A Posteriori

Following the revelation that Apple has failed to patch a flaw in its Java implementation:

http://landonf.bikemonkey.org/code/macosx/CVE-2008-5353.20090519.html

a flaw which was patched in Sun Java over 5 months ago, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s time for Apple to surrender it’s control of the OS X Java implementation to Sun and the Java community.

It’s understandable that Apple’s Java will lag behind Sun Java, simply because the new code has to be adopted for OS X, which includes integration, testing, QA, developer previews, etc. However, there are many other ways that Apple has demonstrated its egregious incompetence, whether deliberate or accidental, in living up to its Java commitments and responsibilities:

1. Contemptible slowness in issuing security updates, especially those based on existing patches from Sun. For a company that brags about how secure its OS is vis-a-vis Windows, this is totally unacceptable.
2. Obsessive secrecy and total lack of transparency in dealing with Java developers. Instead of having a public bug database, it forces developers into signing unwieldy NDAs (non disclosure agreements) before allowing them to download developer previews for new versions of Java. This means any bugs are security issues are not disclosed publicly. Issues can only be disclosed to Apple directly. This is in sharp contrast with the totally open development model for Sun Java, which has already been open sourced and has a public community with public communication.
3. Poor communication with said developers about its plans for future versions of Java. At WWDC 2007, Apple allowed only those Java developers who had paid to attend WWDC to know its Java plans for OS X Leopard when that OS would be released in October of that year. Those plans included omitting the year old Java 6 from Leopard and instead distributing only Java 5. The result was developer outrage over the omission because it was expected that Java 6 would have been included. Apple made the situation worse by deleting posts on its own forums confirming this fact, because they still had an obsessive need to keep it secret.

For these reasons, Apple is unfit as a steward of the Java platform on OS X. It has demonstrated contemptible irresponsibility in living up to its commitments:

We’re going to bring the Java platform back to the desktop in a really big way,” said Jobs to enthusiastic applause. “We are working really hard to make Mac the best delivery vehicle for the Java platform on the planet. We’re going to be there [with the Java platform] right out of the box, on your Mac.
— Steve Jobs, June 2000

Furthermore, Apple negotiated with Sun for the exclusive right to develop and distribute Java for OS X.

By failing to live up to their promises and commitments, Apple no longer deserves of being the sole provider of Java for OS X.

Fortunately, enterprising developers such as Landon Fuller are working to port OpenJDK, which is the open source version of the Java Development Kit, to OS X:

http://landonf.bikemonkey.org/code/java/OpenJDK6_MacPorts.20090516.html

I wish them the best of luck. This version of OpenJDK doesn’t come with graphical capabilities, although graphical applications can still be developed in X11 mode. Depending on whether or not Apple open sources its graphical Java code, the process of enabling this functionality could take years.

1) Microsoft starts scaling down and completely vacates at least one of its auxiliary business lines (MSN, Windows Mobile, XBox, search/portal).
2) Apple makes a serious push for enterprise customers, exemplified by features in Snow Leopard, which will sport of much more toned down GUI (ex no more red, yellow and green buttons on windows).
3) Sun Microsystems gets a stay of execution, as its gambles in storage, MySQL and virtualization pay dividends and return the company to marginal profitability.
4) The iPhone/iPod touch displace the Nintendo DS as the #1 mobile gaming device after hardware and software updates reinforce the device’s gaming functionality and attract more game development shops.
5) BluRay continues to stagnate as the recession hits the format hard. Digital movie downloads also become more attractive. Upscaling DVD players get improve marketing as cheap alternatives to BluRay.
6) Open source databases like MySQL and Postgresql benefit tremendously from the recession, as Oracle and other large database vendors finally lose traction.
7) At least one mobile operating system provider (WindowsMobile, OpenMoko, Android, Symbian) throws in the towel.
8) Apple scales back its iPod models and introduces at least one more lower-end iPhone line (ex “iPhone Nano”) in order to gain subscribers who can’t afford the full iPhone data plan and want to carry one device instead of two. The new phones will be available in CDMA and GSM, so Apple can do an end-run around AT&T for the non-smartphone business.
9) At least one major PC OEM, frustrated with Microsoft’s recent failures with Vista and the difficulty in extending Windows XP’s life, puts serious resources behind making Linux more user friendly in order to sell a line of Linux desktops and laptops. This could be a joint effort among Dell, HP, and several notebook vendors who realized there’s no way for them to install Mac OS X on their computers.
10) Cloud computing doesn’t take off, due mostly to the limits of internet connectivity and bandwidth and somewhat to consumers’ distrust of cloud computing vendors with their data.

Apple’s 2007 World-Wide Developer’s Conference takes place from June 11th to June 15th. Here are my predictions as to what Apple will announce:

1. Apple replaces the MacMini with a new product that will serve a similar purpose and market segment, much like the iPod Nano replaced the iPod Mini (no MacNano jokes please )
2. Leopard features an enhanced BootCamp that will allow for easier emulation of Windows programs within OS X. The requirement that the user purchase and install a copy of Windows will still apply.
3. Finder will no longer be the centre of OS X. It will be replaced by a version of Spotlight on steroids. The Finder will still be available, but it will not be running by default.
4. The iMac loses its chin and will allow users to swap hard drives as they do RAM. They won’t be able to open up the back as they did with the very first iMac.
5. Leopard includes a graphical version of MacPorts that can also be used as a repository for open source .app programs.
6. Apple open sources its version of Java. Now that Sun’s version is open sourced and Apple’s Java 6.0 is over 6 month behind Sun’s, Apple has to do this. Also, since Apple’s devs are also working on the iPhone and Apple TV, they no longer have the resources to maintain a separate version of Java on their own. It will not open source the native Aqua code that’s used by Swing, only the Java classes that access that native code.
7. Bonjour takes a prominent role in Leopard, as well as the AppleTV and the iPhone (this is inspired from roughlydrafted.com, so I can’t take full credit for this prediction).
8. Now that all first party apps (Finder, Safari, iTunes) have had their themes unified, Apple will replace the Mac look n’ feel with something radically different from Aqua, far more significant than the change to brushed metal from pinstripes and just as significant as the move to OS X itself.

The European Union (EU) is holding hearings with the goal of trying to force Apple to “open” its iTunes Digital Rights Management (DRM) scheme to multiple vendors. This would mean that, among other things, songs purchased from the iTunes Music Store (iTMS) would work with competing MP3 players like Microsoft’s Zune, and the iPod would support music downloaded from Microsoft’s Zune music store. Sounds good, right?

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070311-eu-com…

Except that the EU’s hypocrisy in the whole Apple DRM affair is staggering. Were I a European citizen, I’d be more than a little irate that my tax dollars were going to fund what is essentially the RIAA’s guerilla warfare against Apple’s media business.

Allow me to explain.

First of all, Apple’s position as the #1 online music retailer with around 80% of the market gives it an enviable position in negotiations with the RIAA. More specifically, it allows Apple to demand licensing terms for downloaded music that are more consumer-friendly. Among these terms are the 99 cents (U.S.) per song pricing, the ability to authorize the content for playing across 5 computers, and the ability to burn analogue music CD’s. The RIAA has had to swallow hard to make these concessions, and the unfavourable negotiations have no doubt left a very bitter taste in their mouths. The RIAA would like nothing better than to jack up music download prices for more popular songs conceivably as high as 2 dollars.

On the other hand, Microsoft’s various “open” and “interoperable” DRM schemes, which effectively force a self-destructing music rental scheme, have failed to resonate with customers. The reason is that the WMA music “rental” scheme amounts to nothing more than a legalized racket that forces consumers to pay a monthly “protection fee” to prevent their music collection from dissappearing. Consumers have not fallen for the scam, and Microsoft’s overt and one-sided complicity with the RIAA has led to its music download business becoming a massive money pit for the company. Microsoft, in a vain attempt to replicate Apple’s iTunes-iPod business model, has yanked the rug out from its former PlaysForSure partners and architected its own DRM/music player lock-in framework with Windows Media Player and the Zune.

This Ars Technica user hit the nail on the head:

http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/174…

It could be argued that Apple’s dominant position has kept music download prices low. That’s because Apple’s music download business is merely an avenue to more purchases of iPods. iTMS merely breaks even. This means that Apple doesn’t make money off an increase in the download price. However, it stands to lose a lot of customers not willing to pay more than 99 cents a song. This means that it would lose iPod sales.

With the RIAA’s original plan of multiple competing Microsoft-backed WMA DRM download services failing to result in a competitive marketplace, and thus a prime target for negotiations over price and terms, the RIAA has had to rethink its strategy. Apple’s dominant position in the music download and MP3 player business threatens to compromise their control over the music business. Enter the European Union hearings.

The EU consumer affairs department/bureau/office likes to wave the banner of “consumer protection”. This rhetoric serves as a very thin smokescreen for the EU’s true agenda of fortifying the RIAA’s negotiating position against Apple for music distribution.

Steve Jobs, knowing this, called for the RIAA to abolish DRM:

http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughtsonmusic/

And my previous blog asserted that Apple was sincere about eliminating DRM:

http://wordwarrior.blogsome.com/2007/02/16/apple-is-against-drm

With the above as a backdrop, there are three big reasons why the EU’s “consumer protection” rhetoric is not to be believed:

1) Two and a half of the four RIAA labels are based in Europe. Apple is an American company whose presence in Europe is much smaller.
2) After Steve Jobs’ letter the EU commissioners did not mention eliminating DRM, and continued to engage in baseless platitudes about Apple “making excuses” and “deflecting the blame”.
3) The EU wants to support the notion of a “cooling off” period, where consumers could “return” music purchases. This is not possible with MP3 downloads. This is only possible with DRM.

Don’t believe the European Union. They’re merely pawns of the RIAA, whose agenda is to squeeze honest music customers out of every last cent, maintain control of the industry, and control how their product is “consumed” well after the sale and effectively destroy the concepts of fair use and the right of first sale.

In case you missed it, Steve Jobs published an open letter last week entitled “Thoughts on Music” where he, among other things, called for an end to DRM by the big record labels:

http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughtsonmusic/

The letter was nothing less than Earth-shattering. There has been much praise, but also much criticism. The RIAA deliberately misinterpreted the letter to mean that Apple was offering to license their FairPlay DRM to others (which Jobs did not say at all). Edgar Bronfman Jr. criticised the letter, saying that jobs conclusion was “devoid of logic”, yet refusing to explain how. Anti-DRM usual suspects like emusic and the head of Yahoo! Music praised him.

From the other side (those opposed to DRM), there is much fallacious tripe about how Steve Jobs supposedly lied in his open letter about Apple being opposed to DRM. The Inquirer spewed their vitriol here:

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37522

and here:

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37492

There’s also this junk from FreePress Blog:

http://freepressblog.org/2007/02/14/apple-put-up-or-shut-up/

Apple’s critics from the anti-DRM camp can’t seem to get their facts straight. Here are the fallacies, and the rebuttals:

1) Apple benefits from DRM lock-in between iTunes and the iPod.

It seems these “critics” don’t read very well, because Jobs explained in his letter that 3% of music on any given iPod is from iTunes. The rest is ripped from CD’s or downloaded as legitimate (ex emusic) or illegitimate (ie P2P) mp3 download sites/services. Also, there’s a reason that iTunes is far and above all other DRM and non-DRM paid download sites. The interface is far better than any other competing service. No music download site can match the power and simplicity of iTunes.

iTunes would sell more music with the loss of DRM because people like myself who refuse to buy DRM’d music would consider buying from iTunes. What’s more, without DRM, iTunes is still head and shoulders above the other music stores in terms of usability, which means it won’t lose customers.

2) Apple supports DRM because they force DRM on independent label music that is available as non-DRM’d mp3’s elsewhere.

Given the RIAA’s history and M.O., I have no doubt that they forced Apple into including a clause in their contract that requires all iTunes music to be DRM’d, irrespective of whether or not it comes from the RIAA.

And my favourite…

3) Apple survives by locking users into their products. Apple cannot compete or innovate on its own.

This is laughable and patently absurd. Apple has, in less than 10 years, gone from producing a stagnant desktop operating system with 1980’s technology, far behind Microsoft, to producing and selling the world’s most advanced desktop operating system. Even the “mighty” Vista has not caught up to Apple’s latest stable OS X 10.4 Tiger (nevermind 10.5 Leopard) . It sells innovative hardware, including the award-winning iMac, at a great cost-value compared to similarly equipped hardware and software. It produces excellent designer Pro apps, including Aperture and Final Cut Pro. By the time Leopard comes out, it will have a server OS that is fully featured and capable of competing with Microsoft’s Exchange. It has announced the iPhone, a product with a truly unique interface and intelligent mobile software. It came from way behind to dominate the mp3 music player business with the world’s most innovative player, which is tightly integrated into great music software (iTunes), and the most user-friendly music store (iTunes Music Store).

Apple has a vested interest in getting rid of DRM:

A) They’ll sell more music to people opposed to DRM, and thus, more iPods, because their music store and music player will still be, respectively, the best in the market.
B) It will hurt Microsoft, because the billions that company has invested in its DRM technologies (WMA, WMV, Windows Media Player, and the Zune), will completely go to waste.

I can’t understand why the internet is full of useless tripe written by “journalists” who peddle disingenuous “objective” analysis that is nothing more than emotional charged platitudes devoid of even the most basic form of empirical logic.

Take this garbage, written by the normally reliable London-based Register:

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01/10/iphone_will_fail_again/

With the barrage of criticism all over the web, you’d think the iPhone was doomed to failure from the start.

But look at this thing of beauty:

http://www.apple.com/iphone/

And look at how much interest is already being expressed in the phone:

http://appleinsider.com/article.php?id=2385

The iPhone contains a revolutionary user interface, the likes of which nobody has ever seen. It features patented touch-screen technology that does not even require a stylus. The display will automatically adjust from horizontal to vertical when it’s rotated. It features of fully-featured browser with a streamlined display.

It leapfrogs all other cellphones and smart phones, whose interfaces are for the most part absolutely abominable, and in some cases, absolutely horrific. People all over the world complain about how much they hate their cellphones. It doesn’t take a genius to figure that at least a fair chunk of them will jump at the chance to get something better.

But all the naysayers insist that the iPhone will fail. Let’s tackle their “arguments”.

1. Cingular service sucks
   This is true, but this won’t be a decisive factor for the fanboy portion of the market. The rest will be existing Cingular customers.
2. It’s too expensive.
   Not for the 1% of the market that Apple is targeting in the first full year. There’s also nothing preventing Apple from releasing an “iPhone Nano” that will be scaled down, smaller, and cheaper
3. It doesn’t support 3G
   This is the first generation. Apple is bound to update the product as 3G becomes mainstream in the U.S.
4. There’s no “reset” button in case of a crash.
   The iPod has a reset button combination on the scroll wheel. The iPhone is guaranteed to have a physical button combination (ex “Home” plus “Hold”) that will accomplish the same thing.
5. There will be smudges, cracks, distortions from using the touch-pad repeatedly
   Since Apple worked on the technology for 2 1/2 years and patented, I’m sure they thought through and worked out all of those issues.
6. The service providers will resist, since it doesn’t support their “feature list”.
   Seeing as Cingular is already supporting and customer demand will be even higher that for the Motorola RAZR, I believe customer demand will be overwhelming enough to overcome what is otherwise a strong industry force.

If you still don’t believe me, check out the Steve Jobs keynote (QuickTime only). You need to see it to believe it:

http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/j47d52oo/event/

1) The Wii outsells both the PS3 and XBox 360 in 2007 (each, not combined).
2) Apple makes a major push for the gaming market, releasing their own killer app game that does for Macs what Halo did for the XBox.
3) One major record label will give up on selling only DRM’d music, and will license the sale of their content in MP3 format
4) Leopard will allow multiple OS’s to run real-time, and enable fast switching between those OS’s.
5) Linux GUI developers start abandoning GTK and Qt in favour of OpenJDK Swing to do their development, at the same time submitting fixes for Swing to run better on Linux.
6) Firefox development stagnates even further.
7) Consumers reject HD-DVD and BluRay.
8) Thin clients finally start taking off due to SOX and regulatory compliance/security/cost issues, with Microsoft as a possible vendor.
9) At least one Linux distro tries to completely “imitate” OS X
10) Vista sees no uptake significantly beyond new users being forced to buy it for new PC’s and any corporation that needs its DRM features.

I just downloaded the Thunderbird 2.0 Alpha for Mac, hoping and praying for something good enough to make me ditch Mail.app. Needless to say, it didn’t measure up.

If any Mozilla fans doubt my impartiality, I’ll have them note that I use Firefox instead of Safari because I believe Firefox to be the more functional of the two browsers. I believe in using the best tool for the job, no matter who makes it.

Despite the fact that I go way out of my way to use Thunderbird on my Windows box at work instead of the HelpDesk supported Outlook, that program just doesn’t measure up to Mail.app. This is despite the fact that Mail.app has some really annoying (but not fatal) flaws:

1) Stupid keyboard shortcuts (Command-Shift-D to send mail WHAT?!?)
2) Non-existent keyboard shortcuts (like navigating to the very first or very last message in my folder)
3) Lack of smileys/emoticons
4) Lack of message thread view
5) Lack of bullet-point options (not so much useful for personal messages, but critical for work-related messages).

Despite these deficiencies, Mail.app is light years ahead of Thunderbird, as Thunderbird is severely lacking in the following areas:

1) More intelligent use of real estate for buttons, especially the centering of the functional icons (instead of left-justifying them). Still, I admit that Thunderbird’s use of real estate has improved dramatically in 2.0.
2) “Account Settings” separate from “Preferences”. Mail.app has a tab within preferences, which I can access by pressing Command-Comma. I don’t want to have to hunt in the menu bar for a separate dialogue. This is retarded!
3) “Tags”. The labels functionality pre-2.0 was absolutely brain-dead with only five hard-coded labels. Now they’ve given you a simple dialogue to add custom “tags”, which basically comprise of a name and a foreground colour. There is only “add” and “delete” without “edit”. Apple’s labels functionality is integrated in the mail filters functionality, which allows you to apply labels in either background or foreground colour.
4) “Message Filters” separate from “Preferences”. I may be repeating myself from 2), but this is just doubly stupid. Why shouldn’t my filters be in my preferences, a mere click of a couple of keystrokes away?
5) Pop-up dialogues don’t respond to keyboard input. I know this is because Thunderbird is written in Carbon, and not Cocao, but after years of using Windows I’m used to prompts reacting to my keyboard.
6) Lack of integration into the Mac addressbook. Windows and Linux don’t have global addressbooks, but OS X does. Mac Thunderbird should have an option to hook into a global OS addressbook, if applicable.

Unless they’ve withheld half of the finalized features from alpha version of 2.0, I think I’ll stick with Apple Mail for the foreseeable future.

1. View preferences with a simple keyboard command for any application (command-comma).
2. Alt-tab (command-tab) navigates between whole applications, not open windows, which is far cleaner and more intuitive. Command-tilde navigates between open windows of a single application.
3. Other running programs do not take the focus away from the main program currently in use, the way Windows does.
4. Exposé, which is far cleaner and intuitive than the Windows taskbar or X Window multiple desktops.
5. Security that’s far more solid than Windows, and much more user friendly than Linux/FreeBSD.
6. Superior keyboard design, including close ESC key, volume controls, caps lock button that lights up and eject.
7. Intuitive, simple, secure and reliable installer system. The installer uncompresses folders containing application system files from an archive (like zip) file. These folders, once installed, are represented graphically as a single icon. The applications files are quarantined in a single folder and not scattered throughout the filesystem piecemeal as they are in Windows or Linux/FreeBSD. Uninstalling the program in question requires only dragging and dropping it into the trash.
8. DarwinPorts, an open source porting system that’s very reliable, rich and intuitive, but not yet as complete as Gentoo’s or FreeBSD’s.
9. Absolutely no hardware or driver issues. Mac OS X is written exclusively for Mac hardware.
10. The overall look and feel of the OS is so much more aesthetically pleasing than any other windowing environment.