Former Facebook for iPhone developer Joe Hewitt has weighed in on the Steve Jobs re-ignited “openness” debate with a cogent argument that Android isn’t much more open than iOS, at least not in the true spirit of the term. Here’s what he posted (mostly via Twitter for iPad, for those keeping track at home):

How does Android get away with the “open” claim when the source isn’t public until major releases, and no one outside Google can check in? [@joehewitt]

Compare the Android “open source” model to Firefox or Linux if you want to see how disingenuous that “open” claim is. [@joehewitt]

Until Android is read/write open, it’s no different than iOS to me. Open source means sharing control with the community, not show and tell. [@joehewitt]

The comparison to Mozilla is something our own Phil Nickinson of Android Central made during our recent podcast bonus feature on openness and it’s a good one. Hewitt famously walked away from developing Facebook for iPhone because he didn’t like Apple’s closed Apple Store, whether or not he’s secretly working on a secret Facebook phone right now alongside former Android lead Eric Tseng, he makes an interesting case.

And it goes back to what we’ve been saying for a long time — at the end of the day it isn’t hyperbole that matters, not about open or closed, fragmented or integrated, uncontrolled or restricted, it’s about who makes the best phones for consumers and who provides the best platform for developers (either to write the code they want or make the money they need to feed their families). That’s echoed in a great discussion between David Barnard of App Cubby and Liessen on Twitter:

“Open” is an emotional argument pandering to the philosophy of developing in a perfect world where it’s about freedom not money. [@Lessien]

Maybe it’s the circles I run in, but I don’t know many coders who can eat, drink, or find shelter in this freedom you speak of. [@drbarnard]

So let’s worry more about the end user product and less about the philosophies of the OS and manufacturing companies, okay?

Joe Hewitt, who developed the awesome Facebook 3.0, but controversially (and some would say detrimentally) left the iPhone platform before Facebook 3.1 over the App Store review process, has come out extremely positively about the iPad:

iPad is exactly the product I’ve been wishing for ever since I wrapped my mind around the iPhone and its constraints. While the rumor mill was churning with all kinds of crazy possibilities for the Apple tablet, I mostly rolled my eyes, because I felt strongly that all Apple needed to do to revolutionize computing was simply to make an iPhone with a large screen. Anyone who feels underwhelmed by that doesn’t understand how much of the iPhone OS’s potential is still untapped.

Hewitt claims the biggest constraint he had in making the ultimate Facebook app was screen size, and the iPad removes that completely. As to the “closed” nature of the iPhone as a platform?

The one thing that makes an iPhone/iPad app “closed” is that it lives in a sandbox, which means it can’t just read and write willy-nilly to the file system, access hardware, or interfere with other apps. In my mind, this is one of the best features of the OS. It makes native apps more like web apps, which are similarly sandboxed, and therefore much more secure. On Macs and PCs, you have to re-install the OS every couple years or so just to undo the damage done by apps, but iPhone OS is completely immune to this.

But what about his concerns over Apple’s role as iPhone — and now iPad — gatekeeper? Web apps is how he sees working around Apple. Anyone can make anything they want for the iPad, provided they’re willing to run it on their own server and not gunk up the end-users machine. That, Hewitt says, is the key to total client-side freedom.

So here’s hoping the platform gets Hewitt back, if not for Facebook 3.2 or 4.0 for the iPad, then for something equally as impressive…

[Thanks to Fassy for the tip!]

Joe Hewitt, the developer who saw the Facebook App for iPhone and iPod touch to version 3.0, and the cusp of 3.1 (which promised/threatened push notifications), has thrown us the Twitter-equivalent of a curve-ball:

Time for me to try something new. I’ve handed the Facebook iPhone app off to another engineer, and I’m onto a new project.

Just to be clear, he’s staying with Facebook, just no longer working on their iPhone app. Does it have anything to do with his dissatisfaction with the iTunes App Store approval process?

According to the quote he gave TechCrunch, it did:

My decision to stop iPhone development has had everything to do with Apple’s policies. I respect their right to manage their platform however they want, however I am philosophically opposed to the existence of their review process. I am very concerned that they are setting a horrible precedent for other software platforms, and soon gatekeepers will start infesting the lives of every software developer.

(Hit the link above to read the rest of it). Some are no doubt happy to see such a high profile developer quit the App Store over the review process. Hey, we’ve complained about it quite a bit as well. Still, with the current process Hewitt was able to give us a pretty darn good app up to this point. Was it frustrating? No doubt it was, but many of us face frustrations on the job. The web is free, but it’s also often far from a premium user experience. Apple has thus far decided managing the App Store is, in their opinion, the best way to ensure their users’ experience (not just their noisy tech-blogging-and-commenting users’ experience, but the kids and moms and casual users as well). That the implementation remains capricious is another matter — one they need to be fixed and now. That the App Store should by all divine right and reason be as open as web development, however, is just another opinion, another option, and certainly not any more right or reasonable “just because”.

In any event, on behalf of TiPb, we thank you, Joe for all your hard work and the awesome app you’ve given us to date, and wish you well on your future endeavors.

And to the new developer, here’s wishing you the best, and the best for future versions of the Facebook app as well!

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]