Tim Bray has been hired by Google as a “Developer Advocate.” On his personal blog, he describes what this means and why he is excited to have the job. It’s a good read, and definitely recommended. In particular, his take on the iPhone is dead-on: it’s not good for developers, definitely not good for the Web, and not even good for consumers, in the long run. Here is his explanation (excerpted from his blog post) of why the Android is better than the iPhone:
The iPhone vision of the mobile Internet’s future omits controversy, sex, and freedom, but includes strict limits on who can know what and who can say what. It’s a sterile Disney-fied walled garden surrounded by sharp-toothed lawyers. The people who create the apps serve at the landlord’s pleasure and fear his anger.
I hate it.
I hate it even though the iPhone hardware and software are great, because freedom’s not just another word for anything, nor is it an optional ingredient.
The big thing about the Web isn’t the technology, it’s that it’s the first-ever platform without a vendor (credit for first pointing this out goes to Dave Winer). From that follows almost everything that matters, and it matters a lot now, to a huge number of people. It’s the only kind of platform I want to help build.
Apple apparently thinks you can have the benefits of the Internet while at the same time controlling what programs can be run and what parts of the stack can be accessed and what developers can say to each other.
I think they’re wrong and see this job as a chance to help prove it.
Amen, Brother Bray. Google may or may not be able to keep evil out completely, but they’ve obviously made a good hire. Go get ’em.
