"tell me if you prefer to tinker around with the Arduino or being used by an iPad and I'll tell who you are"
very nice French-related discussion (let’s say worldwide subject, but written in french) about different approach towards technology: two different, opposite, behaviors about using and being used, hacking and being forbiddend to open/hack things.
Arduino and iPad.
Parmi la centaine de commentaires provoqués par notre récent article Pourquoi je n’achèterai pas un iPad, on a pu noter une opposition franche entre ceux qui pensaient qu’il était important, voire fondamental, d’avoir la possibilité « d’ouvrir le capot » logiciel et matériel de la bête, et ceux qui n’y voyaient qu’une lubie de geeks passéistes et rétrogrades.Or aujourd’hui nous allons justement évoquer un drôle d’objet qui accepte d’autant plus volontiers de se mettre à nu qu’il sait que c’est sa principale qualité aux yeux de son enthousiaste et créative communauté.
and Alexandra is cited in a nice interview:
Nous vous suggérons également cette excellente interview de Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino, réalisée par Hubert Guillaud pour InternetActu, dont voici quelques larges extraits :
Depuis la révolution industrielle, on a beaucoup créé de dépendances aux produits déjà fabriqués, déjà organisés. Le mouvement DIY (Do It Yourself, Faites-le vous-mêmes) qui se développe depuis 2 ans, réunit une communauté qui ne veut plus accepter des produits tout finis, tout cuits. Cette nouvelle vague de hackers (bidouilleurs) essaye de regarder ce qu’il y a l’intérieur, alors que les conditions d’utilisation n’encouragent pas les gens à regarder ce qu’il y a l’intérieur de ce qu’ils achètent. (…) Le DIY devient un outil pour la microproduction, permettant à chacun de créer son propre business, de fabriquer 20 exemplaires et de voir ce qu’il se passe. Le DIY est finalement important pour sortir du carcan de la mégaproduction. Avant, il fallait un grand marché potentiel pour lancer un produit. Avec l’internet et des plateformes comme Arduino, chacun a accès à sa micro production.
Everything is happening right now. History of the present.
via [FramaBlog] and [internetactu]
June 9th, 2010 at 14:00:40
google did a good-enough job of translating that, so i think i know what you’re getting at 😉
hi, i’m new here. i used to design industrial electronics in a ‘former life’. back then for me happiness was making a 68HC11 leap through hoops ;). i stumbled across Arduino recently & been reminiscing a bit 🙂
i’m a little puzzled by this (not new) sentiment of “consume vs. create”, “open/tinkerable or closed/proprietary/locked”, & the underlying suggestion that closed/proprietary/locked is bad, or a person must be one or the other.
can’t i be both?!?
like it or not, when it comes to mainstream consumer electronics (and the Apple walled-garden vs. Adroid free-for-all is just one – currently high-profile – example of this), we live in a world where the vast majority of consumers don’t give a damn about these issues & polarities. they just want stuff that works. and the easier it is to use, the more people like it – just ask Apple. and it’s the job of ubergeeks to give it to them.
in order to give it to them en masse & affordably & profitably, you usually have to do so in a world where competition is fierce, both from your corporate rivals, and people like us who want to tear it apart and make it “better”, sometimes in a way that breaks the law, or breaks your agreement with upstream technology or content providers; in a world where some of your corporate competitors are not as constrained by respect for copyright or intellectual property (ie. the money you or your employer pour into a design & your wages) as the ‘western world’ is.
the iPad, as a product, is not intended for geeks. it’s intended for “dumb users”. for consumers, to consume. and, in time as the product develops perhaps for modest content creation, too. so be it! no one is forcing any geeks to go buy it!
none the less, the platform is there to be explaoited by geek developers – with RELATIVELY FEW RESTRICTIONS, selling to a freakin worldwide audience for the modest price of a translator!, where you get to keep 70% of gross revenue! um, has software distribution every been so easy?!? no.
if making your own stuff for your own use on an iPad is all you want to do, you can still do that. your own apps for your own use don’t need to be approved by Apple!
but if that’s still not your thing, fine, hack away on an Android phone/pad/whatever. you have the choice to target which ever you want! and so do consumers.
but please, don’t tell me that i need to be black or white, open or closed, consumer or creator. the world isn’t black or white, so why should the developer landscape?
ugh, i’m tired, & probably haven’t expressed this very well. apologies…
Anthony.
June 10th, 2010 at 22:51:49
Sounds clear to me Anthony 🙂