Apple’s new legalize in their latest SDK seems to not only kill Flash, but hint at the possible removal of many frameworks like Unity3d. I can’t say for sure how true that is, but that would be a huge blow to developers. It seems Apple wants you to do it all the hard way. Using only XCode and Objective-C. I guess some folks think that this will result in better quality programs, because it’s written in their native language. Being a programmer myself that is the most stupidest excuse I’ve ever heard. There’s plenty of CRAP apps in their App Store written entirely without frameworks in Objective-C. So, the excuse of better because it’s in their native tongue holds little weight in my opinion. It’s disappointing to think that I could have jumped onto Flash Actionscript and built an app or game for the iPhone, doing so would have been so much faster for me. Especially considering that I’m not very well versed in OpenGL-ES, nor do I really want to be. I don’t dream about writing 3d game engines, and having seen the amount of Objective-C code that’s required to put a 2D box on the screen at the Big Nerd Ranch was enough to make me run for the door. I want to be able to make what I envision into a reality without having to outsource my development or hire highly skilled specialized programmers. The other point raised by folks is that Apple doesn’t want you to cross-platform develop, which I can see too, but it’s not very fair to force developers to choose like that. Yes, there are lots of iPhones and iPads, but to say you can only choose one isn’t right. It’s like asking a child you can only choose your mom or your dad.

In the end, so far Apple has managed to make enemies of Google and Adobe, and alienated some developers. It saddens me to see this happen, because I see so much potential in the platform, when you consider what things people have done with jail broken iPhones, it’s a missed opportunity. I’ve been witnessing for some time a change in how Apple’s attitude. They’ve become quite the opposite of it’s roots, when they were gunning for the corporate giants like Microsoft and IBM. Now that they themselves have become this bloated beast of a corporation, much like their old enemies, they don’t need to embrace customers or developers. “Just suck it up or go elsewhere”, seems to be their stance, and I guess there’s enough people out there keeping Apple afloat that they can maintain that stance. It’s times like this that reinforces why I would like to love Apple, but I can’t because they keep pulling stupid shit like this.

There are better articles written on Ars Technica, TheFlashBlog, and TUAW.

I shouldn’t be surprised, since it’ll be a year this November when the X1 was released. I’m not sure if I should be happy that they are continuing their line or just plain mad that they seemed to have done nothing with their X1… What bugs me about the whole thing is that nobody inside the United States seems to even know what an Xperia is? It was (and probably still is) one of the most powerful WinMo phones to ever launch, and yet, Sony didn’t even bother to get anyone interested in carrying the thing here. In the UK, it seemed they couldn’t give them away fast enough (carriers were offering them free! with a Nintendo Wii!) … But here, I had to shell out $800, and I got blank stares from anyone in any carrier office when I asked them if they were going to carry it! 

I guess I’m just fed up with the whole angle that Microsoft’s Mobile OS has taken, where it’s just the PC model made smaller, and the performance feels like living in a shack layered on top of a landfill. The specs of the new iPhone 3GS are only now as powerful as the X1, but yet, my old iPod Touch feels and works better than the X1. My final grievance is I’m just tired of following around a phone OS that has no one excited about and has no clear direction of it’s offerings… So, Apple, here I come, see you on Friday!