Of course we all know about hacking / jail-braking the iPhone just so it would do what the hardware enables us to do. Best example of software restriction was the fact that one was not able to record video in the iPhone 2.0: why would Apple even think to restrict something like that? Of course iPhone apps were developed to enable video recording (that is, on hacked iPhones). Technology advanced consumers know what products are capable of doing and if the manufacturer is not going to fix it, then it will be fixed by somebody else. This striving for enabling what is seen as a limitation will bring a revolution to hardware and software houses building commodity products. It is a simple fact that large groups of people are inherently smarter than an elite few! If it can be enabled… it will!

Best latest example in this category is from a unsuspected corner: the Canon 5D Mark II dSLR camera with video capturing capabilities.

Apparently Canon did not enable or include all the video editing capabilities this great camera is capable doing. So, now there is an open platform called “Magic Lantern” just doing what Canon did not deliver in the current software release… making a great video camera out of the 5D mark II. Check out their to-do list. Is this worrying? Maybe it is if you are in the business of selling video cameras like Canon is but at the other hand this might be the best opportunity for Canon to get more high end cameras sold and with that… high end (expensive!) lenses and that must be good news for Canon!