Unsure whether or not I am caving
I have waited a long time for the new MacBook Pros to be released, and finally that wait is over. The other day Apple released their refreshed MacBook pro line with shiny new core i5 and i5 processors. However, they also released their new terms of service for iPad/iPhone development. If you are a developer and have not heard about this yet, you must be living under a rock (or not care about Apple in the slightest).
Basically Apple has decided that you can only program for apple using Apple approved programming languages and apple approved tools. The TOS states:
Applications may only use Documented APIs in the manner prescribed by Apple and must not use or call any private APIs. Applications must be originally written in Objective-C, C, C++, or JavaScript as executed by the iPhone OS WebKit engine, and only code written in C, C++, and Objective-C may compile and directly link against the Documented APIs.
This implies that applications that link to Documented APIs through an intermediary translation or compatibility layer or tool are prohibited, such as MonoTouch or Adobe’s new CS5 flash-to-iPhone conversion tool. A Google search of “Apple TOS 3.3.1″ will give more insight into the implications of this statement and what I am writing about. Apple already has the most locked down operating system and platforms (no Flash/Java) and now want to control how developers develop for those platforms (can only program for platforms in specific languages Apple approves… codswallop).
edit: I am going back and forth on the issue. Making no claims anymore.