Apple Slaps Developers In The Face • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple Slaps Developers In The Face

#131

Post by rimantas » Sat, Apr 10, 2010, 11:55 AM UTC

sunchild wrote: post #119

rortian wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably because that was the only thing possible at the time.

Not really. Native third party apps were originally a concession to demands from users/developers by all accounts I've heard. Regardless, the original strategy was to encourage web-based apps.

Well, you did not read a lot of accounts then. Unless you believe that it was possible to develop the SDK (and APIs and App Store) to the level it was released at in six months. Of course it was planned from the very start it was just a matter of resources and priorities. SDK was not ready by the time iPhone was launched, was it a good reason to delay the product? No.

Re: Apple Slaps Developers In The Face

#132

Post by rimantas » Sat, Apr 10, 2010, 12:04 PM UTC

bad_user wrote: post #94

rimantas wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That part was about allowing Mac clones and having too long line of the products. Exactly the things Jobs abolished.

No, that part was a strategy to save themselves that didn't work so well because it was too little, too late. Not to mention that they did made a nice profit from that scheme.

You should get your facts checked. How much did Performa help? If that was part of the strategy and you claim it was working, how come, that Jobs returns, does exactly the opposite—gets rid of the clones and drastically trims product line–and Apple starts climbing up again.

Re: Apple Slaps Developers In The Face

#133

Post by cubicle67 » Sat, Apr 10, 2010, 12:17 PM UTC

stcredzero wrote: post #104

Possible business opportunity: Objective-C to Java/Android cross-compiler?

There's a few things you can do in Obj-C that would be pretty hard to do in Java, but...

It's not the language, it's the framework. UIKit and friends really are very good; they're the secret sauce of the iPhone OS and I'm not sure Android has anything comparable.

Re: Apple Slaps Developers In The Face

#134

Post by cubicle67 » Sat, Apr 10, 2010, 12:24 PM UTC

philwelch wrote: post #41

bilbo0s wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly, they won't make the same mistake twice. History is foremost in everyone's mind right now.

Ironically, if Jobs wasn't pushed out in 1985, Apple would have gone bankrupt even faster. Jobs' perfectionism is an asset now that he's let it be ever-so-slightly compromised by market necessities, but the Mac wouldn't have been a viable platform into the 1990's if, as Steve continued to insist, they not include a hard drive or any fans. His same perfectionism over the NeXT cube (and over such details as which shade…

NeXT was the best thing to happen to Apple. The NeXT OS was miles ahead of anything else at the time, and it has been probably the thing that helped Apple survive. I'd go so far as to say if Jobs had of returned when he did, but Apple hadn't picked up NeXT OS, it wouldn't matter what Jobs did, Apple would be a shadow of what it is now.

Re: Apple Slaps Developers In The Face

#135

Post by cubicle67 » Sat, Apr 10, 2010, 12:25 PM UTC

ilike wrote: post #28

jluxenberg wrote: post #15

[Sentence regarding Apple's intentions redacted at request from Adobe] did anyone read this before the post was edited?

"What is clear is that Apple has timed this purposely to hurt sales of CS5" As many other commenters pointed out here, theflashblog.com is not an official Adobe blog.This is definitely not "Adobe's reaction" as the title suggests.

I get the impression he's paid to write things Adobe would like to say, but can't

Re: Apple Slaps Developers In The Face

#136

Post by thebigshane » Sat, Apr 10, 2010, 3:06 PM UTC

elpuri wrote: post #107

apike wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never experimented with that boundary. Publicly criticizing your employer is unwise and unprofessional no matter who you work for. I don't imagine there are many Fortune 500 companies where you would last very long doing that.

Yeah of course that's obvious, but is there or is there not a company rule that prohibits employees publicly commenting on company matters like the Adobe guy says? Edit: I just realized that you're not allowed to comment on it if there is one :)

Right, so blink once if there exists said rule, twice if not. No response and we'll assume the former. /s

Re: Apple Slaps Developers In The Face

#137

Post by iron_ball » Sat, Apr 10, 2010, 3:37 PM UTC

rbanffy wrote: post #80

rbanffy wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Any real developer would not in good conscience be able to support this. > I hate such broad-sweeping statements. I know no "real developer" who really likes Flash either, so, I find all this "oh no we want Flash" thing rather amusing.

What?! Do you really like ActionScript?

It's Javascript with optional classes, optional static typing, and a sane API. What's wrong with that?

Re: Apple Slaps Developers In The Face

#138

Post by Qz » Sat, Apr 10, 2010, 5:08 PM UTC

petsos wrote: post #129

Qz wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Flex SDK is free, you can develop and compile Flash apps and web apps without buying any of their software. And they don't require a $99 fee just to have the opportunity to sell your work, or take 30% of the cut.

And they also don't provide hosting, credit card transactions and millions of users that can buy your app with one click. I too don't like what Apple did, but you are comparing different things.

They don't provide that, but it's not like there aren't plenty of companies that will provide all of those things. The main factor here is that with Flex or (almost) any other platform, you have the choice of how you want to go about selling and distributing your work.

Re: Apple Slaps Developers In The Face

#139

Post by stcredzero » Sat, Apr 10, 2010, 5:09 PM UTC

cubicle67 wrote: post #133

stcredzero wrote: post #104

Possible business opportunity: Objective-C to Java/Android cross-compiler?

There's a few things you can do in Obj-C that would be pretty hard to do in Java, but... It's not the language, it's the framework. UIKit and friends really are very good; they're the secret sauce of the iPhone OS and I'm not sure Android has anything comparable.

That's actually good news. If iPhone SDK is a superset of Android capabilities and all of the glue/compatibility framework has to be on the Android side, then this further insulates users of the translation kit from punitive actions from Apple.

(The framework itself needs to be implemented carefully to avoid Apple's ire. Apple itself may want to implement it, as it would put their Obj-C toolset in the position as the original, and other platforms get the copy.)

Re: Apple Slaps Developers In The Face

#140

Post by stcredzero » Sat, Apr 10, 2010, 5:14 PM UTC

Raphael_Amiard wrote: post #84

0x44 wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People have invested time and money in this platform, and yet Apple decides to change the terms of the game and screw them over completely. Investing in a platform does not guarantee you'll profit from your investment, nor does it oblige the provider to continue providing you the means to recoup your investment.

The fact that they have the right to do it doesn't make it right. What in this sentence do you not understand ? Also, Apple relies on developers to make some of their profit. Even if it's a relatively small profit, screwing theirs openly doesn't look like a very clever business practice to me.

Is it "wrong" or is it just obnoxious and bad business?

Did Apple make some sort of promise not to pull this sort of nonsense? Such promises do exist, BTW. They are called Open Source licenses. (Not an Open Source zealot by any means!)

Lesson learned, time to move on. Make a note that Apple is capable of this. Protect yourself with platform diversification or with platform on a FOSS license. Move on and make something of value.