Well, that didn't take long. As soon as people started to get excited about open-source OpenClip, and its ability to bring copy-and-paste functionality to the iPhone, Apple found a way to shut it down with its 2.1 firmware.
Of course, OpenClip is open source, and perhaps enterprising developers will find a way around the 2.1 firmware. Or maybe (gasp!) Apple will actually deliver the copy-and-paste functionality many have demanded.
But for now, its ClosedClip, not OpenClip. Even communities must apparently bow to Apple. Code is law, to borrow Larry Lessig's phrase, and Apple controls the iPhone code.
I was very excited to see on OStatic that OpenClip, an open-source copy-and-paste application for the iPhone, is out.
In case you needed proof in a divine being....
Could Apple shut it down, as it has with other applications that it doesn't like? Well, as OStatic points out, OpenClip "uses shared space, outside the common resource space that Apple's SDK protects, to facilitate copy and paste." So maybe it's on firm legal territory.
I wouldn't want to put myself up against Apple's legal team, however, which is why making the application open source makes a lot of sense. The code is loose: how is Apple supposed to put it back in its cage?
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