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Distributing a Windows Mobile application involves putting your CAB file on a webpage somewhere, as opposed to paying for a development license and submitting y

Distributing a Windows Mobile application involves putting your CAB file on a webpage somewhere, as opposed to paying for a development license and submitting your software to Apple hoping to be eventually approved for inclusion in the App Store (if you want to be available to the non-jailbroken majority of users.) I don't think that particular comparison is very flattering to Apple.

roc 17y ago
And downloading a windows mobile app involved users putting aside every shred of hard-won suspicion about random binaries from essentially unknown development shops. Now how about distributing a for-pay app? How easy was that?
- mquander 17y ago
  Well, the Windows Mobile model is exactly identical to the established model of trusting, advertising, and distributing any other computer software. I have yet to be convinced that a different model for handhelds is better. If I had to choose between making development free and easy and making sales and advertisement easy, I'll take the easy development. There are always a lot of people who will create interesting things for free, but many of those people might not feel like creating interesting things in Objective-C after paying for a development license and then not being able to distribute their things if Apple doesn't approve of the thing they wrote.
  - swift 17y ago
    It seems pretty obvious that your hypothetical objections have not been a problem in practice; no other mobile device has an app ecosystem on the scale of the iPhone and iPod Touch.
    - mquander 17y ago
      I disagree -- I don't know how to find reliable statistics for how many, but there are a huge number of free Windows Mobile apps to suit nearly every need. I have a Scheme interpreter with a little IDE on my HTC phone+, and a GBA emulator for it too. I think that the relatively large number of iPhone apps are a natural consequence of the big userbase and are in spite of their App Store model, not because of it. + http://www.mazama.net/scheme/pscheme.htm http://www.mazama.net/scheme/pscheme.htm if you're interested!
      - blasdel 17y ago
        I think you've stumbled into a perfect way to win HN arguments -- appealing to Lisp
plinkplonk 17y ago
"paying for a development license" This is the suckiest part. Paying money (every year!) to develop on a device you paid for is insane. I don't know if any other platform has annual development fees. Damned if I'll pay money every year to be "allowed" to write/deploy code on my own device.

roc 17y ago

And downloading a windows mobile app involved users putting aside every shred of hard-won suspicion about random binaries from essentially unknown development shops. Now how about distributing a for-pay app? How easy was that?

mquander 17y ago
Well, the Windows Mobile model is exactly identical to the established model of trusting, advertising, and distributing any other computer software. I have yet to be convinced that a different model for handhelds is better. If I had to choose between making development free and easy and making sales and advertisement easy, I'll take the easy development. There are always a lot of people who will create interesting things for free, but many of those people might not feel like creating interesting things in Objective-C after paying for a development license and then not being able to distribute their things if Apple doesn't approve of the thing they wrote.
- swift 17y ago
  It seems pretty obvious that your hypothetical objections have not been a problem in practice; no other mobile device has an app ecosystem on the scale of the iPhone and iPod Touch.
  - mquander 17y ago
    I disagree -- I don't know how to find reliable statistics for how many, but there are a huge number of free Windows Mobile apps to suit nearly every need. I have a Scheme interpreter with a little IDE on my HTC phone+, and a GBA emulator for it too. I think that the relatively large number of iPhone apps are a natural consequence of the big userbase and are in spite of their App Store model, not because of it. + http://www.mazama.net/scheme/pscheme.htm http://www.mazama.net/scheme/pscheme.htm if you're interested!
    - blasdel 17y ago
      I think you've stumbled into a perfect way to win HN arguments -- appealing to Lisp

plinkplonk 17y ago

"paying for a development license" This is the suckiest part. Paying money (every year!) to develop on a device you paid for is insane. I don't know if any other platform has annual development fees. Damned if I'll pay money every year to be "allowed" to write/deploy code on my own device.