...while also screwing over a Adobe by changing the developer license agreementOr, they're trying to avoid being screwed over by Adobe and Microsoft. It all depends on your point of view.
As I said before that developer license thing is very, very nasty. Basically they seem to be trying to pull the plug on anyone not developing their code from the ground up on their platform, which means anyone trying to share code across, say, Android and Windows 7 and the iPhone is shit out of luck.Ordinarily, developers could just laugh off restrictions like that. I mean, I doubt there's any real legal justification for not letting people develop using whatever tools they want.
About 21 million people have gone pretty far without the use multitasking, so it's great that it's coming, but it wasn't anything that killed the platform, except for people who weren't going to buy one anyway.Heh. I knew the cognative dissonace caused for the hardcore belivers would be hard to swallow. "Multitasking sucks! No one needs it!" and now "Apple has multitasking!" I still expect we'll soon see people claiming that the iPhone's multitasking is better then any other app.
Is the iPad one more in the series? I suspect it is. I think the thin, magazine-sized slab that moves fast, responds to the touch and does one clear task at a time is a form that will keep going. But even if its meanders, Apple gets a secure place in history, Ford vs. Chevy style crud notwithstanding.Except, of course it's not new at all. There were a bunch of devices that already did that -- as well as ones that multi-tasked and used regular desktop/laptop OSes. Just not with all the hype of the iPad. That's one of the things that really irritates me here. There's nothing new here, it's just that since Apple is the first one with resources and inclination to push this everyone acts like it's a godsend.
In fairness to the whole "I CAN'T PROGRAM ON THE IPAD" meme, you can't program on 99% of PCs as well. -- GuyZeroI don't even know what this is even supposed to mean, but taken literally it's completely incorrect. Anyone can download Eclipse, Visual Studio express, Cygwin or any of thousands of smaller, no-cost, mostly open source development platforms and start hacking away in a few minutes on pretty much any PC (Windows, Linux, Macs, whatever).
You can't program my Droid on itself any more than you can an iPad although yes, it's not prohibited by the license.First of all, the dev kids for android are free. Anyone with an android phone can plug it in via USB and hack away from their desktop. I don't think people are complaining about not being able to program directly on the phone. Is that what you're talking about? It took me about 5 minutes to download the SDK and write a "hello world" app for my G1.
All I'm saying is that the lack of a self-hosted toolchain is neither new nor is it the end of the world. They didn't write the Tivo software on a Tivo, etc.No one is talking about a self-hosted toolchain. But far more then 1% of PCs are capable of running their own development software. To say otherwise is just bizarre.
The only thing that gets me is about the iPad is my real worry that it actually will end up being a Kindle killer -- the same way that VHS (inferior product, better market penetration) wound up being a Beta killer in the ancient days of prehistory.The Kindle is just as locked down as the iPad. But Amazon can just lower the price point. No reason they can't sell kindles for $99 or even $50, $25 at some point in the future. The technology for a black and white screen and physical keyboard isn't exactly cutting edge. And Amazon's business model is to make money selling e-books, not the devices themselves.
Bugs happen. To everyone. -- Civil_DisobedientBugs are shit like files missing their fonts or programs crashing. Most of them don't let the Chinese government spy on human rights workers. For an application that's used on so many machines for files that come from the internet and without a good auto-update that works well the security updates are really kind of inexcusable.
In summary, the iBooks Store is sparsely populated and unbrowsable unless you only want to read and buy contemporary and historicals that Apple or the publisher have determined should meet your gaze. Organization is hampered by the publishers failure to provide good metadata resulting in odd names, missing covers, and inaccurate tagging information. The App itself is crippled by the lack of annotations. Thus, the iBooks Store and App won’t kill off the Kindle, nook, Kobobooks. There is a place for them, but I think the right price is $150 or under. The real drawback for eink readers is a) the time it takes for the pages to turn and b) lack of an integrated light.posted by nooneyouknow at 7:17 PM on April 8, 2010 [1 favorite]
[...]
If you want to buy the iPad solely as an ebook reader, I would advise against it. It is heavy. You can’t read outside and will cause more eyestrain than an ink device. The iBooks store has meager romance offerings at high prices.
If you are looking for a true multi function device that allows you to cruise the web, send emails, watch videos, do any number of things via the third party apps, and read, then iPad is a good value. If your primary thought is to get this to read digital books, I would tell you this. I plan to get a dedicated ebook reader, either a Kindle or the Kobobooks within the next couple of months, even though I am thoroughly enjoying the iPad.
First of all, the dev kids for android are free. Anyone with an android phone can plug it in via USB and hack away from their desktop. I don't think people are complaining about not being able to program directly on the phone. Is that what you're talking about? It took me about 5 minutes to download the SDK and write a "hello world" app for my G1.This is, in my opinion, a really legitimate gripe about the iPhone/iPad development ecosystem. Even a halfway solution would be a gamechanger. Say, the elimination of the $99 licensing fee for test app development, and the ability to install unsigned apps that other people have made as long as you do it using dev tools. Open source iPad and iPhone apps could float around pretty easily, but would be out of reach for the casual Apple Store folks, only usable by people with the smarts and inclination to compile and push their own builds onto their own hardware.
Great reviews. Convinced me this thing is awful for me. I'll stick to my netbook and tablets that we can write in-house open source applications for corporate use. To each their own.Yeah, I don't know. I've got a MacBook Pro, two PCs, a mac mini, an old Palm V for nostalgia, a Sony Magic Cap, a eeePC, and now an iPad. Yes, I am that guy. I spend my days making open source software, and then making it do stuff that I and my clients need it to. For me, it's actually pretty nice to have at least one tool in my toolbox that just does the stuff I want it to do. I spend my days (and often nights) bending computers to my will. I get that some people want the entire lives to feel like that, but I don't mind the break.
As for multitasking, sure, lots didn't care. So what? Others did. Doesn't mean they are haters. That such an argument (together with the fanboy "argument" for anything positive said about Flash) is on Metafilter is quite astounding.Well, Flash got a lot of hate before the iThings eschewed it. And on the Mac side, there's always been a lot of bitterness about the CPU-sucking quality of Adobe's Flash plugins. Blame whoever you will, but a quad core desktop machine shouldn't spin up its fans and start lagging because you have a flash banner ad on the page you're reading.
You want to SSH in to a server and switch over to Safari to access some reference material? Sounds like you'll be out of luck. We'll see when it actually drops.Amen to that. SSH and VNC over VPN is actually one of the things that I already use my iPhone (and now iPad) for on a near daily basis. The lack of multitasking for 'non-presence' tasks is annoying and will continue to be annoying. Not annoying enough that it's not still an excellent tool for me, but still annoying.
GuyZero wrote: "All I'm saying is that the lack of a self-hosted toolchain is neither new nor is it the end of the world."Right. But I think it's also fair to say that "I'd like that, I probably won't get one if it doesn't have it" is different than, say, Cory Doctorow's position. Which seems to be, "If it doesn't have a self-hosted toolchain, only stupid overweight trailer trash will want it."
It's not the end of the world, but it sure is nice to have available if you want it...
Stanley Tools is just like Apple. You want SSH to mulitask with Safari, and I want a hammer with a serrated edge. You'd think a smart company would listen to its customers!To be fair, though, the appeal of the iPhone is that it is more than just a phone. Its form factor and all that means that it is best used for quick, focused tasks -- and that means that "real" multitasking is not as essential. But, you know, I love my iPhone and I'm liking the iPad, and that specific SSH/VPN thing is definitely one of my biggies.
Android Scripting EnvironmentI figured there was probably something like that out there, but I had no idea how to search for it, I mean what terms would you use? :)
Cory Doctorow's position. Which seems to be, "If it doesn't have a self-hosted toolchain, only stupid overweight trailer trash will want it."Dude, NO ONE is complaining about the lack of a SELF HOSTED toolchain. That's a complete strawman brought up in the thread. The problem is that even if you have a secondary computer you still can't program it without a license, you can't distribute your programs outside of the apple store, etc. Unlike a normal computer, or an android phone.
I'd believe this if Apple's haters were fair and balanced, complaining stringently about the lack of these and other essential features like copy/paste when they aren't available on Android or Windows 7.Since when is copy+paste unavailable on android? I just tested it on my G1 and it works fine. What are you talking about? I also think WiMo 7 will have copy and paste when it's released, but we'll see. I'm not exactly a big fan of Microsoft either. Their phone seems to be designed for facebook/twitter junkies, which I find rather boring.
honestly, after reading Doctorow's screed, I don't know whether anyone can say which interpretation is right. He accused Apple of displaying 'contempt for consumers' by making a device focused on content display out of the box. Then he went on to describe people who are interested in that as fat, friendless subhuman potato-blobs. And waxed philosophical about Maker Faires.Cory Doctorow's position. Which seems to be, "If it doesn't have a self-hosted toolchain, only stupid overweight trailer trash will want it."Dude, NO ONE is complaining about the lack of a SELF HOSTED toolchain. That's a complete strawman brought up in the thread. The problem is that even if you have a secondary computer you still can't program it without a license, you can't distribute your programs outside of the apple store, etc. Unlike a normal computer, or an android phone.
3.3.1 — Applications may only use Documented APIs in the manner prescribed by Apple and must not use or call any private APIs. Applications must be originally written in Objective-C, C, C++, or JavaScript as executed by the iPhone OS WebKit engine, and only code written in C, C++, and Objective-C may compile and directly link against the Documented APIs (e.g., Applications that link to Documented APIs through an intermediary translation or compatibility layer or tool are prohibited).Since your form generator is written in Objective C it's fine.
DIRTY COMMIES!Well, there are lots of bugs to exploit, but the Chinese have chosen PDFs as their preferred attack vector.
Except for the fact that any bug that escalates privileges to root can get DIRTY COMMIES on your computer. Like this one you've probably never heard of. But how could a bug in a PDF doc escalate privs? Maybe… if you're running as root?
Delmoi, I remember a link you put up once, that went a Computer World report on the 42 other tablet computers that were already available when the iPad was first announced. I haven't seen a one in the wild.The reason I pointed that was because of all the people running around claiming that the iPad was some totally new revolutionary thing that no one had ever seen before, bla bla bla. Nothing it does is new, but people are acting like it's going to "change everything!!!!" and so on.
That is what Cory Doctorow thinks of people who don't care about hacking their hardware or rolling custom software. And if his mindset dominates open-device circles, closed devices will win.I don't know if that's fair, I assumed he was talking about what he thought apple thought of their users. He says "Apple's model customer is..." but that's in the paragraph above. I suppose you could interpret it either way.
Is the Nintendo DS an open programming platform, free to get into? Or is it also a restricted environment?Well, TI's high end calculators are hackable, I don't know about HPs. The other things you mentioned are toys, for the most part. I'm not fan of the Kindle's locked down DRMness either. But no one is going on and on about how the DS and Kindle are going to make PCs and desktops irrelevant.
How about the Blackberry? Can you use any programming language you like? Do you have to pay to get your apps signed?
The Zune?
HP's high-end calculators?
The Kindle? How open is that?
Reports of the change in Apple's 4.0 license trickled in from a variety of sources, many of them either glad Apple was taking a tough new stance against "Flash shovelware" or alternatively upset that the company was limiting developers to its own development tools and languages.posted by Brandon Blatcher at 1:38 PM on April 9, 2010 [1 favorite]
But if Apple were simply trying to block Adobe from cross-compiling Flash to create iPhone apps, it could have added the changed text to its existing license agreement and spoiled Adobe's CS5 party immediately, rather than just threatening change that appears fated to kick in when Apple delivers iPhone 4.0 in June.
The primary reason for the change, say sources familiar with Apple's plans, is to support sophisticated new multitasking APIs in iPhone 4.0. The system will now be evaluating apps as they run in order to implement smart multitasking. It can't do this if apps are running within a runtime or are cross compiled with a foreign structure that doesn't behave identically to a native C/C++/Obj-C app.
"[The operating system] can't swap out resources, it can't pause some threads while allowing others to run, it can't selectively notify, etc. Apple needs full access to a properly-compiled app to do the pull off the tricks they are with this new OS," wrote one reader under the name Ktappe.
The primary reason for the change, say sources familiar with Apple's plans, is to support sophisticated new multitasking APIs in iPhone 4.0. The system will now be evaluating apps as they run in order to implement smart multitasking. It can't do this if apps are running within a runtime or are cross compiled with a foreign structure that doesn't behave identically to a native C/C++/Obj-C app.Android handles it fine, without needing to restrict any runtime stuff.
"Personally, I think the outrage should be over the metaphysical angle here, not the business angle. Apple is implicitly taking a position that apps are not “originally written” in the minds of developers, in the form of cognitive representations of problems and their solutions. They are taking a position that the brain is not a translation tool for mapping from these representations into C, Objective-C, or what have you. They are subscribing to the theory of a “ghost in the machine”, implying that at some point an app crosses some magical boundary from being an mental thing into a physical thing that is “written” in some definite programming language. They are maintaining this because, if they weren’t, every single iPhone app would violate their licensing agreement by virtue of the developer’s mind itself being a tool that produces Objective-C as an “intermediary result”. Apple may thus be the first company to bet the farm on Cartesian dualism."posted by weston at 11:07 PM on April 9, 2010 [4 favorites]
Apple is the Fox news of the computer world and Jobs is Glenn Beckand still expect to be taken as credible voices on the subject. It's absurd. Really. Get over yourselves.
Apple haters are a tedious, whiny bunch.And Apple Zealots are totally not! (What happened to your argument about how everyone complained about the iPhone secretly wanted one, or how no one ever used the word "Smartphone" before the iPhone came out? Now we're just "boring"? Talk about... boring.)
Looked at the Android Market, but it seemed very sparse with the only categories being Paid or Free. Evidently I need an actual Droid device to fully browse the market. Is that correct?The web interface is not very good, which isn't surprising since it's totally pointless. If you browse on the phone there are a lot more categories.
Via that post, the speculation as I read it, is that Apple doesn't want to be stuck maintaining binary backwards compatibility. Sort-of like the linux policy with regard to "Binary Blob" closed-source drivers. Or put another way, Apple doesn't want Adobe doing the same thing Quark did, delaying a major app when they migrated to OS X.Except that they are also banning source code generators. The bullshit people come up with to justify apple's behavior is really astounding.
banning source code generatorsI'm not sure the language of 3.3.1 really supports this
Xbox 360 Tools and Middleware ProgramYet, when Apple implements something similar to protect their own "interests", they suffer the wrath of a thousand bloggers.
The Xbox 360™ Tools and Middleware Program licenses professional developers of games software tools and games middleware applications to obtain full Xbox 360 Development Kits and to distribute Xbox 360 code to approved Xbox 360 developers and publishers. .
Key Points
Participation in the Xbox 360 Tools and Middleware Program is generally restricted to those companies with good industry references and with prior experience in the games tools and middleware technologies field. If you represent a startup company you may still be considered if the team is made up of experienced individuals, and/or you have sufficient industry interest in using your technology on our platform.
Applications for entry to the Xbox 360 Tools and Middleware Program may be requested by emailing contact information and a brief description of the products and company to xboxtlsm@microsoft.com. Once your initial mail is received, if your proposal is of interest, you will be contacted.
Developers will be required to execute a non-disclosure agreement with Microsoft® prior to being considered for the program. Following review and acceptance of a submission form, selected applicants will be sent a license agreement, which must be executed before access to the development hardware and software can be granted.
Under the rule, a third-party ad network could embed an ad within an iPhone OS app, as Muller said — but only if the advertiser didn’t care about who saw the ad, how long they may have looked at it, whether they interacted with it, or any of the other detailed metrics so prized by interactive marketers...The company told a developer whose app it was rejecting: “It is not appropriate for applications to gather user analytics. Specifically, you may not collect anonymous play data from a user’s game.”Oh Steve, that's just wrong.
Xbox 360 Tools and Middleware ProgramIf you're a middleware developer, you have to have a license agreement with Microsoft. Microsoft has to want to offer you a license agreeement.
The Xbox 360™ Tools and Middleware Program licenses professional developers of games software tools and games middleware applications to obtain full Xbox 360 Development Kits and to distribute Xbox 360 code to approved Xbox 360 developers and publishers. .
Key Points
Participation in the Xbox 360 Tools and Middleware Program is generally restricted to those companies with good industry references and with prior experience in the games tools and middleware technologies field. If you represent a startup company you may still be considered if the team is made up of experienced individuals, and/or you have sufficient industry interest in using your technology on our platform.
Applications for entry to the Xbox 360 Tools and Middleware Program may be requested by emailing contact information and a brief description of the products and company to xboxtlsm@microsoft.com. Once your initial mail is received, if your proposal is of interest, you will be contacted.
Developers will be required to execute a non-disclosure agreement with Microsoft® prior to being considered for the program. Following review and acceptance of a submission form, selected applicants will be sent a license agreement, which must be executed before access to the development hardware and software can be granted.
That's because software on all other tablets and smartphones sucks balls.posted by wierdo at 4:21 PM on April 16, 2010
I) A nearly-total monopoly on computer (and pocket computer) systems designed with good taste.Which I agree with. He then kicks into rant mode, and essentially goes off the rails.
II) A total monopoly on the Microsoft-free, hassle-free personal computer.
/* Return the alpha component associated with `color'. */ CG_EXTERN CGFloat CGColorGetAlpha(CGColorRef color) CG_AVAILABLE_STARTING(__MAC_10_3, __IPHONE_2_0);Come on.
The first iteration of any new Apple product brought to market by Steve tends to look, at the onset, somewhat primitive. The iPhone, for example, was lacking such basics as cut-and-paste, the ability to search for a contact, and sported only a tiny handful of apps with none others available. The original Mac, likewise, shipped with a memo maker, a drawing program, and a painting program. Few others existed at launch.--- Bruce Tognazzini (original interface designer for the Mac)
...Adobe has characterized our decision as being primarily business driven – they say we want to protect our App Store – but in reality it is based on technology issues. Adobe claims that we are a closed system, and that Flash is open, but in fact the opposite is true.posted by mullingitover at 7:05 AM on April 29, 2010
We know from painful experience that letting a third party layer of software come between the platform and the developer ultimately results in sub-standard apps and hinders the enhancement and progress of the platform. If developers grow dependent on third party development libraries and tools, they can only take advantage of platform enhancements if and when the third party chooses to adopt the new features. We cannot be at the mercy of a third party deciding if and when they will make our enhancements available to our developers.If developers are targeting the platform with html5, wouldn't they run into exactly this problem? They couldn't take advantage of Apple's platform enhancements without perverting the standard with proprietary extensions. So to be consistent Apple would need to discourage developers from targeting their devices with html5, or extend html5 to take advantage of their proprietary platform. Embrace and extend...where have I heard that before?
Does HP make anything worth having any more? Last HP laptops I've had experience with were all craptastic.
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posted by giftideas at 3:13 PM on April 8, 2010