I was looking for something else and I ran across this web page that I thought would be in keeping of the theme of this thread. Enjoy

Nicely summed up with:

As a designer, I love Mac's visual style. As a techie, I hate Mac's idea that somehow after they sell you something... they still own it.

I guess that's why it took Apple over 25 years to corner a whole 2% of the market.
And THAT was just because they started selling MP3 players and cell phones.


How much do you value your freedoms?

Regards,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Norway is being governed via iPad
Jens Stoltenberg, prime minister of Norway, is one of the thousands of people stranded outside their home country. The politician is stuck in New York, but has reportedly been managing affairs in his home country on his Apple iPad. "It's official," says Stevie Smith at the Tech Herald. Apple's latest toy is "capable of running the world."

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Norway is being governed via iPad
Jens Stoltenberg, prime minister of Norway, is one of the thousands of people stranded outside their home country. The politician is stuck in New York, but has reportedly been managing affairs in his home country on his Apple iPad. "It's official," says Stevie Smith at the Tech Herald. Apple's latest toy is "capable of running the world."

No wait, scratch that, Norway.

Norway ≠ World.

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- Luke.

Would you want this on your lap?

Aesthetics over Practicality : New MacBook Pro reaches 101 Celsius

Yikes.

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- Luke.

Has Steve Jobs been emboldened to go a step too far, or is he getting a little crass and careless in his old age?...

Feds Eye Apple for Antitrust Probe

... Apple changed its iPhone developers agreement last month to prohibit the use of cross-platform development tools, such as Flash. The change precludes iPhone app developers from making one universal app that can be ported to a variety of mobile App Stores. The iPhone's popularity could make developers reluctant to work on other platforms instead, so a federal inquiry would look at whether Apple's behavior is anticompetitive...


I rather like the comment in there that "[Apple's] decision to block Flash and other cross-platform development tools from the App Store, [is] a move that Apple says is best for consumers." Really?...


Why can't companies succeed by simple innovation and good service rather than proprietary hegemony and consumer lock-in and restrictions?

Is being nasty really so profitable?

... And then there are the RIAA and BPI of the "recorded music industry"...


Regards,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Has Steve Jobs been emboldened to go a step too far, or is he getting a little crass and careless in his old age?...

Feds Eye Apple for Antitrust Probe

... Apple changed its iPhone developers agreement last month to prohibit the use of cross-platform development tools, such as Flash. The change precludes iPhone app developers from making one universal app that can be ported to a variety of mobile App Stores. The iPhone's popularity could make developers reluctant to work on other platforms instead, so a federal inquiry would look at whether Apple's behavior is anticompetitive...


I rather like the comment in there that "[Apple's] decision to block Flash and other cross-platform development tools from the App Store, [is] a move that Apple says is best for consumers." Really?...


Why can't companies succeed by simple innovation and good service rather than proprietary hegemony and consumer lock-in and restrictions?

Is being nasty really so profitable?

... And then there are the RIAA and BPI of the "recorded music industry"...


Regards,
Martin

Until you understand what Cocoa is to Apple you should be careful about commenting on what Apple ask of developers. Apples long terms goals consist of making major changes to the way their internal software looks and works. By providing Cocoa they are almost eliminating the impact these changes will have on the developer. In most cases, the changes for the developer going from the Power PC platform to the Intel platform consisted of changing a few lines of control information and recompiling their software. Game developers with massive programs were able to convert their software in less than a day with one or two people working on the project.
Apple thought this one out so well that the jump from 32 bit to 64 bit software followed the same process but may have requires a few more software changes to take advantage of the additional memory. If you write software to Apple's standards you will be spared the pain of operating system changes.
If you don't want to play by the rules, you can jail beak but be prepared for problems every time the software is updated.

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... In most cases, the changes for the developer going from the Power PC platform to the Intel platform consisted of changing a few lines of control information and recompiling their software. Game developers with massive programs were able to convert their software in less than a day with one or two people working on the project.
Apple thought this one out so well that the jump from 32 bit to 64 bit software followed the same process but may have requires a few more software changes to take advantage of the additional memory. If you write software to Apple's standards you will be spared the pain of operating system changes.
If you don't want to play by the rules, you can jail beak but be prepared for problems every time the software is updated.

That sounds like exactly what computing should be about. It is also what my experience of Microsoft for computing very much is not.

So, on portability, Apple gain a very important good point.


Sorry, but I remain scathingly sceptical about the non-compliance of standards and the proprietary lock-in and "control of the market".

Market control is never for the benefit of the end user that has to pay...


Aside: I'm still amazed that Microsoft still tolerates and survives such an incredible malware load/scourge! We all pay for that even if only in additional internet (ISP) costs...


Regards,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Metroworks was the last company to support development tools for the Apple platform. About 6 or 7 years ago they gave up supporting the Apple platform. Apple provides all the tool you need to for Apple development free of charge. To obtain them you only need to go to the developer web site and register with them. Any other development tools that are out there would be in house development tools that Apple would not have any idea what standards they were written to,

Cocoa has a very long history. It is the interface that was used in the NEXT system and it has evolved over the years. When Apple acquired NEXT there was a problem of many old applications that needed to be supported under the new OS. To get around this problem, Carbon was created to allow support for older programs under both Unix and Non Unix versions of Apples systems. Carbon was intended not to be permanent, it was something that would allow programmers to make a limited number of changes to their software to support both operating systems. The end goal was Cocoa and that is the direction Apple is headed. People are still running Carbon application on current hardware/software but Carbon is a dead end.

Apple takes pride in a stable trouble free environment so any software they distribute such as Iphone or Ipad needs to meet those standards. If it fails to, the developer is notified of the problems so they can be corrected. Software purchased through Apple has Apples stamp of approval on it. Adobe would be asking Apple to approve junk by including Flash in it's current state. I don't think Apple can be ask to destroy it's quality control just to allow a lazy vendor to distribute their software.

If you haven't looked it, the list of problems Apple has with Flash is located here.

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... Apple takes pride in a stable trouble free environment so any software they distribute such as Iphone or Ipad needs to meet those standards. If it fails to, the developer is notified of the problems so they can be corrected. Software purchased through Apple has Apples stamp of approval on it. ...

That gets my approval.

However, that does nothing to offset the Marketing games of "Proprietary" and "Lock-in" and the "smash all standards" game. Unfortunately, the patents system seems to be very badly abused as part of the proprietary game...


Sorry to remain somewhat sceptical.

The one saving grace is the stifling of all malware on the Apple platform, as should be the case on all platforms and is the case on all 'mature' platforms...

Regards,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Are these examples of patents abuse or a game of abuse of the patents system?...

Nokia sues Apple for 'patent infringement'

... This is the latest salvo in a long-running legal battle between the two companies. ...

Last year Nokia filed a similar lawsuit which claimed that various Apple products infringed Nokia patents. Apple responded with a countersuit against Nokia for infringing Apple patents with its smartphones.

Meanwhile, Apple is also involved in another legal row with Taiwan's HTC, maker of Google's Nexus One phone, which it says has infringed patented technology. ...


Know Your Rights: H.264, patent licensing, and you

... as you might know, H.264 is the codec used in everything from YouTube to Flip cams to HD-DSLRs to Blu-ray, and it's the standard Apple's backing over Flash for video on the web. Microsoft and Google are also backing H.264, but neither is being as militant about Flash. H.264 is thus a Big Deal -- it's very likely the future of video on the internet and beyond.

[...]

So the real choice for most companies is to sign up with H.264 and the MPEG-LA in return for a baseline level of legal protection and broad compatibility with a codec that's been widely adopted in the market, or to go with Theora, save the money upfront and risk a patent lawsuit down the road while shipping a potentially inferior product. Depending on your point of view, that's either quite a racket the MPEG-LA's got going or it's just ruthless...

... it's not often Apple, Microsoft, Google, DirecTV, Sony, Toshiba and some 810 other companies all back a standard together. Barring some insanity -- and we never bar any insanity -- we'd say H.264 has already won this year's version of the format war.


I doubt that Mozilla or even Google would want to pay $5 million a year fees just for the sake of using H264... That's a lot of money if you instead can risk the rhetoric scaring you off alternatives.

Regards,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

I like my Android.

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I like my Android.

Me too!

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Looks like Apple is developing their own inhouse Flash solution.

Yeah, because replacing a proprietary, non-standard solution with another proprietary, non-standard one is the answer.

Apple are a bunch of appholes.

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- Luke.

Looks like Apple is developing their own inhouse Flash solution.

Yeah, because replacing a proprietary, non-standard solution with another proprietary, non-standard one is the answer.

Apple are a bunch of appholes.

Looks like Adobe are somewhat worried by the Apple attack:

Adobe attempts to counteract anti-Flash sentiment spurred by Apple

... The aggressive campaign is an attempt to curb the growing sentiment that Flash is not a valid and relevant technology as the Web continues to evolve on mobile devices.

"If the web fragments into closed systems, if companies put content and applications behind walls, some indeed may thrive -- but their success will come at the expense of the very creativity and innovation that has made the Internet a revolutionary force," The letter from Warnock and Geschke said. "We believe that consumers should be able to freely access their favorite content and applications, regardless of what computer they have, what browser they like, or what device suits their needs. No company -- no matter how big or how creative -- should dictate what you can create, how you create it, or what you can experience on the web." ...


There's some very curious 'double standards' in there! On both sides!!

At least it does mention a very important issue as to why proprietary lock-in is so bad and is good for noone other than those wielding the proprietary lock-in.

It's all an expensive game!

Regards,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Looks like Apple is developing their own inhouse Flash solution.

Yeah, because replacing a proprietary, non-standard solution with another proprietary, non-standard one is the answer.

Apple are a bunch of appholes.

Hey Luke,

Who are the bigger appholes? Apple or the customers that buy their products before doing their homework? Did you do ANY research before you bought your iPhone? Or, were you one of those folks that actually lined up the night before its release date to buy one? You know, the Type A's.

I know the iPhone is locked - so? Apple didn't consult you for your opinion nor should they. They are in the business of designing products that the non-techie person can use. Not for the teckno geeks jacked up on a caffeine energy drink.

S***, their OS doesn't even have a registry (thank God for that!).

JMHO...

Looks like Apple is developing their own inhouse Flash solution.

Yeah, because replacing a proprietary, non-standard solution with another proprietary, non-standard one is the answer.

Apple are a bunch of appholes.

Hey Luke,

Who are the bigger appholes? Apple or the customers that buy their products before doing their homework? Did you do ANY research before you bought your iPhone? Or, were you one of those folks that actually lined up the night before its release date to buy one? You know, the Type A's.

I know the iPhone is locked - so? Apple didn't consult you for your opinion nor should they. They are in the business of designing products that the non-techie person can use. Not for the teckno geeks jacked up on a caffeine energy drink.

S***, their OS doesn't even have a registry (thank God for that!).

JMHO...

The sure doesn't sound like a humble opinion to me.
Back when the iPhone 3G was released... Android didn't exist. Nothing rivaled the iPhone. Now we have the EVO 4G, the Nokia N series, the Nexus one etc.

Free, open, beautiful.

Apple is a seriously worrying company. I fear Apple.

Microsoft + Google all the way. Don't assume I lined up to buy a goddamn phone. I HATE Apple.

A bunch of Appholes.

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- Luke.

... Free, open, beautiful.

For "Free" specifically as in "freedom", I certainly agree with those.

Apple is a seriously worrying company. I fear Apple.

To my mind, Apple does look to be even more fiendishly restrictive and strongly "lock-in" than compared to even the appearances for Microsoft and other big corporates...

Microsoft + Google all the way. Don't assume I lined up to buy a goddamn phone. I HATE Apple. ...

No so sure on that one. Is Microsoft the lesser of the "evils" due to ineptness or dinosaur-esq stagnation?

I fear that Google is descending into evil just by mere corruption from its continuing growing dominance and power. There is no good other competitor...


Regards,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Never thought I would ever be seeing headlines like this:

Apple passes Microsoft to be biggest tech company


Is Microsoft really losing the plot so badly?

Regards,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Never thought I would ever be seeing headlines like this:

Apple passes Microsoft to be biggest tech company


Is Microsoft really losing the plot so badly?

Regards,
Martin

Strange as it sounds, No. There is a big difference between the two companies. Microsoft is a bottom feeder and often gets around $30 a copy for windows. The reason is because that's about what a factory copy cost. They are not selling that many aftermarket copies.

On the other hand, Apple is a top feeder. After market software cost less, but factory installed also includes a hardware sale. As many have already remarked, Apple hardware is expensive, but you are getting higher end hardware in the process. As the results, even at 10% of the market, Apple can do as well as Microsoft. This is why Apple is not interested in making their software run on non-Apple hardware.

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And here's an interesting follow-up on the Apple vs Adobe spat and the various claims made in the various highly publicised exchanges of letters.

All a Marketing game in amongst the battle for proprietary control?


Pot, meet kettle: a response to Steve Jobs' letter on Flash

Steve Jobs' recent missive on the deficiencies of Adobe's Flash is still reverberating around the Internet. In this guest editorial, John Sullivan of the Free Software Foundation responds, arguing that Apple is presenting users with a false choice between Adobe's proprietary software and Apple's walled garden.


It's all a lock-in game.

Did Adam and Eve suffer freedom or deceit or something else by their Apple?...

Cheers,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)