Inconsistency Rules, Deal with It

By Jake • September 27th, 2011 • 4 Comments

You’ve probably heard by now that Apple is having a big “Let’s Talk iPhone” press shindig on October 4. Rumors continue to swirl, people are excited especially those iPhone 3GS owners who are out of contract and ready to upgrade.

One of my Twitter pals, John DeRosa (@johnderosa), whom I’ve actually had the pleasure of meeting IRL is among those excited.

I met John through a side project, Open Source Bridge (@osbridge),  a few years ago. John is big open source proponent and advocate and all-around nice guy. So, I was a bit surprised to find he was an equally huge iPhone and it turns out, Apple guy.

When I asked for clarification, he responded thusly:

Excellent rejoinder and completely true. Turns out I feel the same way, as do many, many other developers, including a lot of open source advocates. I can recall at least one conversation with a prominent open source voice about the merits of the iPhone. This person said something to the effect of “I should buy an Android phone, but if it’s my own money, I want an iPhone.”

Keep in mind I’m in this camp too.

Nothing to be ashamed of really, but it’s ironic at first blush, a topic I’ve mused on previously.

When you think about this perceived inconsistency, it makes perfect sense. If you use a tool for a living, you want the best. If you’re a contractor, you have the best tools you can afford because that’s how you make money. Same deal with any number of professions.

Right now, and for several years, Macs represent the best tools for the job if you’re a developer.

Even if you love open source.

For some open source developers it could be an Old Spice problem, i.e. the OS your OS could be like. That’s good in a way, since many of the niceties of OS X should trickle into other software.

Anyway, until open source OS catch up to OS X (or OS X slides inexorably into the iOS chasm), there’s little competition, and yes, I’m including Windows 8. Let’s be honest, if Win 8 made coffee, magically debugged your code and had a working Tab key, many of us still wouldn’t use it just because of old school grudges. Just saying.

Find the comments.


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  • http://empoprise-bi.blogspot.com/ John E. Bredehoft (Empoprises)

    I don’t know a lot about the psychology of purchasing decisions, but I know enough to know that purchasing decisions are often based upon emotion, not logic. If purchasing decisions were based upon logic, then car commercials would have more technical information than a 1974 personal computer data sheet.

    This is an interesting story (if you pass over the sales-speak such as “I had developed a deep emotional Relationship of Mutual Trust and Respect with each of them”).

  • http://blogs.oracle.com/userassistance/ uvox

    You’re being way too hard on yourself. Intelligent context rules over consistency, so sez 37 Signals’ Getting Real.

  • http://theappslab.com Jake

    It’s not just consistency though for open source advocates. It’s near religion, and Apple runs afoul of a lot of what open source preaches. Feels a bit icky sometimes I suppose.

  • http://theappslab.com Jake

    Sure, I get that, and I reference the hatred of Microsoft as a lingering factor that keeps developers on Macs, even as they build open source. 

    Smartphones are a different animal, which is where my surprise arose. Different scenario entirely that I guess boils down to affinity for Mac (and Apple’s design chops) translated to phones.