Comments on: Section 3.3.1 Does Not Prevent Cross Platform Development http://blog.whitepeaksoftware.com/2010/05/04/section-3-3-1-does-not-prevent-cross-platform-development/ Latest word on White Peak Software and our products. Sun, 12 Dec 2010 00:27:42 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.3 By: Jeff http://blog.whitepeaksoftware.com/2010/05/04/section-3-3-1-does-not-prevent-cross-platform-development/comment-page-1/#comment-202 Jeff Tue, 04 May 2010 21:03:51 +0000 http://blog.whitepeaksoftware.com/?p=244#comment-202 Well said, Kirby. I'm completely amazed that everyone seems to be forgetting that developing for almost any mobile platform was a completely closed affair for all devices. It was exceedingly difficult, laborious, tightly-controlled and expensive. Apple actually liberated the whole field of mobile development, a model that is now being adopted by others. That Apple doesn't now want to tip the balance completely in favor of letting their consumer devices be used as generic Turing machines is to Apple's credit. Both as a user and as a developer, I do not want cross-compiling to turn the phone/pad into a wasteland of bad software. There's already far too much now. If anything, I would like some stricter standards in place. The idea that anyone is hog-tied by the SDK is absurd. It's one of the cheapest development enviroments you can use. The ecosystem is small-company friendly to a fault (anyone with virtually no budget can immediately start producing apps). One can already make use of endless reams of C-based libraries that have been developed over the last 20 years, including tons of open source. There's no concern about the ease of access or openness from a developer's perspective. In response to Greg, I'd say that Apple is specifically trying to optimally impedance-match the development tools/languages/APIs to the hardware and services. Things like Flash are perfect examples of using a hammer when this dining room setup could use some classy silverware. It is perfectly within Apple's right (and the marketplace will punish Apple if they are wrong) to try to optimize this and keep out bad mismatches. No one was especially outraged that Java was kept off the phone. The outrage seems only to be that Flash has such a huge share of the web software marketplace. Why isn't the spotlight on Adobe? How about we keep Flash off the phone/pad and instead let me cross-compile from Xcode directly into Flash for consumption on the web? Adobe seems to want it to be one way: Flash->Phone, but their logic is really just business logic. Adobe (and Flash developers) are just not being let in to Apple's ecosystem. Adobe/Macromedia has never let anyone into their ecosystem, however, either. Well said, Kirby. I’m completely amazed that everyone seems to be forgetting that developing for almost any mobile platform was a completely closed affair for all devices. It was exceedingly difficult, laborious, tightly-controlled and expensive. Apple actually liberated the whole field of mobile development, a model that is now being adopted by others.

That Apple doesn’t now want to tip the balance completely in favor of letting their consumer devices be used as generic Turing machines is to Apple’s credit. Both as a user and as a developer, I do not want cross-compiling to turn the phone/pad into a wasteland of bad software. There’s already far too much now. If anything, I would like some stricter standards in place.

The idea that anyone is hog-tied by the SDK is absurd. It’s one of the cheapest development enviroments you can use. The ecosystem is small-company friendly to a fault (anyone with virtually no budget can immediately start producing apps). One can already make use of endless reams of C-based libraries that have been developed over the last 20 years, including tons of open source. There’s no concern about the ease of access or openness from a developer’s perspective.

In response to Greg, I’d say that Apple is specifically trying to optimally impedance-match the development tools/languages/APIs to the hardware and services. Things like Flash are perfect examples of using a hammer when this dining room setup could use some classy silverware. It is perfectly within Apple’s right (and the marketplace will punish Apple if they are wrong) to try to optimize this and keep out bad mismatches. No one was especially outraged that Java was kept off the phone.

The outrage seems only to be that Flash has such a huge share of the web software marketplace. Why isn’t the spotlight on Adobe? How about we keep Flash off the phone/pad and instead let me cross-compile from Xcode directly into Flash for consumption on the web? Adobe seems to want it to be one way: Flash->Phone, but their logic is really just business logic. Adobe (and Flash developers) are just not being let in to Apple’s ecosystem. Adobe/Macromedia has never let anyone into their ecosystem, however, either.

]]> By: Greg http://blog.whitepeaksoftware.com/2010/05/04/section-3-3-1-does-not-prevent-cross-platform-development/comment-page-1/#comment-201 Greg Tue, 04 May 2010 15:34:12 +0000 http://blog.whitepeaksoftware.com/?p=244#comment-201 Many developers feel that this shouldn't be something that Apple can regulate as it prevents free competition of tools and technologies. Basic comp-sci teaches us that some languages and some tools are better at solving certain problems. In this case developers are only allowed to use a hammer even if what they really need a spoon. Many developers feel that this shouldn’t be something that Apple can regulate as it prevents free competition of tools and technologies.

Basic comp-sci teaches us that some languages and some tools are better at solving certain problems. In this case developers are only allowed to use a hammer even if what they really need a spoon.

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