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Apple's Trend Away From Tinkering

theodp writes "Having cut his programming teeth on an Apple ][e as a ten-year-old, Mark Pilgrim laments that Apple now seems to be doing everything in their power to stop his kids from finding the sense of wonder he did: 'Apple has declared war on the tinkerers of the world. With every software update, the previous generation of "jailbreaks" stop working, and people have to find new ways to break into their own computers. There won't ever be a MacsBug for the iPad. There won't be a ResEdit, or a Copy ][+ sector editor, or an iPad Peeks & Pokes Chart. And that's a real loss. Maybe not to you, but to somebody who doesn't even know it yet.'"

4 of 965 comments (clear)

  1. Yes, times change, but remain exactly the same ... by BitZtream · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    and your childhood will always be something remembered as a time that was 'just better' CAUSE YOU WERE A FREAKING KID WITH NO WORRIES OR RESPONSIBILITIES.

    You can still hack away on your Apple II, if you have one. You can also use any number of other computing products that are more closely matched to the Apple II than the iPad.

    Not every product is well suited to what you want to do with it. How much tinkering do you do with your TV? Changed the firmware in it lately? Mine has a SD card slot for upgrades, but I have absolutely no inclination what so ever to screw with it. I have other devices for that.

    Go buy a cheap netbook or a regular Mac if you want to hack. Stop this bullshit of complaining about how the product isn't what you want, go use a product that IS what you want.

    There are alternatives to the iPad already on the market that are far more 'hacker' friendly. There are also regular desktop machines (Apple or otherwise), Laptops, the Apple TV, and all sorts of other crap you can tinker with.

    Heres what you need to understand ... the world doesn't revolve around you or what you want. You are part of a bigger picture, and as such, not everything is going to bend to your whim.

    There are plenty of other products to tinker with, Apple even has some, there are also products that are DESIGNED for tinkerers, why are you ignore them?

    This is just another whiner remembering yesteryear, unfortunately tunnel vision and childhood memories are blocking out the fact that there were plenty of hacker-unfriendly devices back then too. You just didn't use those, you used the one that was hacker friendly. It may have just been by chance that you got the hacker friendly device rather than one that wasn't, or maybe it was by choice.

    Either way, there are FAR more options for tinkering today than there were then. Times change, people change and so do product lines. The funny part about this post is that if you paid attention over the last week, you'd have already seen a device thats kind of like the iPad that is open to all sorts of hax0ring, but instead, you've decided to be a lazy bastard and not look, just whine, moan and bitch.

    Finally ... someone will manage to turn the iPad into something hax0rable for hard hacks eventually, and for those who just want to do software hacking, if you can spend the money for an iPad, you can spend the money for a developers license and hax0rs to your hearts content without even messing with hacks for the OS. Hell, I'm tinkering and hax0ring with the iPad and its not even available yet thanks to the simulator.

    In short, nothing has changed, except now you're old and bitchy.

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  2. Re:True for the iPod, yes. by geekoid · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Yes, they lock down there appliances. It's an appliance.

    Do you bitch you can't tinker with the firmware in your microwave?
    You can get all the information, specs, schematics, and get included dev tools with all Macs. You know there computers.

    --
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  3. Re:True for the iPod, yes. by stilldead · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    The problem is, I don't think you actually will jump out of the boiling pot. All of your friends would leave because none of them will talk to people or treat them with respect or dignity if they don't use a Mac. The tithes you've been paying to the church of Mac would all have been wasted. All of your gadgets would end up either not working or without full functionality until some other hardware or encryption hacker maybe figures out how to unlock them. I think you'll stay right there in your cult and thank the great lord Steve for the privileges he has granted you.

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  4. Re:Apple gives you dev tools. Does Windows? by Idiomatick · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    "All Macs come with XCode and an extensive set of developer tools = for free!"
    Whoopedeedoo, there are hundreds of windows options for free, same with linux.

    "Schools can sign up for free rights for students to develop for the iPhone/iTouch/iPad and are encouraged to teach courses on it."
    According to other people in this thread that isn't true: http://apple.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1531538&cid=30973850 And again, whoopedeefuckingdoo. Its free for android and winmo and nokia w/e the fuck.

    "Anyone can sign up as an iPhone developer on their own for $99/yr."
    That fucking sucks! Seriously.

    "To a large degree Apple has turned a blind eye to the jailbreak community."
    For winmo and android there is no jailbreak community because you don't need to fucking jailbreak your phone. And getting your device bricked doesn't make you feel ignored...

    "I hardly think Apple is trying to keep people from .... doing cool new things. "
    If it doesn't fit with their vision then yes they are...

    "It appears that Apple has relaxed some of their rules with the announcement of the iPad so I wouldn't be surprised to see some user-programmable apps"
    Joy, users can make aps, you sound like apple fucking invented the idea.

    "Also, there is nothing stopping anyone from creating a tool to develop web-based apps for the iPhone/iPad from the iPhone/iPad. You could do quite a lot with that given the capabilities of Safari."
    Thanks, the ipad/iphone are internet capable, since when is that such a big fucking thing to brag about. Right here apple is providing NOTHING. BTW, the ipad doesn't support flash so forget that. I suppose i could make rich uhh.... php text based games.

    Sorry if this sounds rude but, what a fucking shill. Lots of things you listed are nothing to be proud of or alternately a horribly shitty thing that no competitors have. And you act as if apple's shit is pure gold.