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Organizer scraps C4 Mac conference over iPhone SDK criticism

updated 11:00 pm EDT, Thu May 13, 2010

Developer frustrated over cross-compiler ban


Developer Jonathan Rentzsch has scrapped plans to continue the C4 conference, an event that has brought together independent Mac developers for the past four years, according to comments on his personal blog. Rentzsch cites terms in Apple's latest iPhone SDK as the final straw driving him to cancel the conference, claiming that Section 3.3.1 "has broken my spirit."

The C4 organizer is referring to a clause that has been interpreted as a ban on cross-compilers, such as Adobe's Flash-to-iPhone utility that would have allowed developers to create apps in Flash and easily convert them to code supported on the iPhone platform.

"By itself Section 3.3.1 wasn’t enough to cause me to quit C4. I’ve weathered Apple lying to me and their never-ending series of autocratic App Store shenanigans," Rentzsch writes. "But unlike previous issues such as the senseless iPhone SDK NDA, the majority of the community isn’t riled by 3.3.1. On this issue, Apple apologists have the loudest voice. They offer soothing, distracting yet fundamentally irrelevant counterpoints to Apple’s naked power-grab."

Rentzsch suggests that Section 3.3.1 now makes developers "wholly reliant" on Apple for software engineering innovation. He also criticizes the company for lacking significant software engineering innovation, despite leadership in hardware and software design.

Adobe has been increasingly vocal with its criticisms of Apple's resistance to Flash technology on its range of mobile devices. The software company even launched a Freedom of Choice ad campaign claiming that Apple is "taking away your freedom" through the Flash prohibition. Apple CEO Steve Jobs has labeled the format propriety and closed, while arguing that the web should not require plug-ins.

"With resistance to Section 3.3.1 so scattershot and meek, it’s become clear that I haven’t made the impact I wanted with C4," says Rentzsch. "It’s also clear my interests and the Apple programming community’s interests are farther apart than I had hoped."

C4 served as a successor to the MacHack conference, based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which lasted for 18 years. Rentzsch's blog post does not suggest that he might reconsider the decision to end C4.


by MacNN Staff

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Comments

  1. elroth

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Jul 2006

    +6
    05/14, 03:45am | report spam | (1 reply) Reply |

    oh

    I hope this guy has fun developing apps for Windows 7 Mobile - if he actually develops anything at all.

    He says his interests are far apart from the Apple programming community's interests. Apple programmers are interested in developing great apps for the iPhone and iPad - what's he interested in? He sounds like a real narcissist.

  1. rytc

    Senior User

    Joined: Jan 2001

    -7
    05/14, 03:59am | report spam | Reply |

    He'll probably

    code for Android, which is already outselling the iPhone. I'm guessing with iPads, iPods and iPhones combined iPhone OS is still the leader but Android is coming up fast.

  1. spyintheskyuk

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Nov 2009

    +6
    05/14, 05:27am | report spam | Reply |

    Really

    'outselling the iPhone'. How very parochial of you. There is a World outside the United States you know.

  1. cartoonspin

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Sep 2003

    +6
    05/14, 07:26am | report spam | Reply |

    comment title

    Did anyone suggest folks are not buying the iPhone because they are waiting for the new one in June? No probably not.

    I like how noble these programmers are when it comes down to selling their apps is what really matters. Have fun on android.

  1. resuna

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Jan 2005

    -3
    05/14, 07:45am | report spam | Reply |

    Y'all are proving his point.

    Seriously. This guy has done some amazing stuff, and poured his heart into promoting the Mac and OS X, and what do we see? "Have fun on Android".

    I doubt he'll go with Android. It's got a tightly controlled development environment, with no native application support at all. If HP does something interesting with Web OS, now...

  1. tpmchugh

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Nov 2005

    +1
    05/14, 08:49am | report spam | Reply |

    Curiosity

    How many people actually signed up to go to the "C4 conference" anyway? Maybe the fact only 5 other people may may been planning to go had something to do with the cancellation, and all this ranting is only for face-saving purposes.

    If your "spirit" can be broken by such a small thing, perhaps you are in the wrong field.

  1. JeffHarris

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Oct 1999

    +3
    05/14, 09:14am | report spam | Reply |

    Reality Sucks

    What kind of world does this guy live in where he gives up so easily?

    What difference does it make to Apple if an app starts out in Objective-C, or Java, or Flash if the final App runs well on the iOS? That's like telling me not to use yellow lined paper instead of graph paper to sketch out an idea.

    Yes, Apple has pulled some idiotic moves that don't make us particularly happy. Hardware, software, the App Store, you name it. (I'll spare us a list.) But y'know, we all face a boat load of infuriating BS every friggin day. We all just learn to deal with it. And we all have the choice of whether or not to pull the plug.

    As far as Apple goes, what are the alternatives? Android will quickly morph into a fragmented and unstable mess like the Windows vision of the world. So, if he prefers that, I hope he enjoys the view.

  1. Mark Hernandez

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Apr 2010

    +5
    05/14, 09:17am | report spam | Reply |

    Read the other blogs to understand better

    First of all it isn't helpful when Jonathan Rentzch or anyone gets emotional, angry or sarcastic (the human being part) when you're talking about the highly competitive and complex business world focused on the world of computers. His post said so little, and it was inconsistent enough that it caused more questions than it answered, triggering a whole bunch of people's minds to be flapping in the wind.

    Unfortunately, the headline that everyone sees is that a conference was cancelled because of Apple's policies, but really when you dig deeper EVERYONE is suspicious that there is more to the story here and something else is going on.

    I agree with tpmchugh (above) first and foremost that the age of the boutique conference only accessible to the privileged few is now done. We each have multiple points of internet access around us, and new ways of reaching developers should be found. Who can afford to spend ten grand and take out a week of time to attend a conference. We'd all love to do that, but it's really impractical, and unnecessary here in the 21st century.

    Furthermore, Rentzsch's post refers to the apathy that other developers have for Apple's policies, but it seems to me that it's not apathy, but acknowledgement that the game is changing and this is the way the game is now played.

    So many developers get caught up with this entitlement idea, that corporations owe them something. We're all pilot fish to Apple's shark and you have to take what comes with the territory. You can either bemoan what is happening and get pissed off and emotional and point fingers and cry foul, or you can shift gears and follow the shark's new direction into new territory.

    As many have said, there will always be those who don't like things when they change on them, and they will fall away, to be replaced with 5 others who are willing to play along the new way.

    I've been in computers for 42 years, and I had never heard of the C4 conference 'till now, and I'm online constantly. That says a lot right there.

    Mark Hernandez
    Information Workshop

  1. facebook_Mike

    Via Facebook

    Joined: May 2010

    -1
    05/16, 09:04pm | report spam | Reply |

    Are arguments of Choice merely Spin and not Genuin

    I've noticed one reoccurring theme with posts defending Apple's position is the statement that no one is forcing anyone to take part in Apple's ecosystem and if a developer doesn't like it he or she is free to leave and develop elsewhere. One such developer is Jonathan Rentzsch, and when he did just this (not unsurprisingly) the jeers and criticisms of his decision quickly replace statements that he has a "choice".

    You can't have it both ways. Either anyone is free to develop for and host conferences for whatever platform they choose and Apple isn't boxing developers in, or you can concede that the only platform worth developing for is the iPhone OS and Apple is subject to rules regarding anti-competitive practices. Pick a freaking side.

    Not that it should matter, but in the off chance someone wants to suggest I'm anti-Apple I'm typing this on a MacBook Pro, with an iPad and an iPhone sitting at my side. I don't criticize Apple because I think their products are bad. I criticize them because I think their decisions are keeping them from being even better.

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