Between this and Testflight, I get the impression that Apple wants to rule its app ecosystem in the feudal sense. Whatever "indy" contingent there is, it is just meant to effectively be the bush leagues for the major league, which is Apple itself.
Hopefully, Apple will realize that it's sometimes better to co-opt than to control, especially when what you'd be trying to control is an ecosystem experiencing dramatic growth. It's this kind of realization that resulted in the iOS App Store in the first place.
That said, Apple is in a good position to continue its feudal rule, for now, as (IIRC) Apple's income is far larger than that produced by the App Stores in aggregate. This would be analogous to the late Middle Ages when the rise of the merchants began, but their wealth and power were still dwarfed by the feudal power structure and the church. The merchants were useful to the existing power structure, but still had to kowtow to it.
So the way to defeat Apple, if that's what you want to do, is to foster the growth of a better ecosystem than the iOS App Store. (Or, it could be worse, but still bigger, unfortunately.)
I'll hedge a bit (I don't know much about OpenNI), but I'd posit you're interpreting Apple's moves entirely wrong, mixed in with a bit of entrenched anti-Apple fandom (based solely on you advising folks on how to defeat them). At the very least, you're definitely interpreting the situation based solely on Apple's role in owning the app store, and not of the company as a whole.
While I don't know about the OP open source project, as a iOS dev I know quite a bit about using Testflight. The feudal analogy really breaks down there; this has nothing to do with ruling the app world, it's a technical decision based on code-signing and app distribution. Apple came up with the system that does that, and TestFlight made it about 100x better, so Apple acquired them (and are now working on making the 1st party system infinitely better).
Historically, Apple has most all their projects in-house in order to focus solely on the product and the way technology integrates. So when they close on an acquisition, it's very common for Cupertino to EOL other efforts at make the new hires and technology part of the company. When that's your approach to design, there's very little reason to support open source libraries and other projects other than your own.
Nonsense! Shutdown of existing product is a pretty common outcome for any acquisition
In some cases like Google acquiring Sparrow, it's because the acquisition was really a case of hiring an entire team. In other cases, the shutdown is so the acquisition can focus their efforts on a new product. This is clearly the latter case.
I know that in some circles folks make Apple out to be some sort of evil. Be careful that your bias doesn't lead you to make claims that are unsupported by evidence.
Come now, for years devs have criticized Apple for not having a proper first-party beta-testing solution. Now what might be their step into addressing that developer cry is being used against them in the typical Apple-controls-everything-FUD?
(I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, sadly...)
(And, lets alt-history a bit here: had they rolled their own solution they would have been criticized for "sherlocking yet another indy product")
I've been using OpenNI2 with ROS and an ASUS Xtion Pro Live for object detection and avoidance. What I think the community is missing is missing right now isn't really on the software side, but is good, cheap, hardware. I'd be thrilled if I could buy a Carmine or something like it from Apple, but I don't see how it makes any business sense.
This is exactly what we knew would happen. Apple is not our friend. They are at best an ally, and at worst prepared to destroy an industry for the sake of profit and domination.
>They are at best an ally, and at worst prepared to destroy an industry for the sake of profit and domination.
You mean the iOS app industry that they created out of thin air themselves, offering the platform, an API, and a far better environment (and terms) than the god awful Java ME stores of the past?
Why does the title say Apple is shutting down OpenNI, then link to a page that says nothing about it? Furthermore, how do you shut down someone else's company, and how do you shut down a project whose code is freely available? This doesn't make sense.
The page states prominently that the website will be closed after April 23rd. Primesense is Apple's property. Apple can do whatever it wants with it. Lastly the open source code will still be available, only the website will shut down as far as I understand it.
Pkinsky - Adam from Occipital here (we make the Structure Sensor).
As of now, you can use OpenNI with the Structure Sensor on any platforms currently supported by OpenNI. We’ve also forked OpenNI on GitHub (along with many others who have done the same) to make sure it remains available after April 23rd.
For those who don’t want to compile code, we’ll also host binaries at http://structure.io/developers for OS X and potentially other platforms.
We’re working on creating new open source Structure Sensor drivers for Android, Linux, Windows and OS X (these are not based on OpenNI at all). Let us know if you’d like to contribute to that effort by sending us an email at structure >at< occipital.com.
Keep in mind that the discontinuation of active maintenance for OpenNI does not affect the Structure Sensor for iOS at all because on iOS, we use Structure SDK, not OpenNI.
Is there more information available than just that quick statement on the front page? The about page calls openNI a consortium and lists 5 founding companies [1].
So, is there anywhere that indicates that the github codebase (under the apache license) @ https://github.com/OpenNI/OpenNI2 is also going to be scuttled? Or just the website?
The same thing that was "up" when they bought Siri, Inc (from SRI International).
They acquired a technology that they're going to use to differentiate their products. And apparently they feel it's a more strategic technology than, say, WebKit or LLVM.
Right now I can buy a used Kinect for about $35.00 and write code using OpenNI that gives me access to the 3D depth map from the Kinect. If I can't do this anymore, what is my recourse? Will libfreenect remain open?
For how much longer will the drivers remain open? Microsoft was able to kill OSS libraries that made calls to DirectX and OpenGL hardware interchangeable. Seems like Apple would like you to get their permi$$ion from now on and could do the same.
[+] [-] stcredzero|12 years ago|reply
Hopefully, Apple will realize that it's sometimes better to co-opt than to control, especially when what you'd be trying to control is an ecosystem experiencing dramatic growth. It's this kind of realization that resulted in the iOS App Store in the first place.
That said, Apple is in a good position to continue its feudal rule, for now, as (IIRC) Apple's income is far larger than that produced by the App Stores in aggregate. This would be analogous to the late Middle Ages when the rise of the merchants began, but their wealth and power were still dwarfed by the feudal power structure and the church. The merchants were useful to the existing power structure, but still had to kowtow to it.
So the way to defeat Apple, if that's what you want to do, is to foster the growth of a better ecosystem than the iOS App Store. (Or, it could be worse, but still bigger, unfortunately.)
[+] [-] Gorbzel|12 years ago|reply
While I don't know about the OP open source project, as a iOS dev I know quite a bit about using Testflight. The feudal analogy really breaks down there; this has nothing to do with ruling the app world, it's a technical decision based on code-signing and app distribution. Apple came up with the system that does that, and TestFlight made it about 100x better, so Apple acquired them (and are now working on making the 1st party system infinitely better).
Historically, Apple has most all their projects in-house in order to focus solely on the product and the way technology integrates. So when they close on an acquisition, it's very common for Cupertino to EOL other efforts at make the new hires and technology part of the company. When that's your approach to design, there's very little reason to support open source libraries and other projects other than your own.
[+] [-] cjensen|12 years ago|reply
In some cases like Google acquiring Sparrow, it's because the acquisition was really a case of hiring an entire team. In other cases, the shutdown is so the acquisition can focus their efforts on a new product. This is clearly the latter case.
I know that in some circles folks make Apple out to be some sort of evil. Be careful that your bias doesn't lead you to make claims that are unsupported by evidence.
[+] [-] parrots|12 years ago|reply
(I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, sadly...) (And, lets alt-history a bit here: had they rolled their own solution they would have been criticized for "sherlocking yet another indy product")
[+] [-] MrQuincle|12 years ago|reply
Apparently I have to buy something with a fruit symbol on it, to be able to develop for 3D sensors in the future...
[+] [-] esonderegger|12 years ago|reply
https://github.com/OpenNI/OpenNI2
I've been using OpenNI2 with ROS and an ASUS Xtion Pro Live for object detection and avoidance. What I think the community is missing is missing right now isn't really on the software side, but is good, cheap, hardware. I'd be thrilled if I could buy a Carmine or something like it from Apple, but I don't see how it makes any business sense.
[+] [-] lucian1900|12 years ago|reply
0. http://www.google.com/atap/projecttango/
[+] [-] nitrogen|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] al2o3cr|12 years ago|reply
This is everybody in the industry. Convince yourself otherwise at your own peril.
[+] [-] pippy|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] piyush_soni|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] davidedicillo|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] coldtea|12 years ago|reply
You mean the iOS app industry that they created out of thin air themselves, offering the platform, an API, and a far better environment (and terms) than the god awful Java ME stores of the past?
[+] [-] rhubarbquid|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] FR6|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] reustle|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] frik|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Gracana|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rsp1984|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] joekr|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pkinsky|12 years ago|reply
(https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/occipital/structure-sen...)
[+] [-] reteltech|12 years ago|reply
As of now, you can use OpenNI with the Structure Sensor on any platforms currently supported by OpenNI. We’ve also forked OpenNI on GitHub (along with many others who have done the same) to make sure it remains available after April 23rd.
For those who don’t want to compile code, we’ll also host binaries at http://structure.io/developers for OS X and potentially other platforms.
We’re working on creating new open source Structure Sensor drivers for Android, Linux, Windows and OS X (these are not based on OpenNI at all). Let us know if you’d like to contribute to that effort by sending us an email at structure >at< occipital.com.
Keep in mind that the discontinuation of active maintenance for OpenNI does not affect the Structure Sensor for iOS at all because on iOS, we use Structure SDK, not OpenNI.
Keep an eye on http://structure.io/developers, or sign up for the Structure SDK developer email list for more info.
[+] [-] jonmrodriguez|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] patrickyeon|12 years ago|reply
[1] http://www.openni.org/organization/
[+] [-] nnunley|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nickbauman|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] spot|12 years ago|reply
anyone know what's up?
[+] [-] roc|12 years ago|reply
They acquired a technology that they're going to use to differentiate their products. And apparently they feel it's a more strategic technology than, say, WebKit or LLVM.
[+] [-] emersive|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] untog|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] based2|12 years ago|reply
https://github.com/interactivespaces/interactivespaces
[+] [-] mindstab|12 years ago|reply
http://www.softkinetic.com/en-us/products/depthsensecameras....
[+] [-] nickbauman|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Qworg|12 years ago|reply
PCL and OpenCV will similarly remain open.
The loss of Primesense is the loss of NITE. The only recourse is a team building an open source skeletonization alternative.
[+] [-] rsp1984|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nickbauman|12 years ago|reply