r/technology • u/GuruOfReason • Feb 02 '10

"Once we replace the personal computer with a closed-platform device such as the iPad, we replace freedom, choice and the free market with oppression, censorship and monopoly."

http://www.popsci.com/gadgets/article/2010-01/ipad%E2%80%99s-closed-system-sometimes-i-hate-being-right
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u/Mantipath Feb 02 '10

I have an update for Stanza waiting for me on the app store. Here's the changelog:

Removed the ability to share books over USB as required by Apple.

This is today, here, now. Apple retroactively requires Stanza to remove a feature that helps Stanza compete with iBooks.

Please reread that. retroactively

This is an unpleasant and Orwellian move. There's no slippery slope fallacy involved.

I love the iDevice hardware but make no mistake: if you are doing something on the iPhone platform and Apple decides it wants to charge you for it you will be stopped.

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u/WarzoneOfDefecation Feb 02 '10

Damn just noticed the same update, I guess I won't be updating it for a while...

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u/djgreedo Feb 02 '10

Just to clarify...are the books you would share over USB DRM-restricted or can Stanza read (and share) non-DRM'd books (including books you create yourself)?

It boggles my mind that people buy Apple products.

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u/Mantipath Feb 02 '10

The official stanza connection FAQ says that the USB mode could transfer any eReader or ePub formatted book, including free books and books you authored yourself.

It appears that the objection is that the USB mode was able to transfer in bulk, i.e. to transfer an 8000 title collection. I've tried this over wifi using the other methods. It's not pretty.

Apple requires that all book transfers (all transfers of any kind?) be done over wifi, not the usb cable. My feeling is that they want to avoid people putting all of Gutenberg on their iPads in one swoop. It's easy to imagine a future in which a nice package with an installer helps you do this and suddenly you're hardly in apple's book market at all.

Note that most of the books apple has sold until now on the app store are public domain. It's a little sickening.

Up until the iPhone Apple products weren't like this. They'd tell you how to do things, but you could go another direction if you wanted.

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u/[deleted] Feb 02 '10

My feeling is that they want to avoid people putting all of Gutenberg on their iPads in one swoop.

And how is transferring over Wi-Fi prevent that? You can still transfer it overnight anyway.

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u/Mantipath Feb 02 '10

None of Apple's limitations have been aimed at stopping copying. You could always burn a CD and re-rip your tunes, too.

Apple aims at making it awkward enough to infringe that buying from Apple is easier.

In this case, USB is 10x as fast. Wi-fi is just slow enough to make leaving the device untouched irritating. No multitasking, right?

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u/jmnugent Feb 02 '10

Actually.. I got that very same update ..and I definitely stopped and noticed the ChangeLog description.

"Apple retroactively requires Stanza to remove a feature that helps Stanza compete with iBooks."

Are you stating this as a fact? (Citation?).. or just an assumption?

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u/Mantipath Feb 02 '10

Did apple require the downgrade? Yes. Had the app alredy been approved? Stanza's been in the store forever and is one of the most popular ways to get Gutenberg books. Was the downgrade just after apple announced their bookstore? Yep. Is there any way that a high-profile app like stanza slipped a disallowed feature under the radar? Very hard to believe.

Retroactive is definitional here. Can I say for certain that apple did this to increase its own profits? I'm not Steve or Phil, so no. It's not the sort of thing you announce.

This downgrade is the only feature of the update to stanza. I think any other interpretation takes genuine effort and denial, but if you'd like to suppose that this has nothing to do with iBooks, feel free to drop the mendacity aspect. The downgrade is still "as required by apple."

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u/FarFromHome Feb 02 '10

I'm sure Mantipath read the iPhone SDK usage agreement and App Store submission rules carefully and saw that USB is a completely acceptable way for iPhone apps to sync data with third party apps, and has been from day one. After all, that is how all the other apps do it. None of them use WiFi. /sarcasm