Freedom is just another word for not being able to write iPad apps in Flash?

Surprisingly, I am with Steve Jobs. WTF is Ryan Tate talking about? Yep, with two wars, an economy recovering from a debilitating recession, an ecological disaster in the Gulf … Dylan would choose to author songs about not iPad app approval process and Flash? Oh, how hippies have changed in 40 years.

Tate:

If Dylan was 20 today, how would he feel about your company?

Would he think the iPad had the faintest thing to do with “revolution?”

Revolutions are about freedom.

Jobs:

Yep, freedom from programs that steal your private data. Freedom from programs that trash your battery. Freedom from porn. Yep, freedom. The times they are a changin’, and some traditional PC folks feel like their world is slipping away. It is.

Here’s a later back-and-forth (note the jab Jobs takes at Tate at the end):

Tate:

Was it a “technical issue” when Microsoft was trying to make everyone write to the Win32 API? Were you happy when Adobe went along with that?

You have the chance to set the tone for a new platform. For the new phone and tablet platform. The platform of the future! I am disappointed to see it’s the same old revenge power bullshit.
…
PS And yes I may sound bitter. Because I don’t think it’s a technical issue at all — it’s you imposing your morality; about porn, about ‘trade secrets’, about technical purity in the most bizarre sense. Apple itself has used translation layers and intermediate APIs. Objective C and iTunes for Windows are testament to this. Anyone who has spent any time coding knows the power and importance of intermediate APIs.

And I don’t like Apple’s pet police force literally kicking in my co-workers’ doors. But I suppose the courts will have the last say on that, I can’t say I’m worried.”

Jobs:

You are so misinformed. No one kicked in any doors. You’re believing a lot of erroneous blogger reports.

Microsoft had (has) every right to enforce whatever rules for their platform they want. If people don’t like it, they can write for another platform, which some did. Or they can buy another platform, which some did.

As for us, we’re just doing what we can to try and make (and preserve) the user experience we envision. You can disagree with us, but our motives are pure.

By the way, what have you done that’s so great? Do you create anything, or just criticize others work and belittle their motivations?

I am surprised that Tate didn’t bring up Foxconn. How hard is it to find another tablet or smartphone? Really – all this bullshit about freedom and all Tate can gawk about is how Apple restricts his freedom – you are free to buy anything you want. And in a free market, anyone is free spend their money on things they like and things they don’t.

There are a n increasingly large set of folks, including me, who don’t mind restrictions that Apple imposes because we like other freedoms. It’s a trade-off we like. If you don’t like the trade-off, go buy something else. That’s what economics and markets are all about.

BTW, how come Apple isn’t afforded the freedom to pursue their business model? The notion that there is but one true business model is amusing. This is less Dylan and more Insane Clown Posse.