Right On Target

Story: Apple's Relationship to Open SourceTotal Replies: 2
Author Content
olefowdie

Sep 02, 2010
2:22 PM EDT
This is probably the first article that is neither completely bashing nor completely supporting Apple, but rather just stating how things are. Two thumbs up.
Alcibiades

Sep 02, 2010
5:23 PM EDT
"OS X is an open platform in that anyone can develop an application to run on the Mac and put it out there on a website to download, and some of the best software for OS X is open source."

Right, its as open as Windows, then.

And why not mention where webkit came from? Ever heard of KDE? It is not generosity to give it back, its obligation.
moopst

Sep 02, 2010
5:54 PM EDT
I went to the webkit link in the article and they say "WebKit's HTML and JavaScript code began as a branch of the KHTML and KJS libraries from KDE." They also say in very small print "WebKit is open source software with portions licensed under the LGPL and BSD licenses. Complete license and copyright information can be found within the code. " Wana bet the LGPL stuff is the original KDE code and the BSD stuff is Apple's additional stuff? My point is their generosity is limited at best. Limited by their opportunism.

As to the Mac platform being open, I guess it's a lot more open than the iPhone. There you have to ask permission to put your code in the magic iPhone Store or whatever they call it. I'd call it a pretty jail.

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