GNU FreeDink - News: GPL Apps and Apple AppStore

GPL Apps and Apple AppStore

Item posted by Sylvain Beucler <Beuc> on Mon 01 Nov 2010 09:10:41 AM UTC.

As you may have seen, some developers of VLC, a multimedia player recently ported to iPhone/iPad, plan to enforce the GNU General Public License on the AppStore:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/vlc-enforcement

AppStore has Terms of Service incompatible with the GNU GPL, and so far they removed GPL Apps rather than fix their TOS.

There's been a few negative reactions towards those developers, out of disappointment that VLC may be pulled out of AppStore.

I want to stress this: the issue is that Apple has bad Terms of Service for the AppStore.  The fact it's a big company doesn't change it: it's their mistake, and they need to fix it.  Don't blame on VLC developers if Apple doesn't make a move.

It's worth noting that, due to technical restrictions (Tivoization), AppStore is the only place where iPhone/iPad users can install software from.  Let's also remind us that Apple keeps 30% on all AppStore sales.
( More info at http://www.freedink.org/get#iphone )

GNU FreeDink, the free, portable and enhanced version of the Dink Smallwood game engine which I maintain, faces the same issue and cannot be ported to iPhone/iPad for that reason.

The Free Software Foundation runs a campaign against those locked-in devices.  If you own one, tell your disappointment to Apple now:
http://www.defectivebydesign.org/macappstore
http://www.defectivebydesign.org/ipad
http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/iphone/