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Apple blocks Pragmatic Programmers' release of iPhone book for developers

pragprog.com

71–78 of 78 posts

Re: Apple blocks Pragmatic Programmers' release of iPhone book for developers

#71
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think this is an overreaction. The NDA means that an iPhone developer can't legally blog about developing iPhone apps. That's a bit wild, isn't it?

Yes it's wild, and I'm glad I'm not developing iPhone apps, but for me, that doesn't make Apple evil.

I agree. "Evil" is silly language to use here. Unfortunately, "evil" is often used to describe Apple's biggest competitor, so we developers are used to misusing that term.

Let's take a step back and speak more clearly: what Apple is doing is harmful to its developer ecosystem. Not evil, and maybe not stupid (time will tell).

Re: Apple blocks Pragmatic Programmers' release of iPhone book for developers

#72
post #53
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's more or less what I do. Many of my toys are Apple, but I buy my more important stuff elsewhere. As much as I would love to be able to use a Mac for my work, OSX is just not Unix-ish enough for me.

In what ways? I have used OSX at work for years. It is plenty "Unix-ish" for me, and I've been using *nix for twenty-five years.

First, there is this weird thing of programs in the */bin folders versus application structures in .app directories. The next problem is the Terminal - Even xterm is more comfortable to work with, specially when you have a three-button mouse. Then there is the less than stellar X support (I always had lots of problems piping X clients from a beefier computer to my Mac). I also dislike the fact many settings are stored not in files under /etc, but in a database. And, finally, there is no package manager (but that's not a non-Unix thing, it's more a non-Linux thing).

For those reasons, I prefer a Debian-based OS. I keep reading OpenSolaris has a nice package manager that can do rollbacks and may consider it in the future. As for OSX, it's not for me.

Re: Apple blocks Pragmatic Programmers' release of iPhone book for developers

#73
I've been using Macs my whole computing life, and I thought of them as Good until the first iPod worked with Windows. "But that's just business," you say, but in fact that represented a huge shift for Apple, and I recognized it immediately: Taking care of Mac customers was no longer Apple's chief concern, nor was creating great computers. Profit was the new obsession at company built by obsessions.

I watched 2002's July Keynote (MacWorld) from my local, brand-spankin'-new Apple store, and only a handful of us [all Mac geeks in attendance] were excited about the iPod. We came to see about OSX 10.1, and whatever cool software Apple might be brewing up, and this threw us for a loop.

Then next-gen iPods were available for Windows. Then I couldn't use FireWire with new iPods, even to charge them! And things have really deteriorated for us old-school MacAddicts since then. For one, MacAddict became MacLife (lame). Jobs killed off the "Sad Mac" and took all of the color and life out of the company. OSX 10.0-3 were great, 10.4 was OK, and Leopard is a goddamn trainwreck, relatively speaking.

From that point on, it was all about the Benjamins in Cupertino. I was disgusted that Apple would so quickly switch to Intel processors after years of persuading us (proving, in my opinion) that PowerPC was the superior architecture. Having followed Apple for quite some time, I predicted back then that Apple would eventually just sell software, iPods, and other gizmos: Moving away from PowerPC would be the death-knell for Mac-exclusive software (specifically catering to Mac users), be it at the hands of Apple or Psystar. I could care less.

Re: Apple blocks Pragmatic Programmers' release of iPhone book for developers

#75
post #41

As soon as I saw this headline I thought that the comments would be instantly split into 3 views. - The Apple Fanboys who say it isn't such a big deal - The haters looking for any excuse to heap ire upon Apple - The rest of us who are still confused as to why Apple hasn't released the NDA and the fallout that is happening as a result of it. Glad to see this submission delivers as originally thought.

I'm #3, but my guess is that nobody @ Apple with a clue's responsible for the app dev program. The NDA & the app store absurdity are unusually dumb for apple. Whomever (is anyone?) is at top-level control of all this is seriously screwing up the potential for the next big platform.

But they probably think it's irrelevant b/c the iPhone sales are still doing fine.

Re: Apple blocks Pragmatic Programmers' release of iPhone book for developers

#76
post #39
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lots of companies have pre-release NDAs. That part is normal. The abnormal part is not lifting the NDA even after the launch of the second major version of your product.

abnormal != evil though

Yeah, I don't think it's evil, but it does seem counter-productive.

Re: Apple blocks Pragmatic Programmers' release of iPhone book for developers

#77
post #47
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes I am being serious. Hate fest? Personally, I have simply expressed the decision I have made as a consumer in reaction to actions I find offensive by a company. I am also acting in my own best interests, as I have no interest in purchasing products from a company that engages in the sort of tactics we have been seeing lately. Please do elaborate on how their tactics are safeguarding the best interests of their cus…

Well, good luck finding a company that doesn't use NDA's etc to protect their interests.

I didn't need to sign an NDA to write OpenMoko apps.

Re: Apple blocks Pragmatic Programmers' release of iPhone book for developers

#78
post #40

Summary: Apple has NDA, people wrote book ignoring the NDA, now shock horror they can't publish it. Some conclude Apple is evil.

Summary: Information exists in the Universe. Apple claims that gathering it and telling others about it is illegal.
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