Doctorow on the iPad

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by kennyc

You have the choice not to write it.

+1... or write it for the Zune or for Andriod.

BOb

[Trenien]

Originally Posted by kennyc

You have the choice not to write it.

Many people who begin to write whatever app for a device they own choose to do it a while after buying said device. They are just satisfying an itch to tinker.
Apple's philosophie is to not allow you to do so. Actually, it's even worse than that since they actively try to prevent you from doing so.

I have no Apple device, and as long as they keep that philosophy I have no plan of ever buying one. But not being directly affected by their decisions doesn't mean I have no opinion about them, especially when this kind of behavior has such traction with nowadays companies.

I'll refer you to this, article about the ipad from John Gruber. From my point of view, the relevant part is that:

Such is the march of progress. 40 years ago you could open the hood of your car and see and touch just about every component in there. And you had to, because many of those components required frequent maintenance. To properly own a car required, to some degree, that you understood how a car worked. Today, you open the hood of your car and you see a big sealed block and a basin for the windshield washer fluid. You can buy a new car, drive it for years, and never once open the hood yourself.

It appears Mr Gruber sees that as some kind of progress. I see it as not really owning what you bought: to be able to repair anything on your car (apart from a flat tire), you need to go to a garage which has the appropriate computer they bought from the maker (for a really significant amount of money). But the first purpose of said computer is not to be able to repair the electronics, it's to tell the car's onboard computer that repair have been performed by a licenced person and that it can allow the car to start.

When what you can do with a device is limited by its designer for the sole purpose to extract one more buck out of your wallet, I don't see that as progress. And no, if I need a car, I can't "opt-out", for every car-maker does it now.

[DawnFalcon]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

+1... or write it for the Zune or for Andriod.

Then you have to accept, in turn, that the limit to a walled garden is a valid criticism of the iPhone/Pad. The freedom to tinker has been, and remains, one of the most important ways the younger generation gains the sort of skills which produce the next generation of engineers and coders, and also has far broader implications to identity on the internet, privacy, censorship and more

[tyche]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

I'm not sure where you are going with this... but you can get all the dev tools from MS for free. The Express versions of Visual Studio are free. The .Net framework is free... and all the Windows Phone 7 tools are free. The XNA framework to dev for XBox and or Zune are free. You don't need to buy an MSDN subscription or the full blown Visual Studio.. although I think the entry level Studio is $299.

So, if you were saying Mac tools are cheaper this is not the case.

BOb

No I was going with the fact that not all software tools are free and either are developer subscriptions. And even with free tools available there are many, many developers (professional & hobby) that pay significant money every year or two for both software and support from big players.

The yearly cost of an iPhone or Mac Developer license is tiny compared to costs outlaid for other software licenses. $99/year is like an amortized cost. Yeah, it would be nice if it was free but Apple has the right to charge and I think they offer services with it that justify the price. I spend more than that on other hobbies and I don't get as much fun out of them.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by DawnFalcon

Then you have to accept, in turn, that the limit to a walled garden is a valid criticism of the iPhone/Pad.

I do agree. However, I don't agree that there is any strong arming or such. It is plain and clear the requirements. You can opt in or not.

BOb

[DawnFalcon]

No, the requirements Apple put on getting into their garden are neither plain or clear. This is one of the major issues of working with them!

tyche - Like what? VCS? Oh, right, DVCS's like Git, Bazaar and Mercurial are free. What precisely are you suggesting is so expensive for a coder? Visual Studio, even with Visual Assist, is not precisely a bank-breaking cost.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Be sure an let us know how well it works on the beach in bright sun light.

Well, not being anywhere near a beach, I really can't say, but I had less problems reading in on a bright sunny day than I had reading my Sony or Kindle in a dark room without a light. Might as well complain about not being able to read without charging the battery.

[TallMomof2]

'Fraid not. In good weather I do a lot of reading outdoors in very bright light. Having not seen an iPad my assumption is that the readability is comparable to the Touch which means the iPad is not an outdoor device.

That's one thing I abhor about modern touchscreen phones is the poor screen visibility outdoors.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Well, not being anywhere near a beach, I really can't say, but I had less problems reading in on a bright sunny day than I had reading my Sony or Kindle in a dark room without a light. Might as well complain about not being able to read without charging the battery.

I'll be looking forward to your test results.

A Kindle or Sony Reader is readable under any conditions where one can read a book. That is not true of the iPad.

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by kennyc

A Kindle or Sony Reader is readable under any conditions where one can read a book. That is not true of the iPad.

Not so. You can't read a Kindle or Sony Reader from within a multi-tesla magnetic field. A paper book, however, would be fine.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by ardeegee

Not so. You can't read a Kindle or Sony Reader from within a multi-tesla magnetic field. A paper book, however, would be fine.

Yeah, but your brain would be fried, so it wouldn't matter.

[Graham]

Originally Posted by kennyc

A Kindle or Sony Reader is readable under any conditions where one can read a book.

Much as I applaud and agree with the spirit of the post...

Um... on an airplane on take-off and landing.

Knocks the iPad out as well though. Better carry all three.

Graham

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by ardeegee

Since the applications (including OS and firmware) are the only thing that makes computer hardware useful, that is a pretty big "other than."

Oh please, its the content thats the important thing on most computers these days even the ones that haven't been specifically designed with content consumption in mind.

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by HarryT

While true, I really don't see anything wrong with that. You could say the same thing about radio, television, theatre, art galleries, and even such things as professional sports - all are there to be "consumed" rather than "participated in". There's absolutely nothing wrong with any of that.

You also have the other situation where the passive consumption inspires people to then participate e.g. the greater interest in tennis after wimbledon etc.

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by ardeegee

As long as Apple decides that the application doesn't compete with something of their own, or offends them in some way (such as "adult content".) Then, your killer-app will be tossed on the garbage heap by Apple and you will have no other option but to bend over, grab your ankles, and think of England. THAT is how Apple stifles creativity.

Path for making a PC program:

1. Write program
2. Make program available (be it through your web site, shareware sites, torrents, even retail if it is good enough.)

Path for making a iPod/iPhone/iPad program

1. Write program
2. Hope that Apple likes your program, because if they don't, you are SOL because there are no other distribution channels.

If somebody has taken a big enough step to actually do the huge task you casually list as #1 then they have plenty of alternatives even if apple did refuse their app such as converting it for android.

There are a great many reasons to dislike apple and the way they do business, but the whole claim that apple having to approve apps will kill of creativity is fairly idiotic when if somebody has taken the time to develop an app for their iphone it's more true to say that their creativity has been inspired by it.

Incidentally, did doctorow post similar rants about any of the available games consoles since they are similarly closed and require approvals too.