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| Authored by: mcinsand on Thursday, August 02 2012 @ 08:42 AM EDT |
Let's say we have a line with an equation y = 2*x, and the industry uses
coordinates (1,2), (2,4), and (3,6). Have I innovated if I purchase coordinates
(4,8) from a supplier and marketed them? I don't think so. Given the path of
the line, these particular coordinates are neither novel nor surprising, and I
bought them from a supplier. Nevertheless, this is Apple's business model.
Yes, their products are shiny, and they do buy suppliers' newest components
before economies of scale have reduced prices. Outside of marketing, though,
Apple is no great innovator.
What is innovative in tech, to me, is to demonstrate that you can actually
include freedom (toss DRM into the trash), have the source totally open, and
succeed in business. If Apple can patent half the baloney that they do, such as
rounded corners, then the FOSS world ought to be able to patent using open
source as a successful business model. It doesn't matter that FOSS has been
around for years. After all, how many decades (centuries?) have rounded corners
on a portable object been simply good design practice?[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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