It's complicated though and for once I entirely understand why this is such a tricky issue that's causing so many flamewars around the net. I myself was on the fence (in all 3 directions: Yes, app store is good, Eh, either way it doesn't matter, and, No, this really isn't good, I should speak up about it!) for a long time. On the one hand the sharecropper model is going to doom us all in the end. On the other hand:
Right NOW Apple is doing excellent things in the IT market. They are upsetting the microsoft monopoly quite effectively, and to be perfectly honest without apple I doubt we'd have seen our phones turn into computers. Okay, crippled computers that can only be developed for on the share cropper model, but what with the telco's history a non-share-cropping model was always very far away. There's also the pragmatic issue of simply increasing the total amount of time spent by your average person behind their computer and on the web simply because apple hardware is nice to use, and apple is probably the world's greatest force driving adoption the excellent web model - you can hardly wish for a more free (in both senses of the word) development environment than the web after all! Before the iPhone claiming that mobile web browsers would be at the forefront of HTML standard would get you hilarious laughter and possibly suggestions that you get your brain checked out. Now it's reality. Thank you apple. And that's not even mentioning Apple pretty much singlehandedly catalysing the world into dropping flash a decade sooner than I had expected. On the other hand, the iPhone did set a precedent, and especially the iPad is designed to make inroads into a world that was previously dominated by a less sharecrop-esque model. Also, while the web is excellent on both the iPhone and the iPad, even a web app is to a certain extent sharecropping on these devices. If apple one day decides that its devices will no longer visit your website, there's really nothing you can do to stop them. Right now if they tried the uproar would still be too large, but then again the sheer cognitive dissonance in the worst of the apple fanboys shows even such a move would be defended. So, in the short term, apple is good. In the long term, it's bad. My hope is that apple eventually realizes that they're starting to imitate microsoft (Winning with legal force instead of making the better stuff, which invariably means you lose the ability to win by making better stuff), and put a stop to it, and / or eventually make a few mistakes whilst the world learns its lessons and catches up (this is to an extent already happening with WebOS and Android. If only someone could make an acceptable OS alternative for Mac OS X...), and thus together with public outcry they'll end up choosing to introduce a 'legal' "Open up my iP* device" option, purely for business reasons to keep pace with the rest of the pack. That's the advantage of the long term: It's still pretty far off. Fortunately the decision has been made for me: Apple has such insane momentum that there's little risk of apple-please-open-up-those- devices media coverage to slow them down so much all those nice short term effects get endangered. Unfortunately this crazy momentum means the gloom and doom scenario is that much more feasible. Also, in the short term, I'll have quite a few sleepless nights before I invest too much in developing for the app store. --Reinier Zwitserloot On Apr 18, 7:06 pm, Jess Holle <[email protected]> wrote: > And allowing yourselft to become a willing participant in sharecropping > encourages the business model to spread. My biggest fear is that this > model will become the norm for application development and that we'll > all have just 2 choices: sharecrop or switch professions. > > On 4/18/2010 11:24 AM, Reinier Zwitserloot wrote: > > > > > > > I think this is getting to the crux of the problem. > > > iPhone/iPad development is sharecropping. There's money to be made in > > sharecropping, but you should never invest a lot as the rug can be > > pulled out from under your feet at any time. > > > On Apr 18, 3:36 am, Jess Holle<[email protected]> wrote: > > >> On 4/17/2010 8:39 AM, Karsten Silz wrote:> Second one: Only Apple makes > >> money selling apps, not developers. Do I > > >>> really need to wave stories like this iPhone game company making $1 > >>> million monthly in front of you > > >> Sure, there's money to be made on the iPhone/iPad platform as a > >> developer -- as long as Apple likes their 30% cut more than they dislike > >> the substance/image of you or your application. If they feel you might > >> be in any way a competitor to them or a partner, you might cause > >> controversy, or they just don't like you that day they can reject your > >> application before it gets to market or any time thereafter -- after > >> you've fully developed it. You make money only as long as it pleases > >> Apple. > > >> Apple has every legal right to do this, but this application development > >> model is really sick -- it treats developers as sharecroppers and should > >> be shunned. > > >> -- > >> Jess Holle > > >> -- > >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > >> "The Java Posse" group. > >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > >> [email protected]. > >> For more options, visit this group > >> athttp://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "The Java Posse" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group > athttp://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Java Posse" group. 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