When hackers announced that they had compiled, installed, and run the first third party program on the iPhone, the 'Hello World' application, the typical consumer probably didn't get all that excited. After all, what's the big deal about a program that simply prints out "Hello World".

Though not very exciting, it was very significant. The running of that first application signaled the success of iPhone hacker Nightwatch's toolchain and hinted and things to come. Well, here they come.

Using Nightwatch's toolchain, iPhone hackers have now compiled and installed working versions of Python, Vim (a popular terminal text editor), and Apache. That's right, Apache. In other words, you can now run a webserver on your iPhone.

The reality brought forth by these recent developments is that full fledged third party applications are going to happen for the iPhone whether Apple wants them or not. Compiling and running "Hello World" may not have made that clear, but working versions of major, robust pieces of software certainly does.

Should you be technically inclined, you can find the compiled versions of Apache, Python, Vim, and related required software by poking around on the iPhone Dev Wiki page.

Circulated by Iphone News