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I hate wires but I like ports

Friday, May 28, 2010 by Dave Winer.

My home computers have been on a diet lately.  

I've been retiring my hard drives, ones that are under 1TB in size, and replacing them with new 2TB drives. It's been more than 2-for-1, and the amount of desk-clutter has been dramatically reduced. I can now put my printer on the desk with the computers and disks, router and extra montor. And in the living room, there's room behind the TV for more hard drives should I ever want to add them, both on the power strip and on the USB hub. 

So when I read on Engadget that Apple is getting ready to ship a new Apple TV with no ports at all, I thought how horrible, unless -- perhaps they've looked at the wire-clutter issue and come up with a wireless way to connect desktop devices like hard disks, printers and external monitors. But I suspect that they haven't, and they believe that the "consumer" doesn't need any local storage.  

Reminds me of a story a Jamaican cab driver once told me as he was driving me from Montego Bay to Negril. This was a long time ago, when my Jamaican uncle was still alive and I was still a smoker. As we drove through a village, he pointed out the new cottages, and said they had been built by the Cubans. They have all the modern conveniences, running water, indoor plumbing, even electricity. But the people don't want to live in them because they don't have back doors.  

I asked why do they need a back door?  

He laughed and said, when the police come, it's nice to have a way out. 

I've said it before and it's worth saying again. Apple is building the Disney computer network. All the streets are clean, and the entertainment too. There's no porn here, and as long as there are no ports it'll stay that way. But computers are meant to be more than DisneyLand, they are meant to solve societal problems, and help our species evolve. That means that we must have freedom. And freedom and control are exact opposites. So I'd rather have wire-cluttered desktops and TV stations, than have Apple decide what I can and can't watch.