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> That Apple is using every chance it has to close and lock down what was once an open architecture.

Open (although it's debatable if that is entirely accurate. As you very well know we've been living in a Microsoft world for the past 20 years), but accessible only to a few of us computer nerds. They're locking it down, but making it accessible to more people. People who previously despised computers and hated working with them and often couldn't use them very effectively. Now, they still despise them, but at least are less frustrated when using computers, and are able to do more with their devices.

I find your line of thinking a bit selfish. It's like arguing why car engines are nowadays sealed - we can't even tweak our own cars easily - cars that we have PAID MONEY! How will the next generation learn about car engines and be able to tweak stuff if he wants to? They have to bring the car in to an authorized repair shop that's been approved by GM and pay them lots of money while previously we used to do it ourselves at no cost.

Not everyone has to know how to repair a car engine, or a refrigerator, or how to compile a program from the source. What's wrong with that?

In other words, I don't give a fuck about my profession. My profession is to serve the humanity. If Apple is making the lives of millions of people easier by making my profession harder or obsolete, so be it. Now, if you are arguing that what Apple is doing is harmful to humanity in the long run, that could be a valid argument that's worth having. But arguing that Apple is an unethical company just because it makes our profession harder (regardless of whether it's good for the rest of the world), I think that's not a valid argument. I think it's selfish and disagree with it.

You state it like it's an empirical fact that Apple products are user-friendly, I personally find their UX to be confusing and even power user hostile. Multi tasking in iOS for example or the horrible notification system or even trying to find the options to change certain settings being in the hardest to find places.

In my experience it has been really better than "old" systems (source: my family and many friends). Of course, that's just one data point, but these things are hard to quantize and measure. Still, the trend to "post-PC devices" is a clear sign that people want things to be simpler.

> power user hostile

Exactly. If by being hostile to us, they're being more accessible to others, I'd say it's a good thing. Now, are they being more accessible to ordinary people? That, as you said, is not and empirical fact and is a discussion worth having. My point is that "we are not important. We're just a tiny fraction of the population. We should ask whether what Apple is doing better for the other %99 or not. Not being 'power-user friendly' is immaterial to this discussion".

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And I agree about the notification center or Settings app. But I see them more as failures in implementation than a failure of vision.

For example of a horrible implementation, Windows (I have experience with Vista and older) gives you a million different options for wireless/wired networking. But setting a global SOCKS proxy is ridiculously difficult: Control Panel -> Internet Options -> Connection -> LAN settings -> Advanced. Or assigning an static IP to a wireless card: Control Panel -> Network and Sharing -> View status -> Properties -> Select IPV4 -> Properties.

Now, OS X's Network panel is just as feature-rich as Windows'. You can do almost everything you can do in Windows too, but the implementation is much better. Creating a VPN, assigning static IP, setting a global proxy, etc. are all easy to access: Click '+' and select VPN, then its type (PPTP, L2TP, Cisco) and you're good to go. Or select Wi-Fi and go to Advanced menu and instead of DHCP select an static IP. Or go to "Proxy" tab and assign a global proxy.

That was just an example that I think OS X's implementation is far better, but the vision (= intention) is the same: Give user the ability to change everything he wants about the wireless connection. Just because Microsoft failed to give a decent UI (at least in Vista) does not mean it's not possible. Just like because Notification center is horrible doesn't mean it can't be done better (look at Android).

I'm not a software engineer and I do not know how to code but I do know Apple's business practices and I agree with you, they're not great (but I also think it makes sense for them). But where did you come up with stuff like "In a future controlled by Apple, no kids will ever learn to code in an open and free environment". What? I really feel like I misread your comment, because that's such a stupid thing to say.

Just because Apple is immensely successful, why does the open and free software has to die? If Apple is as evil as you claim them to be, wouldn't you say that it's actually better in the end because people would finally understand the importance of open and free software? Because right now, the average consumer don't give a shit about whether the software they use is open or free.

You seem exactly like a shill.

Thank you for contributing so much to the discussion with your very enlightening points.

How about you provide some actual arguments if you think there's anything incorrect about my stance?

I'd rather not engage in political arguments especially on this site.