iPhone OS: Day 2, Isolation
Posted by elbryan
I hope Ayreon would forgive me for robbing a name from their album, The Human Equation.
These days I'm reading a lot of documentation regarding iPhone OS since I think I'm going to develop something related as part of my Bachelor's Thesis. Sincerly I'm a bit scared about this environment: being a Linux user doesn't ease my travel for sure but this device catch my attention for a lot of things. For instance I like very much the User Interface. I like how Apple designed the OS from a graphical point of view. I can easily say the same for the SDK documentation, it's really really well done. There are tons of examples, tons of documentation; there's even a mini-little tutorial for Object-C newbies.
But, well, as you may already have understood, I really dislike how the Operative System works. It's so darn closed that scares the Hell out of me. The thesis, if I'll accept it, would be an application for GPS Tracking with some other funny features like Geo Tagging, Compass usage and so on. So I've started thinking about what would ever happen if during my walk suddenly a call incomes. iPhone doesn't allow more than one application to run in foreground so the choices are only two: or you get the call, or you track your walk. 2010, dudes! I can't believe we still are forced to be tied with such things. Yea, I know. Security purposes and battery saving. Apple: spend your money on OS optimization and low-consumption hardware! (or ask Nokia how can they produce 12h devices). Well at least we can change the battery. Nope, we can't.
However, why isolation? Isolation came to my mind because of the device itself. It's completely closed. You can't install your own applications without paying a 99$ for being recognized as "Apple Developer". You can't develop an "Hello world" nowhere but Mac OS X. You cannot even try your own bloody-written application that use GPS without paying that fscking 99$. My professor told me:"Well, you still can develop some pseudo-random algorithm to feed your data analysis with". It's outside of my world, it's something I might not even conceive. After all I'm going to grit my teeth because I think that a thesis has to be as explorative as possible. I won't like the idea to put my effort in something I already know. Furthermore, iPhone has a lot of customers (with money) and a nice showcase for applications.
Don't know what will happen. I've already started buying a book. I think I'll sell it before it's shipped to my home.
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