Open source Stories May 3, 2016
AAPL: 95.18
A new open source project called PieMessage enables cross-platform iMessage support, allowing Android users to communicate using Apple’s iPhone messaging platform.
In the video below, we get a short look at the PieMessage app in action with a still unreleased prototype version of the app.
Open source Stories February 22, 2016
AAPL: 96.88
IBM brings Swift to the cloud, releases web framework Kitura written in Apple’s programming language
Only months after Apple officially open-sourced Swift, IBM today is announcing that they are bringing Apple’s Swift programming language to the cloud. This makes IBM the first cloud provider enabling Swift application development server-side. IBM has also introduced a preview to a Swift runtime and a Swift Package Catalog to help with code sharing, and distribution.
Open source Stories December 9, 2015
AAPL: 115.62
This week we’ll get into the finale of our iPad Pro saga, talk about Dropbox’s decision to kill Mailbox, and why Apple has open-sourced Swift. The Happy Hour podcast is available for download on iTunes and through our dedicated RSS feed. Thanks to Audible.com, get your free 30 day trial at audible.com/happyhour.
Open source Stories December 8, 2015
AAPL: 118.28
As it’s done with past releases, Apple today released the open source code of OS X 10.11 El Capitan. The release comes after Apple made good on its promise to open source its Swift programming language last week. expand full story
Open source Stories December 7, 2015
AAPL: 118.28
Last week Apple’s open sourcing of Swift naturally saw the spotlight thrown over Apple’s open source pages. This included a paragraph that claimed Apple was “the first major computer company to make Open Source a key part of its strategy”. Unsurprisingly, this riled some members of the developer community as being disingenuous and untrue.
So Apple has since changed the text to retract the rather outlandish statement with something a bit more muted. Although this statement is technically qualitative and open to many interpretations, Apple isn’t exactly known for its open source contributions. The page now reads as follows:
‘Open source software is at the heart of Apple platforms and developer tools, and Apple continues to contribute and release significant quantities of open source code’.
Open source Stories December 3, 2015
AAPL: 115.20
As promised earlier in the year, Apple’s Swift team has now posted source code for the Swift compiler and standard library functions and objects. Open-sourcing Swift is a big win for the developer community as it means Swift can now be setup to run on a server and many other use cases, bringing Apple programming talent and expertise beyond ‘just’ making apps iOS devices and Macs.
Making Swift open-source also gives the developer community as a whole more confidence in the language. Theoretically, if Apple ever decided to move away from Swift (which is unlikely), the language could be picked up by others and continue development and existing codebases could continue to be supported.
