4 ms·

Excuse my ignorance, but what do you mean by 'jailed'?

by barbs 14y ago

mynegation 14y ago
GP most probably means that in mobile operating systems programs operate in their own environments and each process e.g. sees only its own separate file system and the means of interprocess communication are severely limited. You cannot easily use data from one program in another, no scripting etc. That severely limits certain types of work.
csense 14y ago
"Jailed" in mobile device terms means that you're unable to install software that hasn't been approved by the manufacturer. This applies particularly to Apple devices but also to many Android variants. From the device manufacturer's standpoint, there are a lot of good reasons to do this: * Enforce certain standards on applications for marketing reasons * The official app store gets revenue for every purchase that every user makes * They can control whether the user is able to upgrade the operating system, in particular they can force the user to eventually buy a new device to get OS upgrades This sucks for developers. There are ideological reasons against this, particularly among open-source fans, but some of the practical reasons to hate this practice: * You have to spend a lot of money for SDK's to write apps (particularly an obstacle for young developers, think of how expensive a three-digit cost [1] [2] felt when you were a middle- or high-school student) * You have to spend even more money to post your app in the store * You can't write certain kinds of apps * There's no way to know for sure whether your app will be approved until you've actually developed it (and incurred all the time and monetary costs thereof) * If you don't like the official store's policies, there's no alternative * There's no way to change or experiment with the lower layers of the device (such as a custom operating system) [1] If you use a currency other than the US dollar, please convert this number appropriately. [2] I still remember how frustrated and angry I was, at the age of eleven, upon finding out that Microsoft MASM, the assembler used by one of my favorite programming textbooks, cost $180.

Excuse my ignorance, but what do you mean by 'jailed'?

by barbs 14y ago

Excuse my ignorance, but what do you mean by 'jailed'?

GP most probably means that in mobile operating systems programs operate in their own environments and each process e.g. sees only its own separate file system and the means of interprocess communication are severely limited. You cannot easily use data from one program in another, no scripting etc. That severely limits certain types of work.

csense 14y ago

"Jailed" in mobile device terms means that you're unable to install software that hasn't been approved by the manufacturer. This applies particularly to Apple devices but also to many Android variants. From the device manufacturer's standpoint, there are a lot of good reasons to do this: * Enforce certain standards on applications for marketing reasons * The official app store gets revenue for every purchase that every user makes * They can control whether the user is able to upgrade the operating system, in particular they can force the user to eventually buy a new device to get OS upgrades This sucks for developers. There are ideological reasons against this, particularly among open-source fans, but some of the practical reasons to hate this practice: * You have to spend a lot of money for SDK's to write apps (particularly an obstacle for young developers, think of how expensive a three-digit cost [1] [2] felt when you were a middle- or high-school student) * You have to spend even more money to post your app in the store * You can't write certain kinds of apps * There's no way to know for sure whether your app will be approved until you've actually developed it (and incurred all the time and monetary costs thereof) * If you don't like the official store's policies, there's no alternative * There's no way to change or experiment with the lower layers of the device (such as a custom operating system) [1] If you use a currency other than the US dollar, please convert this number appropriately. [2] I still remember how frustrated and angry I was, at the age of eleven, upon finding out that Microsoft MASM, the assembler used by one of my favorite programming textbooks, cost $180.