In terms of Apple, I consider it a bad thing, full stop. Although that doesn't mean there are some benefits to it, but overall, awful. Real walled gardens are a totally cool option. I vastly prefer natural forests and meadows, but I'm cool with people having what they want. Because they have a choice. I can't have Apple software anywhere but their walled garden, which sucks.
I'll take the wild, chaotic natural environment over a walled garden any day of the week. So much more interesting, even though there is danger.
This one is confusing. Walled Gardens have certain negative traits. At the same time, it’s difficult to say Apple doesn’t have the right to run their ecosystem they way they have currently designed it.
I’m a sample size of one but I suspect that most folks don’t see many negatives to the walled garden. I don’t want to hack about on my phone. I don’t need root nor do I want to worry about security on my phone. I don’t think Apple is perfect or impervious to attack vectors but for me. I actively prefer the walled garden. It’s mostly something I don’t have to worry about.
Once I change to a laptop then I’ll shoulder the additional risk and work to have a more open platform.
The issue is the monopolistic price gouging Apple charges for access to the walled garden.
If you took the "policing for developer's short circuiting the 30% cut" out of Apple's approval process, everything in their ecosystem works out fairly nicely.
The core issue is, simply, that Apple price gouges enormously.
The Apple walled garden is way more dangerous, because it's almost as easy to slip malware into your code (remember, Apple doesn't do full source code audits), and the false sense of security makes users even more complacent. It really is a perfect example of security theatre.
Disclosure: Heavy invested Apple user. A walled garden can indeed be a good thing, as long as it is tendered properly. Do we want the gardener always deciding which plants etc are allowed in? I'm in favour of curated experiences and strong security, but Apple has gone too far. 'Our' garden now has no gates and barbed wire on the walls :(
The ideal walled garden would be one that blocks spammy apps and malware - but not information. I think it's reasonable to support walled gardens in principle but be critical of some aspects of the Apple implementation.
As much as I dislike Apple's walled garden, many of these features do seem to be here for the user's benefit. There is market value in a walled garden if it truly offers users something that's riskier on the outside, like payments, ads, and privacy controls.
I'm not sure why you were downvoted. This is legitimate reasoning and you are contributing to the conversation in a civilized manner.
There are absolutely tradeoffs of buying into a walled garden. I personally have mixed feelings. An open ecosystem sounds nice in ways. For example, on my mac, I would be very frustrated if I were locked into only being able to buy software from Apple's App Store. It would be a deal-breaker. However, I've never really found myself frustrated with the iPhone app ecosystem. However, I've definitely been saved hours and hours of family IT support by family members being on iOS.
I think HN and similar value free (as in freedom) and openness of a system a lot more. So "walled garden" is a bit of a buzzword against those ideals.
> bespoke curation...purposefully tended and safe
These ideas are antithetical to what many on HN seem to want. I personally love Apple products, but walled gardens are great when you don't bump into the walls all the time, which a lot of other people seem to do.
In these cases (wall bumping) I think it's reasonable to want alternatives. But there are fanatics and anti-fanatics that I think skew any discussion about Apple.
If you want control over your own vision, you don't build for Apple iThings. You build for open platforms. Walled gardens are not for people with a vision that conflicts with the walled garden owner's.
Apple? Fuck them. Their "Eden" is a place without knowledge of sex, without knowledge of freedom, etc. And if you eat the forbidden fruit (jailbreak your device), then beware the consequences.
I'll take the wild, chaotic natural environment over a walled garden any day of the week. So much more interesting, even though there is danger.
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