Because AirDrop is already available on millions of Apple devices. If you start a new protocol it will only be available for a small user base and you need to ask Apple, Google and Microsoft to implement it.
^^ this! No need to install anything on my Apple devices. Long term plan is to have an instance of AirDrop Anywhere running perpetually on a Raspberry Pi and have a web interface accessible over the LAN for non-Apple devices to connect to when sharing files.
That said, this is all just a bit of fun so monetising it isn’t really on the cards anyway :)
It's pretty vulgar that Apple people continue to feel like, well, I have a protocol that works on my devices, so what if the rest of the world can't participate? "Works for me!" has it's merits, oh sure, but some willingness to see the faults & deficiencies would be a nice balance.
Is it any different from Linux users pushing software that depends on Linux syscalls to function and scoffing at Microsoft's attempts to achieve platform parity with WSL? I can't tell you how many times I've heard someone in computing say "just use linux!" instead of attempting to solve whatever problem a user is having with their current hardware and OS. We all want to believe that our personal choices are the best ones anyone can make for themselves.
Very little in open source hard-relies on Linux sys-calls. Trying to make this a "both sides" argument is farcical.
Saying that a platform shouldn't lock you in to specific proprietary approaches has a real & substantial non-personal advantage to it that mere personal preference doesn't encompass, as it seeks technical ecosystems capable of organic growth. I don't find your comparison quite valid.
Why would you need MS/Apple/Google to implement it? Just write your client and install it. Anyway you need to install the reverse engineered clients on non-apple devices, which are the majority.
This is not correct, you can receive files from non-Apple devices without any Apple keys. I’m still working on sending so haven’t uncovered the demons lurking there…
That said, this is all just a bit of fun so monetising it isn’t really on the cards anyway :)