I seem to recall that when Jobs said they would open source facetime, it was complete news to the programmers. For the reasons described in the article, it wasn't really possible.
I agree. To simplify things Apple should just open up Facetime and offer it as a standard. Problem solved
Nope. Reason is simple: They'll study Facetime and augment it differently than intended, produce a modified version for each product end and thus continue with a fractured space. Reason: Profit.
When they introduced FaceTime Jobs said they were going to let other phones use the standard as they wanted it to be everywhere. What happened?
There were rumours that Apple was talking with Skype about adopting FaceTime but Skype later announced it had no interest. There were also rumours that Facebook was considering acquiring Skype. This could explain Microsoft's acquisition as strategic.
What bothers me immensely is that Apple doesn't even provide interoperability between iChat and FaceTime. iPhone 3GS doesn't have FaceTime (not even a pared-down version of it).
The first thing Apple should do is make ALL its devices interoperable. The entire OSX + iOS scene is a good start to gain some critical mass.
The current fragmented iChat + Facetime scene isn't
The key point is that FaceTime is not as reliable as Skype. In fact, FaceTime works intermittently. One can never be absolutely sure that the other side actually receives a FaceTime call.
Ironically, most things that Apple have offered in the last few years that involve Apple servers or syncing are subpar or downright inadequate: iDisk, iMessage, Ping, iCloud, FaceTime.
Can Apple get its act together and beat its competitors in these areas?
Comments
I seem to recall that when Jobs said they would open source facetime, it was complete news to the programmers. For the reasons described in the article, it wasn't really possible.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gatorguy
I agree. To simplify things Apple should just open up Facetime and offer it as a standard. Problem solved
Nope. Reason is simple: They'll study Facetime and augment it differently than intended, produce a modified version for each product end and thus continue with a fractured space. Reason: Profit.
What bothers me immensely is that Apple doesn't even provide interoperability between iChat and FaceTime. iPhone 3GS doesn't have FaceTime (not even a pared-down version of it).
The first thing Apple should do is make ALL its devices interoperable. The entire OSX + iOS scene is a good start to gain some critical mass.
The current fragmented iChat + Facetime scene isn't
The key point is that FaceTime is not as reliable as Skype. In fact, FaceTime works intermittently. One can never be absolutely sure that the other side actually receives a FaceTime call.
Ironically, most things that Apple have offered in the last few years that involve Apple servers or syncing are subpar or downright inadequate: iDisk, iMessage, Ping, iCloud, FaceTime.
Can Apple get its act together and beat its competitors in these areas?