SDK Shoot Out, Android Vs. IPhone 413
snydeq writes "Fatal Exception's Neil McAllister delves into the Android and iPhone SDKs to help sort out which will be the best bet for developers now that technical details of the first Android smartphone have been announced. Whereas the iPhone requires an Intel-based Mac running OS X 10.5.4 or later, ADC membership, and familiarity with proprietary Mac OS X dev tools, the standard IDE for Android is Eclipse. And because most tasks can be performed with command-line tools, you can expert third parties to develop Android SDK plug-ins for other IDEs. Objective-C, used almost nowhere outside Apple, is required for iPhone UI development, while app-level Android programming is done in Java. 'By just about any measure, Google's Android is more open and developer-friendly than the iPhone,' McAllister writes, noting Apple's gag order restrictions on documentation, proprietary software requirements to view training videos, and right to reject your finished app from the sole distribution channel for iPhone. This openness is, of course, essential to Android's prospects. 'Based on raw market share alone, the iPhone seems likely to remain the smartphone developer's platform of choice — especially when ISVs can translate that market share into application sales,' McAllister writes. 'Sound familiar? In this race, Apple is taking a page from Microsoft's book, while Google looks suspiciously like Linux.'"
Biased much? (Score:5, Funny)
So I can run any CPU from any vendor, with any OS, and no familiarity with anything, to develop for Android? Cool!
The short version: Open != !Open. (Score:2, Funny)
The only thing that matters... (Score:4, Funny)
We buy MACs as conversation starters, PCs because we are depressed and dont like ourselves, and are gluttons for punishment.
Which of these phones is going to make me more attractive? Which phone will increase the size of my- er, um, bank account?
I dont just want a fuckin phone, I want a phone to provide solutions to Global Warming, AIDS and Fat People. THAT is the phone I want, dammit!
Cycle of Oppression (Score:4, Funny)
We have seen it for thousands of generations, the oppressed/rebel kid/cool dude becomes the oppressor. Apple is the new Microsoft. Pretty soon Google will be the new Microsoft, who knows what next.
What I do know is eventually it'll lead to by the law of natural selection the most oppressive organisation in the form of Skynet and mankind's only hope will be an Austrian Terminator (no no Summer Glau of Sarah Connor Chronicles is NOT a fighter type more like a japanese maid robot)
p.s. we do have to melt the terminator in the end just to be on the safe side
Re:The only thing that matters... (Score:4, Funny)
I want a phone to provide solutions to Global Warming, AIDS and Fat People.
You just gave me a great idea for an iPhone app. Look for it soon on the App store!
Re:Biased much? (Score:5, Funny)
Wow, what a treat we have today:
It's a Slashdot user with a 2 digit user ID, they're very rare.
OK, take some photos, but be very quiet in case you startle it. Don't point your flash directly at its eyes since it's probably unaccustomed to bright light and you might blind it.
When you're done, I'll be over there with the rest of the tour group.
Re:Biased much? (Score:4, Funny)
Gmail is still in beta.
So, you can complain about having lost email, but then again, you're using a beta product.
No, I don't care that it's in a state of permanent beta. As has been pointed out before:
1. do something better than your competitors
2. call it "beta" forever so you don't have to support anything other than reading bug reports
3. profit!
Re:The only thing that matters... (Score:2, Funny)
We buy MACs as conversation starters, PCs because we are depressed and dont like ourselves, and are gluttons for punishment.
Not even close.
MAC owners want to be seen as trendy and superior to "the masses" while PC owners want to own a MAC but their logic circuit won't let them pay that much for the privilege.
Re:Hmmm... (Score:1, Funny)
Yes, yes. Down with Kodos! Long live Kang!
Re:The only thing that matters... (Score:3, Funny)
I want a phone to provide solutions to Global Warming, AIDS and Fat People. THAT is the phone I want, dammit!
It must be me here, but I see a "two birds with one stone" statement in there.
Re:Biased much? (Score:3, Funny)
Fuck those toys anyway. They're for sissy boys. You wanna be a sissy bed-wetting limpwrist like a Mac user with no freedom to do what you want? Then get a damn iPhone.
Yeah! Who wants a phone with fucking features on it? Why, a REAL MAN'S phone doesn't even make phone calls! And is covered in barbed wire! And is made of granite, like REAL MEN'S phones should be! REAL MEN should carry around a utility belt full of devices made redundant by phones like these! Fuck that shit, you goddamn SISSIES! Put on your big boy pants and stop the progression of technology already! Fuckers! All of you!
Play in your sandboxes and your web browsers... (Score:1, Funny)
"Apple is taking a page from Microsoft's book, while Google looks suspiciously like Linux"
Which is to say, will fail in the marketplace just "like Linux". iPhone/Android pale in comparsion to REAL SDK power; they are toys compared to WinMob !! Play in your sandboxes and your web browsers - we who like REAL POWER are out of the first grade a long, long time ago.
Re:Biased much? (Score:5, Funny)
It's a Slashdot user with a 2 digit user ID, they're very rare.
You might say there's less than a hundred of them left in the world today!
Re:Open for WHO? (Score:3, Funny)
Any such apps will, at any rate, be sandboxed into the JAVA tarpit where performance isn't an option.
It's not the 90s anymore. In the 21th century Java is actually fast.
Re:Open for WHO? (Score:1, Funny)
Typo error detected. I guess you were saying
"It's not the 90s anymore. In the 21th century Java is actually fat."