Apple picks death not compliance for open source iPhone game

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/05/27/gnu_go_fsf_apple_itunes/

by chanux • 16 years ago

17 34 16 years ago

theregister.co.uk

younata• 16 years ago

I agree with Apple on this. If a license says that "You must do this, this, and that" in regards to something, and you can't do "this, this, and that" because it could kill your business model, then it makes perfect sense to preserve your business model - one that is working very well - by sacrificing the restrictive piece.

cgranade2• 16 years ago

That'd be fine, were it not for that Apple's choice effectively cuts off open source software for their users as well. No one is saying that Apple should be forced to take undue legal risks, but by making themselves the single gateway to the iPOS platform, Apple implicitly assumes a lot of responsibility and, yes, legal risks. If Apple doesn't want the legal risks attending to GPL violations, then they shouldn't be the gatekeeper, period.

andrewljohnson2• 16 years ago

Apple only cut off a small bit of open source software after the religious zealots decided it would be a good PR move to make an issue of it.

And who is anybody to say what Apple can or can't do with their brilliant platform that they invested in and worked hard on? Apple is a business, not a religion. They don't want the legal risks, so they cut the app. They don't close up shop or make bad decisions because of vague philosophy from a crusty old engineer and his crusty old beard.

res0nat0r3• 16 years ago

It's their platform they can decide what they want on it and what they don't unfortunately. I would love to see all of my favorite GNU/sourceforge/github apps running on Apple products, but this isn't going to happen. This is why I'm not buying another iPod after my 2nd gen one died, and also sold my Macbook.

I dont like the pointy and clicky interface (yes I know Darwin is underneath), and since I don't like it I use my PC based HTPC/desktop/laptop at home running Ubuntu and am perfectly fine with it.

Not all companies are going to take the RMS route and make their bread and butter 100% free for anyone to use from day one and think they will be in business for more than a month. I love OSS and everything about it, but I understand the business reasons too and since I just don't like the products that Apple forces me to use, I just dont use them. Capitalism at work right?

shykes• 16 years ago

I believe Apple is only banning GPL software. Other open-source licenses are compatible with the App Store policy, and so should not be affected.

demallien• 16 years ago

No. You're assigning blame to an inappropriate party here. Apple was more than happy to make the software available, free of charge, to anyone with an iPhoneOS device. If anyone is to blame, it's the FSF for forcing compliance to the letter of the law rather than it's spirit.

I men come on! If you have an iPhoneOS device, you can just download the software. If you don't, the source code is freely available. How did the FSF's actions protect consumers, or even developers? As far as I can see, it didn't.

wmf2• 16 years ago

I don't see how providing the source to an open source app would kill the App Store. It would just add some cost that Apple doesn't want to pay.

tzs5• 16 years ago

This has nothing to do with providing source. The GPL violation is due to the requirement that you have to agree not to redistribute things you download from the App Store.

thm76• 16 years ago

I think the issue was with the limitation that the app can only be installed on up to five devices. The requirement to provide the source code could easily be satisfied by a download link on the app's homepage (which is accessible from iTunes).

tzs5• 16 years ago

Ugh. The article calls Go a chess-like game, showing that the author knows nothing of Chess or Go.

jerf• 16 years ago

Compared to, say, Grand Theft Auto 4? Even three words dedicated to the difference in this setting would be three words too many. In the grand space of games, Go is a Chess-like game, Chess is a Go-like game, and both are related to Othello/Reversi and "Chinese" checkers rather more than soccer.

tzs5• 16 years ago

Why compare Go to anything in the article? If there must be some explanation for people who have no idea what Go is, simply calling it a strategy game would be sufficient, and would at least be accurate.

Chess and Go are not related. They have in common a rectangular board and are played by two players taking turns. That's about it. Saying they are like each other in the grand scheme of things would be like saying that poker and bridge are like each other, because they are both played with cards.

robryan• 16 years ago

Would have been very surprised if they changed their terms as a result of this.

credo• 16 years ago

In the comments, I see criticism of Apple, defense of Apple, criticism of FSF (which was downvoted below zero), open source discussions etc.

Strangely, I don't see any criticism of the app developer. The app developer signed an agreement with Apple and agreed to its terms. They then went on to pick up source code with the GPL2 license.

It seems reasonable to assume that the developer signed two licenses with the full knowledge that they would have to violate one of these licenses.

zppx4• 16 years ago

Maybe he was just ignorant about the situation, recently here on HN, a community is well above the average of the Tech related communities in web, I have seen ignorance about copyright ownership and related subjects, so I prefer to believe that the developer was just ignorant, the Appstore model does nothing to educate this type of independent developer without any legal expertise and this type of situation can arise in the future as well.

maxharris• 16 years ago

The title is misleading. By removing the offending app from the App store, Apple is now in compliance - it is not violating the GPL.

AlexMax• 16 years ago

GNU Go is probably not the only app on the app store that makes use of GPL code. In particular, Doom Classic is also based on a GPL fork of Doom called PrBoom.

Apple picks death not compliance for open source iPhone game

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