>You could argue that they are nibbling around the edges, and "most stuff you want" is in the App Store. But I still see it as a huge amount of control.

Apple has control, sure, like Microsoft did in the '90s. More, really, because it was harder for Microsoft to lock competing application developers out than it is for apple. And yeah, the perception I had was that Microsoft was all about control... but it was about control over your desktop, like Apple has over your phone, not about control over personal data that it can use to better sell stuff. Microsoft used that control to make programs that you didn't pay them for work less well (and Apple does the same) - You can make a good argument that it's a bad and maybe even scary thing, but it's straightforward and very different from someone who wants control in exchange for your personal data.

I would very much compare apple to microsoft in the '90s, only with less market share (and I think it's really interesting that Apple asserts control in ways that Microsoft would have loved to in the '90s, and Apple does it without anything close to a monopoly)

>They also seem to auto-complete what's typed into the Safari address bar, which heavily influences the sites you visit. And they choose the default search provider. Defaults matter.

This is an example of how that sort of power could get scary, and raising concerns about this makes a lot of sense.

But that really has nothing to do with my point.

But my point was just that apple presents a counterargument to this idea that information will be the new oil. The Apple counterargument is that it's possible that collecting a bunch of data on users in order to sell advertising is... less valuable than we think. Less valuable than simply charging people for premium (both in quality and margin) goods and services. I mean, sure, personal data for targeted advertising is clearly worth something - but right now, we seem to think that it's worth more than the rest of the advertising-supported media industry put together, and... it's possible that we are wrong, and that using user data to sell advertising just isn't as huge of a deal as we think it is. Maybe instead of the new oil, that sort of information is the new, say, wood pulp. That sounds a lot more reasonable to me.

The idea is that Apple, like Microsoft in the '90s, sure, could use their power over your desktop for evil... but gaining power over your desktop isn't why they write programs. Companies that release free softare in exchange for user tracking have a very different model; their goal is to collect user data, in part because they really do think that 'information is the new oil' - which, like, I said, may very well turn out to be the case, but is not a settled thing yet, not by a long shot.

For you to understand my point, you also need to understand that I was also assuming that by "information" you meant "personal data" in the sense of personal data that is used to convince advertisers that they should pay more for ads because they are better targeted - which may or may not be what you meant, but it was what I was responding to. If you meant something different by 'information' of course, none of what I wrote makes any sense.