Away with the Fairies

So, as you might have heard, Apple have recently made a rather bold maneuver which has ruffled a few feathers amongst the development communities. I’ve been following a few discussions ever since it all erupted … and thought I’d write this post to give you my take on what all the fuss is about (hopefully in plain English).

Apple have always been closed … its what makes them the special kid in the class to be fair … back in the day, when IBM released the PC with an ‘open’ architecture, it was Apple who swam against the tide - they stuck to their guns in regards having a ‘closed’ architecture. Now the nice thing about being closed, is that you control exactly what bits and bobs you put inside the machine. So when someone wants a particular software application to run on a particular machine, the software can be written to utilize that specific hardware to a much greater degree than someone who writes software for an open architecture.

If a software developer doesn’t know exactly what specific hardware components are actually going to be found inside the box, they have to write code that deals with a more generalized hardware specification. This tends to be the case when you are writing software that runs on IBM clone PC’s (the ones that usually run some form of Windows or Linux operating system). You just don’t know what components might be used inside the box, who made them, where they’re from etc etc … wheras, with Apple, you can guarantee that the components inside the box, whilst they may vary (according to the year of manufacture, or the particular model) … the range of possible components is going to be limited … wheras with a PC … you just don’t know.

So if you don’t know EXACTLY what is inside the box … you program your software to a more generalized specification … and the greater distance you travel from dealing with the specifics you travel … you tend to find yourself trade off some advantages … and the most common advantage you trade off …. unfortunately is speed. This is why Apple snobs will often scoff that they’re computers are far superior to anyone else’s. The truth of the matter is, they’ve traded off belonging to a world in which they have control, for a world in which Steve Jobs has control.

So you can say the following:

Apple Mac = software developer has a small range of potential hardware components to be writing software to work with … but the amount of people who will end up using (and purchasing) your software is 1/10th of the entire market of computer owners.

wheras

IBM Compatible PC = enormous range of possible hardware components to write software to work with but you can sell your software to 9/10ths of the market.

BUT … again, this helped make Apple the special child in the school playground … it suited their image … they were cool and they were different and hey, creative people loved them.

Now when it comes to mobile devices, its a somewhat different story. If you take the iPod for instance, you have a device which can’t really be argued isn’t THE MP3 PLAYER TO OWN … why? Its sooo damn usable (that jog-wheel really did make a difference) … erm, yep, the interface between the hardware and the human was pretty damn easy to use … and you just plugged it into a dock … and then you used iTunes and all your music was nicely synced … and you would invest money into buying tunes that downloaded into iTunes and synced with your hardware device … and pretty soon you had to ask the question, “Why would anybody not buy an iPod if they wanted to listen to digital music”.The whole iTunes / iPod economy really was undeniably smart - it really was … Apple 1 … Rest of the World 0

Then, only a few years ago, Apple entered the mobile phone market … and hey, I really didn’t think they’d be very successful (this was the moment in my life I learn’t that a shrewd man never completely writes off Apple). I didn’t think the device was a particularly good mobile phone - I thought it was a dancing bear (you admire the fact that the bear can dance, but hey, if I wanted to see dancing … come on … its no ballerina!!!) … the iPhone seemed to be very good at doing lots of things except the one feature I thought it did rather poorly … make phone calls. I didn’t really see the power of those apps on the app store. Again … Apple played it very smart here. Strangely enough, It was the apps that sold that iPhone - they were its unique selling point …   Apple 2 … Rest of the World 0

Now, I see the iPad … and I think … Apple … hang on, Tablets have never succeeded … and is this one revolutionary? Nope. Is this thing the must have device … nope, I think the Kindle is a better device for reading eBooks … and really, when it comes to mobile user experiences, it boils down to a fact that you can safely say that there are only two types of usage posture … those moments that you lean back for (passively watching a movie)  … and those moments you lean forward for (typing a message on your laptop). With the iPad, you have to hold it whilst you watch … so of course, if you want to watch a two hour movie, you’re either going to get tired of holding the device, or you’re going to invest in a stand … and there lies the problem … you might forget the stand, you might break the stand, you might lose the stand … and it is clutter. There is also a third posture for watching porn which doesn’t suit iPad users either - but that assumes that all iPad users are wankers!

Now I’m somewhere between being too shrewd to write off the iPad or not trusting my gut instinct … and to be honest, I’ve not held and iPad in my hand and so I’m merely pre-judging the device on what I can see. I don’t like what I see to be perfectly honest, I think it looks like an oversized iPhone … in fact, I’m sure a lot of people will gain much pleasure from taking photos of themselves holding their iPads up to their ears to see what they’d look like if they were a midget.

I didn’t think the iPad would sell. But hey … what do you know … it is selling … how strange, its an Apple product and Apple is the coolest kid in school. Its an easy decision for the consumer - buy anything else and risk the indignity of being ejected from the in-crowd … or go safe … buy Apple … you know if you Apple you’ll always be regarded as being cool.

Now, that I’ve set the scene; lets get to the point of this post (sorry for those of you who knew all the previous points) … this post aims to explain to non-developers why developers are all up in arms at the moment.

Well, for a long time now, the iPhone has not supported Flash. Steve Jobs really doesn’t like Flash, he thinks its very existence is a great big turd in an otherwise pleasant cyber pathway. Now he might give a lot of reasons why he doesn’t like Flash … but you see … away from all this hoo-har … I honestly believe his objection to the existence of Flash is this … Steve Jobs doesn’t control Flash. He can’t tell a Flash developer how to design the interface, he can’t control the quality of it … the only thing he can control is whether or not Flash content makes it onto his beautiful devices. He choses not to allow it.

There is a lot of terrible Flash out there in the world … but there is also a rich ocean of beautiful, inspiring, wonderful Flash out there. Now strangely enough, Apple is very un-apple … its the the fascist dictator that  censors you from Flash without even looking at what its banning … its a blanket ban approach. Fair enough, Steve’s gambit to make. Hasn’t effected sales too much has it.

He favours HTML5.  Now, HTML5 might take a long time to arrive. There are a lot of people in the world. A lot of people can’t afford Apple products. Unlike Flash, which can just be slotted into your browser as an extra bit … HTML5 has to come as part of the whole browser. It takes a lot longer to ensure the whole world is using the latest browser, it doesn’t take too long to issue an update for a plug-in component that automatically suggests you update it … this is how Flash works … when Adobe release a new plug-in, the content that’s published to the new version will prompt users to update their plug-in so they can see this content. As a result … when a new version of Flash appears, the new plug-in takes around 3 months to gain around 90% market penetration … it takes years for browsers to become updated … they’re just not as agile as plug-ins.

I don’t think the rest of the world is going to switch to HTML5 overnight. I’m sure the Apple snobs will be able to sneer at the rest of us in a few years saying “how behind the times we all are”, but there you go, they’re the cool kids and they are always right.

Is HTML5 better than Flash? No … it can do a lot of things that Flash can do … and for sure, everyone benefits from the competition. I can’t see Adobe just rolling over and saying, “Oh no, but with HTML5 there’s no reason for Flash to exist”. Its going to be easy for Adobe to look at HTML5 and ALWAYS be a hundred steps into the future of multimedia. HTML5 just won’t be able to keep up with the pace of innovation that Adobe will offer us. So … Steve Jobs … hear me … you’ve backed the wrong horse … I really think you have … of course, I don’t sit here with books being written about me being the great technology prophet like you do, but I’m willing to wager you are wrong about HTML5 … by the time HTML5 propagates to the mass audience, its going to be out-of-date. I would think Flash will be offering the latest greatest technology because its got the agility to adapt to an ever changing web paradigm.

Now onto the real meat of this issue.

Apple have recently changed the terms of service for their App Store. They did this four days before Adobe released their latest multimedia development suite (Creative Suite 5). Nice timing Steve - gosh, you are naughty. Yes, this is something that a lot of people got very upset about. Why?

Apple are saying that to play with their toys, you have to play by their rules. Adobe wanted to give the creative community a tool which packaged up their Flash creations and magically reshaped it to work on Apple’s mobile devices. Apple doesn’t want Flash on its devices … no matter how it gets reshaped to fit. Computer says NO.

Its time for Adobe to give up trying to get Flash onto Apples devices. Its time for the development community to make a decision … either you’re with Apple, or your not. I’m not. But I am learning Objective-C so that I can develop apps on my Macbook Pro with XCode … why … am I crazy … no … I’m just determined that should I make a killer App for the Android market, I will make the equivalent App and run it on the iPhone Simulator … record a video of it running and publish that on youtube (as a Flash video of course).

Why the objection … because Apple have not offered any real alternative to the 2 to 3 million Flash developers … a lot of them use PC’s … you can’t develop for these device on a PC … has to be a Mac … a lot of people arn’t brilliant programmers … but do brilliant have a monopoly on killer applications … I’d argue that its often non-programmers who have an idea that they just run with … and that idea emerges as a killer application over time … a lot of ideas will just remain in the non-programmers head if they don’t have tools to develop them with … easy to use tools to get them started. So basically, Apple, the world would not be a better place if everyone walked around with your products and nobody elses. The world needs diversity.

I bet Steve Jobs is quaking in his boots now with that threat! Maybe not … ok … but if enough developers take the Lee Brimlow mantra and scream, “screw you Apple” … it may eventually be enough to wave goodbye to Apple. The world is bigger than just Apple. They may very well win this Mobile Device war … it will be a war with developers played like pawns (stole that analogy from Lee Brimlow) … I’m going to develop for Android, but like I say, I’m learning Objective-C purely so that I can deny Steve Jobs from having my apps. I’ve always been like this with bullies … if someone says I can’t do something, I don’t like them to be right … currently, I can’t make an iPhone application … not because of Steve Jobs’ ruling (although stopping me from porting my Flash applications to the iPhone didn’t help) … but because I don’t know Objective-C … I was going to learn it, but then when Adobe announced they’d be building an iPhone packager, I thought, great, that’ll save me from having to cram an additional language and framework into my already clogged up grey matter … but then … when Steve said that I can’t play with his toys unless I play by his rules … I say … OK … what are your rules … lets read them … lets understand them … and then lets laugh at you when everybody says, “screw you” … you’re not the only person making toys for us to play with.

All that said, I do understand why Apple HAD to make this ruling. As I’ve been learning Objective-C, I’ve been learning about HIGs … and I can totally see that 2 to 3 million Flash developers are not ALL going to read the HIG (Human Interaction Guidelines) … and this would mean Apple would have to deny all these submissions … but they’d also be flooded with submissions. Could they not have made App Store 2 for everyone else and let the world decide whether we want to put the vetted quality apps on our devices … or whether we’d risk putting a potentially crappy battery draining application on our device … Steve Jobs says no … fair enough … his company. Could Flash apps have a little red Flash strapline on their icon … saying “hey, I’m a Flash application so be warned that I might drain your battery, crash or do otherwise unexpected things” … Steve Jobs says no … fair enough his company.

It could really go three ways … just like the UK election … 1) Apple wins outright [Conservatives]  2) Rest of the World wins outright [Labour] … 3) Nobody wins outright [Hung Parliament] …

I think it will be option 3. The others just seem unlikely.

Apple will not disappear, but I think they’ve made some poor decisions lately. I think that upsetting the enormous Flash development community was unavoidable, I think Adobe should have talked to Apple and either found a common ground, or said fine, Apple, have things your way, but you’re on your own.

There are still Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Adobe in the playground. Apple might have a hot girlfriend at the moment , but as a relationship with the consumer … sorry, but its merely schoolgirl crush (they don’t know that its just superficial because they’ve not experienced anything deeper). With Google, Microsoft and Adobe - they will form lasting meaningful relationships.

This is why I think Apples gone bonkers. Its the over protective boyfriend syndrome. Its so obsessed by its own sexy little minxes (the iPhone and iPad) that it can’t see the exclusion of the brains responsible for the emotions is a BAD THING … they’ll end up going bonkers. Sexy little minxes are fickle you see.

Everything goes so slowly.

I feel like a duck paddling around in a toffee pond.

So tomorrow when I wake up, I’ll be 40 … and if you’re after advice, well all I can say is there’s a lot of free advice out there in the world and there’s a reason its free.

Dear Heart,

At night I write emails.
They never get sent.
I just wrote a long one.
It was therapeutic.
I used the c word a lot.
Maybe I’ll go blind.

Night night.

Well, today we could move a step closer to disproving the existence of god … and we could also destroy ourselves in the quest for knowledge … the monkey grew smart, smart enough to create a black hole and have us sucked into a singularity. That’s a bit rude isn’t it? I mean nobody asked me if I’d mind … its similar to the first atomic bomb tests … nobody could guarantee what would happen … theoretically, no problem … perfectly safe … yet, as we know, the whole point in doing the experiment is to discover what will happen because, actually, we don’t know … we just have best guesses.

I was worried about this months ago, I was reading about the LHC at CERN and finding the lack of guarantees somewhat disconcerting. However, whilst nothing is really worth that risk, since we can’t stop being inquisitive little monkeys (and I wouldn’t want it any other way) we wouldn’t be able to sit still anyway … sooner or later we might inadvertantly rip a hole in the universe and someone will have the ultimate Frank Spencer, “ooh Betty” moments of all “ooh Betty” moments. I just hope we find more mysteries … I worry, that if we find the ultimate answers to everything it will be like finishing one hell of a long book …. what next … I don’t know … but I can’t help thinking it would be to disprove the theory of everything, where else could we possibly go?

I was given a cutting from the Sunday Times (27.07.08)  by my father. The article concerned Jeb Corliss’s attempt to skydive without the need of a parachute. Wingsuit design has evolved to the point in which Jeb believes that, in the same way a ski jumper can land on a forty five degree slant. His rate of descent would be slowed from 120 mph (the terminal velocity of belly-to-earth boxman position) to 70mph. Now, given a steep slope and a thousand foot of runway, Jed believes this match of glide ratio will allow him to land the suit successfully (ie. without causing his death).  I would hope he’s wearing some form of breast plate, as I’m inclined to believe the leg muscles act as shock absorbers in a way in which the rib cage didn’t evolve to be used. I’m sure he knows more about it than I do, and I’m sure he’s done his maths, checked his facts … maybe done a test with a dummy off a ski slope.

Now, OK, my best wishes go out to Jeb on his attempt to land without a parachute, however, I’m inclined to think about Patrick De Gayardon at this point. I remember people asking Patrick when he would attempt to land his wingsuit, his reply was always, “I have no interest in landing, I’m trying to take off”.

I must admit, that to some degree, protecting my back story pages from unauthorized eyes feels weird. Part of me is saying, “You poor deluded fool, do you really think you are so important that you need this level of protection … let’s be honest, nobody gives a damn”.

Some might say, “OK, well just don’t write about anything you don’t want anybody to know”. However, this denies me the freedom to write about some subjects, as I would worry about personal information getting into the wrong hands … it happens.

Anyway, whilst my back story is protected, I aim to keep the podcasts and most of my general blogging open to all.

Well, that’s my old blogger blog moved over here and published as “Back Story”. You can view it by navigating the chapters under the ‘Back Story’ menu or, use the table of contents I’ve published on the main page of the Back Story.