Well I have officially broken free of Steve Jobs’ PG-Rated Walled Apple Garden. While I’ve been running Ubuntu on my desktop for years, I’ve finally given away my (unlocked) iPhone and retired my Macbook Pro (which was also running Ubuntu). In their place I’ve purchased a Nexus One and an Asus UL30VT notebook.I’ve already manually updated my Nexus One to Android 2.2 Froyo which means I can now tether my Ubuntu laptops to the N1 and surf 3G style. Thank you T-mobile. And I’ve installed Ubuntu Lucid 10.04 on the UL30VT which runs crazy fast. I’ve created a wiki page with commentary and post install tips here.
I’d grown increasingly tired of breaking the locks on my Apple products in order to escape the Jobsian closed source eco$ystem. When it came time to upgrade my equipment, the allure of the Apple’s ultra-cool design just wasn’t enough to give the keys for my devices to a corporation.
To quote Cory Doctorow:
“If someone takes something that belongs to you and puts a lock on it that you don’t have a key for, that lock isn’t in your best interests.” It’s abundantly clear that Apple is no exception to this rule. If Apple and its fellow travelers truly care about protecting the user experience – in the long term as well as the short term – they should abandon the lock-down mentality and support your right to control your own devices. They should support the interoperability that has fostered consumer choice and the rapid growth of new technologies. They should give up the keys to the garden.”
Updated: June 24, 2010
