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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

#191

Post by reaperducer »

SmellyGeekBoy wrote: post #82
reaperducer wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this is why I literally created a new user ID yesterday solely for Google's Stadia Not enough. Google's ban hammer can hit not only an allegedly infringing account, but also any account it suspects is even related to that account. Share an IP address? Log in from the same place regularly? Machine has cookies for both? It's all gone.

Scary. Presumably you have some real world examples of this?

I haven't experienced it personally because I limit my exposure to Google as much as I can. But it's been discussed on HN a number of times.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#192

Post by Operyl »

yepthatsreality wrote: post #189
cmcd wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OS X and iOS development both require Apple hardware anyways, so shouldn't you have that as a developer?

Unless you hackintosh...

At that point, you can still authenticate with a Hackintosh anyway. But hey, would you look at that, the person is still _technically_ violating the rules!

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#193

Post by pcroh »

bogwog wrote: post #95
ouid wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

these guidelines are pretty good evidence in and of themselves why Apple should not be in charge of this marketplace.

These giant walled gardens should seriously be regulated. One company should not have complete control over an entire industry like this.

Apple doesn't even have 50% of market share in any country, how are they in "complete control" of anything?

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#194

Post by tbrownaw »

FussyZeus wrote: post #120
mortenjorck wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> My bigger issue here is the complete lack of transparency or visibility into the process. This is indeed the core of the problem. If Apple provided a clear citation, e.g. “the following protected information was shared under your name at this URL on this date, which violates section xyz of your developer agreement,” it would still be unfortunate, but it would be miles ahead of Apple’s maddening “for more informatio…

This is impossible at scale and a waste of a companies' time. Apple doesn't care if your account is reinstated. Odds are (just like the author here) you know exactly why your account is suspended. If you honestly don't, then you didn't do your due diligence in signing up. And, even if they cited whatever part of whatever agreement, it would just be onto the next excuse. It's a bottomless pit of arguing that solves no…

This is impossible at scale and a waste of a companies' time. Apple doesn't care if your account is reinstated. Odds are (just like the author here) you know exactly why your account is suspended. If you honestly don't, then you didn't do your due diligence in signing up.

The problem is that some of these are getting to be impactful enough that it's starting to look socially useful to give accused persons some of the same protections as we've learned the real legal system needs.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#195

Post by slavik81 »

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…

You'll have significantly fewer problems with Intel graphics. The Linux drivers are all open-source and they're better integrated with the rest of the system. The only question is if Intel hardware is sufficient for your workload.

NVIDIA makes great hardware, but the interface to it is complex and poorly documented. It's bad enough that Linus once stated that "NVIDIA has been the single worst company we have ever dealt with."

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#196

Post by JohnFen »

ronsor wrote: post #130
JohnFen wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But you don't actually need any access to Google's stuff to develop for Android, so Google can't lock you out and destroy your business. Google can just cause a lot of inconvenience.

>a lot of inconvenience If that's what you call it, but business have had their paid Google Apps accounts nuked, and critical data lost. Publishing on Play is basically mandatory to get users.

> Publishing on Play is basically mandatory to get users.

Being on Play is an enormous advantage, there's no question. Whether or not it's mandatory probably depends on what sort of app it is, though.

There are successful apps that aren't in the Play store. But being successful without being in the Play store requires a larger marketing effort.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#198

Post by FussyZeus »

debaserab2 wrote: post #188
FussyZeus wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually you're right, it is possible, but it's also not remotely worth it. I've been working with online communities for decades, and every person who hasn't done so has wanted to provide reasons, to provide explanations, and I will tell you in exactly every single interaction I've had when someone's account on whatever platform had to be terminated, that all they do is argue. I didn't do that. It wasn't that bad. B…

Moderating an app marketplace is not the same as moderating an online community. When you start applying the same strategies that you would for an online community to a business owned marketplace, you end up with consumer unfriendly practices. When you rule by fist and swathing generalizations in an app marketplace, developers (and their incomes) become casualties. The stakes are a little bit higher than being banned…

It's different to be sure, but there are a LOT of parallels. Pretty much every instance where you have a given entity providing a platform you'll run into these kinds of issues, because rules exist, are enforced, and inevitably in that subgroup you'll have people who believe they were enforced wrong.

And sometimes they're right, but it's such a vanishingly small number that you'd be forgiven for mistaking it as a rounding error.

> When you rule by fist and swathing generalizations in an app marketplace, developers (and their incomes) become casualties.

And what's the alternative?

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#199

Post by fjabre »

Ah the joys of being subjected to a dictator's whim. Apple can do as it wants when it wants for any reason it wants to regarding that app you may have poured a year of your life into.

Our profitable SaaS web app has 1000s of paying users and those apps also run very well on mobile safari.

We made a decision a long time ago as a company never to invest in iOS because of Apple's dictator like policies. We may develop a simple tool on iOS but we will never put our flagship apps there.

Apple has made it clear from the beginning that they will not be fair in their dealings with devs and in fact the opposite, they are actively hostile against app devs in many cases such as this one without being accountable to them. It's Apple's way or the highway.

Not only do we have the privilege of paying Apple to develop on their platform (that devs make more valuable to consumers) but we also have the privilege of paying Apple a 30% cut on virtual goods.

I still don't understand why so many devs have given into this. But it probably has something to do with Apple's monopolistic power.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#200

Post by johndubchak »

atonse wrote: post #68
rgovostes wrote: post #39

> I’m just an indie developer trying to make good products. Apple should separate Rambo's software development from his reporting rather than retaliate against him, if that is indeed what is happening, but it is a little disingenuous for him to make the above claim. Rambo reverse engineers Apple products and publishes findings on 9to5Mac.com, in particular future product references that have slipped prematurely into…

Said it better than I could've – there are some pretty obvious reasons why Rambo's account could've been suspended, the clear violation of NDAs being the main one, with him publishing information about unreleased products. I'm honestly kind of surprised they let him keep his Developer account all this time. My bigger issue here is the complete lack of transparency or visibility into the process. It's this kind of stu…

> I strongly support some government action to change the current state of affairs with regards to the App Store being the only way to get apps on iOS

A very slippery slope that will not end well for anyone, i.e. Apple, end users, and developers included. This is something I wouldn't advocate for personally and I'm not an Apple fanboi. I don't particularly care for the closed ecosystem but it does create security advantages and Apple is making efforts to protect users more so than greedy Corporate interests when it comes to data and privacy rights.

My $0.02

*edit: formatting of quoted text.

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