Stephen Arnold makes some great observations on his blog frequently. Here he is trying to explain why Apple, Microsoft and Cisco have a hard time fathoming the “Open Approach” that pervades almost all Google undertakings:
The problem is perspective. Google is not in a fish bowl. Google owns a fish bowl. Getting creatures into the fish bowl is the name of the game. Once in the Google fish bowl, the inhabitants have a tough time figuring out life beyond the glass walls. I can’t see very well underwater, and the folks in the fish bowl can’t see very well either.
As a result, the Android is one way of putting inhabitants in the Google fish bowl. Open source is one method but not the only method. The objective is to become the owner not of a fish bowl but an aquarium, maybe dozens of aquaria. That’s the perspective. The Android is not an Apple play. It is operating at a much higher level of abstraction, which may be difficult for Google to achieve.
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