Apple cripples iBooks for jailbreakers Apple has opened a new chapter in its campaign against hackers with a feature that prevents jailbroken iDevices from accessing iBooks. According to the Social Apples blog, iPhones and iPads running the latest iOS firmware contain a “jailbreak check” that automatically detects when the devices have been unlocked using the …
In light of the general argument that you shouldn't buy anything from manufacturers that tell you want to do, i take it you won't be buying Sony, Denon, Matsui, Hinari, Kenwood, Bang and Olufson, DELL, HP, MS, Philips, Hitatchi, EMC, Sun, Oracle, Nokia, Samsung....in fact you'd be best off avoiding buying anything as almost all products come with strings attached. Its how far you wish to compromise on the number of strings attached to your purchase.
Personally I refuse to touch an Android device due to it's affiliation with Google who are, to my mind the lowest pondlife on the planet, harvesting people's habits and details to sell on to the highest bidder!
"...Denon, ..., DELL, HP, MS, ..."
I'm a bit lost by your tangential hyperbole. I have PCs from both DELL and HP, and both are running software from MS. I also have a nice music player from Denon.
The Denon music player will play MP3s, FLAC, and various other media files without bitching. I can install any software I want on both PCs, and I can run it.
So why wouldn't I buy products from said companies?
Well Apple is restrictive but less restrictive than the companies you buy products from blissfully ignorantly. At least Apple doesn't have a license that forbids you from posting your opinion or test results about their products... http://books.google.com/books?id=qjgEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA103&lpg=PA103&dq=microsoft+license++legal+sql+test+results&source=bl&ots=1WVH8_KiiI&sig=jDzjjK4RLfeWpsMq13riYYpNaFg&hl=en&ei=rNJbTZSQFsG4tgfN2YzXCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&sqi=2&ved=0CDAQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=microsoft%20license%20%20legal%20sql%20test%20results&f=false
As for jailbrakers MS has come down harder on people who jailbrake their XBOXs than Apple has on people who jailbrake their iPhones. In fact what MS did would be similar to Apple disabling all network services on their iPhone once they detected a jailbrake. http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/789/789640p1.html
Also you must've forgotten about this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft
This is aprt of the reason why I think I will probably never buy anything from Apple.
If I am going to spend £500 and over for some sort of device, whether that is a mobile 'phone or some sort of computer, either with or without a keyboard [and lets be honest, the I Pad is basically a screen without a keyboard, and without a lot of other things come to think of it...] ....then I want to use it as appropriate for me.
Especially for legal content.
What Apple is basically saying here is "you can pay top whack for a device, but don't go thinking you own it.... 'cos you don't."
If the article is correct in it's assertion that even legal e'books will be barred from running on an I pad, then to to me smacks of restrictive practice.
I legally buy some hardware, then make a change to it so that it will do what I want it to do, I buy some content and then Apple says Noooooooooo.
Bollocks to them
And if you buy one and then grumble, you only have yourself to blame.
Avoid Apple like a severe bout of trepanning......
P.
Actually, this sort of thing is a brilliant idea. It's already done on MacOS with stuff you download from some place other than the App Store. This would be a good way to guard against malware. Clearly, iBooks is trying to play the part of Trojan. It should be treated accordingly.
People who want to legally purchase and read eBooks are blocked from doing so, but I'm guessing those who want to download them for free outside Apples ecosystem and use a different reader are free to work away?
If the phone is already jailbroken I don't see people people feeling too bad about doing it illegally when the legal option is forcibly removed.
Just the ones with DRM, bought from the iBookstore, are affected. Free books, and those downloaded from, ahem, questionable sources, still work just fine. There doesn't seem to be any point to this other than annoying people. I can still use the Kindle app, and store (assuming it doesn't get booted), for purchasing books, and just use iBooks for the free stuff. Apple strengthen the view that all-your-iPhones-are-belong-to-them, and lose a few book sales in the process.
No, they tell the device to run some unsigned code. In normal (un-jailbroken) circumstances the device will refuse to run the code. Result: No unsigned code is run.
If the phone is jailbroken it will proceed to execute the unsigned code when it actually shouldn't and that is the point that everything grinds to a halt.
Claiming that this amounts to apple "officially sanctioning" the running of unsigned code is pretty foolish.
Applying one set of rules internally and another set for external developers can be seen as an antitrust measure. 3rd parties would not be allowed to develop an app with unsigned code, so this skews the field (as they can't prevent JB phones running their apps). That could be seen as an antitrust issue.
The fact that apple try to run unsigned code on your handset and stop something else working could actually be taken as a deliberate crippling of functionality and that may even be illegal!
I've found iBook to be one of the more poorly designed ebook apps out there. Can't change background (to use less battery), can't stop rotation, can't do lots of things that better designed apps allow you to do. Stanza for me on my old iPod touch thank you. Although I now have a dedicated ebook reader, so it's not an issue.
Reminds me of Apple's inclusion of virtual desktops. There was a good application for that in MacOSX - so they "competed" with it by building in a poorly designed, less configurable version. Worked though - looks like they managed to kill the better designed application.
Apple is learning lots of tricks from Microsoft. Unfortunately, they're learning all the unethical, underhanded, possibly illegal tricks, and trying to "compete" through the use of legal restrictions as hammers rather than with any actual innovation.
To anyone still using iBooks, check out Stanza. By far the most configurable and simple ebook reader available to the iPad/iPhone. Backlight control by dragging up and down the centre of the screen, useful if you dip in and out of ebooks while waiting for the bus and then picking it up in bed.
As is, my iPad is jailbroken although still the tethered jailbreak. I should get round to using the new one but I've only restarted my iPad twice in the last three months, one of those was my brother running the battery flat after a massive Angry Birds session!
I knew what I was getting with the iPad, I also knew with some patience and hard work by those cleverer than me (Geohot et al) it can do just about anything I want it to. I've stopped carrying my laptop, if there is something I need a PC for, iTap RDP works well, I can stream videos to the pad with Air Video (in any codec my Windows machine can play, re-encoded on the fly), when the battery will not hold more than an 80% charge, $99 will get me a refurbished iPad, hopefully one without the big scratch I've put across the back of mine!
iTunes for Windows still sucks though, have to run the bloody thing of a fast SSD just to make it usable.
The problem is people like you who are willing to give Apple their cash but jump through hoops in order to get the thing working the way they want it to. While iDiots are still willing to do this Apple will carry on getting more draconian with every year that passes. The only way to change their business practices is to make them sit up and take notice that their profits are dropping which can only happen when people stop buying their crap.
Remember, Apple market themselves as a 'Premium' company and yet most of their products are way behind that of their competitors. If I pay top prices for anything I expect it to be able to do everything it is capable of and not be artificially crippled or missing features that appear in much lower priced devices.
ok, fair enough if i mess with how the phone works then void my warranty. that's cool, i understand that. but apple's behaviour towards their customers who custom mod their gear is to treat them like they are guilty of some nefarious and punishable crime that is somehow akin to copyright violation - like you have perverted your device into an illegal Frankenstein version. You deserve to be punished and they will get you.
Let's cut to the chase, this is all about forcing people through the precious app store. Let's get this very clear: side stepping the app store is NOT ILLEGAL DOWNLOADING! It's not even in the same ball park.
the hostile attitude they are taking to their customers for daring to "think different" is a ticking time bomb. I for one can't wait for it to blow up in their face.
Finally got my own SMS alert and ring tones.
Have got background wallpaper - which works PERFECTLY (why was this kept from the 3G?)
Have now got a live clock icon which, get this, actually shows the right time (instead of 10.15 perpetually).
Have got SB settings so I can turn things on and off with ease... such an improvement!
And Apple wonders why people jailbreak?
A proper battery gauge on the 3G? That was my favourite.
What was rather odd is that I've since reverted it to "official" iOS, as the battery drained a bit too fast for my liking (not sure why), but the battery gauge has persisted. Identical FW on g/f's phone (same hardware), it's not there.
I'm no megafan of Apple - they're just as bad as MS and Google.
However, I'm a developer. I don't want people pirating my games. Jailbroken phones allow sideloading of pirated games, therefore jailbreaking is bad and I would like to see it Apple find a way to stamp down on it.
Also, locking down the handset is a necessary evil to maintain reliability. Although I wish apps could integrate with system apps and extend functionality, I know from past experience with Palm, Symbian and Windows Mobile that deep integration will practically guarantee frequest resets. The iPhone is the most stable smartphone I've ever owned and because that is important to me, I tolerate the limitations.
I suggest that trying this device through iBooks is a prelude to attempting it through iTunes. If successful, it would make it much harder to Jailbreak.
I too am no megafan or apple and I too am a developer.
As far as I am concerned, the rights of the consumer trump the rights of the developer. After all, if there are no consumers, developers sell nothing, and you also don't want to alienate your customers. Also in my experience, most pirates are in the camp of they were never going to buy it in the first place, so it's not exactly a lost sale.
As for locking down the device.. it's an evil yes, but not a necessary one. If the OS can't maintain a stable, reliable operating environment without resorting to such draconian '1984' style measures then it fails one of the most basic functions of an Operating System.
So long as your app is well written, adheres to the defined APIs, and generally a well behaved piece of code then any instability and lack of performance is the users problem, not yours. It's been that way in the desktop space since the dawn of time, mobile devices deserve no special exemption from the rule.
In regards to your situation of wanting your apps protected from jailbroken devices, then apple has shown you the way. Have your app try to run incorrectly signed code, if it fails, run as normal. If it runs, kill your app, or if you wanted to make money off the pirates, start popping ads up in your app.
Jailbroken phones MAY run pirated games, but they DO allow many wonderful things that Apple have decided you don't want/need. We don't force everyone to use butter knives. Steak knives MAY be used to kill people, therefore steak knives = bad? (dunno why I chose knives, probably just hungry, but you get the point)
If a user wants reliability then not jailbreaking is obviously the way to go, but if they want to do all the cool things that are possible but not permitted by Apple then that is their (now thankfully legal) right, and they accept the associated risks.
Me = Developer with William Wallace shouting "FREEDOM" in me ear
You /think/ you don't want people pirating your games. Actually it might turn out that piracy resulted in much greater distribution and exposure, and you ended up benefiting overall. Or it might turn out that piracy was insignificant and had virtually no effect on the bottom line.
I would sue Apple for consumer fraud.
Since US users can lawfully unlock their fruit-ware this doesn't break any criminal or civil laws. If I buy an iBook this should work on anything legal including anything from Apple.
I have a feeling that jobs might have put his foot over the line on this one, even more so if there is no warning about dysfunctionality given in the purchasing process.
Obviously the answer is not to buy iBooks, which will reduce the amount of cash leaches from your wallet.
I wonder if he will try this in Europe?
...just buying buying a book?
Stable, well established and mature technology.
No cables.
No batteries.
No e-commerce charges.
Works great in the brightest sunlight.
Can take it to the beach and not worry about sand or salt spray.
When you page flip with your finger there is no lag or software patent payments involved.
After reading it you can give it to someone else.
Who is going to steal it?
and Apple gets nothing.
Plus, if the "cloud" ever crashes or you experience WiFi errors you still have your book. The elegant concepts work best.
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