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Cider Project: Run iOS apps on Android

engineering.columbia.edu

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Re: Cider Project: Run iOS apps on Android

#31

Post by SomeCallMeTim »

fidotron wrote: post #11

“Users no longer need to be locked into one platform. Being able to write an app once and run it anywhere has been a long-sought-after goal and a very hard problem to solve.” This is naive, stupid, or both. There never was a technical cause of lock in (as indeed the Apportable people are not alone in demonstrating), it's purely an artificial business construct with the surmountable technical hurdles being very conven…

I actually thought it odd that they would cite iTunes as a feature that Android users would want.

iTunes on Windows is one of the worst pieces of software by a major company...ever. If I want to buy music or video I can do it through Amazon, and I have vastly more trust for Amazon's pricing structures. (Remember the anti-trust suit that Apple lost? The one that found them guilty of artificially keeping eBook prices high? And now we have Amazon fighting with another publisher to get them to agree to lower eBook prices...)

Re: Cider Project: Run iOS apps on Android

#33

Post by peapicker »

nokiaman wrote: post #14
zbowling wrote: post #8

> "a new system that can run iOS apps on an Android device for the first time" We at Apportable (YC W2011) have been doing that for 3 + years in a much for commercially viable way. We strive for source compatibility and are not building an emulator that requires taking libraries from an iOS device.

Your way requires the developer to use Apportable to port an iOS app to Android. If the developer has agreed with Apple to not port the app to Android, it will never be available. Their way gives the power to the user. The user copies across iOS app binary and system libraries and it's done. Basically, your way empowers the developer, their way empowers the user. You need to be commercially viable because your invest…

"The user copies across iOS app binary and system libraries and it's done."

So, the user gets to violate the Apple copyrights. sigh

Re: Cider Project: Run iOS apps on Android

#34

Post by CalRobert »

piyush_soni wrote: post #32

there are all kinds of cool iOS apps that they cannot run, like iTunes and iMessage Really? iTunes is cool? I'm yet to see someone who likes it, including my friends who are big time iOS fans.

Yeah, there are some great iOS only apps but those certainly aren't on the list.

Re: Cider Project: Run iOS apps on Android

#35

Post by CalRobert »

nokiaman wrote: post #16
pavlov wrote: post #5

... we reused existing iOS frameworks and libraries in our approach, avoiding the difficult and complex reimplementation effort of Wine. Cool, but it's against Apple's EULA to run the iOS binaries on non-Apple hardware, so unfortunately this project suffers from the same problem as emulators that require you to acquire the original firmware somehow.

> but it's against Apple's EULA This is Hacker News, right?

Perhaps it's actually "Hacker" News.

Re: Cider Project: Run iOS apps on Android

#36

Post by CalRobert »

henderson101 wrote: post #25
nokiaman wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but it's against Apple's EULA This is Hacker News, right?

I always read it as "Hacker" in the traditional sense of the term, not the alarmist media "OMG!!H4qq0r" sense of the word. Hacking used to simply mean programming.

"Hacking used to simply mean programming"

Did it though? I thought it referred to finding creative solutions to problems that often incorporated programming. Was anyone really considered to be hacking if they were writing tic tac toe in Basic?

Re: Cider Project: Run iOS apps on Android

#37

Post by zbowling »

nokiaman wrote: post #14
zbowling wrote: post #8

> "a new system that can run iOS apps on an Android device for the first time" We at Apportable (YC W2011) have been doing that for 3 + years in a much for commercially viable way. We strive for source compatibility and are not building an emulator that requires taking libraries from an iOS device.

Your way requires the developer to use Apportable to port an iOS app to Android. If the developer has agreed with Apple to not port the app to Android, it will never be available. Their way gives the power to the user. The user copies across iOS app binary and system libraries and it's done. Basically, your way empowers the developer, their way empowers the user. You need to be commercially viable because your invest…

> If the developer has agreed with Apple to not port the app to Android, it will never be available.

This is not in the developers interests usually. I have heard release exclusives but they all almost have expiration dates.

> Their way gives the power to the user. The user copies across iOS app binary and system libraries and it's done.

While it may empower users, it's not widely practical. (IANAL) You also have a problem that it's near impossible to get the apps off the device (you can download them with iTunes on the desktop though), then you have to decrypt them of their FairPlay encryption, and then transfer them to an Android device without possibly violating several licenses, the DMCA, and few copyrights along the way.

Providing an SDK for developers to cross compile their apps means that the apps are built and optimized specifically for Android when compiled and the distribution is not an issue for the developers because it's just like any other app on Android. It also allows the developer to integrate and provide support for system features specifically on Android.

> They don't need to be commercially viable because they're a research project.

It's not that it's not commercially viable but that highly impractical. It's will be hard to distribute and make very accessible and usable for users.

Re: Cider Project: Run iOS apps on Android

#38

Post by mzs »

nokiaman wrote: post #19

Can Apple can stop the research team releasing the source code? The research project was partly funded by NSF grants, so does that mean the public have the right to see all work related to the project? I ask because the lead researcher, Jeremy Andrus, is now employed by Apple and wrote this on the YouTube video: "I have started a job with Apple, and will not be continuing work on this project. The team at Columbia wi…

I worked on code that was NSF funded and only most of the source was ever released, it had to do with using code that we were permitted to use for research purposes but not release and some patents.

Re: Cider Project: Run iOS apps on Android

#40

Post by Igglyboo »

downandout wrote: post #21

Here's a comment from this project's creator on the demo video ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uaple0Ec1Dg ): I have started a job with Apple, and will not be continuing work on this project. The team at Columbia will probably be doing some follow up work, but I won't be involved from here on out. So basically Apple has tried to kill or at least slow down the release of this to the public (he's obviously talented,…

I think if Apple wanted to kill this they could just C&D or sue them or something. They probably wanted this guy for his actual skills.
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