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The Genius In Apple's Vertical Platform
Precision found a nice little piece of speculation on the real reason behind Apple's recent efforts to restrict app development to XCode. While the standard given reason is to kill competition from Flash and other stacks, this story speculates that the real reason has to do with the unusually large die size of the A4 processor inside the iPads. Worth a quick read.
Noah Wyle looks funny with a beard.
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Not only does Apple restrict you to compiling your code in c, c++,objective c with the iphone sdk, they prohibit any code that was not originally written in one of those languages. The article would make sense, if the only restriction Apple had in place was that they code be compiled by the iphone sdk. That is not the case, as far as I know.
Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
It is a well written, well reasoned article. It even makes sense. It is also pure speculation. Basically it comes down to "die too big" == "epic win" This is tech, and we can do better than this.
I don't care if Apple has reasons for this or not. I don't like Apple, so that means they're a monopoly just like Microsoft, and should be required to do whatever any other company wants cause it's in the constitution.
Also, there's a company in Germany that's gonna make a competing product that will blow the iPad out of the water cause it'll be open and run Flash and OpenOffice and has higher ghz on the processor and more memory and it's the hardware specs that make the difference, and I know everything, and the market should decide everything and Apple doesn't have the right to do anything to try to protect their investment in the iPhone OS as a platform cause I say so.
Did I mention they're an evil monopoly? And that Steve Jobs is worse than Hitler, cause he's got a reality distortion field and makes people pay the Apple tax?
I think the article is absolute nonsense. The A4 has been "disassembled" and it is consistent with an ARM single core.
Not the vertical integration, but the simple "Ok you're Applications are compatible now"
Apple has moved from 68k to PPC to OS X to Intel to ARM to (proposed) POWER) for both 32/64 bit and all it took in those last steps was flag in the compiler.
68k emulation in PPC was decent. Classic mode worked for most applications and Rosetta was as seamless as it gets. I understand that Microsoft has a ton of backwards compatibility they need to maintain, but if a company the fraction of your size can do it, why can't you?
Yes "FAT" Binaries are larger, but given how cheap HD space is, it's not too much of a concern of mine. (I gained more space deleting other languages). But to have a single, double clickable .app that runs on 4 platforms (PPC, Intel / 32, 64bit), naively.
Side note, and legitimate question, does Linux do fat binaries? Can I compile something that runs on my AMD64 and ARM machines and put it on a thumb drive?
The article is missing a big point: it IS ARM. Just debugging the code shows it is ARM, not PPC. "No one really knows." Geez. Step into the "reverse engineering" of 1980 already.
The die size is due to putting memory chips on die for lower latency.
It doesn't contain magical other processors.
But this guy has a pet theory about Apple and damned if he's gonna let facts get in the way of his idea!
Disclosure: I'm writing this from a Mac. I like my Macs. I like Apple. I'm not delusional like this guy.
If you didn't RTFA, there's no need. It's just some Apple fanboi trying to find genius and conspiracy where there isn't any.
Are you serious? Constricting developers because you're going to change the platform? Really? I wonder if the article author even believes this crap.
Emulating a cpu you could just as easily install for real? Never mind going back to an architecture (POWER) that you've already EOL and that is wholly unsuited for the platform (high power consumption, high heat output).
He's right that Apple is a story in vertical integration. They're doing it the same way Rockefeller did. They want to control the entire platform.
The article is interesting, but incorrect.
Converting from to objective-C is fine for the purposes he's talking about (allowing the compiler to build to 'native', where 'native' can change over time.) If you have a language that is 1:1 with C/ObjC and easily translated (there are many), then this argument is entirely moot.
(Further, its not just Flash we're talkin gabout.. BASIC, assembler, python, etc, are all impacted and outlawed (again.)) Heck, numerous games use ARM asm, which is now outlawed .. the ASM is to provide superior performance, as Xcode (gcc) is decent compiler, but no match for hand tooled assembly in 'just the right places'. (Don't argue this; compiles are great, but talk to emulation authors for ARM devices about dropping in a few lines of ASM :)
So no, its not really about native compilation speed. Its about blocking non-Apple tools, with the pretend reason that Apple makes the best tools.
Its just the GUI apps that it suspends, all the backend stuff still works fine otherwise as soon as you ssh'd into a jailbroken iphone everything else would hang while ssh ran.
> Why assume the A4 is a dual-core PowerPC when it's built for an OS that restricts the use of multitasking?
"WTF" quote of the day. What does dual-core have to do with multitasking??????????????? Windows did multitasking long before dual core chips existed.
On a related note, the iPhone DOES multitasking; it just doesn't let the USER multitask. How do you suppose an incoming call gets through while you´re listening to music?
Why does everyone think this has anything to do with technical issues? This is all about lock in, 100% pure business move.
Apple doesn't want cross compilers because that makes the iPhone just another smartphone because everyone and their dogs will be writing code for smartphones, not iPhones exclusively. Apple has to maintain the image of the iPhone to be unique, not just the 'PC' of smartphones. If cross compiling is allowed, and a person is fed up with the iPhone, nothing stops him/her/it to switch to a WM7, RIM or Android phone. Why? Because the software is probably available on those systems. Now, if some developers will stay iPhone exclusive because of the hassle of maintaining two codebases (One CS5 cross compilable and one Apple approved), people will have harder time to migrate to other platforms because their precious software only runs on iPhone OS. Why don't people switch to Linux en masse? MS Office + DirectX. Apple wants the exact same platform lock in for smarphones as the one Microsoft has achieved for PCs.
Führer Jobs is shit scared of Android, that's why the new draconian developer restrictions (and HTC patent suits), not because some [insert technical excuse here]. Fortunately or unfortunately (depending on your point of view) Adobe is going to be collateral damage unless Flash on Android/ChromeOS takes off heavily. Jobs wants to stop the Android momentum at all cost, because if he doesn't, iPhone will be the 'Mac' and Android will be the 'PC'.
Disclosure: I have an iPhone 3GS.
http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Apple-A4-Teardown/2204/1
It's not a "dual core Power Architecture."
According to the teardown, the chip is "quite similar to the Samsung processor Apple uses in the iPhone."
iFixit concluded that it was a Cortex A8 in there and I've seen nothing to contradict that.
A4??? That IS really big for a die size. But why oh why not Legal, since Apple is American?
Free, as in your money being freed from the confines of your account.
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people don’t see the true genius behind Steve Job’s vision and moves.
Another day, another worship piece for Jobs. Could he be the Maitreya after all? http://www.share-international.org/maitreya/Ma_main.htm
Sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel is the headlight of an oncoming train.
Apple cannot make money by first deploying the A4 processor then switching away after another chip beats it, they'd lose that massive investment in chip development.
Apple might've noticed different constraints for the iPad and iPhone, deploying their own chip for the iPad while using other ARM chips for iPhones. Yes, maybe that's true, but agility doesn't matter there, correct forecasting matters.
Apple's most likely benefits from the A4 are :
(1) processor related intellectual property gives them an advantage when buying other chips, i.e. Apple has proven themselves litigious assholes over the last few years
(2) iPads are far less constrained than iPhones, i.e. save money deploying a slightly faster but overall inferior chip, also cut out the real chip designers when you can get away with designing them yourself.
The Christian religion has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world. -- Bertrand Russell
I believe this guy is onto something. However, I don't think he's gone far enough in his projections.
Here's what I think. Apple realizes that processors are commodities. They have a tool chain that makes nicely optimized compiled code from multiple processors.
Apple realizes that it cannot compete with WinTel, but even more than that, doesn't even want to. Wintel is strapped to ancient technologies and trying to break free from those techs (x86) has proven to be nearly impossible for all (Intel, Microsoft, AMD). They HAVE to keep backwards compatibility.
Apple is going further towards abstraction away from the hardware for all things that don't need to depend on hardware, which will allow them to continue to move from platform to platform as one platform stagnates (Power) to one that is improving(x86). Now that x86 is stuck in between 32 and 64bit HELL, Apple is poised to move to a new platform architecture that isn't limited by 30+ years of legacy holding it back.
In the end, Apple will be able to build or order chips from the people showing the best capabilities, no matter what they are. It is actually something that makes a lot more sense than holding onto 30 year old technology just for the sake of holding onto 30 year old technology.
This is not a bad thing. This will break the WinTel monopoly. I believe Apple knows the endgame for this is here. Wintel used to be the commodity item, now it is a single vendor solution, and Apple is providing a better product that "Just Works" (tm), one that people are willing to pay a small premium for.
This is why people like Taco make "lame" comments, because it isn't about Ghz, Giga, Tera or anything else, it is about being useful without being hassled. My wife doesn't care about specs, she cares about doing stuff, and it being easy.
Would you buy a toaster based on wattage used, types of heater elements, what kind of processor is used for the timing mechanism? Or do you buy a toaster to make toast? Apple is making toasters; sealed appliances. And abstracting the function away from the hardware makes perfect sense, then the hardware matters less than functionality.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
If this is indeed the case, then iPhone OS 4.0 would bring incredible speed improvements to the iPad, since it would no longer run applications on an ARM processor emulator. Can you imagine if OS 4.0 improved the iPad’s speed by 50% on day 1? Apple would be heralded as a software God. But in order for these speed improvements to be realized, apps would need to be written in objective C—which is exactly what Apple is now telling developers to do.
The writer doesn't realize that Adobe/MonoTouch were making a cross compiler from ActionScript/C# to Objective-C. So any improvements made to XCode will be available to those Apps too and if regular Apps are speeded up by 50%, so would the CS5 and MonoTouch Apps.
Posters below have already explained what a bunch of crock the speculation that the processor is actually a Power CPU is. Anyway what can you expect from a blind fanboy who writes stuff like:
Apple's DNA in this area is untouchable, helping it to innovate at the confluence of software and hardware.
I find it fascinating that Apple has been so good at diverting attention to the Flash argument, that people don’t see the true genius behind Steve Job’s vision and moves. Apple is setting the stage to become one of the biggest winners in the storied history of vertically integrated companies.
Huh? Wtf?
Why is this crap posted on Slashdot anyway?
This space for rent.
Up until the "porn store" comment I would have agreed that Jobs is not that scared of Android but when he goes out of his way to bash it in an unrelated keynote in such a childish manner, that's fear talking.
But dr. Evil, that has already happened.
Apple effectively prohibits highly complex applications by limiting the types of API's that can be used. The App store is designed to be filled with simple applications with a limited (Lowest Common Denominator) feature set.
So Microsoft is at the whims of which company? or Dell? Red Hat? Novell?
I'm sorry but your logic fails here as there are already several successful hardware and software companies that can maintain their own release schedules without the input or approval of software manufacturers. If Apple cant do this their is something wrong with the Apple OS, not the software that runs on it. MS for all it's flaws has been able to maintain good backwards compatibility meaning I can upgrade my OS and have almost all my programs work (I recently upgraded from XP to Win 7 at work with no problems what so ever).
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.