I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again (this time with good reason)
Fuck Apple. Fuck Steve Jobs. Fuck those guys.
I won’t even get into the mindset around their products. I won’t get into the notion that bland aesthetics should come at a premium (and at the sake of efficiency). I won’t get into their truly cult-like following that has convinced several generations that their computer/phone/music player is anything more than a goddamn tool. That would be beating a dead horse.
Let’s just look at the last few months instead.
- iPhonegate
For about a week, plenty of people thought you guys did this on purpose. Just think about how cool Steve Jobs would have been if he’d winked and said “Oh? A new iPhone? News to me kids.” End scene. Enter: several additional bars, also frequented by certain technology enthusiasts. Maybe a box with “classified” scrawled all over it shows up at the NYT. Hey, the guys at Wired? They got one too. Inside is a camouflaged iPhone, set to expose itself–at a precise hour–to be the technological wonder it is.
Imagine how different things would be, Apple. No one would have been the wiser, and you wouldn’t look like complete jerks. Even your supporters are cranky about your Gizmodo bitchslap.
But don’t take my word for it. John Stewart pours his heart out: (1:20 for when he mentions Apple, 5:20 for when he gives the heart-to-heart)
[From Comedy Central]
“But now you guys are busting down doors in Palo Alto while Commandant Gates is ridding the world of mosquitoes!”
Not that Gizmodo was blameless. They probably knew they’d get stomped for it. But you’re still jerks.
- Adobe’s API, amongst others
In April, Apple changed their developer license agreement to the following:
3.3.1 — Applications may only use Documented APIs in the manner prescribed by Apple and must not use or call any private APIs. 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).
The only way Adobe’s new API could be more clearly excluded from this would be if they were called out by name. What this means for developers is a much more arduous process in making programs work for the iPhone and for other mobile OS platforms. This change came shortly before Adobe released CS5, so they had basically finished the thing before Apple rejected it.
What it means for consumers is a much lower chance that programs originally developed for the iPhone will come to Android, and programs written for the Android are less likely to end up on the iPhone. Once again, Apple wants tight-fisted control and whether you think that improves the experience or not, it’s restrictive.
- Flash
I don’t know where exactly to begin describing this drama, but Steve Jobs recently weighed in on it. I’d suggest reading it all to get an idea about why—
No I don’t. Here’s why Jobs continues to be a douche sandwich in my estimation.
“Apple has a long relationship with Adobe. In fact, we met Adobe’s founders when they were in their proverbial garage.”
And since then they have been the single largest contributor to your OS from the professional field. Think your consumer electronics department is so great? In the late 80′s, Apple hooked print companies hard, and most of them still continue that habit. If you need any convincing, walk into a random magazine publishing office (in fact, come on over to my house). Apples everywhere. Why designers still think it’s the platform for them, I don’t know. All I know is that they think it, and they think it en masse. So show a little grace.
While I’m thinking of it, remember to read “we” or “our” as “me” and “my” if you can suffer through his whole post.
“Adobe’s Flash products are 100% proprietary.”
Nope. The SDK, compiler, and Flex framework are FOSS. RTMP and .SWF are open. The VM is open. The format Apple has licensed, h.264, is very proprietary, and Jobs admits it. Despite this, using h.264 somehow makes the web more “open”.
In addition, Flash has not performed well on mobile devices. We have routinely asked Adobe to show us Flash performing well on a mobile device, any mobile device, for a few years now. We have never seen it.
Durrrr. Also, I hear my phone just got a browser that supports flash movies. Also also, flash for the Android OS is on its way as soon as this month.
To achieve long battery life when playing video, mobile devices must decode the video in hardware; decoding it in software uses too much power. Many of the chips used in modern mobile devices contain a decoder called H.264 – an industry standard that is used in every Blu-ray DVD player and has been adopted by Apple, Google (YouTube), Vimeo, Netflix and many other companies.
You know what else is pretty standard? DivX. I hear your iPods can’t play those. Know what else is standard? FLASH. Unless 75 percent isn’t enough to be “standard”. Dumb motherfucker.
“Most Flash websites will need to be rewritten to support touch-based devices. If developers need to rewrite their Flash websites, why not use modern technologies like HTML5, CSS and JavaScript?”
HTML5 is not modern. It is post-modern. It’s not freaking here yet. And what sites are we about? Because most of the websites where clicks are different than pokes are flash games, which you’re probably against anyways. Jeebus forbid people not pay to play those.
“Sixth, the most important reason…Flash is a cross platform development tool. It is not Adobe’s goal to help developers write the best iPhone, iPod and iPad apps. It is their goal to help developers write cross platform apps. And Adobe has been painfully slow to adopt enhancements to Apple’s platforms. For example, although Mac OS X has been shipping for almost 10 years now, Adobe just adopted it fully (Cocoa) two weeks ago when they shipped CS5. Adobe was the last major third party developer to fully adopt Mac OS X.
Do you know why it took that long? Because you’re a giant pain in the ass. Also, CoCoa is the thing you have already refused to let them use. So I don’t see how it should chafe your stones, sir. And in case you can’t catch the subtext here, Jobs is saying, “To hell with how things work. We can force everyone else to use our standard.” This is not the voice of a company that’s big on progressive changes. This is a company that would like to control as much of the market as possible. There will always be a third party between developers and users, even in HTML5. Perhaps moreso in HTML5 because even graphics will require a license to function. Between Adobe and Apple, I’d far sooner trust the former to be flexible with developers.
At this point, every message out of Apple is “We’re the best, and everyone uses us, so adapting to us makes sense.” Of course the former premise is pretty subjective (read: wrong in my opinion), and the later is flat-out wrong. Do you know the biggest seller of smartphones worldwide? Nokia. No one ever considers those poor suckers, but they’re cheap and people like them. Of course, Android is getting bigger every day.
So in addition to all my old hatred towards Apple (formerly stated and thus far avoided), add militant viciousness, refusal to work with one of their biggest contributors in a manner that would give their customers more choices, and trying to enforce the web standard they own under the veil of “open web support.”
In summation and despite danger of wearing it out, Apple,
Fuck you.
