Beyond

"Dave Winer, 53, pioneered the development of weblogs, syndication (RSS), podcasting, outlining, and web content management software; former contributing editor at Wired Magazine, research fellow at Harvard Law School, entrepreneur, and investor in web media companies. A native New Yorker, he received a Master’s in Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin, a Bachelor’s in Mathematics from Tulane University and currently lives in Berkeley, California."

http://www.scripting.com/stories/2008/09/13/whyIphoneIsAnUreliablePlat.html

I think, on that evidence, it would be fair to assume that he knows what he’s talking about: I’m sure you’d agree - So when Dave Winer says that the iPhone is an unreliable platform it should make some people pop their head up from their comfort zone and take note.

Wakey-wakey!

What he didn’t say; and I stress this now so as his words aren’t taken out of context, is that the iPhone software provided by Apple is buggy and unfit for purpose. I’ve not read any complaints about iPhone 2.1 yet; but then again I didn’t read that many about 2.0; even though I knew for a fact from insider information that it was so: The Apple faithful remain tight-lipped about any of Apple’s failings; though one can read between the lines and derive their true feelings by inference rather than by direct speech:

For instance; David Risley posted an article on his blog about his initial impressions of the iPhone while posting to said blog using the iPhone WordPress App. After he made an obvious comment about the fact that it works, he followed it with two negative criticisms; a complimentary remark in the following paragraph to diffuse his last two points; saying that it’s

"…pretty cool that I can even do it at all",

followed by

"End of post because typing on this thing is still a bit slow. ".

So an iPhone is "Pretty cool because [it works - Because it doesn't 'not work']"? Hmm. An interesting definition of ‘pretty cool’ there David. - So; my television clapped out after over 30 years this week: The screen is blue; nothing else; just blue. (’ironic, myself being a Wintard, that my TV dies with a BSOD!) But it works nevertheless: It still produces sound; and there’s still something on the screen: It’s a "pretty cool" TV then?

(I am aware that there is a track fault on the PCB in the colour synchronisation separation circuitry; but the dear old set is so old I’m not going to bother fixing it: I’ve already got another one.)

My comment on David’s post was:

"So overall you’re saying that it’s a load of utterly unusable crap that is non-user-friendly, slow, and poorly designed; but it’s really cool because it’s an Apple iPhone. Wow!"

I’m not "anti-iPhone" or "anti-Apple" despite appearances: "Anti" is too strong a description: I see it all for what it is, and what it is; or at least was, is no more than a botched rushed attempt from Jobsweh at making a fortune. By combining this with employing a strategy copied almost directly from the previous actions of Microsoft; the gamble paid off, and Apple landed in clover and Jobsweh made his massive profits. Fair play to him.

Back to Dave Winer; who is saying that developing an iPhone App isn’t worth the hassle; because when all’s said and done; apple might reject it after all the work and aggravation has been carried out.

Why would Apple reject it? Not necessarily simply because of an unseen bug that might make it detrimental to people’s iPhone hardware; but because it competes with existing Apps; as in the case of Podcaster yesterday, (13th September 2008.) where Podcaster was rejected because it competed with iTunes. It’s as if Apple are saying:

"We’re the best, and we alone make the best software for our own hardware. Anything that competes with or that appears to be better than anything that we build will be immediately silenced and we’ll just conveniently forget that it ever existed - Because you honestly can’t better Apple; so don’t even try."

Or put another way:

"I am the great Jobsweh; god of all things Apple, and there are no gods, no programmers, no designers, better than me. I am the beginning and the end. I was there before computers existed and I shall be there after they have ceased to exist…"

…Er hang on Steve; aren’t you forgetting something? You’re mortal yes?

I think I’ll end here with the last words of Dave Winer in his article:

"…the Internet is the platform without a platform vendor. That’s the most powerful kind of platform there is because it is the least regulated."

Thank the gods (Excluding Jobsweh.) for Web 2.0.

See also:

http://daringfireball.net/2008/09/app_store_exclusion

Actually not “pulled”: More like “rejected for no good reason”

Apple have started being funny about their Apps: One developer had their App, called “Pull My Finger” rejected by Apple on the grounds of “Limited Utility”; despite the App known as “Koi Pond“, which has extremely limited utility itself, being the number 1 App in the App Store at time of writing:

- Wow; a fishpond on your iPhone! Although a fishpond may be one place to dispose of an iPhone; with the limited non-user-replaceable battery charge being rather…limited; I can think of 101 better uses for it.

Going back to “Pull My Finger”: Here’s a copy of the rejection letter from Apple:-

“Hello Developer,

We’ve reviewed your application Pull My Finger. We have determined that this application is of limited utility to the broad iPhone and iPod touch user community, and will not be published to the App Store.
It may be very appropriate to share with friends and family, and we recommend you review the Ad Hoc method on the Distribution tab of the iPhone Developer Portal for details on distributing this application among a small group of people of your choosing.
Regards,
Victor Wang
Worldwide Developer Relations
Apple, Inc.”

Here’s the rejected developer’s vid:-

Little things please little minds. Hmm; what do you make of that? Favouritism? Bloody-mindedness? - Or just plain absurdity? It wasn’t offensive, it wasn’t even tested - it was just seemingly rejected on principle. Why?

What’s your take on it?

Starring:

Sharron (Me) 

DedRyzing 

davidrisley 

Bitch that I am I can never resist a bit of “I told you so” bragging: So when David Risley posted the following tweet on twitter:

  “Went to use my Iphone and, sure enough, it’s dead. Frickin’ battery. No comment from @kkomp please. ;-)”

- This war happened:

Me: @davidrisley iPhone, iPhone, falla-diddle-iPhone. iPhone, iPhone, falla-diddle-i…No more need be said…ROFLMFAO!

- At this point DedRyzing opened up on target: 

DedRyzing @davidrisley Well ya know Dave…everyone was saying the iphone battery is dung.  And ya bought two…sad. I feel for ya

DedRyzing @davidrisley Don’t fret though. Disabling the phone will increase batt life for important things like ibeer and the lightsaber thingy 

A feeble response of counter-fire: 

davidrisley @kkomp @DedRyzing Its still the best phone out there, guys. I haven’t seen a phone yet with the same balance of features.

It’s war:

DedRyzing @davidrisley Honestly, yer right. Which says less about how good the iphone is and more about how BAD other phones are.

A shot across the boughs from me:

Me: @davidrisley That’s only because you never bothered to get a Viewty.

A veiled attempt at opening negotiation from the target: 

davidrisley @kkomp Looked at Viewty. Good camera phone. But, it is no Iphone.

Fire 1:

Me: That’s the beauty of a Viewty: It’s not an iPhone! - I ought to do their PR; they’d sell more product than apple!

Fire 2: 

Me: @davidrisley That’s the beauty of a Viewty: It’s not an iPhone! - I ought to do their PR; they’d sell more product than apple!

Fire 3: 

Me: @davidrisley I - Phone but the battery’s dead; so I use the beauty of my Viewty and get straight through: iPhone + dead battery = No phone.

Incoming communication from allied force: 

DedRyzing @kkomp It boils down to this. Other phones do a few things crappy.  The iPhone can do a lot more things crappy.

Incoming challenge from target: 

davidrisley @kkomp DedRyzing Hope you guys will be in the show chatroom tonight so I can argue with you.

Reload tubes. Response to allied force: 

Me: @DedRyzing That says it all : Let’s email LG today and offer to jointly run their PR campaign: KompDedRyzing Promotions Present…

Fire 1: 

Me: @davidrisley LOL you’d better beleive it. Topic = The iPhone battery life and ways to improve it other than not using the iPhone at all.

Fire 2: 

Me: @davidrisley On second thoughts that’ll be the shortest topic discussion ever.

Small-arms attack on target from allied force: 

DedRyzing @davidrisley Geez man…every show I argue with either you or @frostedside. Man…stop picking fights.

Fire 3: 

Me: @davidrisley I hope Apple never develop an electric car…

Incoming communication from allied force: 

DedRyzing @davidrisley Just start running OpenBSD and use an OpenMoko Freerunner and everything will be ok

Response to allied force: 

Me: @DedRyzing …Or he could always invest in a Viewty; as I suggested before he wasted his money on a dead battery - I mean an iPhone.

Nothing further from target - Scanners detect target neutralised.

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It’s called the iPhone Apps Blacklist Feature; and sitting at the remote-cut-off controls of your iPhone is none other than Steve Jobs himself; playing god with your purchase.

It must be a comforting thought for all iPhone users that the great Steve Jobs has control over what Apps you can run on your iPhone that you paid for.

Jobs said that the intent behind the capability is “high minded”: It sounds to me like a case of a control-freak mentality:

“I am the great Steve Jobs; God’s boss, and I shall decree with my awesome power what you will and will not have on your iPhone.”

“Hopefully, we never have to pull that lever,” Jobs said, “but we would be irresponsible not to have a lever like that to pull.”

It certainly removes a massive element of control by not having it.

What next? MacBooks saying “I’m sorry user; but Steve Jobs has decreed that you are not allowed to run this program; however there is a similar program available from Apple for $$$”?

Apple allegedly need this function to deactivate potentially hazardous software: In other words so that they can instantly defeat any attempt at hacking or at running any open-source Apps from the Open-Source club and the Linux zealots etc.

Last week there was a rumbling and concern amid reports of the so-called “Kill-Switch-Ability” This week the Apple CEO confirmed it himself. We used to think that Microsoft impinged upon personal freedom in computing: This, however, makes Microsoft’s previous alleged control-freak mentality less than academic.

John Gruber of Daring Fireball spoke with an “informed source” at Apple on Friday, who confirmed the presence of a URL inside the iPhone’s Core Location API that downloads a blacklist of applications designated as malicious. Independent iPhone developer and author Jonathan Zdiarski discovered the URL earlier in the week.

Remember; when you are using your iPhone; big Uncle Steve is watching!

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Come along; it’s all wrong: get ripped off at the Apple App Store:

We have software - that isn’t working; - and we want to sell it all to you.

We are snide; and we lied: Have a ride on our faulty platform;

Because your money - is what we’re after: Steve Jobs wants to be a bill-i-on-aire.

- Yeah yeah yeah yeah.

“CUPERTINO, California—July 14, 2008—Apple® today announced that iPhone™ and iPod® touch users have already downloaded more than 10 million applications from its groundbreaking new App Store since its launch late last week. Developers have created a wide array of innovative mobile applications ranging from games to location-based social networking to medical applications to enterprise productivity tools. Users can wirelessly download applications directly onto their iPhone or iPod touch* and start using them immediately. More than 800 native applications are now available on the App Store, with more than 200 offered for free and more than 90 percent priced at less than $10.”

““The App Store is a grand slam, with a staggering 10 million applications downloaded in just three days,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Developers have created some extraordinary applications, and the App Store can wirelessly deliver them to every iPhone and iPod touch user instantly.””

Inside the iPhone  

Take a look inside (Don’t) 

Full of bugs

You pay your fee; you download the application you’ve just bought from the Apple App store to your new iPhone, you open the application, get a blank screen, and are returned to the home page; or the phone resets. Great: Thanks for nothing. Thank you Apple for making developers rush to meet your deadline with buggy progs.

…And the developer community say it’s Apple’s fault also: it turns out that it’s not the applications that are buggy after all apparently: From the crash logs it appears that the problem is with the 2.0 firmware’s instability; therefore although Apple made developers rush to meet a deadline; didn’t even build a solid platform on which developers could build.

People who have seen the crash logs in question themselves appear happy with the developers’ opinion; although there are reportedly some not-so-excellent applications in the App store it appears: It doesn’t matter how great the hardware; if the software’s not up to scratch you’ll have problems.

I foresee a game of buck-passing coming up; with Apple blaming the developers who in turn blame Apple - And then I expect to see large firmware updates appearing and being downloaded: All this has the whiff of Microsoft to my mind!

ScreenHunter 5.0 Free is an incredibly versatile piece of software; and as a freebie is also great value: Download it from http://www.wisdom-soft.com/sh/sh_free.htm .

Operating the program is simplicity itself: Just click the “Capture Now” button, find the top left corner of the piece of screen you want to capture, hold down the left mouse button and select the full area of the screen you want to capture.

Next just release the left mouse button and the selected area appears on your desktop in a .gif icon. Insert the .gif into your document and drag the borders to the size that you require: It really is that simple - And it all costs nothing, nil, nada, zilch. There is a paid-for version but I really don’t see the point of it as the freebie version does everything needed from what I can tell from a few days trial of it.

The top three screen captures were taken using ScreenHunter.

©KKomp 2008