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My Turn is Low End Mac's column for reader-submitted
articles. It's your turn to share your thoughts on all things
Mac (or iPhone, iPod, etc.) and write for the Mac web. Email your
submission to Dan Knight
.
Here's to hoping that Apple won't follow Polaroid.
As we know, Apple is fiercely protective of it's operating system
and the hardware it runs on. They won't even license out production
of their own hardware designs as they once did.
At times that has cost the company dearly, in particular handing
Brazil to the PC clones on a silver platter when they became obsessed
with crushing Unitron instead
of
using them as a "back door" behind the country's protectionist import
ban on computers (which ended in 1992).
As for Polaroid, they've filed for bankruptcy (or, as their
website says, "financial restructuring"). Polaroid was always
fiercely protective of their innovation of instant photography - so
protective that they never allowed anyone else to produce cameras
compatible with their film or film compatible with their cameras.
They also sued anyone (Kodak especially) whenever they produced
instant cameras. For some insane reason, they always won even though
the basic patents on instant photography processes had long
expired.
Now Polaroid's protectionist tactics have come home to roost. With
their focus on a "Mine! All mine!" strategy, they artificially
limited their user base and were late to the digital photography
revolution.
My prediction is that except for a small number of professionals,
hobbyists, and cheap single use cameras, film photography will be
dead within five years.
Of course, a computer and operating system are more versatile than
a camera and film, but Polaroid has been around far longer than Apple
Computer. There's still plenty of time for a revolution not created
by Apple to sneak up on them while they are tightly focused on
keeping all their horses in the Apple Corral.
The preceding has been a plea for porting OS X to the PC
platform.
Share your perspective on the Mac by emailing with "My Turn" as your subject.
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of
using them as a "back door" behind the country's protectionist import
ban on computers (which ended in 1992).
