I see your Android slam and raise you a truth

I have a friend that is a die hard Apple guy.  He loves their products.  He has one of everything and champions them to no end.   I never used any of their products until I got an iPhone.  I spent two years with it and liked it a lot,  I had the 3G and up until the Evo launched it was the best phone on the market (well platform since the #Gs was marginally better than the 3G).  I always had problems with the restrictions on the phone,   but more and more I began to hate their censorship of content.  He and I of course go back and forth busting balls about which is the better system,  Android and the Evo or iOS and the iPhone.

This post is about an article my friend (the mighty Iron Crow) sent me.   On the surface it really makes Android look bad,  almost evil.  But once you pick it apart,  well it becomes pure PR bullshit from the fucked up mind of a fanboy.

Source Link:  http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/08/02/piracy_problems_undermine_androids_growth_against_iphone.html

According to a report by Jay Yarow of Silicon Alley Insider, a developer of one of Android’s top ten apps is seeing 97 percent of players in Asia using an illegal copy, 70 percent in Europe, and 43 percent in North America.

These figures are very general,  so attacking them is tough.  I will say that PC piracy stats could rival this.  You know the PC (Personal Computer not just Windows) where you can go to a torrent site and download pirated apps.  Microsoft and Apple do not get blamed for piracy on their systems,  but let’s blame Google for piracy on their system.

Does Apple’s App Store system help prevent piracy?  Yes.   But like all things it comes at a cost.  To build an app for the iOS you need a Mac that meets some minimum specs,  you need to use their approved development system, and to distribute the application you have to submit it to Apple, pay them to put it in their store, and hope it sells.

To develop for Android you need a free SDK that is available for Mac, Windows and Linux.  To distribute the app you need an email address, website,  or some other method of getting a single file to an Android device.  This is very similar to the PC method of app development.  You can pay to have the app on the Android Market but that is  your decision.  If you want to attack Android for the way it does business you need to attack the PC method as well.

Piracy largely prevented mobile software from ever being viable prior to Apple’s App Store.

Tell that to the Palm, WinMo, and various Java developers.  Was it a batshit crazy 10 different fart apps world?  No.  I think plenty of people made plenty of money off mobile apps.  Don’t fucking rewrite history.  Apple made things more user friendly,  but most study’s say indy developers are barely if ever breaking even.  It is probably easier to do on Android though because you can control your costs for distribution.

In addition to its limited reach globally, Google’s Android Market has also come under assault from top Android developers for allowing widespread copyright infringement, sloppy policies regarding app approval, poor security for users’ data, and allowing developers to collect inappropriate information from users without their consent.

While the Android Market is only available in 13 countries I can distribute my app all over the world (not just 90 markets like Apple).  Sure the market is where most people get their apps,  but if I want to market the same way people market for the PC I can.  Let’s look at it a bit further though.  Most developers in the United States are making English language apps,  so having them be available in non-English speaking countries is of limited value.  Same goes for something that uses Korean or Japanese characters.  There are limiting factors that both sides choose to ignore.

Nothing on my phone can get my information without consent.  I know what areas the application can access on my phone.  It tells me.  I read what it has access to and I decide if I want to install it.  At the point I install it I give consent for it to access the areas it tells me it is going to access.  To my knowledge there is no application that has access to my contacts that does not tell me at the install stage it is going to access them.

The one thing people have pegged is the copyright infringement.  It needs to be handled.  Google needs to clean the market of anything infringing.  It is tough to do,  but start with the app names and go from there.  Chances are Kayne West did not authorize 100 apps for ringtones.  If someone wants to infringe make them do it via a different distribution method.  They are leaving them in there for use in the numbers game.

The part of the article talks about the PDF exploit in the iOS.  Accessing a single file can help you jailbreak your phone, or let someone have access your phone without your knowledge.  Same thing happens on other systems,  I hope Apple fixes it soon,  maybe they have a bumper for it.

Raleigh Music Fail

It is reported that Raleigh Downtown Live is not happening this year (http://www.newraleigh.com/articles/archive/raleigh-downtown-live-not-happening-in-summer-2010/) .  I had been wondering what was going on, and figured they had canceled it because of the new amphitheater downtown and as it turns out I was right.

For those that do not know what Downtown live was, it was a free concert series in Moore Square.  It featured 1-2 name bands (usually from the 90′s or earlier) along with regional and lesser known bands.  It was normally pop rock that appealed to a few generations.  It was always popular so much that last year just walking around became impossible.  I only went for about 10 minutes of a Joan Jett show before we decided to say “fuck this” and went for drinks at Havana.

I always had a love hate relationship with the event.  I liked that it was free.  The security was pretty good, in that I never saw anything major go down and I never saw security being assholes.  The event was sponsored by Budweiser so you could drink,  although it was pricey at something like $8 for a 12oz beer.  I usually liked a few of the bands each year,  they were one hit (or two hit) wonders but it was fun.

The hate came when I tried to take my dSLR in for a show.  I wanted to snap some pictures of the Spin Doctors (I think).  I was told I could not bring it in.  They would not allow cameras with a  removable lens.  Point and shoot was fine.  I took my camera back to the car,  and we went in.  I did research and others had the same problem.  The story went that artists did not want professionals (because only professionals have SLRs) taking pictures and selling them on the Internet.  Let me tell you how many times I have heard of the black market pictures of one hit wonders outselling the legal pictures of one hit wonders on E-Bay.  I fired off an email to the sponsors and decided I would not attend the event anymore.

I think the Joan Jett show was the only one I went to after the camera issue (friends were going and my resolve was weakening).  That show was so full that I was miserable, as were most of the people I was with.  The summer in NC is not a time that you want to be jammed into a park with people.  The sweat and smell factor begin to really suck.

When I heard that they were putting in the new amphitheater I was excited.  I figured in between big name bands they would open it up to events like this.  Budweiser would still sponsor it,  Deep South Promotions would book and promote it,  it would be great.  But then evil, in the form of Live Nation, entered my field of vision.

The city built the theater and in my opinion handed it to Live Nation.  Of the events they have planned,  the cheapest ticket I have found (with fees), is $31.50.  I am sure the shows I saw will draw people.  I guess people still like the Backstreet Boys.  Teegan and Sara have an audience.  There is some metal and even a Legalize It event with Cypress Hill.  Yawn.

My issue is this,  unless they have a band I really want to see why would I go?  Parking is probably going to suck.  There is a parking deck next door but I am guessing it will cost money and getting out of packed parking decks suck worse then flat lots.  I am paying a ticket agency I don’t like (Ticketmaster) and a promoter I don’t like (Live Nation) which just merged into a bigger company I don’t like.  I am not a fan of Deep South (Local to NC) but they are far less evil in my book.  If I want to deal with Ticketmaster/Live Nation I will drive the 5 minutes to Walnut Creek Amphitheater for free parking and the ability to tailgate.

If the event were free, I would go check it out.  I would buy some food from the vendors, maybe a beer or two.  I might pay for parking or go someplace for dinner and then take the R line.  It would draw me downtown, which is the whole idea of the venue in the first place.  $30 for a band I have not heard of does not do that, did I mention the $30 ticket was for a band named O.A.R.  who had a song peak at 36 on the billboard chart 2 years ago.  If you want the A list talent like Tegan and Sara you have to pay $36 for the cheap seats, to be fair that $36 also gets you Paramore.  That will be of great help for Downtown,  the kids can see that show and then whip out the fake IDs to get into the bars afterward.

For me it comes down to the city fucking over the people.  They took away a free concert series,  that while flawed, was FREE.  I went to it, never paid for parking, never was forced to buy anything and for a few years had a good time.  The city then had some free public land, took some tax money,  built an amphitheater and handed it to the worlds largest concert company.  They say that in 5 years the venue will be paid for.  They promised acts like you might see at the Durham Performing Arts Center,   but so far nothing has come close to the first rate talent DPAC lined up.  Seems that the top tier acts are still 10 miles from downtown at

Who doesn’t have a few old gas masks laying around?

Chuck

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The third member of the Trinity of Evil

Chuck

Posted via email from Zombiechuck