Development No News on an SDK?

Yup, when I asked the question the Edge was still a couple weeks from shipping (I was one of the original pre-orders.) So, it's not surprising they changed their mind since.

Originally Posted by borisb

Actually, in retrospect, it was only a few months apart......

My estimate of a year was based on StevenP's comments, and if it was before shipping, thats about a year ago. Currently, borisb's statement today is the first time I have seen anyone say that the SDK just won't happen. That is the reason I said there were different answers a year apart, rather than a few months, as borisb says above. While it may not be surprising that they "changed their mind since", retraction of the idea, without publically stating, is simply unacceptable in my estimation.

boris, you can't simultaneously claim that Entourage is making loads of money AND their resources are stretched thin. In or out, we're not heating the whole internet here.

Forget about resources and money. Bottom line, it's not about either, although in the past enTourage and we, including myself, have used this excuse. It's simply not enTourage's intention to release an SDK, otherwise it would already have occurred.

The value of a platform is the software that runs on it. With little software there's a limit to the number of people who can be trick^^^^^convinced into buying the device. Without an SDK the only supplier of fully functional software for the eDGe is Entourage.

If entourage's resources are limited, then preventing others from helping them out is downright stupid. If resources are not limited then why can't the entourage-produced software deal with landscape properly after all this time? I mean, c'mon, the Journal appears to be Xournal with some of the features broken^^^^^^removed and eInk screen support added. If entourage's published their source I bet landscape would be fixed in a month.

It's only a matter of time before another dual screen reader/tablet is released in sufficient numbers. Perhaps a dual eInk display, or a dual LCD display. If it works properly and the platform is open then as a developer I see little reason to stick with the eDGe or any successor from entourage.

Anybody know of a vaguely similar company that refused to release an SDK? And anybody know their rationale for it? This is really strange, unless zombies ate the brains of Entourage's management (in which case, this would be expected behavior).

Originally Posted by morellij3179

**** the edge.

It doesn't have large enough ports. You may be using it in a way that was not intended by the designers. And probably voiding the warranty to boot.

Historically, most companies never release internal software information for programmable devices. They act like what they are selling is the software and drivers, instead of the actual hardware. A few companies understand the benefits of providing reasonably free information to a community of developers. Given the permissiveness that allows Entourage to use Android on the eDGe one would think this line of thinking would have rubbed off on someone in Entourage and would also apply to the eDGe's unique features. It seems not.

The use of Android by enTourage merely saves them licensing fees ($$$). Since enTourage doesn't demonstrate a culture of openess, I doubt "open source" was the attraction.

Of course, saving licensing fees is what attracts every company to using Android on their phones/tablets when they consider what it costs to buy into the Microsoft camp. These other companies are saved the pain of an SDK, though, by having standard implementations of Android for their devices for which the standard Android SDK suffices for app development.

Blah. Even Apple doesn't try to develop all their software themselves. Blah.

I'm going to make a quick comment in here and that'll be all. The amount of people that will be made happier from Android 2.2 is far greater than the amount of people that will be made happier from the release in an SDK. This should be obvious.

Originally Posted by Snow

I'm going to make a quick comment in here and that'll be all. The amount of people that will be made happier from Android 2.2 is far greater than the amount of people that will be made happier from the release in an SDK. This should be obvious.

That I can understand. It also enforces my original opinion that the delay was more resource related than lack of interest related.

Originally Posted by Snow

The amount of people that will be made happier from Android 2.2 is far greater than the amount of people that will be made happier from the release in an SDK. This should be obvious.

Perhaps, or maybe if you released an SDK your App store might not be quite as much of a joke. Right now there are what, a grand total of 70 apps, at least 80% of which are useless toys, and none of which take advantage of the Edge's unique features. I can't speak for anyone else, but I didn't buy my Edge so I could play Snake clones.

The form factor of the Edge presents an opportunity to develop unique and potentially highly useful applications that can't be developed on other devices. We are approaching 1 year since the initial release and there is no indication that Entourage has either the will or resources to pursue this type of development. Why not provide the information needed by third party developers so they can pursue this type of experimentation, while Entourage focuses on maintaining and improving the core features?

Developing for the Edge is something I've been wanting to do since I first checked out the specs on the Entourage home page. The possible uses are endless once we get a good SDK. The apps we develop will only help Entourage in the long run.

The amount of people that will be made happier from Android 2.2 is far greater than the amount of people that will be made happier from the release in an SDK. This should be obvious.

That's obviously wrong, actually. The people made happy by the sdk are not the developers but the users of the apps, and that's a lot of people - not just the current users, but also people who are encouraged to become users because of the apps. There's some news now about iPhone apps recently blessed by the Vatican to let you keep track of your sins (for purposes of obtaining absolution, not for purposes of advertising), your rosary recitations, etc. This one little set of apps isn't going to make a lot of people happy, so Entourage isn't going to develop anything like this. Multiply this by a few thousands or tens of thousands, though, and you've got a lot of people.

A well-stocked app store is a huge, huge selling point, but Entourage cannot stock one on its own.