eWEEKChat Aug. 14 Features Pros, Cons of Android and iOS

Join us for eWEEKnews' eighth eWEEKchat event. eWEEK also has launched a new dedicated page for this and subsequent chat sessions.

On Wednesday, Aug. 14 at 11 a.m. PT/2 p.m. ET/7 p.m. GMT, @eWEEKnews will host its eighth Tweetchat event. The topic will be "Android vs. iOS: Pros and Cons of the Leading Mobile Systems." It will be moderated by yours truly, who serves as eWEEK's editor of features and analysis.

eWEEK has launched a new dedicated page for this and subsequent chat sessions. We will keep it updated ahead of the next eWEEKchat as far in advance as possible. You can book mark it here.

Some quick facts:

Topic: "Android vs. iOS: Pros and Cons of the Leading Mobile Systems"
Date/time: Aug. 14, 2013 @11a.m. PT/2 p.m. ET/7 p.m. GMT
Hosted by:@eWeekNews
Moderator: Chris Preimesberger: @editingwhiz
Tweetchat handle: Use #eWeekChat to follow/participate in the chat
Chatroom links:http://www.tchat.io/rooms/eweekchat and Tweetchat.com (Note: Tweetchat is back up and under new ownership.)

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It's an old IT story that's still current: proprietary operating system versus open-source/open-community development. The repercussions from these two points of view reach in every direction: to the enterprise, to security, to ease of use, to cost efficiencies, to the cultures of users themselves.

Is the buy-in and many restrictions in a closed system such as Apple's worth it? For the buyers of 31 million iPhones in the most recent fiscal quarter, the answer is an unequivocal "yes." This approach to quality control has been the prime reason Apple is one of history's most successful companies—nobody questions that.

But does having a completely controlled development community stifle true innovation? We are often told that innovation happens elsewhere, and that we always need to be on the lookout for it. Open-source/open-community IT development literally has happened around the world and is what has brought us Linux, Apache, TCP/IP and hundreds of other projects that form the backbone of the Internet—Ground Zero for all IT.

Arguably, information would not be traveling as fast or as far, and the world as we know it would not be the same, without open-source software. Google's Android is the latest and most impactful of current open-source software, but both Android and iOS would be useless without the open-source foundation under them.

And what about other systems, such as BlackBerry OS, Windows, Symbian OS and others? Hopefully, we'll talk about what those bring to the table that the Big Two do not.

We'd like to hear from iOS, Android, BlackBerry and Windows phone users, mobile software developers, enterprise mobile IT administrators—with pro and con viewpoints—in this eWEEKchat. Let your friends know about this valuable discussion.

For a bit of background, here's how a Tweetchat works:

Who:  All those interested in the topic who also have a Twitter ID.

What: A Tweetchat is an online conversation held at a prearranged time following a specific hashtag. In eWEEK's case, we will be using #eWeekChat for all or most of our Tweetchats. 

Chatroom links: http://www.tchat.io/rooms/eweekchat and Tweetchat.com (Note: Tweetchat is back up and under new ownership.)

When: Wednesday, Aug. 14 at 11 a.m. Pacific Time/2 p.m. ET/7 p.m. GMT.

Where: The chat can be followed on Twitter using the hashtag #eWeekChat. A link to the recap (so you can see a record of what everybody tweeted) will be posted on this blog the following Friday, Aug. 16.

Why: The whole idea is to facilitate additional industry dialogue and provide a forum for questions, idea sharing and problem solving. We also want your input on what you'd like to discuss during future chats, so please leave a comment on this post or tweet @eweeknews with topic ideas.

Participants will be able to ask questions of eWEEK staff members and special guests or simply add their thoughts to the conversation. The only restrictions are that we stay on topic and that you say what you need to say succinctly (140 characters).

You may not have participated in a Tweetchat previously. They generally move pretty fast, but you can learn a lot. We'll also post a record of all the comments so that you can refer to it afterward. Here's the Storify page containing all of our previous eWEEKChat compilations.

Please note that to maintain a semblance of order, please prefix your question or comment with the number of the question we are currently discussing. As an example, the moderator may post: "Q1: What would it take to change you from an iPhone to a Samsung S 4 user, or from an S 4 to an iPhone?"

To which you might answer: "A1: Nothing could sway me; I have a BlackBerry Q10." Or you might not answer that way.

The Tweetchat.com platform cannot be used; it was sold by Twitter in June and taken out of commission by the new owners, who say they plan to upgrade it and will take as much time as necessary to do it.  This is why we're using the tchat.io site, which seems to work fine.

A Tweetchat is a venue that is easy to use on any type of device, too. By the way, did you know that eWEEK is the only mainstream IT trade publication that has specific apps for Android and iOS devices?

Hope to connect with you Aug. 14, and use your collaboration network to tell your friends. Let's have fun with this.