[SDL] SDL for iPhone / iTouch

[Will Langford]

On Fri, Sep 19, 2008 at 2:42 AM, Paulo Pinto <pjmlp at progtools.org> wrote:

> I will also not.
>
> Even though I dislike Symbian C++ and the DRM of the 9.x series. Symbian is
> more open
> to developers than Apple.
>
>
>> Between the outcry for yanking apps (Podcaster or whatever) and this,
>> iPhone's looking like pretty lame-duck in terms of being a platform to
>> bet on.
>>
>> At least Verizon and those other carriers (who do BREW and J2ME) usually
>> tell you _BEFORE_ you've spent 6 months developing an app, whether or not
>> they'll actually want it.  (Though sometimes they also change their minds
>> in the end.  *grumble*)
>>
>

While there are some idealogical differences with Apple concerning how
they're running things... I do own an iPhone, and none of the apps I might
develop would collide with the ... stance (??) ... they've taken concerning
NDA and allowed applications.  So they don't allow apps that violate their
or their carrier's TOS.  That's understandable, although I'd really wish I
had gotten ahold of the tethering app :).  The NDA thing makes open source
on the more difficult side -- I'm unsure if you're able to release a
GPL/LGPL project while under the NDA... a "will release source as soon as
NDA is lifted" clause probably doesn't fly.  Undoubtedly, there might be the
thought of keeping the API under legal wraps to stop people from
distributing sauce of rejected apps... and those who have a developer's
license from building it for their own use?  Mildly exclusive club, tho.

Their decision to not allow products that compete with their own (or
possibly partner?) services is... mildly disturbing, agreed.  Yet they do
allow some replication of functionality (ie: the different contact list apps
out there).  I really do think a pre-screen option for a developer to layout
an app's premise and feature list under NDA with apple to see if they'll
allow it... is a decent idea.

-Will
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.libsdl.org/pipermail/sdl-libsdl.org/attachments/20080919/c1709b5c/attachment.htm>