Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Tell HN: Cisco WebEx on OS X uses the same pre-installer tricks as Zoom

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 181 posts

Re: Tell HN: Cisco WebEx on OS X uses the same pre-installer tricks as Zoom

#101

Post by ThePowerOfFuet »

x0x0 wrote: post #2

Everyone who's spent 3 hours talking a parent through downloading and installing a Zoom client understands exactly why they're doing this. Mine are unable to (1) reliably download a zip file; (2) navigate to that file using Finder; (3) run something inside it. By the time we were done -- I use copilot (basically VNC with NAT punching built in) -- and I got control of the laptop to just do it myself, there were 7 down…

The problem is that you don't even need this; use a conferencing solution that works in the browser, such as Whereby.

It even works in Safari on an iPhone (!!!!!!).

Re: Tell HN: Cisco WebEx on OS X uses the same pre-installer tricks as Zoom

#102

Post by MagerValp »

figbert wrote: post #39
panic wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems unnecessary for core functionality at least -- I installed Zoom by unpacking the .app from the .pkg by hand (without running any installer scripts) and it works fine.

Mind throwing me the name of or link to the program you used to unpack the .app? I'd like to do that myself, and remember stumbling on a program that did that, but can't recall the name.

Suspicious Package and Pacifist are great tools, but you can do it with the built-in pkgutil command:

    % pkgutil --expand foo-1.0.pkg foo_pkg
    % cd foo_pkg 
    % ls -Al
    total 352
    -rw-r--r--  1 magervalp staff  44491 16 Mar 12:19 Bom
    -rw-r--r--  1 magervalp staff    566  9 Apr 13:51 PackageInfo
    -rw-r--r--@ 1 magervalp staff  67794 16 Mar 12:19 Payload
    drwxr-xr-x  4 magervalp staff    128  9 Apr 13:51 Scripts
    % mv Payload Payload.cpio.gz
    % open Payload.cpio.gz

Re: Tell HN: Cisco WebEx on OS X uses the same pre-installer tricks as Zoom

#103

Post by IshKebab »

adwww wrote: post #94
Cthulhu_ wrote: post #83

Why aren't more apps like Zoom and this one distributed via the app store? I mean besides the installer hackery they are legitimate and free apps right? Or would that mean that their premium services would require paying the fees to Apple, which they avoid this way?

Can you even use the app store with a company mac? Who has the login - your personal account or some corporate one?

Sure, you just make an account with your company email.

Re: Tell HN: Cisco WebEx on OS X uses the same pre-installer tricks as Zoom

#104

Post by lvillani »

berdario wrote: post #97
nathancahill wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even worse when they don't copy it off the DMG. Just leave the DMG mounted.. forever.

Oh wow, I had no idea about the unintended consequences of the DMG + App bundle installation mechanism. Maybe the issue could be ameliorated with a self-updater built-in into the app? Not a separate daemon, but something that by running inside the app, would be able to know what's the path of the old version that should be thrown away.

Some apps offer to move themselves to /Applications on first launch.

Still, there's the possibility of users clicking "Cancel". Even then, it's a bit more code to write, test and pay for (from the POV of a client).

Wrapping the bundle inside a .pkg instead of a .dmg solves the problem "for free".

Re: Tell HN: Cisco WebEx on OS X uses the same pre-installer tricks as Zoom

#105

Post by jpambrun »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #83

Why aren't more apps like Zoom and this one distributed via the app store? I mean besides the installer hackery they are legitimate and free apps right? Or would that mean that their premium services would require paying the fees to Apple, which they avoid this way?

The app store is disabled on my work mac where I am most likely to need zoom/WebEx.

Re: Tell HN: Cisco WebEx on OS X uses the same pre-installer tricks as Zoom

#106

Post by jeromegv »

jpambrun wrote: post #105
Cthulhu_ wrote: post #83

Why aren't more apps like Zoom and this one distributed via the app store? I mean besides the installer hackery they are legitimate and free apps right? Or would that mean that their premium services would require paying the fees to Apple, which they avoid this way?

The app store is disabled on my work mac where I am most likely to need zoom/WebEx.

So your company prevents you from downloading vetted apps from the AppStore but will let you install random apps downloaded on the internet? Well that’s a good one!

Re: Tell HN: Cisco WebEx on OS X uses the same pre-installer tricks as Zoom

#107

Post by xnyan »

berdario wrote: post #96
adwww wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you even use the app store with a company mac? Who has the login - your personal account or some corporate one?

Good question, I think it should be the corporate one, and even if it might be a bit more work to setup, it's definitely in the company's interest, since then the applications that are installed can be sandboxed and be vetted/whitelisted more easily.

App Store is disabled on my enterprise mac, same for my last job. I think it's fairly common.

Re: Tell HN: Cisco WebEx on OS X uses the same pre-installer tricks as Zoom

#108

Post by CGamesPlay »

californical wrote: post #45
berti wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> “this installer will run a script _to determine if the package can be installed_” Why would the user expect that script to install the application, or even modify their system in any way?

The fact that Apple allows an application to be installed in this step is an issue with Apple's design.

To be fair, Apple has rectified this flaw by writing the Mac App Store, where applications can't pull these shenanigans and are properly sandboxed from one another.

Re: Tell HN: Cisco WebEx on OS X uses the same pre-installer tricks as Zoom

#109

Post by flatiron »

ThePowerOfFuet wrote: post #99
flatiron wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know at least slack from the App Store can’t screen share for some reason. Maybe it’s not available as a permission from the App Store. [edit] apparently this may be old info

Yes it can.

well that's interesting! i have to look that up again. i have it in our on boarding manual to not install it from the app store for that specific reason. thanks for the update
Post reply on HN