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JWZ ported XScreenSaver to iOS - keeps getting rejected by Apple

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Re: JWZ ported XScreenSaver to iOS - keeps getting rejected by Apple

#31

Post by gcp »

cmadan wrote: post #29
repsilat wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you really want Apple to change, how about NOT developing for iOS? Articles like this aren't really going to make them change their policies. Certainly convincing other people not to develop for iOS would have more of an impact than just swearing off it personally. More generally, I dislike the idea that we shouldn't write this sort of thing because "the market will sort it out anyway". This sort of post is the ma…

I agree wholeheartedly with you. However, there is no shortage of articles detailing Apple's arbitrary App store approval process. Yet, the number of applications on the App store keeps on increasing and increasing. What is striking is none (or I haven't come across one) of these articles end with the developer washing their hands off the App store and vowing never to develop another iOS app. Instead, most of them se…

I'm going to take a guess here and say the posts that were notorious enough so that you found them were all done by app developers with a heavy investment in the App Store, so they couldn't just ignore what happened, and chose to try to fix their problem with publicity.

To protect their investment, "bending over" may have been the most sensible, if painful, option.

If you're a new developer choosing whether to target Android, iOS, or both, your perspective may be different. But people won't care about your blog posts.

Re: JWZ ported XScreenSaver to iOS - keeps getting rejected by Apple

#32

Post by ralfn »

cmadan wrote: post #19

Does it even matter whether Apple is wrong, unreasonable or irrational? Just like I reserve the rights of admission to my house, Apple reserves the right to accept or reject applications from the app store. If you really want Apple to change, how about NOT developing for iOS? Articles like this aren't really going to make them change their policies.

Apple should indeed be free to offer only the products they want to in their store.

The problem is: the store is mandatory. Side loading is the OS equivalent of net neutrality.

This is like car companies deciding which supermarkets you may shop at, and then suggesting only their own.

Unfortunately, Mircosft and Amazon are going to do, or are already doing, the same thing.

They want to be the new cable companies. Extorting content producers, by selling or blocking access to consumers.

Re: JWZ ported XScreenSaver to iOS - keeps getting rejected by Apple

#33

Post by eli »

caf wrote: post #27
cmadan wrote: post #19

Does it even matter whether Apple is wrong, unreasonable or irrational? Just like I reserve the rights of admission to my house, Apple reserves the right to accept or reject applications from the app store. If you really want Apple to change, how about NOT developing for iOS? Articles like this aren't really going to make them change their policies.

It's more like the guy who built your house and sold it to you reserving the right to decide who can come into it.

I think you meant that as a hypothetical, but actually it's not uncommon -- Google "restrictive covenant." If you don't want to be restricted in what you can do with your house then don't buy one that has restrictions.

Re: JWZ ported XScreenSaver to iOS - keeps getting rejected by Apple

#34

Post by sturadnidge »

gcp wrote: post #28
statictype wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where's the irony?

When he said Android sucks he presumably evaluated a number of attributes of both iOS and Android and concluded that iOS outperforms Android in those he cares about. He's now finding out the hard way that "openness" may have been an attribute the importance of which he underestimated. And just like the tens of other iOS developers that came to whine here when the same happened to them: you knew what you were getting…

That's all well and good, but there's no irony there. As statictype I believe was suggesting.

It only would have been ironic had jwz elected to develop for iOS because he thought the Android app store policy sucked, to find that the Apple app store policy sucked more. Which is not the case here.

[Edited to include clarification]

Re: JWZ ported XScreenSaver to iOS - keeps getting rejected by Apple

#35

Post by SeanDav »

statictype wrote: post #21
retrogradeorbit wrote: post #18

"I don't own and don't plan to own any Android devices, because frankly I think it sucks." --jwz Oh, the deep irony.

Where's the irony?

The irony is: That which attracted him is now hurting him.

Re: JWZ ported XScreenSaver to iOS - keeps getting rejected by Apple

#36

Post by randomdata »

> changing the name does not solve the problem that people searching for "xscreensaver" in the app store will not find it if it is released under something-that-is-not-its-name.

With the recent App Store search result changes, this may be of little help anyway. If you search for the name of my app, for instance, it comes up near the bottom of the results where nobody looks. I went from averaging multiple downloads per day to just two sales since the changes were put into effect.

Re: JWZ ported XScreenSaver to iOS - keeps getting rejected by Apple

#37

Post by praptak »

cmadan wrote: post #19

Does it even matter whether Apple is wrong, unreasonable or irrational? Just like I reserve the rights of admission to my house, Apple reserves the right to accept or reject applications from the app store. If you really want Apple to change, how about NOT developing for iOS? Articles like this aren't really going to make them change their policies.

> If you really want Apple to change, how about NOT developing for iOS? Articles like this aren't really going to make them change their policies.

Articles like this made me avoid Apple altogether and judging by the general sentiment here on HN at least some other people capable of software development have made a similar decision (to various degrees.) I'd wager this article probably has much more power than jwz quietly dumping iOS development.

Re: JWZ ported XScreenSaver to iOS - keeps getting rejected by Apple

#38

Post by gcp »

sturadnidge wrote: post #34
gcp wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When he said Android sucks he presumably evaluated a number of attributes of both iOS and Android and concluded that iOS outperforms Android in those he cares about. He's now finding out the hard way that "openness" may have been an attribute the importance of which he underestimated. And just like the tens of other iOS developers that came to whine here when the same happened to them: you knew what you were getting…

That's all well and good, but there's no irony there. As statictype I believe was suggesting. It only would have been ironic had jwz elected to develop for iOS because he thought the Android app store policy sucked, to find that the Apple app store policy sucked more. Which is not the case here. [Edited to include clarification]

There's some level of irony in 2 areas:

1) He disses Android harshly, yet ends up complaining about Apple not that much later. 2) He disses Android for "sucking", yet the area he complains about is one where iOS sucks compared to Android.

I think this qualifies as irony: incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result.

Re: JWZ ported XScreenSaver to iOS - keeps getting rejected by Apple

#40

Post by batista »

gcp wrote: post #28
statictype wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where's the irony?

When he said Android sucks he presumably evaluated a number of attributes of both iOS and Android and concluded that iOS outperforms Android in those he cares about. He's now finding out the hard way that "openness" may have been an attribute the importance of which he underestimated. And just like the tens of other iOS developers that came to whine here when the same happened to them: you knew what you were getting…

>When he said Android sucks he presumably evaluated a number of attributes of both iOS and Android and concluded that iOS outperforms Android in those he cares about. He's now finding out the hard way that "openness" may have been an attribute the importance of which he underestimated.

No irony.

It would only be ironic if he had said that without knowing that the iPhone "sucks more" in regards to openness --but he made the above statement fully knowing the iOS situation re: openness.

He is no RMS --it's not like he's gonna use a sucky (according to his tastes) mobile OS just because it's open.

Doesn't make much sense to use an inferior (to your tastes) phone platform just because you could add your own apps to it. Except if your primary motivation for having a phone is tinkering with it.

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