Apple Says "No Dice" On Child Friendly Programming App
Unfortunately, Apple's streak of app rejections has been extended to what was being deemed as a "kid-friendly" programming app, that showed stories, games and other animations that were made by children, according to Wired.com.Approximately 40 years ago, Alan Kay had come up with a concept of a small tablet-type computer that would give children the capability to be able to learn programming.While Apple's iPad met the tablet expectations, a new app called Scratch however, did not. It was removed from the iPhone and iPad App Store last week. It had been based on MIT's Scratch platform, which had been built on top of a programming language that Kay had come up with called Squeak.Software developer John McIntosh, who is unaffiliated with MIT, had made the Scratch app for iPhone and said that it had been removed in a blog last week.Clearly he wasn't thrilled with Apple's decision. "Both children and the internet are bigger than Apple, and things that are good for children of the world need to be able to run everywhere," Kay had emailed Wired.com.This month, Steve Jobs had personally mailed an iPad to Kay, who gave praises to Apple's tablet product as being something "fantastically good" for drawing, painting and typing. However, Kay opted against giving the full thumbs-up until his question of whether Scratch or Etoys -- another programming language that Kay came up with for kids -- could be usable on the iPad.Kay now apparently has that answer.Why the plucking from the App Store? McIntosh stated that Apple had removed it because it supposedly violated a rule in the iPhone developer agreement -- clause 3.3.2 to be exact, which make the case that iPhone apps cannot contain any code interpreters other than Apple's.John Gruber, the first to report the removal of Scratch said that the removal was because of Apple's intention of the "no interpreters" rule, which is to block meta-platforms like Adobe Flash.While there is still the off chance that Apple could still eventually approve the app, some critics are expressing worry that other than just attacking Adobe, Apple's policies in place could limit creative innovation within the App Store, a quality that has lead to the App Store's popularity.What say you MaclLifers? Is this a stifling of creative ingenuity? Or is Apple right in its ways? Feel free to leave comments below!Image courtesy of fastcompany.com
http://www.maclife.com/article/news/apple_says_no_dice_child_friendly_programming_app
