It seems these days that while more and more companies are releasing the APIs and SDK for their products, that a few companies are trying to hold on tighter and tigher. The iPod for example used to be open enough so you could use third-party software to access it, and even write your own. Now however, they have gone the way of the Zune and made it so only iTunes can access it, which effectively locks out Linux users who don't want to go through loop-holes. Also, with every iPhone firmware update, it un-unlocks the phone and removes any third party applications. I am curious why, take the iPhone for example, if anything more people would want to buy one if they can put custom applications on it, and make it more useful for their personal needs. Also, for the Zune and iPod, it would let your hardware reach a larger audience and sell more players. It all seems quite rediculous; many companies are making their profits on selling open devices for people to use as they wish.

    It's very sad that companies must restrict their users in this way, I always think, when I see a Zune, or other locked down piece of software how much better that software could be (*cough* Vista *cough*) if all that time and evergy spent on trying (and failing) to lock down the product was spent on improving it.

                                   Happy new year,

                             Ranok