Monday, September 6, 2010

Free Stuff is Good!!

A lot of time was spent in class a few days ago about the recent legalization of "jailbreaking" iPhones and iTouches. To further understand this topic, visit http://www.appleiphonereview.com/iphone-tutorials/iphone-jailbreak/. When I first got my iTouch, I did not want to jailbreak it because I was afraid of the possible consequences: draining the battery, slowing it down, making glitches irreversible, and ultimately destroying it. Why risk losing $300 dollars worth of merchandise for a few new features? I soon realized all of the benefits, however: customizable backgrounds and themes, multi-tasking apps, and even getting paid apps for free. This had me thinking: would I rather leave my choices up to somebody else (who may choose the "better" options), or do I want to have an input?

Compare industries that are government controlled versus ones that are not: Industries that are not restricted by the government are often better off. For example, the sports industry racks in millions and billions of dollars in revenue each year. In fact, the average value of an NFL team for one single season is an estimated $1 Billion. More stats like this can be found here: http://www.plunkettresearch.com/Industries/Sports/SportsStatistics/tabid/273/Default.aspx
The reason that these industries do well is because the government does not regulate things like how many players are on a team, who can play, what team a player is on, and who can go to the games. Without these regulations, systems work better. The sports industry is worth billions of dollars! Who else can say that they earn $100K a day for playing a sport they genuinely love?
On the other hand, the goal of government regulation is to protect the public against bad choices of private parties. The problem is, often times these goals are changed or not reached. In the case of the BP oil spill, "Agencies tasked with protecting the public interest come to identify with the regulated industry and protect its interests against that of the public." more from this article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704575304575296873167457684.html
There are plenty of government regulated industries that thrive, it's just that ones without regulation are more often than not more successful.


Apple limits personalization of iPhones, as well as the programs that they run on. While apple may have figured out what is easiest or what "works best" for most users, there should be an option to customize/personalize your phone.

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