App Inventor for Android Becomes Open Source

When Google decided to shelve its App Inventor program, it was quickly picked up by MIT labs and has now available as open source software. The platform is presently a joint concern from Google and MIT to keep the project alive and evolving.

App Inventor assumes users have zero programming knowledge, and allows developers to create mobile apps for a variety of functions through a drag-and-drop visual interface.

Click to expand...

Hmm, that's kind of an interesting idea. Software making for dummies so those with 'creative ideas' or very specific 'niche' needs for an app can generate their own app when a company won't make it due to profitability reasons:

IE a medium size geocery store could make an app customers could download for 'What isle is this item on?' with a searchable index.

Milk... -Isle 5, half way down!
Bread -Isle 7, 3/4th of the way down on the right hand side!

It wouldn't really need to be pretty per say so the drag and drop UI would be ok for those kinds of purposes. No reason to say someone with more proffesional skills can't work on and later improve the app creative individuals come up with if they put their idea out there as a creative commons liscense or whatever other form of free lisences.

Awesome, this will help a lot of people out.

Well since there is no compiled code....

You don't need a programmer to make an App, but you need to be in order to get the program that allows you to make Apps without being a programmer. LOL!