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Comment by yock | Hacker News Reader

If ever there were a better argument for eschewing app development in favor of the mobile web, this must be it.

I disagree. I think things like "Apple can change the rules on you", "Apple has to approve your app", "Apple makes you pay the 30%", etc are much better arguments against it. This is just about patent trolling. It could just have easily been a troll on some (surely hypothetical) patent for "Payment-Accepting Web Site That Delivers Alternative Experience for Mobile Users". In fact, an iOS dev may be in a better position than if the corresponding thing happened to a mobile web dev, in that there's a decent chance Apple's going to step in and smack down this nonsense.

Do you mean to imply that patent trolling shouldn't affect how we develop software? I hope you don't, because then you're suggesting that we remain at the behest of those who set patent policy. No other way to say it, that's just a bad plan.

Your first post implied to me that native apps are somehow more susceptible to being trolled, and therefore it's safer to code for the mobile web. Is there evidence of this trolling discrepancy? (If there is then I'm totally wrong, but it seems to me this particular case just happens to be targeted at app developers. The next patent troll issue that makes the HN frontpage could easily be targeted at mobile web devs.)

I feel like your more recent question is not directly related to the previous points (so maybe I'm misunderstanding), but I'll answer anyway: no, I don't think hackers should worry too much about patent trolls when building stuff (or else the trolling is working and limiting creation), but I do think hackers should make a stink when patent trolls do their thing--especially when they do it to the little guy.

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