Thread by @TimSweeneyEpic

Presumably they're just posturing for the court, but if Apple truly believes the fight over the App Store's distribution and payment monopoly is a "basic disagreement over money," then they've lost all sight of the tech industry's founding principles.

engadget.com/apple-epic-gam…

Foremost among those principles: the device you own is yours. You're free to use it as you wish. Configure it as you like, install software you choose, create your own apps, share them with friends. Your device isn't lorded over by some all-powerful corporation.

This is EXACTLY what Apple's 1984 commercial was all about. Making computing personal, overcoming the awful precedent of IBM mainframes where computer owners were reduced to essentially just leasing devices controlled by an all-powerful company.

And it's exactly what Nineteen Eighty-Fortnite is about. A new all-powerful corporation dictating the terms of users' access to their devices, forcing their way in as an intermediary between creators and users, and using that position to exert control and extract money.

And finally, creators have rights. The right to build apps, share them with users directly, and do business directly, without being herded through a single centrally planned, anti-competitive store.

The rights of users and creators are the FOUNDATION of this dispute. Money is several layers removed, as the medium of exchange between users who choose to buy digital items, and the creators who made them. Epic isn't even seeking monetary damages. We are fighting for change!