Get APLawrence.com by RSSI thought they were smarter than this
2007/08/27
I see that iPhone hacks have already started. That doesn't surprise me, but Apple's apparent reaction does. From the referenced article:
That seems to be what's happened with Apple's recently released update to iTunes; if the update software detected anything strange about an iPhone's file system, it reformatted the iPhone and made the hackers reinstall their home-brewed applications from scratch. Apple wouldn't say last week whether the update was a reaction to the hacks and declined to make any comment about the iPhone's home-brew hacking scene.
Is Apple really that dumb?
Maybe so. First of all, making the iPhone a closed system where you are supposed to only install Apple blessed software is already dumb. I know Apple has a long history of hubris in the "good idea" department, but even they must realize that some of the best ideas will not be brewed by corporate thralls. Just look at the "tricks and hacks" section of http://www.tuaw.com/iphone/ already. Open systems have proved that so many times now that I can only shake my head in pity for companies that don't understand at least that, but apparently Apple stands in that crowd. Narrow minded greed is the obvious explanation but of course is laughable: letting go of the reins is sure to generate far more sales than this tight control.
If they really are reformatting as a response to this, that shows very low corporate intelligence. Yes, yes, I understand that part of this is probably protecting agreements with AT&T - a hacked iPhone likely could be hacked to work with any mobile carrier so Apple may have no other choice but to react harshly. But that just pushes the stupidity backward: a savvy company would have made sure their contracts don't lock them into protecting something that is not in their best interests to protect.
If Apple will not, someone else surely will. It may take five years or even longer before we'll see the open device the iPhone should have been, but that's OK.
I can wait.
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Ayup, logged out of Gmail, came back in and "Themes" was in "Settings.. I like the "default" but "Minimalist" tempts me also. - Nov 20 15:42
My google account doesn't have a "Themes" option yet but it did *change* its theme suddenly.
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Tue Aug 28 14:26:46 2007: Subject: drag
Yep, that's apple for you.
I figure that they are doing this because having a multi-touch user interface is a tough thing and is rarely compatible with existing software.
You see that is what makes the IPhone very impressive looking.. it's not just the smooth animations, but the multi-touch interface. Most applications are designed with the generic PC-style interface with a keyboard and pointer. Trying to translate those applications to mult-touch will expose a lot of bugs and will cause confusion and just plain ugliness.
If you've seen the demo's for Microsoft's multi-touch display 'Surface'. Notice that with that stuff they are not going to show any demos of any existing applications like Office. They are always some custom highly visual demos.
You can see how MPX author (multi-pointer X) works around these sort of limitations
http://wearables.unisa.edu.au/mpx/?q=node/87
I don't think it has to do with provider's fear (maybe it's a secondary issue).. After all if you have a Windows-based smartphone as far as I know you can install any software you want. In fact a lot of providers would see this as a source of income. They'd have a way to help promote data services and would have custom applications that they would provide for the iphone. I bet that if Apple did that they'd have a lot more then just AT&T right now.
But that's Apple's style. Rather then risk having to deal with a ugly UI and ackward stuff they concentrate on making it as slick and user-friendly as possible. I have no doubt that this played a heavy role in their decision to not 'allow' third-party applications.
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