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Apple has locked me out of my developer account

rambo.codes

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Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#171

Post by FussyZeus »

rootusrootus wrote: post #156
FussyZeus wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They can. But why should they? What's the benefit?

Goodwill. Just because you're the big gorilla and can act as such with impunity doesn't mean you ought to constantly remind people of that. One developer doesn't matter in the grand scheme, but every time they get to the front page of HN with a story like this it chips away at Apple's (or Google's, or whoever's) reputation. Collectively that does have value.

Apple has tons of goodwill with their users, and that's what matters. That's who pays the bills, and that's who funds the App Store. From the beginning Apple has had a very standoff-ish relationship with their developers. Their rules are clear from the outset: Play by them, or don't publish on our platform. To be honest I think developers occasionally still got entirely too much leeway to break their guidelines and get chances to fix it.

Their relationship to us has always been in very simple terms: These are the ways you're allowed to behave while doing business on our platform. Accept that, or do not publish here. If you publish here and break these rules, you will be removed without second chance.

Yet again, and again, and again, we get pleas from fellow developers who broke those rules but think Apple's just being mean. No, they're not. They outlined exactly how you should not Do the Thing, and you Did the Thing, and now you're off. This situation is fixed, and you knew the outcomes. You made your bed, sleep in it.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#172

Post by fouric »

I wonder how long Rambo will have to wait for his account to get unlocked, relative to when this story hits the front page.

When it happens, everyone should act like it didn't, because any corporation that fixes issues only after they become known at a large scale isn't operating in the best interests of the user anyway.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#173

Post by diffeomorphism »

fetus8 wrote: post #111
jrockway wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple is banning journalists from submitting apps to the App Store because they don't like the coverage they're getting? That is worrying.

That's not what's happening. Rambo is known for reverse engineering Apple beta's and pulling information regarding unreleased products and then publishing that info via 9to5mac. As many other people in this thread have mentioned, it likely violates the terms of the Apple Developer Agreement.

That does not seem to show that this is not happening but rather explains how it happens.

They can punish him for unfavorable coverage by pointing at the Apple Developer Agreement.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#174

Post by ebiester »

FussyZeus wrote: post #142
chipsa wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If someone can manually kill a Dev account, they can include a message why it was killed. Even if it's generic form letter, it can be one that at least says what rule was broken.

They can. But why should they? What's the benefit?

Because it is in their long term interest - seeing the way Apple and Google treat developers has stopped me, at the very least, from putting time into learning their ecosystems and choosing it for a side project. It may be true that there are plenty of people who will replace me, but the aggregate effect can eventually hurt their marketplaces.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#175

Post by cmcd »

saagarjha wrote: post #159
cmcd wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

with regards to the App Store being the only way to get apps on iOS The App Store is the only Apple supported way to release apps, there are unsupported third party app stores as well. Lack of transparency is not good, but I'm not sure what the issue is with there being only one officially supported way to download apps. It is Apple's product and software, they are selling the "Apple Experience" as much as the hardwa…

> The App Store is the only Apple supported way to release apps, there are unsupported third party app stores as well. On iOS, these are nothing more than hacks.

Right, third party app stores are not officially supported and for good reason. I am not sure what the alternative is, create a unmoderated free for all app store? That goes pretty heavily against the Apple ecosystem's philosophy and would make it easy for people to download damaging apps which Apple would then get blamed for because they added an official channel for installing them.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#176

Post by FussyZeus »

ebiester wrote: post #174
FussyZeus wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They can. But why should they? What's the benefit?

Because it is in their long term interest - seeing the way Apple and Google treat developers has stopped me, at the very least, from putting time into learning their ecosystems and choosing it for a side project. It may be true that there are plenty of people who will replace me, but the aggregate effect can eventually hurt their marketplaces.

Your hypothesis comes up against the App Store breaking records each year and making tons of money for those who participate. It's the most profitable mobile store by a huge margin, and it's not as if these policies are new, this has been more or less the environment it's operated in since it opened.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#177

Post by magduf »

djsumdog wrote: post #57
ceejayoz wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And he’s successful: he leaked marketing images for Apple Watch Series 4, he found iPhone X glyphs showing the notch, and more. Presumably in violation of the developer program's NDA.

Then why not just say so in all his support calls? "You've violated the NDA, so we've disabled your account permanently." Now you have a clear reason and a clear violation. Apple gate keepers get to show their insane dominance over all parts computing on their hardware. Personally I hate this new move towards Apple/Microsoft/Google being gatekeepers for everything that can run on a machine. It's fucking bullshit.

>Personally I hate this new move towards Apple/Microsoft/Google being gatekeepers for everything that can run on a machine. It's fucking bullshit.

It's what people want. The population is happily giving these companies all this power, and refuses to abandon them or pressure them in any way when they do this stuff.

And to be fair, I don't see Google acting nearly this badly. If anything, they're the opposite: they don't exercise enough control over their app store, so it has a lot of spyware and malware. As for MS, they seem to be incompetent and powerless: they tried to make an app store for Windows 10 and that was a big flop, and of course they tried to ape Apple/Google with Windows Phone, and that was a big flop too.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#178

Post by cmcd »

tener wrote: post #170
cmcd wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

with regards to the App Store being the only way to get apps on iOS The App Store is the only Apple supported way to release apps, there are unsupported third party app stores as well. Lack of transparency is not good, but I'm not sure what the issue is with there being only one officially supported way to download apps. It is Apple's product and software, they are selling the "Apple Experience" as much as the hardwa…

There are always reasons that companies want to keep their monopolies. But the fact that "Apple Experience" is something important to Apple should not be the end of discussion. The negative aspects should be evaluated as well.

I'm not saying I am in favor of how locked down iOS is currently, but you have to admit it does create the safest mobile environment especially for less technical people.

Apple is selling a product in which they have not decided to include a way to easily download unsupported Apps. I do not think it is the government's role to tell Apple they have to allow a easy way for users to install Apps from different channels.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#179

Post by magduf »

Answerawake wrote: post #70
liquidise wrote: post #38

Apple's relationship with developers has been a strange one for some time. It shows up in all kinds of ways, from their app development ecosystem to decisions on their hardware. I used to think the swap to a Unix-based OS was a fundamental shift to move in the developer direction. During the days of XServe i think that might have been true. These days though it more like the development community is some noisy group…

What is the alternative to Apple? I don't see Linux being solid in a few years time (or ever really). I say this after trying Linux again every year in the hopes that this is the year it is solid. My anecdotal experience for this year is that the latest Ubuntu release had a problem where after performing a clean install and rebooting, the login screen will not allow me to enter the desktop. Turns out the desktop was…

Using Nvidia with Linux is like buying an Apple phone and expecting to be able to do whatever you want with it.

Linux has been "solid" for decades now. Just don't use Nvidia. Some people use it and it works just fine, others don't. But people using Intel or Radeon video just don't have these issues.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#180

Post by heavyset_go »

fetus8 wrote: post #143
im3w1l wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does the user benefit from not being able to install Rambo's apps?

What does this have to do with what's happening? According to the post Rambo published, his apps are still available on the App Store.

> What does this have to do with what's happening?

Because the market is punished due to Apple's opaque policies and politics.

Lack of competition and options hurts the entire market.

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