Apple Turns Uncool in 2011

Full Story: Hedge Funds Crash, Apple Turns Uncool in 2011

"The Apple Inc. backlash starts. We used to think International Business Machines Corp. was sort of sinister. Then it was Microsoft Corp. But which business today has far too much power, is run by control freaks and puts profits before principles? That’s right. The world’s third-biggest company, measured by market value, is about to discover that the line between cool upstart and ugly monopolist is a very thin one."

If you have been following my blog, I predicted that 2010 would be the best year for Apple. I guess I am not alone in that prediction :-)

WikiLeaks App Removal - Another example of Apple Dictatorship

Full story: Apple Removes WikiLeaks Program From App Store

An Apple spokeswoman said the program was removed because it violated company rules that state apps must “comply with all local laws and may not put an individual or group in harm’s way.” She didn’t respond to a question about why the app had originally been approved.

As of today, Wikileaks has not been convicted of any crime or even charged with anything. If so, why would Apple decide to pull the app with a vague explanation? What local laws were actually broken? Also, where is the proof that the app put any individual at risk? The app in question simply put a nice UI around what is publically available? Should Apple's Safari Browser be banned as well as it provides access?

Why Does Apple Make Donation Apps So Hard?

Solution: Give Apple a 30% CUT in donations and there might be a chance to keep the feature.

Full story here

Why Does Apple Offer Free Engraving?

Original Story here

While it is all speculation, given Apple's history and its ability to want to control everything including how you use their product (not to mention sucking every penny out of you), I would bet that it is not in the best interest of their consumers. The original article and ensuing comments points out couple of reasons

• The real reason Apple offers free engraving is to weaken the secondary market....By offering free engraving, Apple makes these used devices less valuable to other consumers. Who wants a weird engraving chosen by the previous owner on his iP*d? The more iP*ds are engraved, the smaller (or at least less valuable) the secondary market is, and the more profitable it is to be the durable-goods monopolist, Apple.
• Engraved products are not returnable
• It causes people to buy the products thru the Apple store, which is more economical for Apple than when people buy products thru third party retailers. It is that simple. Apple gets the retail price of the product when it sells rather than the wholesale price

I made my prediction/bet during last christmas (2009) that 2010 would be the best year for Apple and I still stand by it. 2011 would be the beginning of end of Apple's meteoric rise. Don't expect the stock to drop on January 1st 2011. It would be a gradual drop. Andriod surpassing iPhone (which is their biggest money maker) in terms of daily activations is one proof and its dominance of iPad will be challenged by many products that will be out between now and 1st quarter of 2011.

Perhaps I should do a put option on Apple stock and be rich instead of bitching!

Apple bars Danish Android magazine from App Store

Full Story Here

Excerpts

"Apple has rejected a "magazine" app from Danish publisher Mediaprovider because the content was exclusively about Android, the rival mobile OS to Apple's own iOS -- reinforcing charges that Apple's censorship is heavy-handed, arbitrary and in some cases hypocritical .."

We would never know what the real reason was as Apple is not known for being transparent. Assuming that the app rejection is primarily because it features competitor's mobile OS, well this is yet another proof that re-inforces what everyone is saying. Apple isn't good for the Web. Apple isn't good for Technology progress. Apple isn't good for your Wallet.

Apple is number one danger to Internet freedom

Orginal Article: Apple is number one danger to Internet freedom, says Columbia professor

Excerpts

The man who coined the term "net neutrality" now says that Apple is the company that most endangers the freedom of the Internet. Columbia law professor Tim Wu also tells the New York Times that he expects that danger to outlive Steve Jobs' tenure at Apple.


Which companies do you fear the most?


Right now, I’d have to say Apple.
...

What worries you about Apple?
As I discuss in the book, Steve Jobs has the charisma, vision and instincts of every great information emperor. The man who helped create the personal computer 40 years ago is probably the leading candidate to help exterminate it. His vision has an undeniable appeal, but he wants too much control.

Mac App Store Fallout

With the recent Mac App Store announcement,  wide spectrum of bloggers and well known tech sites are expressing concerns.
What especially caught my eye is the comment from Jonathan ‘Wolf’ Rentzsch's (from http://rentzsch.tumblr.com/post/1369652253/mac-app-store) which reflects one of my primary concerns about Apple. He writes:

"Apple, a corporation with billions and billions of dollars in the bank, is taking 30% of small Mac developer’s revenue — an outrageously high fee, more than three times what popular high-end fulfillment provider FastSpring charges. Worse, Apple keeps customer data away from developers, standing in between developers and their users. Customer service and technical support suffer — Apple won’t even allow refunds to dissatisfied customers."

There is no doubt in my mind that Corporations exist solely for making profits. However what I dislike about the way Apple does is that it rips them off folks so badly all the while drawing strict boundaries on what one can or can't do (See iPhone: 4% of market, 50% of profit)
Some thoughts on the same can be found at
5 Criticisms of Mac App Store (And Why They're Wrong)
What Software Is Apple Going to Sell in the Mac App Store?
Devs voice concerns over Mac App Store terms
Apple's Mac App Store Review Guidelines Posted

Are Apple user's the happiest with everything Apple does?

Apparently not unless you live inside reality distortion field. One thing I really dislike about Apple is that they would produce what they think is the best for everyone. You heard it right, Big Brother Apple knows the best when it comes to deciding what you would prefer. So I sympethze with this user who shared his experience with his iLife 11 upgrade.

I just upgraded to iLife 11, only interested in iPhoto. I use it to store and display photos I edited in Lightroom and PS and so far up to this fateful day I have been perfectly happy with the flickr export, the slick look, the fullscreen, the easy mail and the other features.



So I was pretty happy when Apple touted the new iPhoto. Now I'm stuck with it and boy does it suck! Seriously I can't believe how bad it is. It's all in the details, the things you only see once it's on your system. Here's just a starter of shit:

• No fullscreen viewing. That's right, you cannot view your pictures without toolbars on top and bottom all the fucking time. Fullscreen, the main feature they advertise about iPhoto 11 is actually taken away. And no, i will not use the obnoxious diashow that throws music at me every time I open it!

• Mailing pictures. Before it was easy and fast. Click on whatever you want to send, Mail.app opens and you choose the size of the pictures and you're good to go. Not anymore, no sir, because there are templates now and Apple will make sure you goddamn use them. They all look ugly as fuck and most if not all of them will crop your pictures to match the template. And WHAT THE FUCK you can only mail 10 pictures max! What is wrong with the people who developed this? This is unusable even for my mom. Oh and when you actually send your less than ten pictures in a shitty cropped template of your very limited choice you can't do anything while it's sending. I was in fullscreen mode and it blocked the computer for several minutes. Well, you can do one thing and that is editing the mail while it's being sent. Why, Apple?

• When viewing albums all the flickr exports are displayed as albums as well. Because I exported most events to flickr it's like mixing the events with the albums. When I click albums I want albums. And stop using this cheesy photo pile look, Apple!

• EDIT: No zooming in anymore! I don't even...

• EDIT: Oh, and one more thing: Exporting now crashes my iPhoto because it's stuck trying to log on to Flickr. Everytime, without a chance do disable the Flickr issue.

I can't invest more time into this rant for health reasons but basically Apple has ruined iPhoto so utterly I can hardly believe it. And yeah, downgrading is nearly impossible without using a backed up version of the library. I just have the impression that the whole thing was rushed so Steve Jobs can present it himself. I hope he at least knows how bad it is.


It's shit like that Steve, shit like that!

Edit: Does anybody know a good program to simply display jpgs and have them neatly organized in events? I use Lightroom, so Aperture just for viewing is overkill.

Full post at http://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/dvmf0/iphoto_11_fuck_you/. Someone mentioned that it crashes a lot too! And the comments are fun to read

UPDATE: There are more horror stories about iPhoto deleting their entire album etc. See discussion forum thread at Apple at Topic : WHERE are my PHOTOS????? . There is also WARNING!!! iPhoto 11 Erases ENTIRE iPhoto Libraries

Competition is good! Thanks Andriod

It is a good day. Cause of euphoria is : Statement by Apple on App Store Review Guidelines. Specifically the part

"In particular, we are relaxing all restrictions on the development tools used to create iOS apps, as long as the resulting apps do not download any code. This should give developers the flexibility they want, while preserving the security we need."

Hurray! I have no doubt in my mind that Andriod is putting intense pressure on Apple to keep developers to stay with Apple's ecosystem.

Andriod surpasses iPhone in new activations

Since the beginning of this year, Andriod has been selling like hotcake. It recently have surpassed iPhone in terms of activations per month. THANKS for voting with your wallet.

Some recent articles
http://blogs.computerworld.com/16883/android_apple_market_share
http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/quantcast_android_eats_into_ios_lead_of_mobile_browsing/
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-08-02/google-s-android-passes-apple-among-new-u-s-users.html
http://www.tulsaworld.com/business/article.aspx?subjectid=52&articleid=20100803_52_E3_ASonyE564851
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-02/google-s-android-passes-apple-s-iphone-among-new-u-s-smartphone-shoppers.html

The Anti-Social Ping

There are millions who believe Apple could do no wrong. However, I really don't care about those who are blind followers. I am as crtical of Apple as any other company. So I am glad that media is taking a critical look at Ping and commenting on what it is. While it is true that Apple can fix some of the issues in future updates/releases, Apple's image as a company that delivers great experience from the get go is crumbling. My rants aside, this fortune article summarized the issues with Ping very nicely

Excerpts
•TechCrunch's Erick Schonfeld. The Problem with Ping: "The biggest problem I have with Ping is that it lives in iTunes. Not only does it live in iTunes, it is isolated there. iTunes is not social. It is not even on the Web."


•All Thing D's Peter Kafka: Ping Averts Its Gaze. Apple's New Social Network Doesn't Really Want to Know Much About You: "This isn't about Apple's walled garden that keeps Ping walled off from Facebook and other services. It's about Apple's decision to wall off Ping from your own music collection."

•Scripting News' Dave Winer. Ping: It's even worse than it appeared: "Ping is not a social network, by any realistic definition of the term... My guess as to why we can't post to the timeline is that Apple is afraid we might say something harsh about them or Ping."

•Xconomy's Wade Roush. The Leaning Tower of Ping: How iTunes Could Be Apple's Undoing: "Adding a social networking interface, on top of all of iTunes' other functions, is like grafting another limb to the forehead of an octopus. It's just too much."

•Cthulhu and other crazies' Swizec. Apple's Ping is a big pile of steaming dung: "Meh I give up, there is nothing worth following on Ping. The artists I do find are labeled as users and everybody knows it's not really them there, it's some automated bot thing to keep us notified of their stuff."

Steve Jobs is a control freak!!

Story: Steve Jobs Wants It Both Ways

Alan Deutschman is the author of many best selling books including The Second Coming of Steve Jobs. In his interview for "The Motley Fool" he shares the hurdles he had to cross to publish his book about Steve Jobs. Excerpts

Deutschman: That's right. Not only did Steve Jobs refuse to cooperate with the book, but he blocked a number of sources from cooperating and then about a month before the book's scheduled publication, he telephoned the chief executive officer of Random House and tried unsuccessfully to have the book killed. Jobs also bought the rights to the photographs that my publisher was trying to license to use on the dust jacket cover, preventing us from using that photograph, even though it was a very appealing photograph of him, and forcing us to scrap the dust jacket and design and print a new one at considerable expense. Jobs really went out of his way to try to prevent and then frustrate the publication of my book, which was an independent book by a journalist doing a lot of reporting, who was going to have an independent voice.

Arrogance is a weakness. His obsession with control, which we have seen in the, most recently in the so-called jailbreak issue about whether consumers can basically hack their iPhones to use their own software that hasn't been approved by Steve Jobs. The man is an incredible control freak. That has had a big upside -- putting his passion into making great products and harnessing the creativity of other brilliant people and having this passion for perfection -- but it also has a downside. And I think where Apple is vulnerable now is Jobs is once again trying to control every aspect of his products. With the iPhone, it has led to incredible early success where they have been able to design the hardware, the software, approve the Apps, completely orchestrate the entire experience for users and do a wonderful job with it. But it leaves Apple vulnerable to open approaches of, for example, Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) with its Android operating system for mobile devices. You kind of wonder whether, as in the personal computer industry years ago, whether Jobs' desire to control everything is leaving him vulnerable to other people who are giving up control, who are putting out their technologies for other people to adapt and modify and potentially creating a much bigger market for less expensive products.

Does anyone truly believe we should all encourage his bad behavior? Please vote with our wallet.

The Beginning of the End of Apple

Story: Time Inc.’s iPad Problem Is Trouble for Every Magazine Publisher

"...Last month, the publisher was set to launch a subscription version of its Sports Illustrated iPad app, where consumers would download the magazines via Apple’s iTunes but would pay Time Inc. directly. But Apple rejected the app at the last minute, forcing the Time Warner (TWX) unit to sell single copies, using iTunes as a middleman, multiple sources tell me.

Since then, Time Inc. executives “have been going nuts,” trying to figure out how to get Apple (AAPL) to approve a subscription plan. One of the more desperate suggestions, which apparently didn’t get traction: Pulling the publisher’s apps out of the iTunes store altogether...."

This isn't the first time someone spent all their time and energy and developed a really cool app only to be rejected. If Apple's fundamental claim for tigher control of AppStore is to ensure quality, how come Time Inc's application is being rejected? It is completely unfair of Apple to want a cut on every transation. I pity the magazine publishers who are working with really thin margins but still have to give a share of their revenue to Apple just because it controls the ecosystem.
 
If Microsoft came any closer to any of the things Apple has been demanding, folks would have screamed "Anti-Trust". I really think Apple is taking the path of self destruction on many fronts. I have been telling many of my friends that Year 2010 would be the best year for Apple. Let's see if I am right next year.

Jailbreaking an iPhone is now legal

Story: EFF Wins New Legal Protections for Video Artists, Cell Phone Jailbreakers, and Unlockers

Anyone remember Apple's claim that Jailbreaking supports terrorism? Apple went to great lengths to ensure that its ecosystem is locked and closed. However, I am glad that the Copyright Office and Librarian of Congress have provided DMCA exemptions and legalized the unlocking or jailbreaking of phones (specifically the iPhone).

iPhone4: It Ain't perfect and Apple Won't Admit It

We all know about Reality Distortion Field which in my opinion is just outright deception that Apple keeps employing it when it comes to promoting self.

But that doesn't seem to satisfy Apple at all and it must purge routinely all references to HW failures or issues that may affect its RDF from its support forums. The latest episode is about Apple purging all references to the Consumer Reports dis-recommendation about iPhone4 due to its antenna issues. TUAW, the unofficial Apple blog reports that Apple has been busy deleting threads containing references to it. Wow!

Apple’s App Store and Antitrust

Story: http://loganleger.com/apple-app-store-antitrust

There is a growing concern about Apple's anti-competetive practices and the above is one of them. The author summarizes his concerns as follows

"Apple’s App Store is a target for an antitrust or civilian lawsuit because of the policies thereof. The two major issues here are: 1) Apple’s use of private APIs in App Store apps; 2) disparity on the part of App Store reviewers in application of unwritten policies."

Hit the link above for the full scoop.

The Death Grip: Apple's failure to test the very basic!

Apple released iPhone 4.0 with great fanfare and as usual the device was sold out. It would have been business as usual until significant number of users started noticing that the device would lose signal strength and would continue losing bars to the point of disconnecting when held in certain way. It would not have been a big deal if Apple acknowledged the issue and worked to resolve the issue. Instead the unexpected happened. In response to one of the customer's email to Mr.Jobs on what Apple is doing to address the issue, SJ responded with

"Just avoid holding it that way"

My jaw dropped! Why? Because Apple prides itself in making a device that you or I would want to use without needing any adjustments on our part. The sad part is that Apple marketing machine spoke highly of the new antenna design which is causing the issue.

See this video and a million others in youtube. My colleague had one and I could easily replicate the issue where the signal strength drops to zero. What good is a phone if it cannot make phone calls?

UPDATE: Apple appears to put blame on the software. But no one is buying is and neither do I. The problem clearly is about signal loss when holding certain way. How does calculating/showing the bars differently address the issue?  Consumer Reports confirmed the issue be an hardware issue and so I am waiting to see how Apple is going to respond to this.

iPhone Economics - it is bad news. And then it gets worse

Story: http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2010/06/full-analysis-of-iphone-economics-its-bad-news-and-then-it-gets-worse.html

As gigaom's summary put it, it is a losing proposition for MOST AppStore developers. Here’s the summary of summary:

• The iTunes App Store has generated 5 billion downloads and $1.4 billion in revenues, which works out to 20 cents per downloaded app for a developer, after Apple’s 30 percent cut.
• After considering that 73 percent of all apps are paid, each of the 164,000 paid apps in the App Store generate an average of $3,050 for a developer in a year.
• Although there are more paid apps than free apps, 85 percent of all downloaded apps are free. Even with an average of 94 apps installed, each Apple mobile devices only generate $14 for developers annually.
• With the low estimated development cost effort of $15,000 it can take a developer up to 22 years to recoup costs from creating a mobile app, using the median revenue of $682 annually.

The Winner: Apple ofcourse. 30% cut is not bad.

Dan Gillmor the Mac devotee is moving to Linux

Story: http://www.salon.com/technology/dan_gillmor/2010/06/20/from_mac_to_linux/index.html

He writes:

So why am I about to migrate to Linux (aka GNU/Linux)? Because Apple is pushing me away, and because I value some principles, perhaps almost religiously, that affect other decisions.

Apple is pushing computer users as fast as it can toward a centrally controlled computing ecosystem where it makes all the decisions about what native applications may be used on the devices it sells -- and takes a cut of every dollar that is spent inside that ecosystem. This is a direct repudiation of its own history, and more broadly that of the larger personal-computing ecosystem, where no one can stop anyone else from writing and distributing software that other people might want to use.

Steve Jobs says Apple is a curator, nothing more. This grossly understates the control. Jobs says Apple has "made mistakes" in being the police, judge, jury and executioner in its Disney-style world, and is working hard to perfect the system.

But this is a disconnect with reality. Central control, no matter how well-intentioned, is itself the problem, not the solution. The "enlightened dictator" is fiction. And dangerous.

I realize that I won't persuade the many people who prefer to live in gated communities, believing they can leave any time they wish. But switching costs will only get higher over time for those who choose to live in the Apple ecosystem.

Build an iPhone App and you give away the right to criticize Apple

Story: http://blog.reddit.com/2010/06/better-mobile-reddit-for-all.html

Did you know that Apple's EULA forces you to shutup when it comes to criticizing Apple? I can't really quote or provide references because anyone who signs the developer agreement is prohibited from making it public (sure a version exists but I don't see the point). And my simple mind wonders how in the world is it anyway connected to the App I am writing. A parallel would be for U.S government to demand that you give away freedom of speech right as a pre-condition to getting the citizenship.

To summarize, Reddit.com has decided to stop investing in building the App for the iPhone (or other platforms) and rather focus their energy on making their mobile web experience better on all platforms. They quoted a few reasons which echos the general theme of this blog. They are

• "...or that we had to sign a EULA to use them (that incidentally says we can't criticize them publicly -- oh well)"
• or that by putting energy to support an iphone app we are neglecting android, blackberry, and even palm users (they still exist!) let alone an ipad version.
• Mostly, dealing with the app store is a royal pain in the ass. ...As such, our development is based around the radical notion that we can deploy bugfixes to site problems in less than a fortnight. This is not the case with the app store (quite the contrary actually). We've had too many legitimate bugfixes rejected from the store because the reviewer of the patch happened to check on a day when someone made a poop joke or our thumbnailer did a particularly good job detecting the raciest image on the page. Nevermind pointing out that the content for the app comes from the web and that we didn't put the poop joke in there just for them, but all this has been said before and will be said again.

Yet Another App Rejection

Story: MyFrame App rejection

So you may ask why I am writing about yet another App store rejection when it no longer qualifies as news? I did for 2 reasons

1. In this instance, Apple did not provide any good reason for rejection. Yes Steve's mail provided some context but without that, it simply would have been construed as Apple's discretion. This is what dictatorial regimes do and I have no doubt that Mr.Steve is imposing his will.
2. What incentives do businesses have in investing on their platform? I blogged earlier pondering about the same.

Here is what the developer in the above story concluded it with

My Frame was approved by Apple 3 times (once for each version we released), and then now, at version 1.2 they decide it’s to be removed? How can a company be prepared to invest into a platform that can change at any time, cutting you off and kicking you out, with no course of action but to whine on some no-name blog.

The walls of Apple's walled garden are getting higher, and life outside the garden looks better and better

Story: Why I Switched from iPhone to Android


Yay! Finally people are starting to notice and pay attention to what they have to give up by entering/encouraging the walled garden. The recent news about Android Now Outselling iPhone is the sign of the tide turning against Apple

U.S. probes Apple digital music dominance

Story: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE64P6Z920100526

According to the story, Apple had used its market dominance to prevent labels from agreeing to let Amazon.com exclusively debut new songs. Does it sound like Microsoft from the past?

One man, One company, One carrier would be our future

Is Google's Vic reading my blog? I wonder because this is exactly my case against Apple. Below is what Vic Gundotra of Google said recently when explaining why Google entered this market:

"If we did not act, we faced a draconian future where one man, one company, one carrier would be our future."

Why Apple's iPhone is Bad for Innovation

At the Supernova Conference in San Francisco, Jonathan Zittrain, a professor at Harvard Law School, talks about the dangers of closed devices, such as the iPhone, which cannot be easily modified by anyone except their vendor. Hit the link for the talk.

Apple iPad & Freedom from porn

In an email exchange between one of the gizmodo writers and Mr.Steve, the later opined that iPad provides freedom from porn or atleast trying to accomplish that. This is exactly one of the many things i have been bitching about lately. Why should Apple getting into this moral policing? I am perfectly capable of providing safe access to internet content on two of the laptops I have at home. I really want Apple to stick to building hardware & software that runs on it and let me worry about the rest.

It appears the moral policing is reaching new heights with the banning of violance and adult situations in mango comics
Welcome to the future where Mr.Steve Orweillian Jobs will decide what is acceptable and what is not for my kids. It wasn't enough for him to control what companies or individuals can use to write apps.

We ? Apple

I really like the Adobe campaign that tries to bring awareness on this issue and put a little pressure on Apple to change a bit. I am in no way saying Adobe is altruistic or has always done things right. It is just another company trying to protect their turf. But I agree with the message.

Apple has been digging its own hipster grave

Technology columnist Christopher Null writes here on how Apple is becoming uncool and has been digging its own grave lately. I couldn't agree more.

Excerpts from his article

But there's no doubting that Apple has been spending the last several months digging its own hipster grave as it becomes an angry sourpuss of a company that many have started comparing to Microsoft, something that was unthinkable only a few years ago.
And Apple may actually be even worse than Redmond. Consider the Gestapo tactics of firing overly chatty employees and, in perhaps the dumbest move from the company ever, sending a team of cops to break down the door of a Gizmodo blogger and seize his computers, all over a misplaced cell phone. Apple prizes its secrecy — a tactic that has been incredibly successful at building buzz and placing free media stories for years — but now that secrecy has turned mean-spirited, the business equivalent of the old man yelling at kids to get out of his yard. (If you don't believe me, check out some of the replies that Steve Jobs sends when people email him.)

revMobile: Why you shouldn't bet on Apple

Story: revMobile and Apple's new iPhone SDK Agreement

Yes this is yet another story of how Apple can can make your business irrelevant and waste all the time, energy & resources you put into develop your idea and be successful. What guarantee does your business have in the Apple ecosystem that surely guarantees success? If you spend an hour of your time on the web, it is full of examples of additional hurdles you would face.

As much as I hate Apple's policies & policing, I wish good luck to revMobile team on an outcome that rewards their effort.

U.S. Anti-Trust Cops Investigating Apple

It is fantastic news. I really welcome it and I hope something good comes out it unlike the earlier FCC investigation into Google Voice rejection investigation. I really hope this defines some boundary that does not hinder innovation but levels the playing field.

On the contrary, Apple pays its lawyers extremely well and so I just expect this to fade in to the dark and nothing would change.

Jobs on Flash: Hypocrisy So Thick You Could Cut it with a Knife

This (or this among many others) is one of the best written piece about Apple hypocrisy. Excerpts below:

Carbon

In his letter, Jobs derided Adobe for not adopting new technologies quick enough, pointing specifically towards how long it has taken Adobe to leave Carbon behind. It wasn't until the recently released Creative Suite version 5.0 that Adobe switched its applications over to Cocoa. Considering how old Cocoa is, it's indeed about time.

But then, why did it take Apple so many years to transition the prime Mac OS X application, the Finder, to Cocoa? The Cocoa variant of the Finder shipped with Snow Leopard, which was released August 28, 2009. To make matters worse - iTunes still hasn't been re-written in Cocoa, and is still shipping in all its 32bit Carbon goodness.

You could argue that surely, iTunes has no benefit from switching to Carbon and 64bit, and I'll grant you that one. However, Apple has one massive application that is still fully Carbon and 32bit, an application that is very similar in scope to Adobe's product offerings: Final Cut Pro is still written in Carbon, and is still 32bit. In other words, it's okay for Apple to neglect Cocoa for Final Cut Pro, but it's not okay for Adobe to take their time.

I think the prime reason it is taking/has taken both Adobe and Apple so long to transition these massively complex applications over to Cocoa is quite a simple one: it's really hard. These aren't Chess or TextEdit we're talking about, people - we're looking at what is probably a massive amount of complicated code.

It's not just Adobe that has taken its sweet time to transition to Cocoa. Microsoft Office:Mac 2008 is also written in Carbon, and heck, even Apple itself is still in the middle of transitioning to Cocoa.

H264


We've talked about this on OSNews in quite some detail already. H264 is no better than Flash. This video codec is proprietary and patented up the wazzoo, and therefore, wholly incompatible with the very concept of an open standard. To make matters much, much worse, the licensing body that oversees H264, the MPEG-LA, has stated in no uncertain terms that they will not hesitate to sue ordinary users for using the video codec.

Why, then, is Apple, in a letter full of talk of openness and standards, promoting this closed codec, a codec that will once again shackle the web to a proprietary technology, just as we're busy breaking free from Flash? The answer is easy: follow the money.

Apple is part of the MPEG-LA, as is Microsoft. This means that the more people license H264, the more money Apple and Microsoft get, since their patents are in the patent pool. Steve Jobs might go all starry-eyed and gush about how much Apple believes in open standards and the open web, but just as with any other company - Adobe, Microsoft - this support ends where Apple's wallet begins.

That is the sole reason why they're promoting H264, disguising it as a web standard. As you can see, I can get very worked up over this. At least when Microsoft is talking about standards, everybody knows it's out of self-interest; we geeks know Microsoft, and none of us will fall for that trap any longer. This, however, is not yet the case with Apple - people still have this 1984-esque perception of Apple being the rebel, and this leads to people accepting H264 without question.

This is dangerous, and will cripple the web once again. And yes, I will hammer on this subject on OSNews for as long as it takes. I have no problems whatsoever with proprietary software or technologies (heck, my media centres both run Windows 7, and I love my iPhone), but when it comes to the web, I am nearly militant about keeping it open. I still remember the days when not having Flash was a major problem on many alternative operating systems, and just as we are starting to break free from it, Apple and Microsoft come in, pull the wool over everybody's eyes, and shackle the web to yet another proprietary technology.

I don't want to boot up Haiku R1 only to not be able to watch video content on the web. It brings back too many unpleasant memories of yore.

iTunes


This one is strongly related to the Carbon aspect. Jobs' letter talks about how it's bad for a platform if developers use cross-platform technologies, and more specifically, that Adobe has been slow in adopting new technologies in Mac OS X, with Carbon of course being the prime example.

And yet, without any sense of shame, Apple ships iTunes for Windows. iTunes for Windows is by far one of the worst pieces of (major) Windows software you can possibly think of. It does not integrate with Windows in any way, does not use any of the advanced technologies present since Windows Vista (refined in Windows 7), it's incredibly slow, it crashes a lot, it still hasn't been ported to 64bit (despite consumer 64bit versions of Windows existing since 2005) and in general, sucks harder than a... No, I'm not going to finish that analogy.

Oh, and of course, it installs a whole boatload of services that run in the background without actually asking you for permission. Install iTunes on Windows, and watch WinPatrol spaz out.

Remind you of anything? Yes, iTunes (and all other Windows software Apple ships) is the Flash of the Windows platform (other than, uh, Flash itself, obviously). The hypocrisy is so thick here you could cut it with a knife. What makes it worse is the situation isn't getting any better - quite the opposite. Every new version of iTunes for Windows only seems to make it worse instead of better.

I have an iPhone and I love it. However, I will not install iTunes for Windows. I installed it to first set up my iPhone and transfer my CD collection, and then removed it as quickly as I could. I'll install it again on a Windows machine once iPhone OS 4.0 is released. Point releases be damned.

This actually brings up the last point I wanted to make, yet another point to illustrate the hypocrisy. My main desktop, which I use for everything, has always had Linux installed alongside Windows, but somewhere late last year I realised I didn't really use Windows any longer, so I decided to just remove it altogether.

This, of course, has cut me off from iTunes (yay!), while also cutting me off from access to my iPhone (boo!). It would be incredibly trivial for Apple to allow people to manage their iPhone's and iPod's contents manually through the file manager, but illustrating its love for double standards, Apple refuses to. They want to tie you to iTunes, world's worst piece of Windows software.

iAd Unlevels The Playing Field

Apple’s New Developer Agreement Unlevels the iAd Playing Field

Author summarizes his concerns as follows

Barring app developers from collecting usage information will hurt clearly app developers by limiting their ability to improve their apps. As for competing ad networks, they appear to be hobbled by Apple’s new policy, reducing choice for developers who want to include ads on iPhone OS devices.

It would be very un-Apple-like for the company to back down and alter this agreement. But if it really bars ad networks that compete with Apple iAd from gathering analytics, as appears to be the case, Apple iAd network will be able to offer far more valuable ads than any competing network will be able to — a powerful selling point.

Welcome to the velvet prison

Excerpts from Apple Wants To Own You:

Unless you're a captive of Steve Jobs' reality-distortion field, it's easy to see that Apple's rules are more about blunting competitors and creating a prudish atmosphere guaranteed to offend nobody than they are about throttling viruses and improving the user experience. I don't think Apple should be enjoined from imposing its dictatorial edicts about what can and can't run on iPhones, as long as consumers know the score going in. 

Apple is beyond proprietary

Here is what Scott McNealy had to say about Apple. From http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2010/04/15/scott-mcnealy-can-still-dish/?section=magazines_fortune

Apple (AAPL) and Steve Jobs: “Apple is beyond proprietary, and the consumer has no idea that they are checking into the roach motel. Jobs has been brilliant, and he also understands the power of the secret better than anyone I have ever seen.”

No Sh!t Allowed in the App Store? Oh Please!

Excerpts from http://designbygravity.wordpress.com/2010/04/19/no-sht-allowed-in-the-app-store-oh-please/

Apple Exercises Relentless Control of the App Store Because It Wants To.
They don’t do it for any reason that benefits the customer. They do it solely for themselves.
Apple decided they could make more money with this level of control. Period.
Apple just wants to make money. Ascribing any other motivation is just stupid.

I have made the above point many times in my discussions with people. It is amazing to see the Apple users (or even gadget sites) go far and beyond to convice themselves that all the restrictions or changes are for their good even in the absence of reason for the change from Apple. Are Apple users just sheeples?

No Freedom to Tinker

Apple builds products that look and feel good. But to me it is boring. What does a techie or a geek tinkers with in their Apple ONLY World? I suspect there isn't much. Are there really computer geeks among Apple users? BTW, there is a huge difference between a gadget lover and a techie/hardware geek. The former is someone who buys shiny new stuff and appreciates its utility but doesn't understand much of its internals. Also, gadgets have low barrier for entry as it doesn't take much effort to configure or make it work in the world of plug and play. I just had a recent encounter with one today where he was surprised to learn from me that using wi-fi capability in his mobile does not require active cellular data plan. This user has been using his Smartphone for quite sometime :-)

I love the PC platform for it allows me to tear it down and rebuild with whatever configuraion I want. I spend countless hours trying to understand the difference between different CPU sockets or the difference between SIMM or DIMM so I can make the right choice during upgrade or building a PC. Sure it has a tax but it is something you choose to go with rather than being locked down to a hardware with not much to tinker with. For anyone critizing me, think of what can you tinker with on an iMac? Compare it to a PC you buy from any vendor. You don't like the mother board or the hard drive, no problem. Just get one from NewEgg that is the latest and greatest and you are done. There is no need to shell out thousand dollars or more just to upgrade. On a lighter note, this comparison touches a bit on my point.

Apple wants their users (or expects their users) to be dumb and so it hides all the complexity assuming the user is better off not knowing it. It may work very well for the current generation of adults who did not grow up with computers from early age. But it is not true for next/future generations where kids are exposed to computers at a very young age and are very comfortable with them.

My ramblings aside, the recent news about the removal of Scratch app from App Store is very disappointing. It is a simple and elegant app that allows you to do a bit of creative programming and is the result of draconian app store rules. As Ed Felten put it on his recent blog,

If you're not a techie, this stuff may seem like inside baseball to you. But it does affect what you can do and see. You may not know all of the details of why the app store starts looking more and more like Disneyland, but you'll notice that it's happening.

Finally, I want to address the common objection that most people don't care about limits on programming, because they don't know how to program. To me, this is like saying that you don't care about restaurant closings because nobody in your house knows how to cook. If you can't cook for yourself, you should care more about restaurant quality. If all of the good restaurants close, good cooks will just make their own good meals -- but you'll be out of luck.

Apple now restricts what language you can write your apps on

This is insane and Steve Jobs has just gone mad. The furor is over a change in developer agreement that states the following:

“3.3.1 … 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).”

As a developer/programmer for nearly 2 decades, what is beyond me is why anyone would want to put a restriction like that when it does not make much sense. I sort of understood (but disagreed) when Apple prohibited interpretted code in iPhone OS. But not the current restriction. No matter what language or tools you use, as long as it runs native instructions and does not use banned/private APIs, it should be fine. But that is not the case. Apple is explicitly prohibiting tools that developers can use to improve productivity, efficiency & help ship their tools across multiple platforms.

Does Apple expect that app developers be wedded to iPhone OS and be at the mercy of Steve'O? What next? Perhaps Apple could next put a restriction that requires that the App can only be published to iPhone app store and not other platforms?

Web is full of commentaries on this issue. For some more perspective on this issue, below links should help
New iPhone Developer Agreement Bans the Use of Adobe’s Flash-to-iPhone Compiler
Apple Dev Program takes stand on nature of consciousness
What Apple Just Did
Steve Jobs just ruined the iPhone for Clojure
Steve Jobs Has Just Gone Mad


For a bit of legal perspective on the issue, see Is the iPhone a banana?

UPDATE: Steve Jobs’ response on Section 3.3.1

The Case Against Apple – in Five Parts

Jason Calacanis is an entrepreneur and blogger. He certainly fits the profile of Apple Fanboy by any measure. Having been an ardent fan of Apple products, he is deeply concerned about where Apple is heading and what it means to consumers. He summarizes his concerns as follows

1. Destroying MP3 player innovation through anti-competitive practices
2. Monopolistic practices in telecommunications
3. Draconian App Store policies that are, frankly, insulting
4. Being a horrible hypocrite by banning other browsers on the iPhone
5. Blocking the Google Voice Application on the iPhone

His blog entry can be found at http://calacanis.com/2009/08/08/the-case-against-apple-in-five-parts/ where he goes into length on each part of his claim.

The 1984 Apple's Macintosh Commercial

My crusade against Apple starts with the 1984 Apple commercial. How ironic is that? The very company that rallied against the anti-competitive practices and the closed systems ended up being one! Imagine a World where Apple has been wildly successful beyond your dreams. Everyone will be using ONE mobile phone, ONE laptop (sure you get to choose if you need 13" or 15") and ONE desktop OS with Apple imposing their draconian rules for the App ecosystem deciding for you what you can or cannot do with your device. Or what music, video or a book that is appropriate for you. You may think that I am speculating about the possibility in a distant future? I hope you do live in the universe I live in. Just go to Bing or your favorite search engine and search. I don't know about you but to me that is a scary world to live in.




Url - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYecfV3ubP8