An April's fool joke that is not so funny today | Hacker News Reader

An April's fool joke that is not so funny today

theregister.co.uk

60 pointsnewsit30 comments

I don't get the non-joke.

Is it because this sounds scarily close to the 3.3.1 Flash kerfuffle? If so, wouldn't this piece then fall into the category of 'it's funny because it's true'?

It does make you wonder about Apple's commitment to supporting HTML5 web-apps. When they were an underdog it made sense, but now that they're in a position of strength you are relying on their good will, not their self-interest.

After all, if you read through Gruber's piece on the change, everything he says applies just as much to HTML5 webapps e.g. no lock-in, lowest common denominator, vague sense on non-nativeness etc.

He specifically says "There is no platform vendor for the web — and Apple has complete control over WebKit, its implementation for the web." but that could easily become the Adobe Flash or Microsoft line of "Standards bodies move too slowly for us".

  It does make you wonder about Apple's commitment to
  supporting HTML5 web-apps.

It does not. iAd demos yesterday were HTML5 apps. And frankly, if anything even remotely looks like iHTML in the original post, it's Flash.

HTML5 isn't an official standard yet.

Will Apple end up defining what becomes part of the specification due to early (premature) adoption?

Maybe standards do move too slowly for Apple. The reason they're not like Adobe or Microsoft (to answer your implicit comparison) is that neither Flash nor Silverlight are open standards, whereas Webkit is open-source. In that sense every progress Apple makes is accessible to everyone and not in Apple's control. So I don't really understand your fear (or your comparison).

I don't like it when they write "April Fools!" at the end. It ruins the fun. Imagine if you punctuated all your jokes with a laugh and a loud "Joking!" ...

I think this is quite appropriate in many situations. Why?

- Unless it is during the first few weeks of April, I (and I imagine many others, too) pay no special attention to the exact date a news item or blog post was written (the year: yes, month: maybe, day: no). - Almost everything we write on the Internet is going to be archived for future generations to read.

If topics such as this become irrelevant/non-topical in 10-15 years time, someone coming across this article for research purposes may be drawn in by the ruse.

Just a thought.

Aren't April Fools always written in the first few weeks of April?

Yes, but they are read throughout the year.

Sorry about that, I misread. Anyway, given the recent technological breakthroughs in terms of sense of humour, I absolutely trust the brainy researchers who will read this article in 15 years to understand that it's an April Fools.

If you try to genuinely fool someone after noon on 1st of April, you are the fool.

The 'April Fool' label prevents that heinous possibility from occurring.

'Fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again.'

Where do they say that again? I think Tennessee, also in Texas but probably in Tennessee...

What really scares me is that I completely bought the possibility of this being real.

EDIT: Out of curiosity, could someone explain why this was dead'd?

If Apple wins, Adobe will be forced to target HTML5. And Flash will wither away. No other company is positioned as well as Adobe and has the intellectual capital to build a world-class HTML5 integrated development environment. However, Adobe really makes a lot of revenue from selling the servers (Flash Media Server). It is doubtful they will eat their main product line, as they are technology vegans.

Although not going to happen, an interesting situation will be Adobe not releasing mac version of its upcoming CS5. This will force Adobe technology developers and almost all mac using designers to migrate to PC.This will have a huge impact on Apple's revenue within months!

A lot of comments in Adobe vs Apple stories seem to overestimate Apple's say over internet. India is #2 in total wireless mobile connections and #4 in internet usage .Still,Apple has sold less than 4000 iphone 3G in the country.3GS was released just a week or so back in the country.

Iphone ,ipad and ipodtouch still constitute a very small percentage of global internet accessing devices. Although Apple is The-Autonomous-Authority that runs the appstore/itunes econosphere, their say over internet users/developers worldwide is infact , negligible . Local internet portals in developing economies wont have any reason to port their existing content to an iAccessible format(particularly, existing flash games).I personally dont think Apple policies can kill Flash any time soon. Apart from this, HTML5 implementation is far from cross-browser compatible as of now( File API implementation ). Flash is going to be around for a long time.

> not releasing mac version of its upcoming CS5.

Almost every designer I know has pre-ordered CS5. It's not just the iPhone compilation, it's a major major suite.

> stories seem to overestimate Apple's say over internet. India is #2 in total wireless mobile connections and #4 in internet usage

What is the state of Flash usage in India like? And do you feel honestly that Indian consumers don't want devices as fancy and sophisticated as mini computers (iPhones).

India is fascinating culturally to me. The fact that beer is such a small part of the alcohol culture there - almost everyone prefers liquor. The fact that India is so diverse geographically that English is the common tongue.

This is off-topic, but I am not clear on what is meant by the phrase "technology vegans". Does this mean Adobe does not consume 'meat' (for some value of the symbol 'meat')?

Just a cutesy way I tried of saying Adobe might not cannabalize Flash for HTML5.

Perhaps the right way to protest here would be to write a killer app which everybody has to have, and release it with a EULA requiring that it be installed via a third-party vector involving rooting the machine.

I think Apple will like the joke and work on making it real.

No, it's still as funny as it ever was.

Look, Apple has a well-known stance on how you can program the iP[od|hone|ad]. Nobody's forcing you to use it or code for it.

Best thing to do if you don't like it? Buy a different mobile device, and if you're of the developer persuasion, write the best software for it you can.

It sure makes for great entertainment, this Apple vs Adobe war we find ourselves in.

It wasn't funny then, either. And, I'm not sure I get it in the "today" context.

Come on - lighten up. It's an article which lampoons the behaviour of Apple.

Apple are engaging in protectionist behaviour - the development of iHTML would be the extreme conclusion of this trend.

It's relevant today, because their recent (anti-Adobe) behaviour is a nod towards the extreme behaviour described in the piece.

It is still not funny. First, because HTML is very wrong choice there: Apple is the juggernaut behind it (with Google's help). Second, this is really really old, I don'e even remember when I first heard the joke about Apple cars.

I don't think I've ever heard a joke about Apple cars.

It's not really a joke, but it might be a reference to an analogy in Neal Stephenson's essay "In the Beginning was the Command Line" (http://www.cryptonomicon.com/beginning.html) where he compares Windows, Mac, and Linux to car dealerships.

I haven't read it in a long while but I think the Windows dealership sells crappy and lame station wagons that everyone buys anyways, Linux sells battle tanks that you have to assemble yourself with the help of other battle tank enthusiasts, and Mac sells sleek European sports cars that are hermetically sealed end-to-end; you actually can't physically pop the hood, and you must return to the dealership if you have even minor problems.

And BeOS was the batmobile.

Don't try and fight it. Ive discovered that the majority here likes unfunny things in the name of April Fools. There are just some geek rallying flags they will not back down from.

For example, you could get front page time with almost any xkcd post with a pithy title, even if its one of the least funny xkcds ever. It is a geek rallying flag and many people here will not concede it. April fools is Always Funny! xkcd is Always Funny!

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