The Kafka-esque Nightmare of Palm App Submission

MBCook writes "Jamie Zawinski, shortly after the release of the Palm Pre, wrote two free software programs for the phone: a Tip Calculator and a port of Dali Clock. In trying to get the apps published to the App Catalog, he has had to sign up to be a developer twice; fax contracts around; been told (apparently incorrectly) that he was not allowed to release free software for the phone; and told he had to give PayPal his checking account number. 'It's been two weeks, and I have received no reply. In the months since this process began, other third-party developers seem to have managed to get their applications into the App Catalog. Apparently these people are better at jumping through ridiculous hoops than I am.'"

Palm App Clunker

[smittyoneeach]

Palm app clunker?
A who'd've thunker.
What way could this pave,
For another DC save?
Burma Shave

And they say...

[autojive]

And they say that Apple's App store process is a pain in the ass. Looks like Palm is emulating more of Apple than we thought. :-)

Re:Windows Mobile

[Anonymous Coward]

Dear Sir or Madam,

The responsible Anti-Microsoft Troll that should have replied to this post by now is on sick leave and was unable to prepare a custom flaming reply to this particular post. In lieu of that, attached is our generic template which we use to write all our flaming responses.

1. Make a general anti-Microsoft jab
2. Blame Microsoft for it's stance against Free Software (and also for lack of network neutrality, the current state of patent laws, the Iraq war, and the extinction of the dinosaurs)
3. Accuse the poster who wrote something positive about Microsoft of being either a fanboy or a Microsoft employee. If the poster in question made a comment about Microsoft's actual support of Free Software in a particular instance, accuse the poster of being an oblivious idiot unable to see through their Embrace-Extend-Extinguish approach
4. State that the Linux revolution is inevitable
5. Finish off with another outpour of flames

We hope you will be able to infer the potential content of the post that should have been done by the respective Troll. Please accept our apologies.

Sincerely,

Assistant Secretary,
Anti-Microsoft Trolling Association, Ltd.

Tip calculator?!

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe the world doesn't need another tip calculator...

Re:Who cares about these apps?

[Anonymous Coward]

Palm OS comes with a clock, and last I checked, is bundled with a calculator.

Yeah, but the clock doesn't melt! And the calculator doesn't automatically type in *1.2=

Re:Tip calculator?!

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

Depends on what portion of the bill is food, and what portion of the bill is drinks.

Not that the tipping rules are any different; but applying them can get tricky...

Re:Hyperbole inflation

[ta bu shi da yu]

I'm struggling to understand you. It's almost Kafkaesque.

Re:This seems like a terrible plan.

[Zarf]

wait... which one can you get away with? What?

Re:Palm App Clunker... NOT!

[dangitman]

NAH, IT'S KAFKA-ESQUE! I mean, hey. It's not an Apple product, so WE MUST DUMP ON IT!

Wow, insane much?

Official Heretic from the "Church of Global Warming".

Wow, insane much?

Re:Palm App Clunker... NOT!

[jayspec462]

If you'd RTFA, you would have seen that the morning after he submitted the apps to Palm for approval, he turned into a giant cockroach. Therefore, Kafkaesque is a completely appropriate adjective.

Such is the way of the free market

[aminorex]

It's called freedom: You get to choose which monopoly owns your ass.