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Comment by tl | Hacker News Reader

I don't know about "paid" but his column has moved from "shill who sometimes has a point" to "rabid fanboy" recently. As a recent example [1], he claims Japan's primary reason to punish Apple and Google is protectionism for Sony and Nintendo. His point is so strained he (intentionally?) fails to mention Microsoft, a check notes American company.

[1]: https://daringfireball.net/linked/2024/06/15/japan-app-store...

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I’m glad I’m not the only one who has noticed this. Gruber’s take on Apple is generally good but politically his comments are often cringeworthy, to the point I don’t read the website regularly any more.

It’s not protectionist to force Apple to open up the App Store in your country. It might be disagreeable, for some people, and that’s fine, it’s ok to have an opinion. But if you’re going to throw around big words you should know what they mean.

He mentions the reason for being protectionist because rules are not applicable to Sony and Nintendo. It might be disagreeable but you have not given any reasoning.

If Japan applied tariffs to iPhones to raise the price of them relative to domestic phones then it would be protectionism. That is the dictionary definition of protectionism.

They didn’t, in this case, so it’s not.

Microsoft would welcome a law that forces Sony to allow Xbox Game Pass on PlayStation.

eh - I'm not a fan of Gruber, but Gruber is fairly consistent here. He strongly believes in low-government intervention into companies. He strongly dislikes regulation, especially of tech. You don't need to be an Apple shill to have those opinions.

Sony Interactive Entertainment (which I believe is the "Sony" he's referring to) too is an American company.

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