iPhone beta OS cracks before release

Stolen?

"but most need to put bread on the table and won't support a community whose primary motivation is the use of stolen software. "

Easy, tiger - "bought from somewhere other than Apple's approved AppStore" != stolen, you know. Perhaps you need to back off on the Kupertino Kool-Aid. Evil Stevil for obvious reasons.

Stolen software - FTW?!

“won't support a community whose primary motivation is the use of stolen software“ - unbelievable.

Clearly the writer needs to comprehend just why Jailbreaking takes place, and it isn’t primarily for nicking stuff which is not as straightforward as it appears and updates are a non event so why bother, it also allows app’s that Apple won’t permit on the Appstore. And just what is wrong with allowing the owner of a rather expensive bit of kit to customise it anyway they deem fit which can only be done via Jailbreaking.

Seems your primary motivation is rattling cages with sweeping dergogatory statements. Well done, object achieved,

WTF?

"... won't support a community whose primary motivation is the use of stolen software."

Eh? Is that a deliberate attempt to incite a vehement response or is that just poor unsubstaniated journalism?

The majority of developers working for the Cydia installer aren't there to create bootlegs of existing software. They're there to provide functionality not available through the App Store. If you take a look at the list of third party stuff for jailbroken iPhones you won't see a lot of hacked apps: instead there are theme-packages, GPS utlities and applications which you can happily run in the background and don't shut off the moment you close the program. Added to which the majority of these are FREE.

Do some proper research and don't just crib off Apple's PR handouts.

No stealing going on

No one is stealing software. They paid for their hardware and now want the freedom to choose which software they install. No different from buying a Windows machine and putting Linux on it. The manufacturer probably won't support it but it does not make it illegal.

Duh

So, I sign up to release applications through the App Store and "Bonjo Nelson" offers different apps through Cydia on jailbroken phones. As long as I'm not daft enough to try and punt the same app through both channels, who would ever know?

Anyway, I use the jailbroken phone not because of any abstract love of freedom, but simply because it does things I need that the vanilla iphone doesn't

1. I have unlocked it using the wonderfully named yellowsn0w application so when I'm in the US I can use my phone with a cheap AT&T pay as you go card (as my phone is O2 Pay & Go, it doesn't work in the US even if I wanted them to rape my credits each time I made/received a call). Funny how I thought I paid for the phone without it being on a subsidised contract, yet it's still locked.

2. I can run an http server on it, lighttpd, and have web apps I've created stored on it to use whenever and wherever I want.

3. I can selectively run other apps in the background. Handy for keeping connected in IRC channels, for example, while I go off to check my mail.

The phone DOES crash more than the plain phone with certain apps (well, more specifically, the apps run out of memory and bomb out), so I can understand why Apple are reluctant to let the great unwashed do this, but I'm prepared to put up with this in return for the advantages.

Jolyon

I bust out a jail burst on ma iphn.

Jailbursting isn't for everyone. I originally did mine when the Appstore was a glint in Steve's eye. It then allowed me to run the app that removed the SIM lock so I could use my O2 PAYGO SIM (before there were officially approved ones) and then port over to Orange. After trying various software via jailbreak, I only really use Cycorder (video recorder) and Backgrounder (for adding 'background-able' attributes to Apps). I got bored of the rest or an equivalent became available in the App Store.

You don't own the damn phone.

It is owned by the service provider for the duration of the contract *even* if you paid an upfront fee. Think of it like a mortgage. Instead of foaming at the mouth, read your T&C's! At the end of the contract, you can ask for the handset to be 'unlocked' an the provider must provide you with a means to do so, how much that costs is up to the service provider. As for app lock in, meh. You're all beginning to sound like Stallman.

Reasons for lack for freedom

I think Apple's argument of "it's a dangerous world, so we'll only let you buy apps from our store" wears thin. If that were really the only motivation, Apple could just as well say "it's a dangerous world, if you want to be safe, only buy apps from our store." That gives users a choice whether they want to live within the "safe" Apple world, or venture out and watch their iPhones crash.

That's the experience we've had with every major desktop operating system, Linux, MacOS and Windows alike. Windows Vista users can use all-MS products if they like, or they can choose to run OpenOffice or WordPerfect.

GRRR!

"a community whose primary motivation is the use of stolen software"

Got any proof of that assertion, sunshine?

Ouch :(

“won't support a community whose primary motivation is the use of stolen software“

That hurts. Perhaps I jailbroke my iPhone to install tracking software on my phone in case it's stolen -- since ATT and Apple won't help me out with that. It sounds more to me like Apple is encouraging iPhone theft by trying to block my only method of thwarting thiefs efforts.

Banned

"The fact that such developers are banned by contract from working on jailbreaking software makes the swift crack all the more remarkable."

It does? I'm no expert on the jailbreaking scene, but do these guys normally release their hacks under their real name? You know, the same name they signed on the dotted line when they promised Mr. Jobs they'd be a good boy, and only do the things with their hardware which he wanted?

There'll always be a reason to do it

as long as the phones remain locked to one network, we need to jailbreak to run yellowsn0w.

Stolen Software? Easy buddy!

Bill, I still don't understand what you were saying... If you were researching just a tiny little bit, you'd find that there's a lot more to it than stolen software. Jailbreaking enables users to unlock their phones (legal in most countries), and run a lot of freeware applications, as well as paid software, giving a lot of functionality that the iPhone doesn't officially have pre 3.0 (e.g. MMS and horizontal SMS). If a developer makes it for jailbroken phones and I pay him via Paypal, does that make it stolen software?

That's just plain bs.. are you also one of those who say Linux is supporting Terrorists?

FREE not to buy an iPhone.

The worst part is the whole jailbreaking thing is a selling argument for apple ...

If you are nice Apple will take care of you and provide you with safe apps in a controlled manner,

If you are naughty, Apple will make sure you still buy their handset buy publicising and even easing the existence of an unlocking kit. And if they manage to brick your phone after an easy jailbreak even better because you might buy another one.

Adversity = Opportunity

@Bill Ray - author's clarification

[quote] The author's contention is that those writing that software will, in response to Apple's threats, be unable to make a living, and that many of them will therefore withdraw support - leaving stolen software the primary motivation for Jailbraking [end quote]

My contention is that the author doesn't quite get how the "free software" community works (would use stronger terms, but I'll refrain for now). The developers who would put their software on the official App Store *for free* would just as readily put their app elsewhere *for free*. All that Apple ensures is pissing off (and eventually losing) developers who really want to run whatever they want to on hardware that *they paid for* (as others have pointed out before me). That's (part of) the reason that Windows is as ubiquitous as it is today - M$ did not lock in their userbase to their own whims and fancies (at least not to the extent that Apple does).

I need a new phone (my good ol' Nokia workhorse died yesterday) and the iPhone is off my list for precisely this reason - I love the phone, but hate the Apple baggage that comes with it.

(This post _is_ ultimately about Developers, isn't it?)

o rly?

"with the (not unreasonable) claim that this improves security and simplicity."

If the OS is secure it shouldn't matter where apps come from, they shouldn't be allowed to do naughty things(tm). Running only signed binaries is a nice feature, but you should still sandbox binaries to stop them doing naugthy things(tm) because not all naugthy things(tm) are intentional. The OS/hardware can't be all that secure as "these guys" are still managing to get privileged access to the OS and run non-apple-signed binaries.

Also WTF is the comment about stolen software about? geez.

Simple solution

Get a friggin' phone that you don't need to jump through ridiculous contortions to get the things you want working.

Seriously, if you don't like it, why the hell are you using it?

They are getting there

Stolen / Jailbreak issue aside, I can see where you're coming from here. Looking at my icons of JB software I can see a MMS app, a video recording app and a GPS route map icon. Hidden away is the excellent SBSettings app also.

It looks likely that with 3.0, the need for a MMS app will go. Then possibly TomTom or whoever will bring out their route application. Video recording has also been mentioned in some reviews of 3.0

That takes out three of the four apps I've been using so I have indeed already wondered whether I'll need to JB the 3.0 version when I upgrade...

Noted that I'm on O2 so don't need to unlock.

Misrepresentation

This article grossly misrepresents what jailbreaking is all about. The point of jailbreaking is to do with an iPhone what we've always been able to do with our computers --- to install whatever software we like. It might be software that (for whatever reason) Apple doesn't want to sell through iTunes (The Reg has discussed several such apps in the past). It might be open source software that doesn't have the corporate structure to pay Apple a cut of the "revenues." There are a million reasons why someone would want to run software of their own choosing on their own piece of electronics.

To equate that with software piracy is misguided and disingenuous.

Missleading

The final paragraph regarding "a community whose primary motivation is the use of stolen software" is entirely false. The iPhone hacking community has always been focussed on extending the use of the hardware and were freely releasing (quite often open source) applications they had written long before Apple even announced an App Store, let alone started selling software for people to steal.

You are correct that Apple have made good strides making Jailbreaking less appealing however it's not via their threats to developers but by including more features as standard in the OS (copy & paste) and removing some of the more annoying limitations on what can be distributed on the App Store (Turn by Turn).

For me there's still enough that's blocked by the App Store conditions (Winterboard for one) meaning I'll still Jailbreak.

@Mac Phreak

Not every iPhone user is tied into such a restrictive contract - perhaps you'd like to read the terms and conditions for the O2 iPhone Pay & Go tariff...