I'm getting so sick of this from Palm.
Make a decent phone, a decent OS, and your own syncing software that pairs with the iTunes library.
I'm sick of fanatical Apple users thinking it's OK for Apple to lock everyone out of their operating system and utilities if they think it will benefit them. Palm users represent more sales from their iTunes store, but it's apparent that Apple values the hardware sales more than any software sales or they would be HELPING companies like Palm access iTunes syncing. No, Apple wants its cake and to eat it too as usual. While Palm shouldn't be spoofing, Apple shouldn't be locking everyone out of their iTunes Store either (and you CANNOT access that store any other way but to use iTunes so spare me the total BS about Palm writing their own software to do it; Apple would deny that too and you know it).
Frankly, I think Palm is the lesser of two evils here. They are simply trying to compete their hardware against Apple's hardware and as usual, Apple is using its operating system and other programs as illegal tying leverage to prevent other HARDWARE from competing with Apple hardware on the same playing field. You cannot compare a Dell PC with an iMac because you cannot run the same operating system on the Dell due to illegal licensing contracts in the Apple operating system. Therefore, Apple used their software to thwart hardware competition. Here, you have Apple blocking all 3rd party access to the core of their operating system's music player/library/syncho/store-front/do-everything-under-the-sun-but-make-popcorn application. The issue here is not iTunes. iTunes is given out for free both with the operating system and on their web site. The issue is that iTunes has turned into a one-size-fits-all monster of a program that runs just about everything short of the Finder these days within itself.
I use iTunes to run my whole house audio system because Apple TV REQUIRES it to function. Therefore, my entire music library is organized through that interface. The entire house can play music through that interface, but along comes Apple and tells me I cannot control non-Apple hardware through that same interface because they want me to buy THEIR hardware, not a competitor. But that's a different market (hardware player/device versus a software controller that comes with the operating system and is required to buy software from the iTunes store and up until recently was ENCRYPTED (movies still are) so I could not use anyone else's device if I wanted to, regardless if they wrote their own "synchro" software.
Everything Apple does is designed to thwart competition and create vertical markets where you never have to (and mostly likely cannot even if you wanted to) buy products from anyone other than Apple and still use your other Apple products, since they won't play nice with anyone else. I mean that was a real bummer when half the Internet would ONLY run properly on Internet Explorer since its non-standards were becoming all too standard anyway due to market penetration. Microsoft LOVED that. It gave them control.
Apple is no different. They don't want USB 3.0, for example any more than they wanted USB 2.0 (they wanted Firewire since it meant huge licensing kickbacks). Now they want Light Peak instead of USB 3.0 for similar reasons. There's money to be made by not playing nice. You don't see Blu-Ray on Macs because Steve wants you to buy movies from iTunes, not from a Sony licensed format. You probably won't see USB 3.0 on Macs (you'll get Light Peak instead, which will be heavily leveraged on the next generation iPhone to PUSH REALLY HARD to try and make it the new standard instead). This behavior is WRONG, IMO. My operating system of choice should not hinge on Apple's vested vertical marketing interests. It should be independent of them. If I want to watch Blu-Ray movies on my Mac, that should be MY choice not Steve's choice. If I want USB 3.0 and not Light Peak, that should be choice as well, not Steve's choice to leave it out to try and force me to use Light Peak. If I want a Palm Pre, that should be MY choice, not Steve's choice. If I want one of each, that again should be my decision. Apple doesn't have to help Palm, but they don't' have to keep trying to stop them either. Two wrongs don't make a right and Apple is the best example ever of why hardware and software markets should not be "tied" together in a way that tries to thwart competition. In fact, it is illegal under the Clayton Anti-Trust act and no a company does NOT have to be a monopoly for the tying rule to apply. Once Apple modified their software in such a way to PURPOSELY prevent competition from other hardware vendors, they broke the tying provision of the Clayton law. Imagine if Apple prevented all printers from working with OS X except Apple branded printers...but because it's a phone instead of a printer, it's OK?
Next they'll be telling me I'm not allowed to have a choice for a public option in health care just so the insurance companies can maintain their insanely high profit levels....
Umm they already have done that. They are just giving their uses another option instead of having to install and run more software on there computer.
They could even ague under USB-IF that they are not spoofing the ids to computer hardware and OS. It is only be spoof to certain software to get around blocks and it is only emulating it. Not changing what it really is.
It's no different than certain web browsers spoofing others so they can access sites that try to deny the user the choice of using anything but a certain web browser (oh say Internet Explorer?) regardless of whether it's capable of doing the task or not. Apple is ONLY trying to stop Palm because it wants to "nudge" the public into buying an iPhone instead of a Pre regardless of whether there are other legitimate reasons to consider it. Personally, I don't appreciate Apple trying to force me to buy their products by purposely breaking features on other products. Why should I keep buying music from the ITunes store if Apple wants to make my life difficult in the process? No wonder Amazon is gaining ground. They are trying to sell music, not hardware. Maybe if Apple wasn't trying to sell all things to all people they wouldn't keep stepping on their own toes the whole way. It's like cutting off your hand to get rid of a blister.
