“By the standards of modern software, it wasn’t much. All the program did, after all, was display the words ‘Hello world!'” Arik Hesseldahl reports for BusinessWeek.
“What set it apart was the fact that it did so on Apple’s iPhone, and that it was created by a group of independent programmers without the blessing of the famously control-freakish company,” Hesseldahl reports.
“The simple little program appears to be the first downloadable program created for the iPhone, bypassing Apple’s ‘approved’ method of developing software for the device: applications hosted on Web sites and accessed through the iPhone’s Web browser rather than its internal memory,” Hesseldahl reports.
“And why all the effort? The basic hacker impulse: Curiosity, says Andrew Jaquith, an analyst with the Yankee Group and an iPhone user. ‘It’s really a powerful mobile computing platform the likes of which hasn’t been seen before, and a certain segment of the population is eager to play around with it,’ he says. ‘This is hacking in the purest sense, not for causing trouble or getting free service, but just tinkering around,'” Hesseldahl reports.
It also raises the hope of building practical, useful applications, as Hesseldahl reports in the full article here.
I hope by next year (when I’ll be getting an iPhone), they’ll have many practical and useful applications that I don’t have to access the web for.
And GPS. I must have GPS.
“Control-freakish”? “CONTROL-FREAKISH”? They make that sound like a bad thing!
Of course, this comment could certainly never be made about MicroShaft, hence the 140,000+ viruses, trojans, worms, spyware, and assorted malware their OS’s are replete with.
Give me a “control freak” every time when it comes to the security of my electronic devices!
Randian, you don’t consider an OS that must “phone home” to activate all but its most basic features “control-freakish”? True, MS is more “control-freakish” about protecting their own revenue stream than they are about protecting the folks who use their products, but they may well have put more thought and effort into their anti-piracy campaign than they did into their Vista development.
DLMeyer – the Voice of G.L.Horton’s Stage Page Pod Cast – now showing the ICWP Retreat
MDN magic word : “school”
A girl I met recently told me she’d never buy an Apple product because she thought they wanted to “Take over the world”. I said OK and other companies don’t? And Microsoft doesn’t?
I said it may be true Apple wants to control media and the devices we view it on, but if that means we get consistently great products that work and are easy to use, I’ll take that any day over the crapware that companies like MS sells.
You can control the world when you have the best product.
I can’t make my phone say “Hello World!” but I don’t shout “control freaks!” about it.
Well said, Georgy Porgy. A good example is Microsoft Windows. No argument that Microsoft Windows is the best and therefore controls the world. Good stuff. Keep posting!
Good to see someone has some sense on the MDN boards.
Your potential. Our passion.™
@ M@c
Do you spend an inordinate amount of time getting lost? Remember the printed form of gps: maps; they’re really handy, no battery required, and very portable.
I am interested in iPhone articles because I plan on getting one. I love how articles on MDN, no matter what the topic, always turn into articles bashing Microsoft. This was an article about people opening up an Apple product and creating apps for it, and what is the resulting discussion? “MS Sucks!”
It reminds me of some of the paranoid, fanatical Muslims in the Middle East, whose first instinct is to “Blame the Jews!”
I have to say this Mac cult mentality and shitty attitude has ruined much of the Mac experience for me. I still love OS X, just can’t stand a lot of the douche bags who use it.
I want …. I wont buy until …..
Bloody hell people ….
I have an iPhone …
I still use my Garmen GPS and 5g iPod when traveling …
iPhone = mobile communicator and media player
iPhone DOES NOT = large storage device crammed with too much shit
“Hello world!”
??? Hackers need a style department. Style would have told them to write “Hello World!” both caps. That’s why Apple keeps the iPhone closed. If they can’t even get the caps right…
@ disgusted Mac user
We are neither a cult nor Micro$oft bashers. Micro$oft does enough to bash itself. What do muslims and jews have to do with computers? Back to your basement son!
Sorry about the above comment, my therapy isn’t going well.
I love Apple and my iPhone. Microsoft is just a crapware making bloated company.
Long live OS X!
I’m a bit “Control-Freakish” myself, I guess must of us hot blooded, meat eating, leather wearing, girls tend to be that way anyway. I guess that’s one of the things I like about my iPhone, no one can install crap on it. So, I don’t need to worry about someone slipping an application on it, not through the web, or a message. It just stay clean, in it’s leather pouch in my bag, inside and out.
This was on Engadget awhile back! A couple weeks ago, I believe!
You’d have a point if Microsoft didn’t suck.
How’s that KoolAid, Zuny?
@ 8R
Amen. I don’t know why everyone is making such a big deal about GPS. I understand that if you are in a new place driving a rental car, it might come in handy. But I don’t see how that is a deal breaker on whether or not you buy a particular phone.
“I have to say this Mac cult mentality and shitty attitude has ruined much of the Mac experience for me. I still love OS X, just can’t stand a lot of the douche bags who use it.”
Hmmmm, I guess that is because there are NO MS people with a “LOVE this MS or leave it”attitude. An MS user would NEVER bash an apple produce.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” />
Seriously, I do think that some people go too far in pushing their platform. Then again, many people that I meet in real life are “butt heads” too.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” />
Just a thought.
en
“Hello World”
I just had programming class flashbacks.
Man, never take computer programming at 8am. Never!
“We are neither a cult nor Micro$oft bashers.”
At least that’s what our leader Guru Steve told us.