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Facebook iPhone Dev Quits Project Over Apple Tyranny

'My decision to stop iPhone development has had everything to do with Apple's policies.'
 - Joe Hewitt


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Netscape, Firefox, and Facebook software engineer Joe Hewitt has quit development of Facebook's iPhone application. 'My decision to stop iPhone development has had everything to do with Apple's policies', said Hewitt.

To TechCrunch he expanded further.

'I am philosophically opposed to the existence of their review process. I am very concerned they are setting a horrible precedent for other software platforms and soon gatekeepers will start infesting the lives of every software developer.

'I would like to be able to say I helped make the web the best mobile platform available rather than being part of the transition to a world where every developer must go through a middleman to get software in the hands of users.'

'It's a breath of fresh air to see such a prominent developer quit the App Store', writes TechCrunch's Jason Kincaid. 'Their approach to the App Store is frightening - especially given the fact that other platforms may see the iPhone's success and start adopting a similar model.'

Hewitt has essentially been the only developer behind the Facebook iPhone app, the most popular iPhone app of all time.

What Hewitt and all the rest seem to be missing is that Apple's current iPhone security model is dependent on all third party developers submitting their software to Apple to get the root certificate. Yes this is batshit insane but you'd have to ask Apple (or your random Drexel grad) why this is such a good idea.

And you know that as long as Apple are going to go through this silly trouble of signing everyone's apps then they're going to take a look at what they're signing. They might even be held legally liable once their seal is applied.

And there's no way out of this until Apple's Unix and security experts admit the Windows security model isn't really all that good after all.

I have only one major complaint with the App Store and I can state it quite simply: the review process needs to be eliminated completely.
 - Joe Hewitt
Does that sound scary to you, imagining a world in which any developer can just publish an app to your little touch screen computer without Apple's saintly reviewers scrubbing it of all evil first?
 - Joe Hewitt
We have our own product managers and quality assurance testers and we are liable to our users and the courts if we do anything evil or stupid. Apple may catch a few shallow bugs in the review process but let's face it: the real things they are looking for are not bugs but violations of the terms of service. This is all about lawyers, not quality.
 - Joe Hewitt

See Also
JoeHewitt.com
Joe Hewitt on Twitter
Joe Hewitt: Innocent Until Proven Guilty
TechCrunch: Facebook iPhone Dev Quits Project Over Apple Tyranny

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