecosystem, even buy their software (people still buy books when ebooks are available for free). They would still be big and really profitable but just not as much.