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Apple releases iOS 4.3.3 WebKit source, but stretches the spirit of the LGPL
Remember when Google said it wouldn't release the source code to Android 3.0 ("Honeycomb") because it "wasn't ready"? Remember the snarky remarks from Apple bloggers about how it was rushed to market and the definition of "open"? And the hopefully thoughtful piece I wrote about what this might mean about what happens next? Now imagine if it was Apple stalling on releasing source code that it had promised the open-source community. Surprise! It was. Brian Proffitt wrote a post for IT World, published earlier today, detailing how Apple is refusing to meet its obligations by failing to promptly release the source code to the latest version of WebKit, which makes up most of the guts of the Safari web browser in both mobile and non-mobile flavors. While competent interpretations may differ, most FOSS folk agree that the LGPL license involved requires a simultaneous release of binary and source code. Eerily, just as Proffitt brought light to bear on the issue, Apple's opensource site released the source for projects included in iOS 4.3.3 (thanks to reader Jan for the heads-up). This code release, while certainly welcome, comes 60 days after iOS 4.3 first became available for download from Apple's consumer-facing servers; this timeline cannot possibly be reconciled with any reasonable definition of 'simultaneous,' unless Apple is in possession of a TARDIS. Apple's sluggish code drop, in a couple of ways, is notably worse than Google's seemingly similar reticence.
