(no subject)

[theweaselking]

Oracle loses big, as US court rules that an API cannot be copyrighted.

Related: As is typical for Apple, when introducing an inferior product they forcibly remove all competitors from their marketplace, because Apple does not want to have to produce a product good enough to compete. Google maps joins the excellent company of Swype, Vlingo, and thousands of other products banned from the iOS marketplace for being more desirable than Apple's own offerings.

Comments

[skington.livejournal.com]

I like that our host automatically assumes that Apple's app will be worse than the existing Maps app, before it's even come out.

Also, Apple wrote the current iOS maps app. Google just provides the back-end.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

I like that our host automatically assumes that Apple's app will be worse than the existing Maps app, before it's even come out.

I have history on my side - iOS keyboard vs Swype, SIRI vs Vlingo, Safari versus Every Other Web Browser Ever Except Maybe IE6 But Give Me IE9 Any Day, iOS vs Android, App Store vs Google Play, OSx vs Ubuntu, Dock vs Pin, Finder vs Explorer, etc, etc, etc.

Also? In order to be "better", you'd have to match "the best mapping in the world, with a decade of refinements and a billion users adding context and correcting errors" from a company that has trouble handling cloud file sharing.

[bait]
And who still ship laptops without a right mouse button, I'm JUST SAYING.
[/bait]

[autopope.livejournal.com]

Ahem: as noted, Apple wrote the current Maps app; they just use Google's data.

Presumably the lowest common denominator option would be for Apple to switch to using Open StreetMap data in the current app. Or they could do something more radical, but what do we know yet?

Note also that this change follows Google changing their T&C's to charge companies who use Google Maps data on all but the smallest scale.

My reading is that, given Apple ship tens of millions of iOS devices each quarter, they were looking at a quarterly licensing fee in the tens to hundreds of millions of dollars -- at which point finding an alternative data source is just sensible business, not some great conspiracy.

(As for shipping laptops without a right mouse button, this here Macbook Air has NO mouse buttons. It still works, somehow.)

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

(As for shipping laptops without a right mouse button, this here Macbook Air has NO mouse buttons. It still works, somehow.)

I know. I hate those. I find them horrendously difficult to use- either tapping is on and I'm constantly mis-tapping because my hands shake in a way that all touchpads hate, or tapping is off and I'm relying on the whole-touchpad-click that hates me so much. In both cases, "two buttons" is better. It's like trying to deal with configuration and VoiceOver: The only way to properly navigate the email setup page without being able to see the screen is to turn off VoiceOver and hand the device to a sighted user. A bunch of fields won't read their descriptions (only their contents) and in a couple of cases, a bug prevents entries with the VoiceOver keyboard from entering correctly. VoiceOver is great once you're set up, but setting the device up simply doesn't work.

It's like trying to set up an iPhone: You need a PC with iTunes to get started, even if you never intend to attach the device again. It's just AGGRAVATING.

[prk.livejournal.com]

It's like trying to set up an iPhone: You need a PC with iTunes to get started, even if you never intend to attach the device again. It's just AGGRAVATING.

Pretty sure they removed that requirement with IOS5.

prk.

[duskwuff.livejournal.com]

Presumably the lowest common denominator option would be for Apple to switch to using Open StreetMap data in the current app. Or they could do something more radical, but what do we know yet?

Which would make a lot of sense, considering that a recent version of iPhoto has done exactly that.