patronizing design

openphones.jpg

apple fans seem to enjoy design that limits choices, requires new skills and costs a lot. but my problem with apple isn’t just because they are unabashedly unfriendly to the environment. the most significant things you can do to reduce environmental impact are to allow for easy upgrades, repair and to encourage long product life and re-use. the latest products by apple not only have non-removable batteries, but their software and carrier are locked to discourage any creative re-adaptation by consumers down the road. fortunately nokia has picked up on this trend in a pseudo-democratizing public relations campaign, but it’s still unclear whether people want choices when they choose design.

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