Hmm, interesting. I still need to find a USB converter if that were to be made possible, anyone know a good converter?

There are quite a few offers but it's hard to say which are usable and which are not...

I think it's mostly due to the fact the stuff is so much more fragile and they're not done to be used intensively for stuff like gaming or even a server.

No, that's the whole "portability" thing. I know a lot of people who used old, retired laptops as servers - they work in this role for years without stop or breaking. But when they actively are moved around... that's different story.

Ew this sucks. Basically, if I decide to develop apps for the Iphone, I need to pay myself a new computer OS?

Nope - you need to pay for a new computer.

I sure hope it's possible to install Mac OS on any computer, now, not just their overpriced machines, otherwise I would be surprised if a lot of people developed apps distributed for free. X.x

Bingo! Some people have computer aqlready and some don't think $699 (for Mac Mini) is such a big deal, but yes, you need a Mac, and yes, it means physical computer.

winChain is apparently not updated frequently enough. But it can work. The best way that I know would be DragonFire SDK, but that costs $99

Hmm. From their faq:

Can I submit my App to the Apple App Store?
Yes! Your final App is compiled on a Mac and ready for the App Store.

There are many ways to develop app for iPhone without Mac, but if you want to distribute it... it's different story. You can probably borrow Mac from you Macophile friend (if you have one), but you really need it if you want to sell (or just distribute) iPhone App.

Well you don't necessarily need to have a jailbroken iphone to write apps for free, anybody anywhere can write apps for the iphone provided they have the iphone SDK, and they can charge whatever they want for their apps

Does not work this way. When you download the SDK you register your own iPhone with Apple and then program compiled with SDK can be run on that phone and only on that phone. You can not distribute it.

They are not forced to charge money, they can make it charge whatever they want ^^ you do have to pay for the SDK though

Actually it's free - but it only works with MacOS. The problem here is not cost, it's question of control. The SDK is free, but you can not distribute programs developed with it except via AppStore and Apple keeps the right to kick anything from it at any time. Basically you are Apple slave and Apple decides if you projects lives or dies.

You have to pay $99 dollars to be able to put your app in the store, but not to get the SDK.  You can charge $X.99 where X is pretty much anything, or you could charge nothing at all.  Apple takes, IIRC, %20 percent for each purchase.

Not entirely correct. While text of agrement is not publically accessible (which is outrageous by itself since it affects so many people) the "Apple cut" is well-known: 30%.

Now hold up, companies aren't always "big and greedy".

Yes, they are.

They have reasons for their decisions.  Think of it this way, DJ. as an admin, you make choices that affect this site. Because it is your site, you want it to do well. That is your motivation for keeping things out that you consider detrimental to your site. It's the same with companies.

Sure. They can do whatever they want. They can even ask me to obey some rules if I want to use their site. But WTF they pretend they have right to dictate what I do in my home? I've bought the TI-Nspire and fb39ca4 bought the iPad. I have an invoice. It's mine. Why do they have the need to try to criplle the thing they no longer own? It's as stupid and immoral as the futile try of DJ to dictate what I should write in my love letters. There are few noble reasons for that (think spyware removal tools), but then main reason to do that is: to try to extort more money from me. This is greed - not noble at all. When PlayStation3 forces me to buy new controller to play online - that's greed, when TI forces me to spend money for Nspire CAS and closes the way for third-party developers to develop CAS package - that's greed, when Motorola says "no more updates for you, buy own new model" - that's greed too.

All companies start small and helful and become increasingly hostile and harmful with time because of the greed. But there are different degrees. When Intel refuses to give nVidia right to sell chipsets - it's one thing, it's greed and it's bad thing, but it does not affect me directly, but when Apple or SONY or Texas Instruments decide to say what I can and can not do in my own home - that's just over the top.

I guess the question boils down to is this:  you said you got apps through questionable methods, did you get them for free while you would have to pay for them normally?

Yup. That's good question too: if it's some banned applications whuch Apple just does not like for one reason or another - it's one thing, if it's programs which are distributed against author's wishes - it's another thing.

But the end result is the same: people are trained to guard their property and reject upgrades when in doubt.

Include Texas Instruments in the list above too. They added an anti-downgrade protection in TI-Nspire OS 2.1, because OS 1.1 and 1.7 allowed ASM/C programs to be ran.

http://ourl.ca/6358

Hmm... The link above says that you still can use OS 1.7 after upgrade, only 1.1 is disallowed. And OS 2.1 has some new features too. Compare this behaviour with Microsoft, SONY, or Nintendo: these companies published upgrades which had one and one goal only: to cripple your lawfully-owned device.

The thing is, searching the forums is in the registration agreement, the instructions are plastered at the top of every subforum, there are stickies in each subforum on it, the forum guidelines/welcome message (written by me, incidentally) devote an entire section to it, and the button is in bright, neon yellow an inch from the new thread button. It's pretty hard to miss all of those.

Not as hard as you think. IT companies spent years and billions of dollars to train users to ignore any and all warnings. It was probaly not their intent, but...

One example. Can you imagine ever signing a contract with someone which says "yeah, we agreed to obey some rules - but these rules can be changed without warning any time I want"? Inconceivable? Preposterous? Well, millions of people "signed" such  contract - it quite literally says: Apple reserves the right at any time to modify this Agreement and to impose new or additional terms or conditions on your use of the Service. Such modifications and additional terms and conditions will be effective immediately and incorporated into this Agreement.

Another example. We had a seminar recently where lector asked: "how many of you ‘accepted’ Adobe Acrobat agreemeent by clicking ‘I agree’ on work computer?". Nearly everyone raised hands. The next question was "and how many of you have the legal right to sign binding agreements of behalf of your employer?". Uh, oh... Oops?

People are trained to convert any text with rules to form "here is this long and stupid text - you must click ‘I agree’ under it to continue, but as usual you may safely ignore what it says". Since this conditioning starts early and reinforced often it's very hard to overcome it.

I don't know what to do with this phenomenon long term, but short term the only alternative is to accept it. If you wrote something is rules even in bright neon yellow it does not mean newcomers will read it - they are trained not to!

6. Cooking times would be entered using RPS (Reverse Polish Sausage) Notation inside of the quadratic solver.

Hey, we are discussing TI microwave, not HP microwave!