I have to admit I am biased against Apple. Its partly because of what Apple has done. Its also because of what people say about Apple. You, like many others have compared Apple to Ford. At least you got the fact right that Ford invented the assembly line and not the automobile. You also list a group of industries that apple re-invented. I think you, like many, give way to much credit to Apple. Apple hasn't actually invented anything in a long time. Comparing them to Ford is really insulting to people like Ford.
Computing: What exactly has Apple done to reinvent computing? Their computing business is the smallest part of their company. Sure, they sell the best selling high end computers. In units sold they aren't even in the top 5 and haven't been in over a decade.
Music: The company that reinvented online music was Napster. Sure, they weren't legal. But they changed the industry. After that it was just a matter of time until the music industry had to go after online sales. Is it any surprise that they picked one of their own, Steve Jobs? He was the only person who owned a media company who also wanted to sell music online. There were plenty of other companies trying to get into the same space who were simply turned away. They didn't even invent the mp3 player or the iPod interface that was so "revolutionary". They stole it. See Creative vs Apple.
Mobile phones. I really don't see a big impact here. They were the first to market with a multi touch phone. There are tons of other makers out there doing the same thing. Aside from the brand, Apple really has nothing to write home about in this market.
Tablets: This area I would say is up in the air. There are so many lawsuits over this area its hard to know what the heck is going on. However, considering the fact that "pads" have been featured in many sci-fi movies for the last 30 years, its not exactly a new concept. Apple can't even really claim to be the first in tablets as people have been making them for a long time.
What I do give Steve Jobs and Apple credit for is refining existing technology and making it appealing to the masses. And I would have a lot less problem with people writing about Apple if they stuck to that attribute.
Hal Abelson who recently gave a talk at RIT had some interesting data on journal publishing. Apparently only 4 major publishers remain and since they have eaten up all the competition, prices that universities pay for access has gone up 300%. While I applaud the likes of MIT, Harvard and now Princeton, the problem remains. For most universities, publishing is the measure by which faculty get tenure. Add to this the growing number of universities that are trying to monetize research, and its an uphill battle.
One thing that we can do is pressure the government to specify a CC license for all papers written on research that they fund. It only makes sense that research funded with public money be open to the public. It would also be nice for a university to create an open access database of research already in the public domain instead of relying on the jackals to provide it.
I have to admit I am biased against Apple. Its partly because of what Apple has done. Its also because of what people say about Apple. You, like many others have compared Apple to Ford. At least you got the fact right that Ford invented the assembly line and not the automobile. You also list a group of industries that apple re-invented. I think you, like many, give way to much credit to Apple. Apple hasn't actually invented anything in a long time. Comparing them to Ford is really insulting to people like Ford.
Computing: What exactly has Apple done to reinvent computing? Their computing business is the smallest part of their company. Sure, they sell the best selling high end computers. In units sold they aren't even in the top 5 and haven't been in over a decade.
Music: The company that reinvented online music was Napster. Sure, they weren't legal. But they changed the industry. After that it was just a matter of time until the music industry had to go after online sales. Is it any surprise that they picked one of their own, Steve Jobs? He was the only person who owned a media company who also wanted to sell music online. There were plenty of other companies trying to get into the same space who were simply turned away. They didn't even invent the mp3 player or the iPod interface that was so "revolutionary". They stole it. See Creative vs Apple.
Mobile phones. I really don't see a big impact here. They were the first to market with a multi touch phone. There are tons of other makers out there doing the same thing. Aside from the brand, Apple really has nothing to write home about in this market.
Tablets: This area I would say is up in the air. There are so many lawsuits over this area its hard to know what the heck is going on. However, considering the fact that "pads" have been featured in many sci-fi movies for the last 30 years, its not exactly a new concept. Apple can't even really claim to be the first in tablets as people have been making them for a long time.
What I do give Steve Jobs and Apple credit for is refining existing technology and making it appealing to the masses. And I would have a lot less problem with people writing about Apple if they stuck to that attribute.