r******y
发帖数: 3838 | 1 Sony unveiled plans to deliver a mobile development platform based on an
open source version of Apple's
OpenStep and Cocoa technologies, shortly before announcing the project was
put on hold.
Sony's plans, referred to as SNAP (Sony Networked Application Platform),
hoped to leverage the open source
community to deliver an alternative to Apple's iOS Cocoa Touch development
frameworks.
As a starting point, Sony took the existing GNUstep libraries, which
originated as an implementation of
OpenStep, the basis for Apple's Cocoa in Mac OS X and iOS. GNUstep uses the
same Objective-C language
and implements similar (but not compatibly identical) development frameworks
to the Cocoa used by
developers to create Mac, iPhone and iPad apps.
However, after contributing a number of touch-based interface enhancements
to the open GNUstep
codebase, Sony has put its plans on hold without explaining why.
NeXT and OpenStep
Sony's intention to use an open source platform to compete against Apple in
the mobile device arena, rather
than using an existing alternative such as the Java-based Android, JavaME,
and BlackBerry OS; Microsoft's
Silverlight-based Windows 7 Phone; the full Windows 7 environment (that Sony
has licensed for use on
PCs), or some version of Adobe's Flash Lite, Flash web plugin (championed by
Google's Chrome OS), or
Flash-based AIR development platform (as the upcoming RIM PlayBook does), is
an interesting development
given the shared history of Apple's Cocoa and GNUstep.
Prior to bringing NeXT's technology to Apple in the 1997 acquisition that
returned Steve Jobs to the
company he founded, NeXT created a sophisticated UNIX operating system using
advanced, object oriented
development frameworks that made building apps easy.
Named NeXTSTEP, the package was widely used by investment banks and security
agencies to create
custom apps, and was famously used to build the first web server and browser
client. It was also used to
develop cutting edge video games by John Carmack of id Software. Despite
those successes, NeXT was
unable to sell enough of its hardware in a way that could support ongoing
development.
It pulled out of the computing hardware market in the early 1990s in an
attempt to find a sustainable
market for NeXTSTEP's advanced technology as a software product, initially
selling a version of the
NeXTSTEP OS that could run on PCs and Sun workstations, and eventually
separating the development tools
from the underlying OS to create a development layer that could run on top
of systems running Windows
NT or Sun's Solaris.
In a partnership with Sun, NeXT developed the OpenStep specification, which
enabled any hardware maker
or operating system vendor to build products capable of running applications
created for the new
specification. Within months however, Sun pulled out of the partnership to
focus on Java, its own technology
aimed and creating applications that could conceivably run on any hardware
or operating system with a Java
Virtual Machine.
With few prospects left for OpenStep, NeXT pursued the development of
WebObjects, which essentially
turned the OpenStep frameworks into a development environment for web apps.
Dell used this technology
to launch its very successful web store shortly before Apple acquired NeXT
with the intention of
resurrecting NeXTSTEP as replacement for its existing, aging Classic Mac OS.
Apple takes NeXT in a new direction
Apple initially hoped to use the platform independent work NeXT had done to
deliver Yellow Box (essentially
OpenStep) as a development environment for creating applications that could
run on the Classic Mac OS,
Windows, Solaris, and a new Unix-based OS that would eventually replace the
Mac OS on Apple's own
hardware.
Those plans were thwarted by a number of issues: the show-stopping
difficulty of hosting the
sophisticated YellowBox frameworks on top of the outdated foundations of the
existing Mac System 7; the
impossibility of positioning YellowBox as a credible alternative to native
or Java development, given Apple's
existing fragile condition as a company; and the insistence of Apple's
existing developer community that
the company not abandon its current Mac OS APIs in favor of this newly
acquired, unfamiliar technology
from NeXT.
Apple was sent back to the drawing board for years, where it hammered out a
strategy that dropped cross
platform compatibility to instead focus on delivering a new Mac OS X, with
both support for the existing
Mac OS APIs as well as a thoroughly refreshed version of OpenStep/YellowBox
the company now referred to
as Cocoa (in deference to the popularity of Java).
While Apple abandoned all efforts to deliver a version of Cocoa that could
run on top of other operating
systems, the open source community kept working on GNUstep, an
implementation of the OpenStep
standard NeXT had created. That project has continued to track Apple's
progress with Cocoa, adding its own
implementation of new technologies that Apple has added to Cocoa.
While Cocoa apps won't run unmodified on top of GNUstep, they should be much
easier to port than apps
created using a completely different development environment such as Java or
Windows. Sony's plan to use
GNUstep in its mobile devices would similarly not enable its products to use
iOS apps created for the iPhone
or iPad, but would offer a development platform familiar to the thousands of
developers who have already
embraced Cocoa Touch to target Apple's products.
Now that Apple has achieved a very strong position in smartphones, media
players, and tablets with its iOS
platform, it is ready to use Cocoa to deliver a unified development platform
for its Mac App Store, expected
to open in January. Apple's goals to push Cocoa-centric development may be
assisted by any external
efforts (such as Sony's) to use a related development model using the same
language and similar
frameworks.
It's also possible that Apple could resurrect its initial plans to offer a
cross platform version of Cocoa that
could be used by its existing developers to create apps for Windows, and
deploy these apps using an App
Store similar to its forthcoming standalone Mac App Store app.
Sony's sad story in software
Regardless of where Apple chooses to take Cocoa, Sony's interest in using
GNUstep is both an endorsement
of Apple's existing technology portfolio and another example of hardware
makers looking with skepticism
upon Google's Android. Sony already uses Android in its Xperia phones (which
formerly debuted with
Windows Mobile), its Google TV appliances, and its Dash "personal Internet
viewer" device, but like
Samsung's homegrown Bada, HP's decision to use Palm's webOS, RIM's use of
QNX, and Nokia's aversion to
Android, Sony's efforts to look beyond Android indicate that leading
hardware makers are not ecstatic
about the prospects of simply becoming commodity device makers that divert
much of their value to
Google's platform.
Sony has previously failed to successfully integrate third party software
platforms as a licensee of the failed
Palm OS (in its Clié PDAs), the BeOS (in its eVilla web browser appliance)
and Windows Mobile (in its Sony
Ericsson devices) and has not done well as a Windows licensee selling PCs
and laptop hardware, nor as a
Symbian or Google licensee in smartphones.
The company's hardware prowess initially helped Apple design its successful
PowerBook line, but was
unable to keep pace with the company's Walkman-devastating iPod in 2001, and
has since been
embarrassed by the iPhone and iPod touch, not just as rival smartphones and
media players but also as
gaming devices competing for attention against the PlayStation Portable.
Whether Sony will completely
scuttle its GNUstep experiments or pick it up again and create real products
using it still remains to be
seen.
http://forums.appleinsider.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=115128 | a***y
发帖数: 19743 | 2 yes it was strange
【在 r******y 的大作中提到】
: Sony unveiled plans to deliver a mobile development platform based on an
: open source version of Apple's
: OpenStep and Cocoa technologies, shortly before announcing the project was
: put on hold.
: Sony's plans, referred to as SNAP (Sony Networked Application Platform),
: hoped to leverage the open source
: community to deliver an alternative to Apple's iOS Cocoa Touch development
: frameworks.
: As a starting point, Sony took the existing GNUstep libraries, which
: originated as an implementation of
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