January 10th, 2007
Should open source miss Apple Computer Inc.?
One of the quieter announcement of this week was Apple's decision to drop the word Computer from its corporate name. (That's the new AppleTV at right.)
Should we care? Here is why, perhaps, we should.
The name change is emblematic of a larger trend that has defined this decade, the replacement of network centrality with gadget centrality. As progress in network speeds slowed client devices had to get smarter.
Given the lead open source was gaining in network devices, and the fact ad budgets will always be higher in the proprietary world, the media has embraced the gadget era with abandon. Comdex is dead, long live CES.
And now, despite the open source heritage of Mac OS X, and despite its continuing (albeit small) gains in PC market share, Apple has taken the word Computer from its name.
You got a problem with that?
Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist for 30 years, a tech freelancer since 1983. You can follow Dana on Twitter. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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