Lol! FuckingNDA.com, Apple!

7 August 2008 | Posted by Jeffrey Barke | No comments

I know Apple is restrictive as hell about information, but I was a bit surprised to see how far the non-disclosure agreement (NDA) for the iPhone SDK goes: iPhone developers are legally banned from sharing programming tips, discussing code or asking questions of one another in forums or over e-mail!

From Webmonkey:

"FUCKING NDA" has become a mantra on Twitter. Every time a developer posts about his or her latest run-in with the metaphorical brick wall that is Apple's NDA, the capitalized expletive is sounded off. "FUCKING NDA" has become such a phenomenon, a website has sprung up at FuckingNDA.com to track the twisted tweets.

Apple's software development kit (SDK) for the iPhone is the primary set of tools for building apps for the iPhone, especially if the creations are to be included for sale in the device's App Store. The NDA, which must be agreed to before the SDK can be downloaded, prevents programmers from discussing the finer points of their code.

"There is no legal way for developers to talk about they are developing," Williams laments. "No way to post tutorials. No way to give code away. It's hard to interact with other developers and to write code without reinventing the wheel. Normally, you could post [a coding question] on Twitter and get an answer within minutes."

More info on why the iPhone NDA is no good:

Jeffrey Barke is senior developer and information architect at theMechanism - New York, a multimedia firm with offices in New York, London and Durban, South Africa.

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Apple more vulnerable than Microsoft?!?

3 August 2008 | Posted by Jeffrey Barke | No comments

I found it surprising that in a new study authored by IBM, Apple was rated the number one software most vulnerable to attack, ahead of Microsoft!

I also found it curious that Webmonkey's post (where I read about the study) was titled "Apple, Microsoft Top List of Most Vulnerable Software," which, although true, implies that Microsoft is number two. This isn't true: Microsoft is number three, after Joomla!

Unfortunately, the report notes two worrisome trends:

  • The number of vulnerabilities in our software is increasing.
  • Attacks have largely shifted from operating systems to web applications, hence the inclusion of Joomla!, Wordpress and Drupal.

Via Webmonkey. Read the entire report in PDF format.

Jeffrey Barke is senior developer and information architect at theMechanism - New York, a multimedia firm with offices in New York, London and Durban, South Africa.

Filed in security, software | Tagged with , , , ,
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