6 ms·

There is nothing Google Glass does that my smartphone already can't. And how is Apple waging war against openness? WebKit is open-source. They're pushing HTML5

by kunai 14y ago

There is nothing Google Glass does that my smartphone already can't. And how is Apple waging war against openness? WebKit is open-source. They're pushing HTML5 against Flash (open vs proprietary). Darwin (OS X without Quartz and DPS) is open source. A few of the apps included with OS X are open-source. Google cars? Driverless car research has been going on for years, both before and alongside Google. Look, I'm not badmouthing their accomplishments. All I'm saying is that they're just not the company they used to be.

NewAccnt 14y ago
HTML5 is not standard, certainly not open. Everyone abandoned WebKit for some unknown reason having to do with Apple. Please list these OSS Apps, I would love to know since Google and Wikpedia say nothing like that.
- kunai 14y ago
  TextEdit and Chess are two.
  - UntitledNo4 14y ago
    And even more important - CUPS.
    - gizzlon 14y ago
      Yes, but they didn't create CUPS. Keeping it open source might have been a conditions of the purchase (citation needed :)
      - UntitledNo4 14y ago
        Perhaps you're right, I don't know, but for me it's irrelevant. Someone wanted examples of OSS from Apple, and in my opinion it's the most important one when I was a Linux User. I was not trying to defend Apple. I think they deserve a lot of criticism they receive, but that they also deserve some credit. This is also true for most (if not all) other firms that are often discussed here. Just wanted to highlight that rarely are things black or white, but that we rather deal with a lot of different shades of grey.
- clobber 14y ago
  http://www.opensource.apple.com/ http://www.opensource.apple.com/ Crazy, huh?
  - reidrac 14y ago
    I don't know if it's crazy, but I wouldn't say that site is the answer. Yes, it has the open source word all over it, but have you spent two minutes to look at the content? Most of the "relevant" stuff is just to comply with third party OSS licenses (read: non APSL projects). Although not exactly the same, it looks to me more or less like this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200203720 http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=2... OSS is about community not just a website to release files (aka "code dump"). If you had pointed to http://www.webkit.org/ http://www.webkit.org/ or http://www.cups.org/ http://www.cups.org/ ; well, that would be different. EDIT: typos
    - devcpp 14y ago
      You're thinking free software. Open source does not mean free. But you're right, open source without being free is pretty bad, as is locking your devices on your software and your own only, even for the purpose of making the experience "perfect".
    - Intermernet 14y ago
      Maybe not CUPS. From http://www.cups.org/documentation.php/license.html http://www.cups.org/documentation.php/license.html "CUPSTM is provided under the GNU General Public License ("GPL") and GNU Library General Public License ("LGPL"), Version 2, with exceptions for Apple operating systems and the OpenSSL toolkit." I wonder why the OpenSSL toolkit needs an exemption.
      - sciurus 14y ago
        OpenSSL's license imposes additional restrictions which are not compatible with the GPL. Thus, if you release code under the GPL but want to allow people to link it with OpenSSL, you need to provide an exception. There's an article covering the topic with much more nuance at https://lwn.net/Articles/428111/ https://lwn.net/Articles/428111/
- kedean 14y ago
  >HTML5 is not standard, certainly not open What, because some vendors take liberty with codec choices? HTML5, while not officially ratified as an RFC, has an agreed-upon standard version, and the implementations of it are far more standardized than HTML4 ever was. As for openness, it's a markup language, there's nothing that CANT be open about it. The only possible thing about html5 that isn't open is the popular choice of video codec, h264, in which case: whoop de doo.
  - NewAccnt 14y ago
    Thanks for making my point for me.
- sbuk 14y ago
  Google does: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=apple+open+source&l=1 http://lmgtfy.com/?q=apple+open+source&l=1
intractable 14y ago
> And how is Apple waging war against openness? This does not need to be an either / or proposition. _Both_ Apple and Google are doing "evil", in their own way. Along with a bunch of cool stuff, too.
- zenbowman 14y ago
  Exactly. Apple is just worse.
josteink 14y ago
> And how is Apple waging war against openness? Lawsuits against competitors kicking their ass using open platforms? That and making their every single a move a walled garden you have to use with no other options. I see you mention WebKit as an open alibi, but that's a poor example. It was forked from an open project and thus they were forced to leave it open. These days though it's not even being maintained in a way which suits the definition of open in any useful way. Holding the key to the source and at the same time having a committing policy which says its "OK" to break it on all platforms not yours with others needing your permission to fix things doesn't really paint a nice picture of you as a advocate of openness.
- superuser2 14y ago
  > That and making their every single a move a walled garden you have to use with no other options. OSX runs whatever you want it to. If you are referring to code-signing, keep in mind that Android requires you to explicitly allow unsigned apps as well.
JohnBooty 14y ago
> There is nothing Google Glass does that my smartphone already can't. Sure there is. Your smartphone can't make you automatically resemble a rejected character design from Johnny Mnemonic!
BenjaminRH 14y ago
> There is nothing Google Glass does that my smartphone already can't. Can you wear your smartphone on your face?
lost_name 14y ago
> There is nothing Google Glass does that my smartphone already can't. Did the iPad have features the iPhone didn't? It seems to be doing ok for being a different form factor for iOS. There may be arguments for the usefulness of Glass but I don't think this is it.
- kunai 14y ago
  Did the iPad have features the iPhone didn't? More screen real-estate, but then again, it's like glass. It doesn't do anything my smartphone can't, except give me more room for bigger apps.

by kunai 14y ago

NewAccnt 14y ago

HTML5 is not standard, certainly not open. Everyone abandoned WebKit for some unknown reason having to do with Apple. Please list these OSS Apps, I would love to know since Google and Wikpedia say nothing like that.

kunai 14y ago
TextEdit and Chess are two.
- UntitledNo4 14y ago
  And even more important - CUPS.
  - gizzlon 14y ago
    Yes, but they didn't create CUPS. Keeping it open source might have been a conditions of the purchase (citation needed :)
    - UntitledNo4 14y ago
      Perhaps you're right, I don't know, but for me it's irrelevant. Someone wanted examples of OSS from Apple, and in my opinion it's the most important one when I was a Linux User. I was not trying to defend Apple. I think they deserve a lot of criticism they receive, but that they also deserve some credit. This is also true for most (if not all) other firms that are often discussed here. Just wanted to highlight that rarely are things black or white, but that we rather deal with a lot of different shades of grey.
clobber 14y ago
http://www.opensource.apple.com/ http://www.opensource.apple.com/ Crazy, huh?
- reidrac 14y ago
  I don't know if it's crazy, but I wouldn't say that site is the answer. Yes, it has the open source word all over it, but have you spent two minutes to look at the content? Most of the "relevant" stuff is just to comply with third party OSS licenses (read: non APSL projects). Although not exactly the same, it looks to me more or less like this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200203720 http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=2... OSS is about community not just a website to release files (aka "code dump"). If you had pointed to http://www.webkit.org/ http://www.webkit.org/ or http://www.cups.org/ http://www.cups.org/ ; well, that would be different. EDIT: typos
  - devcpp 14y ago
    You're thinking free software. Open source does not mean free. But you're right, open source without being free is pretty bad, as is locking your devices on your software and your own only, even for the purpose of making the experience "perfect".
  - Intermernet 14y ago
    Maybe not CUPS. From http://www.cups.org/documentation.php/license.html http://www.cups.org/documentation.php/license.html "CUPSTM is provided under the GNU General Public License ("GPL") and GNU Library General Public License ("LGPL"), Version 2, with exceptions for Apple operating systems and the OpenSSL toolkit." I wonder why the OpenSSL toolkit needs an exemption.
    - sciurus 14y ago
      OpenSSL's license imposes additional restrictions which are not compatible with the GPL. Thus, if you release code under the GPL but want to allow people to link it with OpenSSL, you need to provide an exception. There's an article covering the topic with much more nuance at https://lwn.net/Articles/428111/ https://lwn.net/Articles/428111/
kedean 14y ago
>HTML5 is not standard, certainly not open What, because some vendors take liberty with codec choices? HTML5, while not officially ratified as an RFC, has an agreed-upon standard version, and the implementations of it are far more standardized than HTML4 ever was. As for openness, it's a markup language, there's nothing that CANT be open about it. The only possible thing about html5 that isn't open is the popular choice of video codec, h264, in which case: whoop de doo.
- NewAccnt 14y ago
  Thanks for making my point for me.
sbuk 14y ago
Google does: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=apple+open+source&l=1 http://lmgtfy.com/?q=apple+open+source&l=1

intractable 14y ago

> And how is Apple waging war against openness? This does not need to be an either / or proposition. _Both_ Apple and Google are doing "evil", in their own way. Along with a bunch of cool stuff, too.

zenbowman 14y ago
Exactly. Apple is just worse.

josteink 14y ago

> And how is Apple waging war against openness? Lawsuits against competitors kicking their ass using open platforms? That and making their every single a move a walled garden you have to use with no other options. I see you mention WebKit as an open alibi, but that's a poor example. It was forked from an open project and thus they were forced to leave it open. These days though it's not even being maintained in a way which suits the definition of open in any useful way. Holding the key to the source and at the same time having a committing policy which says its "OK" to break it on all platforms not yours with others needing your permission to fix things doesn't really paint a nice picture of you as a advocate of openness.

superuser2 14y ago
> That and making their every single a move a walled garden you have to use with no other options. OSX runs whatever you want it to. If you are referring to code-signing, keep in mind that Android requires you to explicitly allow unsigned apps as well.

JohnBooty 14y ago

> There is nothing Google Glass does that my smartphone already can't. Sure there is. Your smartphone can't make you automatically resemble a rejected character design from Johnny Mnemonic!

BenjaminRH 14y ago

> There is nothing Google Glass does that my smartphone already can't. Can you wear your smartphone on your face?

lost_name 14y ago

> There is nothing Google Glass does that my smartphone already can't. Did the iPad have features the iPhone didn't? It seems to be doing ok for being a different form factor for iOS. There may be arguments for the usefulness of Glass but I don't think this is it.

kunai 14y ago
Did the iPad have features the iPhone didn't? More screen real-estate, but then again, it's like glass. It doesn't do anything my smartphone can't, except give me more room for bigger apps.