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IPhone 3G Jailbreak Released, Paves Way For Open Source Apps
PainMeds writes "iPhone Atlas is reporting that the first jailbreak for the iPhone 3G has been released, and includes the popular Cydia community installer for distributing free games and applications. Since Apple's SDK was released, web sites have criticized Apple for the restrictions placed on both what developers could write and what APIs they were allowed to use. Others have noted the SDK's incompatibility with the GPL. The Cydia installer has provided a distribution channel for both open source software and software that would otherwise be impossible to build using the restricted SDK. A few applications are already out, including MobileTerminal and NES.app, a Nintendo game console emulator. In just over a week, open development is finally here for the iPhone 3G!"
Buying a product so you can crack it is just retarded.
How we know is more important than what we know.
Linux + Amarok + 3G iPhone
==
Win.
just get openmoko. why make it difficult by starting with a closed platform?
.....
if i could actually get a 3G iPhone....
Well, you can't. Unless you have a time machine to get the 3rd generation of it, you have to wait like the rest of us.
I wonder how many application that potentially could be on Apple Store but didn't make to it because of Apple disorganization and overall fascistic attitude regarding iPhone development would end up on community application portal. Just an example ... there are a lot of iPhone developers who applied to program, got approved but (get this) were not able to pay $99 for certificate because Apple Store is not available in their country. How moronic is that, Apple?
...and NES.app, a Nintendo game console emulator. In just over a week, open development is finally here for the iPhone 3G!
So one of the first and notable triumphs of this 'open development' ideal we keep hearing about lets you play pirated games.
Rock on, freedom fighters, rock on.
Anonymous Troll
Doesn't look like this story covers anything involving the 3g iPhone, it even mentions that you need the 1.0.0 version of the firmware, which the 3g never even shipped with (or can run)! This is talking about the old iPhone with the 2.0 software, nothing exciting. Check out the iphone dev team blog for real news about the 3g running with non signed apps, they released today! http://blog.iphone-dev.org/
I realize the iPhone has a cool interface and all, but if so many people have a problem with Apple's tactics over this, why buy one?
It's like criticizing the makers of Soylent Green for using people as the ingredients and yet YOU STILL EAT SOYLENT GREEN.
No sig for you!!
Not that I don't appreciate the effort, but the App Store has more than held my sway over the old Installer.app-style stuff. Just about everything I want is free on there, and there's really a handful of stuff that will not be on there (emulators, as I'm assuming they count as "illegal" and pr0n -- but who needs pr0n in an app anyway)? So far, the stuff that has come out (e.g. radio apps) and what people are working on (about 5 programmers that I know of are doing VOIP apps -- and Apple already said there'd be no problem putting them up on the store).
I even downloaded the SDK and, yeah, while you can't do anything crazy with kernel or whatever in an "official" program, the API is pretty robust (pretty much any app can call one or two commands to find the GPS location -- that's pretty cool). I'm tempted to write my own apps now.
I mean, yeah, open source is cool and all. But all I wanted was the apps, and 99% of what I want is going to end up on the App store (in some cases for free). I haven't even jailbroken my phone at this point.
Honestly, I don't understand why so many intelligent people love the iPhone. From what I understand (and I'm happy to be corrected) here are some of the big drawbacks:
1) Heavily restricted and requires "jailbreak"
2) I read that in Australia at least must be hooked up to iTunes before it can make anything other than emergency calls! WTF????
3) Doesn't play as many different types of media as other devices?
4) Overhyped and overpriced
5) Built in expensive to replace battery.
6) No storage expansion.
It's suppose to be stylish. For some anything that Steve Jobs does is considered stylish. Such is the myth, that the man could start a style trend by being caught scratching his balls in public - within minutes fanboys would be espousing the health benefits of doing it, and deriding anyone who questioned the wisdom or decorum of doing it. Use your brains and quit with the mindless consumerism and hero worship. Function over form. Use your brains or suffer the consequences. Jailbreaking this thing is like buying a stylish little city runabout, then trying to haul a 2 tonne boat with it.
Watch me get modded into oblivion for daring to criticise the thing. C'est la slashdot.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
It's like criticizing the makers of Soylent Green for using people as the ingredients and yet YOU STILL EAT SOYLENT GREEN.
Bah, we have do *something* about all these damned people everywhere. Besides... pork is delicious. :)
And in the context of the iPhone, it might be made from people, but it tastes great and that's all that matters.
Fact: Everything I say is fiction.
it's because what it does, it does *really* well from a user-interaction/interface perspective, and it does enough of what the majority of consumers need.
I've got a BB Curve, and while more flexible/customizable, it drives me nuts with the UI shortcomings. The only thing keeping me from an iPhone is the closed ecosystem
(picture in TFA)
On Mac, even exploits have user-friendly GUIs!
Those who would give up liberty to obtain working drivers, deserve neither liberty nor working drivers.
The SDK is XCode and GCC. Neither one cares which license you use. Apple's iPhone app store requires signing, which conflicts withe the GPLv3, but it doesn't prevent using the GPLv2 or other open source licenses and it doesn't prevent you from distributing the code (or binaries).
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
Thanks to the upcoming C-61, anybody picking "digital locks" placed on their own damned phone is liable to a $20,000 fine!
http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/3025/125/
My rights don't need management.
Apple has said that they won't make updates intentionally defeat jailbreakers. I was jailbroken from 1.0.2 all the way through 2.0. And if you need Apple's help, backup and restore your phone with the stock firmware.
Yes, let them suffer. I for one know they'll be feeling the burn and pain for being restricted from the piles of rubbish open source software while desperately searching for the one or two gems that were well programmed for their platform. If only apple didn't control the world and force their product into the pockets of these consumers - then life would be fair and these consumers would be spared the pain of their advanced operating system in a high quality mobile device.
Despite a lot of people clamoring for one, there's still no SSH client available to download, which is a shame since the iPhone has an ideal display for it. Apple appears to have some sort of restriction on "terminal" type applications, which is a far bigger restriction than just "illegal and pr0n".
Some might say a glass of water costs pennies. But that's not the real price of a glass of water however. Water in High-End French Restaurants are around the $8-$10 mark
Why do you "hope" for Java on the iPhone?
I like how whenever the discussion of open source comes up, someone always tries to slip in "freedom to modify in place" as one of the rights you have with free software, that link up top about the SDK being incompatible with the GPL even links here: http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
in an attempt to say that freedom to modify in place is one of the four freedoms, and it isn't.
"Thus you could in theory place your work under GPLv2, as long as it was either entirely original or derived only from code licensed under GPLv2 and earlier. But the result still would not qualify as free software, since no one could alter your source code and run the modified result on their phone."
The link they provide to the FSF doesn't even remotely say that, it talks about being able to see, modify, and distribute the source. Code signing doesn't threaten any of those rights, if you don't want to use the software on such a locked down device, don't buy one, and don't use it. You still have the software and the freedom to use it anywhere else you want.
I had my first experience being denied the privilege to purchase a product yesterday. I called the Apple store at the nearest mall to verify they had units in stock, which they did. I then drove the two hours to said mall, in all eagerness to buy the product. After 30 minutes in line, and 20 minutes in angry negotiation with the Apple employee, I walked out of the store without an iPhone. They were in stock; I am an AT&T customer with an existing iPhone and eligible for an upgrade; and my account is in good standing. Unfortunately for me, there is a mysterious IFU tag on my account, which AT&T later explained means one of lines has a discount or special promotion on it, rendering me ineligible to purchase in an Apple store. As Apple refused to sell me the phone, I asked if I could bring an AT&T employee from their kiosk (literally a few dozen meters from the Apple store) to assist with the purchase. Impossible, said Apple. I asked if they could sell the unit to the AT&T kiosk to let AT&T then sell it to me or arrange some such similar inventory transfer. Impossible, Apple said. I asked if there were any way to broker a deal in the Apple store by including an AT&T employee. No, they said, and they asked me to leave. I was, admittedly, very angry. It's the prerogative of the company to choose how and to whom they sell their products, but it seems in infinitely bad taste to do either in so far as you are able. In fact, it seems like unmitigated arrogance to deny such a sale based on some vainglorious corporate policy to lock your device to a vendor and a service provider. I've never been disappointed by Apple before now in my last 2 years of Apple fanboydom. But.. hot apple sauce. I still can't believe I don't currently own an iPhone 3G.
If it looks like a duck, let's call it a moose.
This is a stupid idea. If you don't like the apps you can get from the Apple store, then don't buy an iPhone. There are roughly 42 million apps available, and a lot of them are free. If you cant find what you want there, well then i say too bad for you. The whole thing is a closed system between the phone, iTunes and the iTunes store and if you don't like that, then that's your right. But don't buy it then complain you have to break it to get what *you* want, then complain again when Apple releases updates that brick your phone.
What I don't understand is why some of the most exciting features you see in Apple's iPhone apps are not part of the SDK and therefore available to every app. Two obvious features are automatic screen flipping from portrait to landscape mode, and pinching in / stretching out. Apple's MobileSafari, photo viewer, and iPod apps do it. Why can't these features be part of the base classes so that any app can inherit these behaviors? It would certainly distinguish iPhone as a platform.
And don't get me started on the glaring hole that is copy and paste. When it finally appears in some Apple apps will it also be a proprietary implementation so that no other third party apps can have the feature?
If you look around, there is already plenty of source code (including whole apps) to be found for the official SDK.
Those who have developer accounts (and by now that's pretty much anyone who asked as Apple opened up the acceptance channel shortly after the 3G iPhone release) can compile that code, and run it locally.
It's true that apps like that cannot get the distribution of a Jailbreak app which can run on any phone and does not require having XCode installed. But you should not say the SDK precludes open source, when the evidence is right in front of you that it does not.
Because the Apple store allows for free apps, you can easily imagine a consortium of developers using one company account to develop an open source iPhone application that is released for free through the actual AppStore, so in reality the SDK doesn't even preclude the traditional open source model where anyone can contribute patches and a team of project maintainers combines them into a release that goes out. The only thing precluding a model like that currently is that registered developers are not supposed to show code or screenshots to others - a factor that will be resolved shortly as a number of iPhone development books are being held up by this!
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Not buying a great product you can easily crack is even more retarded. If you limit your options only to fully supported models of distribution you'll never have anything. You'll also face a life of being totally ripped off by the people that have you at the mercy of limited options.
The car dealer recommends you change the oil at the dealership, do you do that every tie as well?
We live in the hackers age. Embrace that, and win.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Are you so apoplectic at people who install the XBox media center, cutting themselves off from official XBox updates?
REAL hackers accept the path of the parallel path they take. In reality there is no risk since you can always cut back to the main branch from Apple if things stop working - but why would they? If things work today they will continue to work as long as the device does.
You are just making excuses for continuance of your irrational Apple hatred.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
If you could buy NES games today, then it might be pirating (though even there I would argue not in the case of very old games).
But you can't buy NES games for the iPhone today. If there was something that let you download and play Super Monkey Ball for free, that would very obviously be pirating. But playing older games you can't buy through any channel - that's a much grayer area to me as no-one is losing. I firmly believe most people that download a free NES emulator would pay if games were released through more official channels.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Because you live in a country with Apple Store available?
Are you sure you mean what you say? In theory you have an "Apple Store" anywhere since you can get to it from the web after all...
I had heard initially some people had trouble with international payments but thought those were cleared up now. What countries "Do not have an Apple Store"?
Can you provide links with examples?
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Honestly, I don't understand why so many intelligent people love the iPhone.
That joke just wrote itself, I won't bother.
From what I understand (and I'm happy to be corrected)
I am here to make you ecstatic. See, the thing is your understanding is actually about a year old, before even the original iPhone came out.
1) Heavily restricted and requires "jailbreak"
Not anymore, there are very few real restrictions on SDK apps. Jailbreaking will be for some pretty marginal things now, like emulators that don't have a clear legal path to exist.
2) I read that in Australia at least must be hooked up to iTunes before it can make anything other than emergency calls! WTF????
Wrong. All iPhones can dial 911 (or whatever the equivilent is where you are) out of the box.
3) Doesn't play as many different types of media as other devices?
Slightly true but fixed by transcoding. You can't load DivX directly onto the device.
The tradeoff is that because the codec support is more limited it's accellerated and thus your battery life is much better for video than more generic devices.
4) Overhyped and overpriced
Again, about one year old - disproven by the actual release of the phone.
5) Built in expensive to replace battery.
The battery replacement cost is the same as a good battery for any other phone.
For long flights I use an external battery pack, that is no bigger than a replacement battery for your phone.
6) No storage expansion.
That is true but overcome by it being very easy to change the mix of files on the device.
It's suppose to be stylish.
And there's the last mistake - like all Apple Haters, you assume that stylish devices CANNOT also be functional. Must like the people you accuse of being shallow in owning an iPhone, you are literally unable to see beneath the surface to the qualities that make the phone well liked by intelligent people.
Who is more shallow then, the person that will not consider the iPhone because it looks good or the person using it because it looks good AND works well?
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Shit guys, Nintendo is losing potential money over Twenty Year Old games.
Whether they're Twenty Year Old or not doesn't matter. They're not Ninety-Five Year Old games.
Also, you might want to talk to the MAME people about what exactly an emulator is for.
The goal of MAME is to document the hardware in the C language, which has the side effect of producing a real-time emulator. People who subscribe to that philosophy shouldn't consider any NES emulator other than Nintendulator and perhaps Nestopia, as those are the emulators that aim for cycle accuracy über alles, as opposed to good enough to run commercial games on limited hardware (such as PocketNES on Game Boy Advance and even Nintendo's own Virtual Console).
I love the idea of OpenMoko, but the thing is unusable, which is a shame, because people won't take it seriously once they get a load of the laughably bad interface. Qtopia looks a bit better, but it's not much of an improvement. The project needs some real interface expertise if it has any hope of success; all Android has to do to trump it is to be marginally less unusable. And does anyone know the purpose of that hole in the FreeRunner?
Because it is just about the only phone you can get with Wi-Fi and a touch screen.
The Nintendo DS ($130, plus $40 for the homebrew expansion card) has Wi-Fi and a touch screen, and it can make and receive VoIP phone calls.
The inability to have my laptop connect to the net via the iPhone is what has been preventing me from obtaining one. And yes, it is allowed by the terms of the Telstra browsing pack which is what I use. That is the only way I can justify the cost of data to myself, since that way I can still go out whilst on call. I don't see the iPhone being able to connect to my work's VPN nor run remote desktop at this stage.
It's tied to a 2 year high cost lock in.
Do people *really* want crapware on their beautiful iPhones, for which they paid quite a bit of money, or do they want software that works? I'm just saying it's not the Macintosh way, but then again,the iPhone is not a Mac.
Beauty is in the beholder of the eye.
It doesn't even conflict with GPLv3.
When people distribute User Products that include software under GPLv3, section 6 requires that they provide you with information necessary to modify that software. User Products is a term specially defined in the license; examples of User Products include portable music players, digital video recorders, and home security systems.
"Dear User. To compile this code you will need the iPhone SDK available from Apple and you can push the modified code out to your iPhone using ad-hoc distribution. Have a nice day!"
Done. GPLv3 compliant.
I doubt there is a single person out there making a bona fide attempt at a full NES homebrew game right now.
I developed Tetramino, a falling block game for people who care about falling block games. And I'm single.
Worked so smoothly, I am loving it, don't really need 3G phone really.
o_O
2) I read that in Australia at least must be hooked up to iTunes before it can make anything other than emergency calls! WTF????
Not entirely sure what you are talking about, but it is true that an iPhone with a SIM that isn't attached to a cell plan won't make anything but emergency calls.
But shouldn't one be able to get a phone on a pay-as-you-go plan?
but so far a year's worth of public use has not revealed any major battery life issues.
The iPod battery issues don't show up in large numbers until 18 months after a new model comes out, which is still a few months short of the 24-month minimum commitment for iPhone service.
Is it really so hard to believe that your personal requirements for a smartphone are not what everyone else judges their technology by?
Going from other comments on Slashdot, it would appear that a lot of people have similar requirements. I have chosen not to buy an iPhone either.
And...? GPL code can link to non-GPL libraries.
True, GPLv2 and GPLv3 have a system library exception. However, GPLv3 code can't link to binaries that must be signed in order to run unless the distributor offers to give each recipient "Installation Information" (that is, a signing key).
You buy the product because you like most (or all) of the things they've done with it. I love the multi-touch interface, and the capabilities of the Safari browser built into it. I love the screen that's big and bright enough to easily read my email on, and the way I can configure everything on the phone with clear-cut setup screens, vs. level after level of menus made of 1 or 2 word titles (like every Motorola phone I've used!). I also like the level of integration. (EG. Support for my work's Exchange mail server, out of the box, and the fact that it's also an iPod music player, so integrates with iTunes on my Mac or PC just like my last 2 iPods did.)
Jailbreaking my phone is just one more way to make something "great" even "better"! Apple reduced the "coolness factor" of jailbreaking quite a bit, when they finally rolled out their "App Store" with firmware 2.0 .... but there are still things they'll never allow people to distribute on their store. (For example, tethering the phone to use it a a cellular modem for a PC is against the "terms of service" for AT&T and many other providers. They want you to buy a cellular card for your laptop from THEM instead, and sign it up to its own plan.) I understand someone has tethering working as a freeware app for the iPhone now -- but obviously, Apple won't ever host THAT program on their store.
I got my developer stuff a couple of days after the iPhone 3G was released, have been playing with the SDK sample apps ever since, and am considering what I might do for my own applications.
Yes, I typed in the name of my employers when Apple asked the name of my company. So what? I work for them, and if I can find a way to make more money with an iPhone or iPod Touch, they want to know about it. They expect me to be on top of things.
This is tame compared with the hoops we had to jump through to become Brew developers so we could play with a local OEM who were in bed with Qualcomm. That required a Verisign cerficate, Dunn & Bradstreet references, and a whole pile more red tape.
...laura
Get on with the news, zealots: the final SDK has been released July 11, so the NDA has been lifted for more than a week now. I wish people would stop with that bullshit about not being able to make open source apps on the iPhone.
There is NOTHING stopping you from distributing code that targets the iPhone SDK. In fact, nothing prevents you from distributing binaries of OSS apps on the App Store while still providing source code for them on your website or whatever.
The only problematic license is the GPLv3 because of its infamous anti-tivo clause, but barely anyone uses the v3 anyway, and those using it are RMS fanboy zealots who are better not buying the iPhone because they'll just whine relentlessly about it.
for tying a lanyard?
The one thing I will miss about my Treo was 3rd party apps to tether my phone to the laptop (to be used as a modem.) People can criticize these efforts, but efforts such as this may enable customers to tether their iPhone to a computer/laptop as a modem as well.
Otherwise you're stuck getting a separate plan and adaptor from ATT to do so when you already have a device that's perfectly capable.
Architectural Renderings
Any hatred is irrational, but Apple does seem quite opposed to Freedom these days,
In what way?
Apple offers countless examples in support of Freedom. They support Webkit, GCC, LLVM, a multitude of common open source apps like Apache, Bonjour, Squirrelfish, etc. etc. etc.
If you yearn to support those who aid software Freedom, as I do (been a paid member of the FSF for years now) then you too would support Apple and the various open source efforts they contribute heavily to.
In the end only your hatred is misplaced, for Apple has no cause for it.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
How does that classic phrase go, links or it didn't happen.
What country exactly can you NOT buy a developer license from? As I said, at first they had a bit of trouble with international purchasers but that was cleared up back in the beta period. What country EXACTLY can you not buy a developer license from at this point? A simple enough question, and one you suspiciously glossed right over.
I'm filing this one under "Apple Hater FUD" for now.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
But there exists in the wild about as many as 360's, and they are as cheap as a controller, and make a great media box and still the old games on it are still great, even though not HD.
Oh no! Jailbreak your phone and the MAN will come to your house! He knows you are reading this post and is waiting outside your door!!
Please. APPLE doesn't even know you've jailbroken the phone, if you don't update it after you jailbreak it - and why would you since you are traveling down that parallel path I mentioned?
Plus, there's this problem with your whole argument:
5. Computer programs in the form of firmware that enable wireless telephone handsets to connect to a wireless telephone communication network, when circumvention is accomplished for the sole purpose of lawfully connecting to a wireless telephone communication network.
One word - Jailbreak (running custom Apps on the phone having nothing to do with the phone network you connect to other than using the EXISTING CONNECTION as a transport). As in, not Unlock (using T-Mobile from the iPhone). Can't you tell the differences Chuckles? More Apple hater complete misunderstanding mixed with hilarious FUD.
IANAL
Believe me, that was the least surprising disclaimer ever disclaimed in the history of mankind.
Lastly:
I'm not even going to argue about how "great" a glass phone with crippled bluetooth and no MMS
You say glass like it's easy to break or scratch. Oops, your bad.
The bluetooth works for hands free talking... stereo bluetooth that sucks battery life is not enough of a missing feature to make skipping the whole device make any sense.
As for MMS - here in the modern world we use email to send photos. MMS is from a time when cell phones had no real network, and needs to die.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
However, GPLv3 code can't link to binaries that must be signed in order to run unless the distributor offers to give each recipient "Installation Information" (that is, a signing key).
You are not linking against any signed binaries.
Instead, the whole application that the user builds is packaged and signed, after the build is complete. And that's only true of running code on the device, running code in the simulator does not sign the code and so technically is not breaking the GPL. Anything that can run in the simulator would be fully compatible with the GPL v.3 because device distribution is not required.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
And thus, the claims that the iPhone 2.0 was actually a secure device died before Slashdot could even get the FUD factory rolling out the meme.
Sigh. Maybe next year is teh year of teh iPhone in teh entarprize.
Please. APPLE doesn't even know you've jailbroken the phone
Oh, that's excellent logic. "Break the law! It's okay, because you won't get caught."
Plus, there's this problem with your whole argument:
I don't know how they could say it any clearer. It isn't like this is legalese, it's a layman's explanation from the Register of Copyrights.
Seriously, you're defending jailbreaking because it isn't unlocking??? If it were unlocking, that'd be just fine, perfectly legal. You're circumventing access controls to do something other than unlock the phone. Are you unable to read the quote above? ARSTechnica not only concurs with what I'm saying, they also add...
You're telling people to break the law. It's right there in black and white. You're blatantly inciting lawlessness and criminal activity.
As an iPhone 3G user, Installer.app is not (yet) an option for me, so I'd have to go with the open source Cydia.
However, I have to somehow risk the integrity of my device before trying it--granted, a restore should fix my phone if anything goes wrong, but there's no 100% warranty after all.
So I find myself wondering about what I'm missing out on. I tried googling for a repository, but apparently there isn't a website detailing all software available for Cydia, nor has anyone even tried to set one up.
I think that's a flaw with the current "jailbreak community." I don't know if that applies to Installer.app as well, but that's not an option for me. Moreover, Installer.app has been around for longer and I've been able to find some sparse info on those apps at the very least.
I guess I'll hold jailbreaking my phone until I can find a thorough list of available apps.
Does anyone know of one?
was really funny! I enjoyed reading it, had quite a chuckle at your expense.
Even funnier after reading the responses and how easy the "fix" was. I'm curious - did that make you even madder? I bet it did, poor dear!
I just don't get the iGasms, so many people who "just gotta have it!" (Captcha - entice)
Used to annoy me, but then I realized how amusing it really is. Just sorry I was too stupid to realize how many fanboys there are and will be. Would have bought Apple stock a long time ago.
Its obvious we have very few serious problems in this world.
Oh, and gas is still **way** too cheap. Four hours of driving to buy a fucking iPhone !?!
Peace Out.
I think it is stupid to buy a locked down device to jailbreak it, especially when there are more open options available.
The iPhone is the *only* device on which it is possible to have a UNIX environment on a cell phone. Period. There are no others. OpenMoko on FreeRunner is, frankly, a complete pile of trash, and it is possible to improve it only so far. It suffers from serious hardware deficiencies such as a lack of useful input methods, a lack of WWAN, and a seriously compromised system bus which really cripples its video and networking capabilities. Its software is also utterly terrible and suffers from a huge lack of direction and focus in its development.
The standard response to this on Slashdot is something along the lines of "LOL WELL U CAN FIX IT URSELF CUZ ITS OPENSORSE." Okay, chief. I hope you have a great time building, from the ground up, an entire software stack for an open-specification cell phone. By yourself. Because no one will help you. The rest of the OSS developers for OpenMoko are locked in on their own going-nowhere projects.
Having Telesphoreo, ssh, etc. on my phone, which is equipped with EDGE and WiFi, has been ENORMOUSLY useful any number of times. A jailbroken iPhone is beholden to its user and no one else.
+++ATH0
Apple have CLEARLY been looking the other way when it comes to jailbreak on the iPhone. They did nothing to "fix" PwnageTool. Hurting jailbreak will only reduce their bottom-line.
+++ATH0
Support the suppliers who are not trying to lock down the hardware.
There aren't any.
Ironclad control of the customer is the only way any company that actually doesn't suck at product development knows how to do business these days. Hacking into your own devices is the only way to get anything useful done.
+++ATH0
I wish those who have a jail broken phone lots of luck to NOT get all sorts of worms, spyware and other digital vermin such as all Windows PCs get.
Strangely enough, none of what you have mentioned here has come to pass in roughly a year of explosively growing software development for jailbroken iPhones and iPod touches.
Take your ridiculous paranoia and "please nanny me!" mentality elsewhere.
+++ATH0
Please provide citations of every time this has happened on a Windows Mobile device (with its inferior security architecture) or a Symbian device (with its further inferior security architecture) or a RIM device.
A) How is this a remotely "just" punishment for doing what you want to do with YOUR hardware?
B) How exactly are YOU harmed by ME jailbreaking MY phone?
+++ATH0
I almost raged here, and then stopped and laughed. Really, this whole thread was quite masterful. Well-done.
+++ATH0
Sorry, WHAT? In what universe do mere mortals have the resources to do this? Do you stop and think before mindlessly advocating how wonderful open-source stuff is?
Software is easy. Hardware is comparatively IMPOSSIBLE.
+++ATH0
I'm plural, and so am I.
+++ATH0
I got mine through an ATT store, but was told the university discount ATT gives me did not apply to the iPhone. But, since it DID apply to a standard phone, I opened the account with their cheapest cell phone, then immediately added the iPhone on a Family Plan. The 15% discount (YMMV) applied to the service and the SSM plan, but not to the iPhone's charges added to the Family Plan ($9.99 plus $30 for data). When the dust settled, it was cheaper for me to give my father the Family Plan phone and keep the iPhone than purchase the iPhone alone.
Two points here. Firstly, Apple does not participate in corporate or educational discounts on the iPhone. ATT offers any discounts to service. Apple must refer you to ATT if you are a participant of a special discount. The grand-parent posting should have read the fine print on that matter before making a scene at the Apple Store. He SHOULD have been asked to leave (and go to ATT where he could apply his discount).
Secondly, the fundamental problem with the grandparent-parent posting is due to the bifurcated channels of distribution (Apple Store and ATT) interacting with the temporary limited supply of the phones. While the iPhone is wonderful (don't get me started on GSM vs CDMA though) there isn't a person alive who needs one this instant. With a minimum of patience the distribution channel will flush out enough iPhones for everyone --- including the parent poster. But trust me, if he wants the discount, he WILL have to go to ATT, not Apple.
As noted there's a "Contact" link at the top of the very screenshot you linked to. As the other poster noted, if you actually use it you gut to be a developer if you are not in one of those countries - even during beta, as I said they cleared that up early in the beta process and in fact were seemingly letting in international developers with greater frequency than U.S. developers!
One piece of FUD down, a few million to go...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
They also offer many examples in opposition to Freedom: DRM on iTunes music and video purchases
But Apple is trying to change that with itunes+, a non-DRM'ed format they sell.
vendor lock-in with their OS
An open sourcing Darwin....
tight control over iPhone development (e.g. no emulators, no virtual machines, and no distribution except through Apple)...
That's not a problem of Freedom though. You are still free to develop all those things, you just can't distribute some of them. You can always distribute via the Jailbreak mechanism.
If you overlook the many examples of Frredom that Apple supports and has supported just to point out a few areas where they are more locked down, you'll never even find a company "pure" enough for you. Why not encourage the companies that more heavily support open source, rather than less?
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
If the cost of fixing 2 is less than the value of 1, then you buy the device.
What was it about this "vote with your wallet" thing that gets mentioned often on /. ?
By buying the device, you're giving your money to, and thus encouraging, a company which produces a devices whose software you don't like.
The signal you are sending them, it that's okay to continue producing a device which has broken software / software that restricts you freedom / of whatever else is the reason of the jail breaking.
And maybe the next generation of some product will have even more DRM, restricting even better the users' freedom to tinker.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
...are strong evidence that underground homebrew developers don't know what to do other than to make emulators and ports of Doom and Quake. Creating (or porting) an NES emulator to the button-less iPhone? The emulators are impossible to play. The only thing you can do with them is show it to someone and say, "look how much free time I have."
--- What?
You can open source code without jailbreaking. Who says all open source is GPL?
This man speaks the truth!
do not necessarily match others'.
I do AIM on the command line, use scp on a regular basis, grep for files, etc. etc. etc. You can't do that on your Symbian device. You can't do it on a Windows Mobile device, either.
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I was speaking in the context of the highly technical users that read /., not Mom.
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should you want a phone with UNIX on it. OpenMoko is a disastrous failure and is restricted by hardware from becoming any better.
1) Not really a big deal.
2) Not really a big deal either.
3) Who cares? Those aren't phones, for the most part.
4) Not a real criticism, $199 + $70/mo for service is entirely fair.
5) Not actually, no.
6) So what? It has 8GB (or more) of storage.
If I was a mindless consumer, I would have immediately "upgraded" to firmware 2.0. I did not, largely because I want to retain customizability and the fantastic MobileTerminal application which doesn't quite work right on 2.0 yet.
Spoken like someone who has never actually USED a jailbroken iPhone.
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I really can't believe the shortsightedness and creativity bashing going on here. The first post genuinely poses the question, "why?" and not only does nobody present a valid answer, but most take the opportunity to jump to hacker bashing and fanboyism. Doesn't anyone see the real value of taking stuff apart to see how it works, modding it to work better or differently, or just messing around with what seems to be the future?
I unlocked and jailbreaked my iPhone primarily so i could use it with local prepaid sims while travelling. I spend months out of the country (US), and AT&T just doesn't cater to folks like me. But coming from a Palm platform, I loved the ability for people to write whatever app they wanted and get inside the os. This is where the real creativity comes from that gives us real world solutions made for and by the users. I don't think buying into the prescribed contractual setup is the best way to fit such a powerful device into one's life. And those of you who do, great, fine. But don't bash those who want to tweak and crack their stuff. You don't realize how much of their work and discovery has evolved into what you consider the established norm.
To me you guys are condemning the very revolutionaries who gave you the freedom and luxury you have today.
You're talking about building rough-quality, not at ALL suited for production use CRAP. This stuff isn't even suited for prototyping and is insanely expensive.
Again. Not suited for mere mortals. Building anything like a real device requires massive capital investment compared to what some undergrad in college who wants a better phone can come up with.
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