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Steve Jobs Has Just Gone Mad

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Re: Steve Jobs Has Just Gone Mad

#51

Post by CamperBob »

tptacek wrote: post #30
CamperBob wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it is. My in-house process is none of Apple's (or Microsoft's) business.

As you have just found out, it in fact is. Maybe I'm wrong, but my guess is: they win this issue, and they still keep the overwhelming lead in app development.

True, I can't see it having any material effect... at least not on the iFart-class apps that Apple seems to court. More sophisticated apps tend to rely on more sophisticated toolchains... 3D games being a prime example.

As long as Apple stays #1 in developer mindshare, all that will happen is some pissing and moaning (as we're seeing). It's way too expensive to stand on principle and jump ship for Android.

But Apple has managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory before. If the day ever comes (again) when they desperately need loyal developers, this bit of contractual bushwhacking will be remembered.

Re: Steve Jobs Has Just Gone Mad

#52

Post by subbu »

peterarmstrong wrote: post #12
charlesju wrote: post #6

I really doubt that this particular rule is aimed at the masses. Steve Jobs could care less about things like PhoneGap and random IDEs. In my opinion this is a strategic method to create optionality in case it needs to go into outright war against Adobe.

That doesn't make it anything short of disgusting -- it's worse than anything MS ever did.

2 differences between MS and Apple in this context. MS was very supportive of developers in its ecosystem. And they were never this arrogant.

Re: Steve Jobs Has Just Gone Mad

#53

Post by wvenable »

tptacek wrote: post #5
pmjordan wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this interpretation of the new rule is insane OK, I'll bite. What's the correct interpretation, according to you?

Presumably it's "as long as you're using the Cocoa Touch stack as your primary development environment, we don't care what other tools you use; however, if you want to use Flash, develop for a different phone."

Yes but this excludes tools, such as MonoTouch, which actually do use the Cocoa Touch stack but allow you to code in C# rather than Objective-C.

Re: Steve Jobs Has Just Gone Mad

#55

Post by wvenable »

steamer25 wrote: post #48

Couldn't another motivation be that they don't want to hire app reviewers with fluency in every language under the sun? They have no way of enforcing the Swahili/Milli Vanilli/mud -> C via Oompa Loompa exception, provided that the C is readable and appears to be 'orginally written'. I see it as a natural outgrowth of the chaperone model that a good number of users have tolerated/embraced.

App reviewers don't get the source code so that's not a valid point.

Re: Steve Jobs Has Just Gone Mad

#56

Post by alexandros »

I was always critical of Apple's closed ecosystem but nobody saw this coming. In a sense, they're not even leaving room for doubt that they are not to be trusted.

What's worse, essentially developers are now told that they have to put up or shut up, since Apple has the apps market cornered, and their app store full of apps.

Developers take heed. Every time you write an application for Steve's app store, it's just one more weapon that steve can and will use against you and every other developer when he decides he has a reason.

Nobody saw this one coming, and I shudder to think what's next.

One more thing: what about apps that have been already written with some translation tool? Do the developers have to rewrite in Obj-C or abandon altogether? How is this in the interest of the users exactly?

Re: Steve Jobs Has Just Gone Mad

#57

Post by icey »

The way the section is worded makes me wonder if this also prohibits ports of applications from other platforms. What does "originally" mean when Apple says it?

Re: Steve Jobs Has Just Gone Mad

#58

Post by sgoraya »

sant0sk1 wrote: post #19
nick-dap wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"merely (!) trying to control what tools people use to create software on their platform" Put any OS of your choice, except iPhone, in that sentence and it sounds pretty darn insane to me.

Don't game consoles have expensive, compulsory SDKs?

Yes, but you are not restricted in what tools you can use to develop and compile your code.
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