Nope, Blitzplotter, that machine won't run the SDK. You need an Intel Mac with OS X 10.5.2.
However, you do -not- need an iPhone to write the software, because the SDK comes with an iPhone simulator.
You also do not need to spend the $99 for the SDK; but the 99 bucks (annual fee) buy you the way to the app store.
I think the iPhone and iPod Touch have one killer argument going for them: Whoever owns one probably has a functioning credit card and won't mind spending more money on software or other content... Apple customers traditionally don't care for "cheap". They care for "cool". So they are a lucrative target audience from the sales person's perspective.
@Picklesworth:
Apple giving back to OSS: Well. Their OS is based upon FreeBSD, which comes from the University of Berkeley and has been developed using American tax payer's money. Since Apple and Microsoft (who also used parts of FreeBSD back in the day) pay taxes, I don't think either one has an obligation to donate anything back. Besides, that is not the point of BSD-licensed or public domain software (like SQLite, which is also used by Apple); these licenses are not about contribution or reciprocity. But still, Darwin, the core of OS X, is open source. Furthermore, Apple also actually bought a few open source projects, CUPS being one of them, and so they OWN the stuff. Asking them for more is like asking them to give away the farm. These guys are not SUN. Open sourcing everything would not work for Apple. (The jury is still out on whether it works for SUN.)
And why would be it be in Apple's interest to complement a Linux desktop? As it is, GNU/Linux has absolutely no significance on the desktop -- which is a good thing for both Microsoft and Apple. Why would they want to change that?
Well. Perhaps we all should use GNU/Linux or FreeBSD exclusively instead of the commercial monsters that try to control everything we do. It would be the -right- thing to do. Not the easy thing, but the right thing.
However, you do -not- need an iPhone to write the software, because the SDK comes with an iPhone simulator.
You also do not need to spend the $99 for the SDK; but the 99 bucks (annual fee) buy you the way to the app store.
I think the iPhone and iPod Touch have one killer argument going for them: Whoever owns one probably has a functioning credit card and won't mind spending more money on software or other content... Apple customers traditionally don't care for "cheap". They care for "cool". So they are a lucrative target audience from the sales person's perspective.
@Picklesworth:
Apple giving back to OSS: Well. Their OS is based upon FreeBSD, which comes from the University of Berkeley and has been developed using American tax payer's money. Since Apple and Microsoft (who also used parts of FreeBSD back in the day) pay taxes, I don't think either one has an obligation to donate anything back. Besides, that is not the point of BSD-licensed or public domain software (like SQLite, which is also used by Apple); these licenses are not about contribution or reciprocity. But still, Darwin, the core of OS X, is open source. Furthermore, Apple also actually bought a few open source projects, CUPS being one of them, and so they OWN the stuff. Asking them for more is like asking them to give away the farm. These guys are not SUN. Open sourcing everything would not work for Apple. (The jury is still out on whether it works for SUN.)
And why would be it be in Apple's interest to complement a Linux desktop? As it is, GNU/Linux has absolutely no significance on the desktop -- which is a good thing for both Microsoft and Apple. Why would they want to change that?
Well. Perhaps we all should use GNU/Linux or FreeBSD exclusively instead of the commercial monsters that try to control everything we do. It would be the -right- thing to do. Not the easy thing, but the right thing.