I don't know if I'm feeding a troll but let me attempt an answer anyway - I have a Symbian touch phone, and it's easy to use all the apps, including the browser. Obviously a touch phone is going to be better than an old non-touch phone with small screen - that's hardly a fair comparison.

Even today, on current sales, Symbian outsells everything else - so it's still largest, even if we ignored the installed userbase of old phones like you unfairly compare to.

And as for whoever modded me troll - once again, anyone even asking for platforms other than the Iphone gets censored, by mods who can't bear any criticism for their beloved company.

When a Mac or Linux user asks where's a version for them, because they only released for Windows, it's not considered trolling (even though Windows only at least makes some sense, being the largest platform).

I like how Iphone support is seen as important when it lacks this feature that many other phones have; yet companies (and even public funded organisations like the BBC and Government) are happy to write proprietary apps only for those with Iphones...

There's an uproar when the BBC or Government requires the use of things like Windows or Flash (and rightly so), even though 90%+ of the population can use them. But requiring the use of an Iphone, that only ~3% of the mobile phone population have? Oh, perfectly fine. The correct response is that we should always be supporting open cross-platform solutions, of course.

Not exactly - Open Source is still a term popularised by the Open Source Initiative, as you say in your title. Whilst it isn't exactly synonymous with Free Software (I forget the difference), Open Source means more than simply "making the source available for viewing". If I say the source is available, but only if you pay money to see it, and you're not allowed to redistribute either the source, or anything derived from that source, I don't believe that that would be an Open Source licence.

Not that this has anything to do with postgresql, which AFAICT is Open Source anyway.

It's funny how a phone which didn't sell well seems to keep showing up in press releases

The Iphone?

(Apple have about 3% of the market, yet get a mention several times a day in any random Slashdot story; to put things in perspective, Nokia ship twice as many phones per quarter than Apple have ever sold, and even just one of their many products, the 5800, has sold equal to or more than the original "iPhone". Android has now already overtaken Apple btw, and is the fastest growing platform, whilst Apple are actually now increasing sales slower than Symbian, Android and RIM, according to Q2 2010 results.)

Don't worry, that's queued for tomorrow's story: "Watching Toy Story On The iPhone(TM)".

(Certainly as newsworthy as many stories we get, such as yesterday's "Choose your own adventure On The iPhone(TM)" or some time ago was "You can access this website On The iPhone(TM)".)

Iphone first, followed by Android and then Windows. Yet Another Company writing catering first only for 3% of the mobile phone owning population, followed up with two of the other smaller platforms, whilst ignoring the market leaders of Symbian (worldwide) and RIM (in the US).

Android is certainly a platform that should be written for, as it's the fastest growing right now, and second most popular in the US. But I fail to understanding putting the Iphone first, or supporting Iphone and Windows, whilst forgetting the two major platforms. All I can think of is that the Iphone and Windows have problem using the touch.facebook.com site with a web browser, so need to have a special "app" written for them.

(Not to mention that a J2ME application would be an obvious thing to do too, since this is really the biggest platform overall, catering for the vast majority of phones.)

Oh, and if you're going to reply telling me that the Iphone is more popular, have the decency to look up actual market data, rather than redefining market sales to mean something completely different, like "mindshare" or "what me and my mates brag about owning".

Then again, since this seems such a bad privacy feature, I guess I shouldn't worry. Iphone users already have to have their posts tagged with an Apple advert "I'm posting with an iPhone!", so why not give away more info too?

Well I and the 97% of the population who own phones that isn't an Iphone will be okay.

*RTFA*

Oh wait, it's all mobile phone applications, not just the Iphone. Yet another obligitary Iphone Product Placement, when the story has nothing specifically to do with the Iphone.

Given that this does affect any mobile phone, including those that aren't locked down feature phones like Apple's, this is a significant issue.

I agree. And here in the UK, even the public funded BBC will be happy to give national coverage for your Iphone App, even if it's as trivial as just displaying an image. Next time I write an application, I'll be sure to submit a press release to them.

So much for the lie that the BBC don't advertise.

Sure, and then there are all the people astroturfing Apple, and unable to stand any criticism of their loved company. It's a must read :)

Posted from my iPad.

Please no, we'll end up like Facebook. Every page is a wall of Apple advertising, because everytime the few who use Apple products do something, we have to have the obligtary advertisement telling everyone how they used an Apple product to do it.

Do we get "Posted using Windows" or "Posted using Linux"? No, because no one cases, and turning posts into ads is generally annoying. Netbooks don't do it, most other phones don't do it either (although annoyingly, Android phones have started to pick up the trend).

Indeed. Nothing beats the Access this webpage On The Iphone story - although this story is basically "You can run this app On The Iphone", which comes pretty close.

Using phones to access the web or run apps stopped being impressive around 2003, and could be done even by dirt cheap "feature" phones by 2005. But now in 2010 with all the Iphone hype, it's like we've gone backwards technologically in terms of phone expectations. Next thing you know, Apple users will be pleased if they can even make a phone call without problems...

But in this thread, the only person offended was someone who was offended over the use of "her".

Or, is this absurd example of political correctness

The only one offended here is you. You're demanded that they change their language, because it offends you. That's political correctness.

What is wrong with the word " their "?

Because there's only one reader? There's no right answer - using singular they to refer to a specific person isn't any better than saying "his" or "her".

I think we come here just to read the commentary from the folks who complain about Apple posts while contributing to the problem.

How does complaining that Slashdot stories shouldn't be used for spam/advertising, add to the problem? Does their response somehow result in more spam stories being posted? That makes no sense.

There are plenty of other sites if you have software to advertise (Download.com, Freshmeat, etc). I write in my spare time for Windows and Symbian (both platforms far bigger than Iphone, incidentally), yet I don't expect Slashdot to cover any releases I make.

I agree, I think I'd always prefer a physical keyboard (especially on a tablet/netbook sized device). I also think that most of the benefit is simply having a touchscreen at all, versus not having a touchscreen; the additional benefit of multitouch seems far less. Plus, I'd rather have a resistive screen so I can have extra precision, and not smear my expensive Nokia 5800 screen with the food I've just been eaten. It annoys me that capacitive is unthinkingly assumed to be superior, when they each have their own advantages.