Apple throws new darts at dartboard, now using other compilers is ok - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

photon · 09-09-2010, 08:02 AM

http://www.reghardware.com/2010/09/0...e_green_light/
http://gizmodo.com/5633721/apple-to-...iew-guidelines

Quote:

Now, Apple is backtracking. I'm not surprised after watching the Epic Citadel demonstrationcreated with Unreal Engine, a cross-platform game 3D engine which, before this change, would be technically prohibited by the iOS developer license.
In a press release today, Apple announced their new decision:

We are continually trying to make the App Store even better. We have listened to our developers and taken much of their feedback to heart. Based on their input, today we are making some important changes to our iOS Developer Program license in sections 3.3.1, 3.3.2 and 3.3.9 to relax some restrictions we put in place earlier this year.
In particular, we are relaxing all restrictions on the development tools used to create iOS apps, as long as the resulting apps do not download any code. This should give developers the flexibility they want, while preserving the security we need.

I guess there was enough push back that they had to do this. Good.

silentsim · 09-09-2010, 08:07 AM

Wonder if big game developers had a big factor in this decision, IE Epic so they can make the games more complete!

Regardless, a welcome change. more apps for all i guess.

photon · 09-09-2010, 08:11 AM

That was probably part of it, and maybe they're feeling the pressure from Android as well?

silentsim · 09-09-2010, 08:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by photon

That was probably part of it, and maybe they're feeling the pressure from Android as well?

Yeah. This will make it easier for some Android dev's to develop for iOS as well. Shouldn't be Mac OS X only now either? Wonder if Apple will release an official dev kit for Windows.

Flames0910 · 09-09-2010, 09:05 AM

Didn't Steve say at All Things D that they would be willing to take another look at some of the restrictions when they had 'calmed down'?

Russic · 09-09-2010, 10:11 AM

Good news all around here. I understand why Apple did what they did, but you have to meet half way somewhere.

sclitheroe · 09-09-2010, 04:36 PM

This opens the door for RealBasic to be used for iOS development, and they’ve already issued a press release about it.

For techies/geeks/nerds that don’t know about RealBasic, it’s worth checking out. Basically cross-platform Visual Basic that supports Windows, Mac, and Linux.

GrrlGoalie33 · 09-09-2010, 04:44 PM

I'm guessing this has more to do with opening the door for flash in iAds. Advertisers already have their campains built out in Flash and if the iPhone/iPad don't support Flash, they would have to spend the $$$ to convert to a different format.

FanIn80 · 09-09-2010, 06:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frankster

I'm guessing this has more to do with opening the door for flash in iAds. Advertisers already have their campains built out in Flash and if the iPhone/iPad don't support Flash, they would have to spend the $$$ to convert to a different format.

This has nothing to do with putting Flash on the iPhone.

BlackEleven · 09-10-2010, 12:41 PM

Any word from Jobs himself on this?

After his open letter condemning the use of third party tools due to the fact that it erodes quality he'd either have to admit that he was wrong or that he's letting products of inferior quality on iOS now. Or perhaps tell the truth and admit that it had nothing to do with quality issues all along, but I can't see him ever admitting to that...

FanIn80 · 09-10-2010, 01:30 PM

Actually, adding third-party compiling support is been the single most requested feedback item by a huge margin. There have been numerous press releases from companies that have mentioned the conversations and discussions that have been ongoing with Apple over this very issue.

Yesterday's announcement doesn't mean anyone was wrong, and it doesn't mean anyone was a liar. It was a business decision. Nothing more, nothing less. Apple is not a non-profit organization. Neither is Google nor Microsoft nor any other business on the planet. Businesses are allowed to make decisions that benefit themselves. That's how they succeed. The "between-the-lines" good news in this story is that it appears Apple is learning from their mistakes. They're not as willing to get trashed by an inferior product with a superior market strategy a second time around.

Add: I wish people would stop confusing third-party compilers with third-party plugins. Apple is not adding Flash or any other third-party plugin to iOS. They are just opening the door for people to build iOS apps from within a non-Mac environment.

photon · 09-10-2010, 01:41 PM

http://blogs.adobe.com/conversations...evelopers.html

No parting shots by Adobe

BlackEleven · 09-10-2010, 01:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FanIn80

Actually, adding third-party compiling support is been the single most requested feedback item by a huge margin. There have been numerous press releases from companies that have mentioned the conversations and discussions that have been ongoing with Apple over this very issue.

Yesterday's announcement doesn't mean anyone was wrong, and it doesn't mean anyone was a liar.

Oh come on....

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Jobs

We’ve been there before, and intermediate layers between the platform and the developer ultimately produces sub-standard apps and hinders the progress of the platform.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FanIn80

It was a business decision. Nothing more, nothing less. Apple is not a non-profit organization. Neither is Google nor Microsoft nor any other business on the planet. Businesses are allowed to make decisions that benefit themselves.

Exactly. The decision to limit the programming languages allowed was a business decision that was aimed at hurting Apple, not improving the quality of Apple products as claimed by Jobs. But now that they've had to reverse that decision Jobs was either wrong in his claim that additional layers produce "sub-standard apps" or is now allowing sub-standard apps on the iPhone.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FanIn80

That's how they succeed. The "between-the-lines" good news in this story is that it appears Apple is learning from its mistakes. They're not as willing to get trashed by an inferior product with a superior market strategy a second time around.

This is definitely good news; agreed. Although I'm not sure what inferior product you're referring to. If you mean Android, I highly doubt Apple would have reversed this decision if it wasn't other players (especially Android) putting pressure on Apple in the mobile app marketspace.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FanIn80

Add: I wish people would stop confusing third-party compilers with third-party plugins. Apple is not adding Flash or any other third-party plugin to iOS. They are just opening the door for people to build iOS apps from within a non-Mac environment.

I'm not sure if you're referring to me, but I wasn't confusing the two issues. And it's more than allowing to people to work from a non-Mac environment, it's allowing developers to decide what the best tools (language, IDE, etc) for the job are, whether that be Mac or non-Mac.

Likwid · 09-10-2010, 01:57 PM

This is amazing news for Flash game developers like myself.

photon · 09-10-2010, 03:17 PM

Unity weighs in.

http://blogs.unity3d.com/2010/09/10/unity-and-ios/

FanIn80 · 09-10-2010, 04:07 PM

Now we just need a Windows version of the iPhone SDK that will work with Eclipse.

Why anyone would pay $1200 for a Unity license to build iPhone apps on their PC, rather than just buying a MacBook Pro for $1200 and building them natively in Xcode for free is beyond me.

photon · 09-10-2010, 04:18 PM

Unity still requires you to have XCode installed, Unity isn't a compiler for the PC, it's an SDK, where you write code to their APIs and then they provide libraries for those APIs for the final app.

So rather than writing your own mesh engine or skinning or physics engine, you use Unity's.

Basically gets you off the ground a lot faster, if it saves you a week or two of work, it's probably worth the $, assuming it does what you need it to do.

FanIn80 · 09-10-2010, 05:04 PM

Ah. I saw "Download Unity for Windows" on their site, and thought it was just another PC-based iPhone app platform, like MonoTouch etc.

SebC · 09-10-2010, 05:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FanIn80

The "between-the-lines" good news in this story is that it appears Apple is learning from their mistakes.

So you admit that Apple made a mistake...

Quote:

Originally Posted by FanIn80

Yesterday's announcement doesn't mean anyone was wrong.

... but deny that were wrong?

FanIn80 · 09-10-2010, 07:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SebC

So you admit that Apple made a mistake...

... but deny that were wrong?

Perhaps you should put a little more thought into it than that. I'm clearly not talking about the same mistake you think I am.