Here’s some grade-A irony for you: The developer of an application designed to facilitate the cracking and distribution of iPhone software is having a foot-stomping temper tantrum over the fact that a beta version of his program was – wait for it – distributed before its official release.
The author of Crackulous, who goes by the name SaladFork on the Hackulo.us forum, decried the unauthorized leak of his program in a recent post. His hurt feelings, his indignity, his veritable rage are almost palpable as he describes what it’s like to see the time and hard work he invested in his creation stolen from him without regard for his plans or intentions.
“For those who haven’t heard, the newest beta of Crackulous has been leaked,” he wrote. “I personally think this leak is absolutely disgusting (emphasis his), and downright insulting.”
Disgusting! Insulting! And that’s not all! “From the beginning, I planned to release Crackulous to the public, and have it so anybody could download it. I was also going to release the full source code, so anyone who wanted to make an iPhone application could use it as an education resource,” he continued. “However, that wasn’t enough for some people, and they’ve decided to leak Crackulous to the public, although it is still in a beta stage. They’ve downright disrespected me, this community, and this project.”
Despite a petulant threat to cancel the project, along with all others he’s currently working on, SaladFork eventually relented and agreed to continue development of the software, albeit with a warning about the dangers of piracy. “You never know if you can trust download links that are not by myself personally (or by another Hackulo.us staff member),” he wrote. “If you happen to obtain a ‘bad’ beta, you could be risking your iPhone, iPod Touch, or perhaps all your data on either.”
He also claims to be aware of the brain-popping irony of the whole mess, although he maintains this is an entirely different situation. “iPhone developers almost always (99% of the time) develop applications for the AppStore in hopes of getting money,” he continued. “They sell it for a fee, and understand that there’s a risk it may be leaked, as all things that cost money are. While a good number (~20-30%) of the applications are excellent, it is unfortunate that the majority of the applications are absolutely horrible, and yet the developers still rake in a profit. Whether this is right or wrong is not for me to decide, although it seems Apple has no problem with it.”
Yet deciding whether the ability to make a profit off software development is right or wrong is precisely what SaladFork is doing, or at the very least actively facilitating. It would appear that if he is actually aware of the sweet, sweet irony of the situation, it’s only because someone told him about it; his ability to grasp the sheer depth of it himself appears non-existent.
Source: Ars Technica
Published: Nov 21, 2008 06:52 pm