Her er årsagen til tilbagetrækningen af ​​VLC-applikationen fra AppStore

Som du allerede ved, var VLC-applikationen forsinke fra AppStore i sidste uge af Apple for overtrædelse af reglerne vedrørende muligheden for at bruge applikationen på mere end 5 iDevices. Dette var den antagelse, som alle præsenterede nyhederne på i sidste uge, men i virkeligheden kender ingen, ikke engang udviklerne af applikationen, den egentlige årsag til, at applikationen blev trukket tilbage. Præsidenten for VideoLAN-virksomheden var informeret af en advokat fra Apple-virksomheden, at VLC-applikationen blev trukket tilbage fra AppStore, men årsagen til tilbagetrækningen blev ikke forklaret ham.

At last, Apple has removed VLC media player from its application store. Thus the incompatibility between the GNU General Public License and the AppStore terms of use is resolved – the hard way. I am not going to pity the owners of iDevices, and not even the MobileVLC developers who doubtless wasted a lot of their time. This end should not have come to a surprise to anyone.

VLC-applikationen er udviklet under GNU-licensen, hvilket praktisk talt betyder, at alle kan bruge applikationen uden nogen begrænsninger. Apple pålægger en grænse på 5 enheder, som en applikation kan bruges på, så det er så tydeligt som muligt, at VLC-applikationen overtræder denne regel. Udvikleren af ​​applikationen underrettede Apple om denne inkompatibilitet for mere end 2 måneder siden, men siden da og indtil nu har Apple ikke gidet at ændre den regel, selvom det har foretaget andre ændringer gennem regler. Afslutningsvis ved ingen, ikke engang udvikleren af ​​applikationen, hvorfor Apple tog denne beslutning, og vi vil sandsynligvis aldrig finde ud af det. Indtil en anden du kan downloade programmet fra Cydia.

Her er, hvad applikationsudvikleren sagde på bloggen Company.

On January 7th, I was told by an Apple attorney that VLC media player had been removed from the App Store. That is how I was able to break the news first. However as can be expected from an attoryney, there was not really any explanation. A number of people and -unfortunately- popular bloggers have jumped to the obvious conclusion: the VideoLAN project, and I in particular would be idealist morons who care more about technical license details than users, and we would have constrained Apple. This is not quite true.

For det første ved jeg ikke med sikkerhed, hvorfor Apple fjernede VLC, og Apple vil sandsynligvis aldrig sige sandheden.

Second, Apple has already removed VLC from the “old” Mac Store for computers… already about 4 years ago, at a time when VLC was one of the most popular applications, and I am yet to learn the reasons why.

Third, Apple received my copyright notification more than 2 months before they pulled the application. This was not expedited, as the US copyright law would require. As such, it seems dubious that my well-publicized notification from last october is the root cause of the removal. It is nevertheless the reason why I was learnt directly from Apple that VLC was removed.

Last, Apple had the power and plenty of time (2 months) to adjust and clarifiy the terms of the App Store. Indeed, said terms were modified several times since then. Alternatively, Apple could even have continued to carry VLC implicitly distributed under the GPL by Applidium. This is effectively what I believe the situation was before the removal.

Alt i alt, vi får nok aldrig sandheden at vide. But I am inclined to believe what Eben Mogel, from the Software Freedom Law Center, foretold me 2 months ago: Apple would remove VLC simply because it cannot stand software distributed under the GPL on its stores. But, it is Apple’s choice and business decision, therefore Apple would have no reasons to expedite the process. It could also be that they do specifically not fancy VLC on their platforms. That would account for the removal from the Mac Store a long time ago.

I know this would be disappointing to the many Apple fanboys who have insulted or slandered me on the web or over email in the last few days. But I might not be the (anti-)hero people made me.