14 DAY TRIAL // For those wondering why everyone is getting so excited at the sound of Absinthe 2.0 being officially released, infamous hacker Pod2g has a short blog entry on the reasons why a person might consider jailbreaking.
“There are multiple reasons to jailbreak,” says the hacker, who told us in an interview that he’d take a job at Apple in a jiffy.
One of them is the ability to change the iOS experience with powerful tweaks that will never make their way in Apple’s App Store officially. Some examples offered by the Chronic-Dev Team leader include SBSettings, WinterBoard, IntelliScreenX, and LockInfo.
Another reason, Pod2g asserts, is “playing retro games on console and arcade emulators.” We couldn’t agree more.
Finally, a reason likely appreciated in code-savvy circles - “having access to a unix shell in your pocket, and all the open source software that can run on a unix OS.”
Pod2g clarifies that “the jailbreak is not meant for (and we are totally against[...]) pirating AppStore applications.”
He also urges people not to do any pirating in Cydia either, although this venue isn't an app store officially condoned by Apple.
“Also please don't pirate Cydia tweaks, there are people working hard on these, and the price is usually low. There's no reason to do that,” reads the blog entry.
As usual, we’re not encouraging anyone to go rogue (Apple doesn’t like jailbreaks, especially when you need them to fix your phone on warranty), but we’re certainly not against well-intended hacks either. As long as they’re done in good faith, who are we to judge?
Pod2g also makes a strong point. Jailbreaking substantially extends the functionality of all iOS devices. Sadly, there are numerous users who do use these hacks to pirate software. Considering that some applications go well over the $50 mark, we can all agree this isn’t fair treatment towards the developers.