Apple has become the prime example of closed computing.  It has its benefits: the iPhone is painfully easy to use, has very few viruses, and works pretty much all the time (except when AT&#38;T drops, but that's a separate worry).<p>Google is trying to take the opposite pole: you can do pretty much anything on an Android phone, but that includes buggy software with bad UI design.<p>There will always be both positions.  Both have benefits to different people.  To a HackerNews audience, the open system will almost always seem better -- HackerNews types enjoy tinkering and will tend to be advanced users.  But not everyone shares the HN love of tinkering.