For those of you who do not remember – or do not care to remember – OpenClip was supposed to be an open framework for implementing the Cocoa NSPasteboard functionality to the iPhone. While I’m thinking that if Apple wanted to implement copy/paste into the iPhone they would have done it already or will do it soon, OpenClip was a noble effort to work around the limitations of OS X on the iPhone.
As Herr Gruber pointed out, OpenClip used a loophole that made it possible for applications to read each other’s sandboxes, thereby creating a temporary repository for paste data. This, however, brings up a fairly big problem – in order to find pasted information, the “paster” has to search the home directories of each application in series and, besides, the 2.1 firmware will no longer allow that.
Apps that use OpenClip will no longer be able to copy and paste between applications. However, applications can still utilize a persistent way to store data inside the application, meaning that copy and paste within the app will still work fine. And on top of that, apps that utilize only one form (either copy or paste) can disable interface elements when Apple axes OpenClip.
So that’s the end of that. Clearly OpenClip was a cry for help rather than a viable tool. Apple knows we want cut and paste – even the abhorrent Windows Mobile has that little feature – and they’ll probably roll it out as soon as they damn well feel like it. It would also be swell if we had that background messaging platform they promised way back at WWDC but who are we to judge the whims of our overlords?
Too bad…
Apple has to do something now. They should provide Copy & Paste functionality very soon since a lot of people are crying about it.
Clippy! +5 for digging up a graphic of my old nemesis simply because the article references the word “clip”….your mind never ceases to frighten me….
I must say I think they have done a good job of building a usable interface without copy and paste with convenient send-to-friend functionality where you would want it to be. I would like copy-paste functionality to be able to do more substantial work on my iPhone but I can imagine the UI tradeoffs it would involve and for now I’m fine without it.
However there’s still a shared space available for applications to store their clipboard: the web. Seeing as all iPhones come with unlimited data plans and most copied content is hundred bytes max, this could be a viable (if not hackish) workaround.
“A good job of building a usable interface, even though it lacks copy/paste,” I’ll buy. But I do not in fact find “send-to-friend functionality where I would want it to be,” or at least not in all the places I want it to be.
It’s there in the obvious places where I would use cut and paste to share a link with a friend i.e. in Safari and in YouTube. Which tasks would you like to accomplish which are currently impossible?
Mr. Biggs, Sir, what is it about “Herr” Gruber?
He may have German ancestors, but he can’t be born German. Germans are not “Gay for the iPhone” like John ‘Daring Fireball’ Gruber is.
what, then, are germans “gay for,” if i may ask?
Isn’t it obvious, drinking huge quantities of beer while wearing revealing Lederhosen.
Hi John
Sorry Openclip is not dead, please read the blog news on openclip again. Thus far firmware 2.1 will prevent interapplication cut and paste but as it has not been released Apple have the chance to change their minds. Lets hope they do! If not applications like MagicPad can still do C&P inside their own app.
All it takes, right now, is for one update to break the concept. I read another comment – why not a web-based cut and paste? It’s not pretty, but it should work, right?