Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

"Android Tools Are Horrendous, OS Is Hideous," FB iPhone Dev Joe Hewitt Tweets

finance.yahoo.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 57 posts

Re: "Android Tools Are Horrendous, OS Is Hideous," FB iPhone Dev Joe Hewitt Tweets

#21

Post by m0nastic »

cma wrote: post #14
gte910h wrote: post #2

Agreed. (I run a product development shop mostly working on mobile projects these days). As a former embedded Linux developer, I really really want android to knock the socks off of the world. But its not. Problems: Its carrier based OS update model causes hideous OS Version fragmentation. Eclipse is so painful to use many people just avoid it and use the command line tools. You have to write Java. There are a dozen…

Android allows you to install apps from any source; people in other countries can sell apps through other channels. Can't do that on the iPhone.

Just wanted to point out that while "Android" does in fact let you install apps from any source, many Android phones (for example virtually all of the ones offered by ATT) do not actually allow installing non-market apps. And as this is something that any carrier or vendor can implement, I wouldn't be surprised to see more of it in the future. (Much like how even though 2.2 supports tethering, so far handset manufacturers/carriers have been disabling that support on their 2.2 rollouts)

People always seem to ignore this.

Re: "Android Tools Are Horrendous, OS Is Hideous," FB iPhone Dev Joe Hewitt Tweets

#22

Post by carlrice »

JunkDNA wrote: post #3

I seem to read really mixed reports about the Android fragmentation problem. For every report like Joe's, I see others that say developing for Android is fine. I can't get a good read on where the actual truth is. I work in a group that does research on mobile healthcare applications. We're not a software company, so we can't afford to have a whole pile of devices here for testing. With the iOS platform, at least I c…

In 2.2 and higher there is an integrated crash reporter into the system. For 2.1 and lower I have a crude catch all error handler that sends the cause of the crash, app and os versions, handset model and carrier, etc. Using this method, some custom ROMs and two phones I can fix roughly 95% of the errors without actually having the device or user with me to debug.

Re: "Android Tools Are Horrendous, OS Is Hideous," FB iPhone Dev Joe Hewitt Tweets

#23

Post by danilocampos »

cma wrote: post #14
gte910h wrote: post #2

Agreed. (I run a product development shop mostly working on mobile projects these days). As a former embedded Linux developer, I really really want android to knock the socks off of the world. But its not. Problems: Its carrier based OS update model causes hideous OS Version fragmentation. Eclipse is so painful to use many people just avoid it and use the command line tools. You have to write Java. There are a dozen…

Android allows you to install apps from any source; people in other countries can sell apps through other channels. Can't do that on the iPhone.

That's true.

But it doesn't matter. It's a bit like opening a make-your-own-pizza Pizza Parlor and thinking that point of differentiation matters against the power of say, Papa John's. Yeah, maybe Papa John's doesn't cater to a niche of pizza enthusiasts who really want direct control of the mundane elements of configuring and baking the pizza. Maybe they're leaving a bit of money on the table there.

Doesn't matter. They know the majority of the market wants pizza twenty minutes ago, they want it delivered to wherever they are, and they don't want to give it anymore thought than that. No problem -- Papa John's builds an infrastructure that can address this problem well, and screw the artisans. So they'll battle it out with Domino's and Pizza Hut and make a good chunk of money.

Apple has a funnel that is greased like a pig. They don't care that a few nerds can't sideload their dingus through an alternative whatsit. Most people are being served through their absurdly convenient ecosystem.

Consumer: Solid core of a few thousand truly excellent apps, plus decent games > Reasonable discovery experience > Convenient payment with existing account.

Developer: Write for (mostly) one device configuration > Get into a crowded store filled with a bunch of people who can buy in seconds without touching their credit card.

It's easy. Android does. not. have. this. And until it does, very few incentives will exist to create outstanding Android applications. As usual, Google has gone off half-cocked without making sure their product does what it should. They need to fix this, or we're all stuck with only one decent mass market for mobile apps, controlled by Apple.

Someone needs to step up and actually compete with Apple on the things that matter, otherwise the standard never moves forward for devs or users, and that sucks.

Re: "Android Tools Are Horrendous, OS Is Hideous," FB iPhone Dev Joe Hewitt Tweets

#24

Post by timcederman »

ergo98 wrote: post #12

Reading his comments, he sounds like many developers when faced with tools they aren't accustomed to using languages they aren't competent at: Instead of acknowledging confusion and ignorance (in the polite way of saying it), turn it into criticisms of the externals. Look at virtually everyone new to JavaScript and web development as a great example of this. Even brilliant minds, when first introduced to the surprisi…

I actually found reading through his tweets that a lot were valid criticisms. I'm disappointed that there is such a "fanboy" divide on Apple vs Android. Why can't we acknowledge there are pros and cons of both and accept that different things bother people differently?

Re: "Android Tools Are Horrendous, OS Is Hideous," FB iPhone Dev Joe Hewitt Tweets

#25

Post by m0nastic »

To be fair to Joe, while in the middle of presumably working on an Android application, he has been posting tweets about his frustrations with that process.

This isn't quite the same thing as a blog post or article lambasting the Android platform. I wouldn't read too much into this.

Re: "Android Tools Are Horrendous, OS Is Hideous," FB iPhone Dev Joe Hewitt Tweets

#26

Post by quux »

ergo98 wrote: post #12

Reading his comments, he sounds like many developers when faced with tools they aren't accustomed to using languages they aren't competent at: Instead of acknowledging confusion and ignorance (in the polite way of saying it), turn it into criticisms of the externals. Look at virtually everyone new to JavaScript and web development as a great example of this. Even brilliant minds, when first introduced to the surprisi…

I've been writing code on android for almost a year now have even made modifications to some of the tools and android itself to meet our needs, and I totally agree with all of his complaints.

Re: "Android Tools Are Horrendous, OS Is Hideous," FB iPhone Dev Joe Hewitt Tweets

#27

Post by maukdaddy »

timcederman wrote: post #24
ergo98 wrote: post #12

Reading his comments, he sounds like many developers when faced with tools they aren't accustomed to using languages they aren't competent at: Instead of acknowledging confusion and ignorance (in the polite way of saying it), turn it into criticisms of the externals. Look at virtually everyone new to JavaScript and web development as a great example of this. Even brilliant minds, when first introduced to the surprisi…

I actually found reading through his tweets that a lot were valid criticisms. I'm disappointed that there is such a "fanboy" divide on Apple vs Android. Why can't we acknowledge there are pros and cons of both and accept that different things bother people differently?

Are you new to the Internet?

Re: "Android Tools Are Horrendous, OS Is Hideous," FB iPhone Dev Joe Hewitt Tweets

#29

Post by ergo98 »

timcederman wrote: post #24
ergo98 wrote: post #12

Reading his comments, he sounds like many developers when faced with tools they aren't accustomed to using languages they aren't competent at: Instead of acknowledging confusion and ignorance (in the polite way of saying it), turn it into criticisms of the externals. Look at virtually everyone new to JavaScript and web development as a great example of this. Even brilliant minds, when first introduced to the surprisi…

I actually found reading through his tweets that a lot were valid criticisms. I'm disappointed that there is such a "fanboy" divide on Apple vs Android. Why can't we acknowledge there are pros and cons of both and accept that different things bother people differently?

There are absolutely pros and cons of both. There is no question about it. However Joe is being used as a pawn with people quoting over his over-the-top hyperbole like "Android tools are horrendous, OS is hideous". That isn't a "pro and con" point.

I somewhat sense that Joe is perhaps still fighting his evangelical battle about the Apple thing (note that I'm not taking his Tweets as ultra serious, and I picture some jocular hyperbole, even if some net reporter takes it as statements of concrete truth), and it's like Android is his abused rebound mate, used as a prop to try to strike back. Like he's trying to aggrandize how extraordinary his suffering is to announce the depth of his principle.

Post reply on HN