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At least not without jailbreaking…

It seems like nearly every 6 months, Apple redefines just how closed their closed platform can be. Instead of just completely restricting the source and distribution of their own software, they now also limit the kind of third-party applications and content their users can enjoy. This sounds pretty menacing, but what does it really mean in practice? Many iPhone/iPad users will tell you that their device does everything they could ever want. So, I thought to myself – what would I have to give up to switch from Android to an iOS device? Steve Job’s personal crusade against porn, while silly and arbitrary, wouldn’t affect my cell-phone usage much (well, at all). I’d definitely miss all my desktop widgets and notifications in the switch to the boring iOS GUI, but that isn’t something most people consider a killer feature. Voice commands and speech-to-text integration everywhere in Android is a killer feature, but it can be approximately replicated in iOS through apps. Here, though, are the 5 apps whose presence I have gotten so used to on Android that I could not accept the iOS experience, where they are noticeably absent:

1. Google-Maps Navigation. This is probably THE killer app on all android phones. Basically it turns your phone into a free GPS navigator.  And, not just an ordinary GPS navigator, but the best one available because it is powered by Google-maps in realtime – meaning you can search for just about anything (gas stations, restaurants, friend’s houses and places whose name you only sort of remember) and you can do it by voice.  You can get realtime traffic info and satellite imagery.  Sure you can pay for GPS apps on both Android and iPhone that store the maps right on the phone (which has an advantage if travelling to places with poor cell coverage), but Google Navigation is free and, in most situations, far superior.

2. Google Voice. This is an app that Google tried to get onto the iPhone and Apple flat out rejected them because, well, Apple just felt like being jerks that day. After porting my number to Google-Voice, I can hardly even bare to think about the dark days of only being able to read texts and respond to texts on my phone or having a separate phone number for all my locations and devices. The lack of the Google-Voice app (without jailbreaking) would probably be the number one dealbreaker in using an iOS device to me. And really, the idea that Apple gets to choose the apps that I am allowed to have on my own hardware is completely unacceptable.

3. Flash Video/Games and Air Applications. Apple’s iOS main strength over Android is the number of native games available. But, Apple absolutely blocks all emulators and Flash content. You can find SNES/Playstation emulators in the Android Market (this is not an endorsement for emulators), but even more important in the future is the ability to play Flash/Air games (think farmville etc…) and watch Flash video. Sure, Flash comes with some downsides (mostly Ads), but at least on Android you get to make the choice of whether to enable Flash yourself.

4. AmazonMP3 (and Droidian eMusic). Apple, in some sort of monopolistic rage has blocked all competing mp3 stores from the iPhone. If you want to buy and download music on your device, it is apparently iTunes or nothing. Notably missing are the AmazonMP3 store and the popular indie music site eMusic. Full disclosure: I am the developer of the Droidian eMusic app. Being able to use your massive sdcard or internal storage to download music from whatever source you want, shouldn’t be something you have to ask Apple’s permission for.

5. ChromeToPhone

One thing Google gets is the web. With ChromeToPhone you can push links, videos, text, directions, apps directly to your phone. You won’t find this baby on iOS.

In case it isn’t already evident, I really dislike Apple’s iOS and their new frontier of closed systems. And, the difference between open and closed is not just academic, it limits your ability to do some really cool things with your expensive new toy.

I love Android. It is flexible, feature rich and becoming more polished every day. Development is happening at a breakneck pace. It uses Linux at its core and is mostly* open-source. The asterisk is because certain elements of a typical Android install are closed, like Google’s gmail and market apps (which both have OSS alternatives) as well as some manufacturer radio integration and device drivers. There are some people in the OSS community (the same people that would be angry at me for neglecting the “FL”) that deplore the fact that there are any closed elements in Android at all; to them, I say, “keep fighting the good fight, but I’m going to use and support the best option that is currently available.” Other people (for example the author of this ill-written post that made the front page of digg http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/60849), will claim it is not open-source because Google ultimately chooses which patches from the community get accepted or not. However, as AOSP developer Jean Baptiste Queru has said, this hasn’t prevented significant opensource contributions to Android 2.x. Open-source does not mean open-decision making (just ask Mark Shuttleworth); so, these accusations are just silly, and, concluding that there is little difference between the iPhoneOS and Android is absurd.

Anyway, I think, ultimately, the proof is in the pudding. If you need proof of Android’s open nature, I point you to the fact that it is popping up in all sorts of devices without Google’s name on them: Archos tablets with their own Market, the Barnes-and-Noble Nook and AT&T phones that replace Google’s services everywhere with Yahoo. This is the real value in Android’s openness – the ability of manufacturers to use it for whatever purpose they want. And, the source code being available sure doesn’t hurt Cyanogen’s ability to make amazing ROMs for the Android phones that many of us own and love – anyone with a G1 want 2.1 on their phone?

Android also happens to have the most open software-store in the mobile world (not to mention the fact that you can install software on your Android phone from any source outside the Market whatsoever). Which leads me to the other point of this post: I have written a couple Android apps and released the source. As a developer, I didn’t have to pay an large amount of cash for the SDK or sign the ludicrous developer agreement that Apple requires for their devices (including restricting the tools you can use to write your app and limiting who you can give it to and by what means). For Android, all I had to do was download the free SDK, try out a few example apps, and off I was (granted, the second app ended up being pretty involved). So, without further ado, here are the two apps I made:

1.SquirrelCam (Available now in the Market). The ledge off my office is home to a squirrel nest every spring. We set up a webcam that utilizes the Linux OSS project web-cam server to set up a live webcam stream. The only problem? It doesn’t work in any mobile browsers (and it wouldn’t be a very nice experience even if it did). So, I wrote a android app to connect to the stream, show live video and allow the user to save frames to his/her sdcard.

HomePage: http://www.jdeslippe.com/SquirrelCam/
Source/APK: https://launchpad.net/squirrelcam

2.EMusicDownloader (Coming to the market soon.  For now, grab the apk file from launchpad). eMusic.com is an awesome DRM free music and audiobook store (I think they are the only DRM free audiobook store actually). To downloads albums and audiobooks from the site, however, you need a download manager – there are a couple open-source options for a Linux desktop. EmusicDownloader for android serves this purpose on Android phones. Allowing users to browse eMusic.com on the Android browser and then download their purchases directly to their phone using the app.  And, because the files are DRM free, you can copy them to your PC at your convenience.

HomePage: http://www.jdeslippe.com/EMusicDownloader
Source/APK: http://launchpad.net/emusicdownloader

To conclude this Android lovefest, here is a list of some of my other favorite Android apps (not developed by me) for you to try out:

Shoot U! - A super fun game by Camel Games, my favorite Android game developers.

Dropbox – If you use it on your Ubuntu machine, you’ll love the Android app.

Astrid – Open-source todo list that syncs with remember the milk = awesome

AmblingBookplayer – Awesome audiobook player/downloader for Android.

GoogleVoice – If you don’t know what GoogleVoice is… go check it out now!

Google SkyMap – Best augmented reality app ever.

WordPress – Manage wordpress sites on the go.

WordUp! – Fun word finding game.

Listen – Awesome podcast fetching app.

Boxee Remote – Control your Boxee box with your phone.

OI-Filemanager – open-source file manager

Qik/Ustream – Stream live video from your phone

Picsay – Edit photos and add amazing effects right on your phone.

Fring – Make Skype calls over 3G.

Locale – Control your phone’s behavior based on all sorts of criteria.

Shazam – Everyone knows what this one is right?

ShopSavvy – Scan barcodes to get web/local prices and reviews.

+Many more.  Come to this weeks BerkeleyLUG meeting on Sunday to see the full list.

The people I meet are often befuddled by my level of interest and support for open-source projects and technology like Ubuntu and Android.  I can sympathize, being around anyone who cares a bit “too much” about anything can make you uncomfortable.  I write today mainly to organize my thoughts and hopefully illustrate the origin of (if not justify) the interest I have for all things open.  As a scientist, I see evidence everyday about how the openness of ideas and technology have positively affected society and prompted further innovation.  One person or company makes a discovery and other groups are able to refine the discovery and make new discoveries using the previous advancement.  Keeping information, ideas, science and technology open is crucial for future development.  This is not to say that people and corporations don’t have a right to profit off their hard earned innovations and particular implementations of an idea.  But, no one should have the right to turn general ideas into personal or corporate property.  As a whole, we benefit mankind more (and ourselves in return) when we develop, share, and collaborate freely.  The next big leap forward may come from someone or some group halfway around the world based on something we share here.  In my opinion, there is no company in the tech-world who puts itself at odds with this philosophy more so than Apple.  Below, I discuss, in a way that I hope illustrates why I like open-projects such as Ubuntu and Android, my reasons for not using Apple products.  The use of Apple as a foil in this article is in no small part due to the troubling actions they have taken this week to stifle competition in the mobile market.

1.  Apple’s software is not open-source. (with a couple exceptions).  This is not necessary a deal breaker for me (I do use a lot of closed-source software in niche cases when it does the job better), but it is important enough to make me prefer open-source projects 90% of the time.  Most Apple software being closed-source means interested developers cannot look at the source-code that is used to run the various Apple programs including OSX, iTunes etc…  Apple is by no means alone in this category; Microsoft, Adobe and many other companies also protect their code.  Most people don’t even want to see the source code; it is likely too mind-bogglingly complex to the average computer user to do anything with.  So, what is the big deal?  Well, paying for closed-source software is a lot like buying a car where the hood has been welded shut.  You are not allowed to tweak the engine or replace a faulty component.  Sure, most people wouldn’t do that themselves anyway, but what if nobody could?!  You couldn’t bring it to the mechanic to have a look at it.  Car and driver magazine wouldn’t be allowed to review the engine design or do a safety analysis.  On a literal note, if the software in Toyota’s braking system wasn’t closed, it is likely their problems could have been avoided – or at least discovered and patched much earlier.  I choose to use open-source software whenever possible because I and millions of people around the world can look at it, learn from it, help improve it and make it more robust, and, most importantly, use it to start our own projects.  Even if you don’t want to look at the code yourself, you have to admit there is something very powerful about this idea.  The ability to use, contribute and improve existing software is a great stimulus for innovation.  There would be no Amazon, Google, ebay or TiVo today if it wasn’t for open-source software called Linux.  Apple OSX is, itself, built upon the open-source operating-system BSD; Apple uses this free and open-software generously but stingily contributes few improvements (particularly the UI) back to the community.  Despite the philosophical appeal of open development, it is actually the results of this development model (and not the philosophy itself) that I really like.  Because the Ubuntu operating system is open-source, it is able to fit my needs and wants in ways that Apple’s or Microsofts’ software could never come close to replicating.  I can have the beauty of OSX, the flexibility of Windows and the power and performance neither could hope to have.

Despite my appreciation for open-sourciness, I do actually use some closed-source software.  Like most practical people, when closed-source software fulfills a niche better than that of open-source projects, I will choose the one that does the job best.  So, perhaps I have not yet completely justified my anti-Apple stance.  Afterall, I said earlier that Apple was a worse fit than even Microsoft, and, so far, they are looking only equally bad.

2.  Apple is not open-anything. Although Microsoft’s Windows is closed source, it (and Ubuntu of course) can at least be run on any hardware you like – from a virtual machine to a netbook to even a Mac.  If you want, you can go to the store and buy an awesome new video card to spiff up your Windows or Linux computer without having to buy a completely new one.  Apple OSX on the other hand can only be legally run on Apple hardware.  In the above example about the car, now, not only can you not open your the hood of the car, but you can only use Apple tires and fill your car up at Apple gas stations (think iPod + iTunes).  If you get a flat tire, you either have to pray that you are still under warranty and Apple feels like helping you or get an entirely new car.  There are people (the “hackintosh”) community who disregard the law and put OSX on non-Apple hardware.  Apple has made it clear, though, that this is illegal and has brought litigation against companies for doing it, even when they pay full price for the software.  Which leads me to ask the hackintosh community: why do you support a company that treats you like criminals for using the software you purchased in the way you want?  Apple consistently goes out of its way to break support for its products with 3rd party applications.  If you want to use a different media player than iTunes, Apple has (and likely will again) break support for future iPods and future updates.  In a move that is borderline monopolistic, Apple only wants you to put music and movies on your iPod through its anointed application, iTunes, where it can sell you DRM movie/audiobook (yes I know the books come from Audible and other stores use DRM) files that cannot be played on other devices or in other programs.  When you upgrade to a different machine, you will find out that you didn’t actually own the movies/books/music you bought from Apple.  Even if you do like iTunes, do you really think it is ok that nobody should get any choice?  I don’t.

3.  They are even closed about other software you can install. Want Google-voice on your phone?  Want a Super Nintendo emulator?  An app that shows some skin?  A wifi detector?  What about the ability to watch hulu on your new $800 tablet?   (Even if you know html5 is better than the closed-off flash)  You can if you are using Android; you can’t if you use an Apple iPhone of iPad.  Why?  Because daddykins Steve Jobs doesn’t think you need to.  He knows what is best for everyone.  Why continue to use (or worse develop for) the iPhone platform when Apple might pull your favorite app from the market at any time?  As Molly Wood from CNET says, “it’s an abusive relationship.”  Sure, you can jailbreak your phone to add a bunch of apps Apple doesn’t want you to, but then, once again, you are breaking the law and are at Apple’s mercy.  To risk sounding like a broken record, why support a company that treats you like a criminal?  I choose not to.

4.  The final straw. Not only does Apple control exactly how you can use any Apple device, they now want to take away your choice to use any other device as well.  This week they brought a lawsuit against HTC, the developer of the majority of Android phones, alleging 20 Apple patent violations.  Many of these patents seem to be comprised of trivial ideas that should be non-patentable and/or ideas Apple itself stole from other companies.  It is clear that Apple is scared of the consumer choice that competition brings and is scared of the innovation that is possible within the open Android framework.  Patents were intended to promote independent innovation by protecting small inventors from being scooped by large established corporations.  Apple is hijacking the patent system to protect the interests of their large corporation against any competition at all.  This is an incredibly dangerous move* that could stifle innovation for many years to come.  The real problem is in the absurd use of the patent system by many companies today; imagine how different the world would be if Henry Ford were able to patent every trivial part of the car – there’d have been no competition and no continued development (thanks BOL for analogy).  If someone was allowed to patent all the ideas relevant to traveling by air, we might still be stuck with hot-air balloons instead of airplanes.  While I could happily ignore complaints 1-3, since nobody is forcing me to use Apple’s restrictive products, this latest patent attack has really put Apple back right into my face.  It’s apparently not enough for Apple to control exactly how everyone is allowed to use Apple products, they now want to tell you exactly which other products you are allowed to use as well.

In the important realm of science, technology and ideas, I believe that the continual conversion of ideas and development effort into the private property of companies like Apple is a great threat to continued free innovation if such a patent attack is allowed to stand.

*Edits:

Thanks to comments below (even those calling me a troll) for some corrections.  I would like to point out these are my personal reasons for not using Apple products.  I trust that everyone can come to their own decision about whether these points matter to them or not.  As I said above, if it wasn’t for “the final straw”, I would happily go about my days ignoring Apple’s existence.  It is only when they try to control the choices I have in using other products that they warrant my bemoaning.  And, no, I don’t think Apple (or its employees) are evil.  I am friends with some of them.  I think their general philosophy is nearly opposite that of open-source, and their patent attack dangerous and self-serving.  But, “evil”, nah…

precedent -> move (thanks Carl)

worse -> “worse fit” (for me that is, best not to use general statements)

Thanks to Phillip (misc BSD software), Jeff (opencl) and myself (grand-central) for pointing out open-source projects Apple has contributed to.

In my opinion, Google’s web-services and Linux go together like pie and ice-cream.  Though, there are some people in this very LUG that would disagree with me about Google’s benevolence, there is no denying the quality and convenience of gmail etc…  Moreover, even though Google’s web services themselves are not open-source, they are built on top of an open framework and toolset, and Google itself sponsors some great open-source projects (chromium, android, Kernel development etc).

If you are of a like mind, you probably already use google’s services like gmail, google-voice (the best thing since sliced bread) and google reader.  Like me, you might have been in a constant search for a notifier applet for your taskbar for these services.  I have used CheckGMail for a long time, and then docky’s builtin gmail applet, but I have now found a real winner after reading a post at OMG!Ubuntu.  It’s called googsystray; it’s one program that looks great and notifies you of new messages in gmail, wave, gvoice and google reader in your taskbar.  It comes with a lot of nice features.  For example, you can send SMS messages with google-voice right from the applet.

Here are a couple screenshots:

And here is one screen cap from the original OMG!Ubuntu Article where more details can be found:

Go ahead, follow the link above, grab the .deb and give it a whirl.

When people first think of getting audiobooks online, they probably think of Audible.  But, Audible has one really big problem: DRM (Digital Rights Management).  I.e. every book you buy from Audible is encrypted so that you can only listen to it using a very limited number of applications and media devices.  There is no application for Linux to play Audible audiobooks, and Android devices don’t support playing Audible files (yet anyway) either.  Quite frankly, when you purchase a book from Audible, you are not buying it, you are only renting it.  Even if you have a player that is compatible now, in 5 years when you get the urge to listen again, it is likely that your new device or computer will no longer be able decrypt the file.  If you are lucky, Audible may pull an Apple and offer to remove the DRM from the file for additional cash out of your pocket; so you can finally own the book you thought you already bought.  However, there is no guarantee of even that…

Do not despair, though, there are some really great options for DRM free audiobooks that work great on Linux and Android.  I will discuss two: one being a store like Audible (but without the restrictions) and another a project that creates public domain audiobooks of Novels no longer in copyright.

The first is EMusic.  EMusic started as a DRM free, low priced music store that quickly gained popularity in the indie music scene.  Two years ago they started selling DRM free audiobooks in ordinary MP3 format.  Their library is now huge, containing thousands of audiobooks from many publishers.  It is not quite as complete as Audible, but is complete enough that you would hardly tell the difference.  Dan Brown’s latest book “Lost Symbol” hit the library in a matter of days for example.  EMusic’s library is big enough that I have a download queue of nearly 50 books and a collection of equal size already.  One book basically costs you $9.99  (which is incredibly cheap compared to the price of the discs at a bookstore.  Slightly cheaper prices are available if you commit to buying more books over a year period.

If EMusic’s $9.99 cost per book has you turning your couch upside down looking for spare change, LibriVox might be right up your alley.  LibriVox is an open project to create public domain audiobooks from novels whose copyright has expired.  Basically, people around the world, have volunteered to record themselves reading books aloud for the benefit of others.  While, on average, the “acting” quality is not quite the same level as the professionally read audiobooks on EMusic, they are generally quite well produced.   If you have an Android phone, there is a free App in the market called “Ambling Book Player” that lets you download Librivox audiobooks to your device directly (and of course to listen to them).  This is a great way to the listen to classic novels for a price you can’t beat.

So, if DRM has you down, help send Audible a message by supporting EMusic for a huge collection of DRM free professionally read audiobooks and Librivox for great public domain audiobooks.

It is no secret that the equation editor in OpenOffice sucks (well, there are a few folks out there that think it is great, but not many).  The equation editor in MS Office is pretty awful, too, for that matter.  What I always wanted was an equation editor of OpenOffice that used Latex as the backend.  Then, I found it, and boy is it awesome: Ekee – developed by Ronan Le Hy in France (don’t you love open-source?)

Basically it let’s you type in latex equations into the entry box which it compiles on fly.  When your equation is done, you can then drag and drop it into right into OpenOffice Impress or onto your desktop to save the equation as png.  You can also export the equation to pdf or svg format through the menu at the top with one click.

What if you find a mistake in one of your old equations?  Since it is in a .png format, aren’t you screwed?  Nope, the killer feature of ekee, is that you can drag the .png back into the ekee window and then continue editing from where you left off.

If you ever need to put equations in presentations/posters/documents, check out ekee.

We gave away 160+ CDs, 200+ flyers and 120+ cards.  I completely lost track of the amount of people who stopped by the booth who already used Linux and just wanted to chat.  We hope to a few events like this a year.  Here are some pics from Vivek and Mark.  Thanks everyone who participated or stopped by.

We will be manning an open source software / Linux booth at the Solano Stroll.  The Stroll is a fantastic street festival in Berkeley/Albany on Solano Avenue with a lot of great food, entertainment and vendors.  If you are in the area, come check it out and stop by to say hi and learn about free software.  Look for us a couple blocks from San Pablo.

A few months back, I posted an article about Linux desktop marketshare passing 1% on NetApplications’ web statistics.

Using recent data from NetApplications, I have an updated the plot showing the marketshare hovering around 1%, and, in July, reaching a new high of 1.05%.

Again, NetApplications’ reports do not directly measure desktop marketshare; they measure the percentage of hits on a large collection of websites.  This quantity depends on users with spoofed OS identity, depends on the websites included etc…  The trend, however, unlike the actual number, is probably pretty robust.

W3Schools’ stats also have Linux reaching a new high in market share on their sites this month: 4.3%.  Though, I tend to believe NetApplications’ numbers are closer to the true marketshare; it is nice that both stats agree on trend.