ONLINE FREEDOM advocacy group the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has got its hands on and posted Apple's developer programme license agreement to lift the lid on the cappuccino firm's firewalled SDK application process.
How did the EFF get its hands on the licence agreement when developers have to sign in blood not to reveal any details? EFF spokesman Fred Von Lohmann wrote, "When we saw the NASA App for Iphone, we used the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to ask NASA for a copy, so that the general public could see what rules controlled the technology they could use with their phones. NASA responded with the Rev. 3-17-09 version of the agreement."
The EFF highlighted some troubling statements faced by signatories. These include a ban on public statements, ban on reverse engineering, monopoly on App Store distribution only, Apple can kill the App anytime and Apple won't be for liable for damages over £33.44. Lastly, there's a ban on jail breaking or aiding jail breaking on any Apple product, which could mean a complete lack of support for open source interoperability.
Developers hoping to get their mitts on Apple's SDK have to run round more rings than Bavarian circus ponies with Ringmaster Steve Jobs cracking the whip on SDK App developers as if he had his hands on Coke's infamous magic ingredients or Colonel Sander's 11 secret herbs and spices.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
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