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Apple forced to allow sideloading and 3rd-party app stores under new EU law

theverge.com

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Re: Apple forced to allow sideloading and 3rd-party app stores under new EU law

#51

Post by ciupicri »

Apocryphon wrote: post #12
olliej wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No talk of extending it to cover consoles though, despite them also being general purpose

What general purposes do game consoles serve, other than being multimedia centers? Do users use the browser and other internet features on consoles extensively? Can you make payments, hail a ride, order food with them? Can you contact emergency services with them? Can they save your literal life?

What general purposes do phones serve, other than making and receiving _audio_ calls?

Re: Apple forced to allow sideloading and 3rd-party app stores under new EU law

#52

Post by throwmeariver1 »

tqkxzugoaupvwqr wrote: post #50

“Sideloading” is the perfect word to frame the behavior of downloading apps in a negative light or as an illicit activity. No-one has ever talked of sideloading an app on macOS – because sideloading is simply downloading an app from the Internet as we have known it from the very beginning of the Internet. I still cannot believe most people adopted this word as part of this discussion and keep using it, helping Apple’…

sideloading was never a term used in any official documentation or communication the term was coined by the android community. we have to pick our own nose for that one.

Re: Apple forced to allow sideloading and 3rd-party app stores under new EU law

#53

Post by NoSorryCannot »

ciupicri wrote: post #51
Apocryphon wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What general purposes do game consoles serve, other than being multimedia centers? Do users use the browser and other internet features on consoles extensively? Can you make payments, hail a ride, order food with them? Can you contact emergency services with them? Can they save your literal life?

What general purposes do phones serve, other than making and receiving _audio_ calls?

Smartphones are general-purpose devices not just in potential but in practice. I think we're beyond pretending that they are just phones.

Re: Apple forced to allow sideloading and 3rd-party app stores under new EU law

#54

Post by efitz »

The desire to collect rent drives so many nasty behaviors in companies.

At its core, this is a discussion about rent seeking. Apple and Google lust after their 30% cut, which is outrageous and would not be long tolerated in any other business arrangement. They keep the gravy train going because of gatekeeping.

“I want to root/mod my device” and “right to repair” are interesting but orthogonal arguments. Those arguments are about “what does it mean to own a thing”.

I am glad the EU is doing this but I despair that Apple and Google will still avoid this in the US.

Personally, I’m mostly happy with the App Store except their bans based on political POV (disguised as content violations).

I’m much more unhappy with the content stores on mobile devices; I want to set Amazon as my book store and buy within the Kindle app.

Ed s/list/lust/g stupid autocorrect

Re: Apple forced to allow sideloading and 3rd-party app stores under new EU law

#55

Post by ohgodplsno »

Dracophoenix wrote: post #34
Apocryphon wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What general purposes do game consoles serve, other than being multimedia centers? Do users use the browser and other internet features on consoles extensively? Can you make payments, hail a ride, order food with them? Can you contact emergency services with them? Can they save your literal life?

The PS2 was good enough to run Linux. The Xbox One and Series X run Windows 10 under the hood.

For a very specific definition of Windows 10. It is extremely stripped down and with a wildly different set of APIs in many places, it's just that it supports D3D and XAML

Re: Apple forced to allow sideloading and 3rd-party app stores under new EU law

#56

Post by aaomidi »

olliej wrote: post #9
dm319 wrote: post #3

Good to see the general purpose computer in your pocket being recognised as one.

No talk of extending it to cover consoles though, despite them also being general purpose

I personally wish they did.

However, I think consoles have always been "consume media" devices in peoples minds. Maybe with steam deck (assuming it can get any level of popularity that xbox/ps have) we might see attitudes shift towards them.

A lot of these lawmakers are unaware of the exact internals of these devices. Phones can do everything realistically. Manage your bank accounts, pay your taxes, find jobs, make calls, consume media. Heck they can do more than your average laptop/computer - and this is self-evident for lawmakers. The same can not (yet) be said for consoles.

Anyway, I do hope we take more of these steps in the future. At the very least it reduces ewaste.

Re: Apple forced to allow sideloading and 3rd-party app stores under new EU law

#57

Post by aaomidi »

ciupicri wrote: post #51
Apocryphon wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What general purposes do game consoles serve, other than being multimedia centers? Do users use the browser and other internet features on consoles extensively? Can you make payments, hail a ride, order food with them? Can you contact emergency services with them? Can they save your literal life?

What general purposes do phones serve, other than making and receiving _audio_ calls?

Phones can (even right now, with the limitations placed by Apple, Google) do everything a computer can. Capacity limits apply, but the general activities that a laptop/pc can do, a phone can as well.

Re: Apple forced to allow sideloading and 3rd-party app stores under new EU law

#58

Post by aaomidi »

_abox wrote: post #47
Spivak wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Not via the App Store” != “Without Apple Approval” Side loading will likely still require a business agreement with Apple and “App Review” to get a cert that allows your app to run.

That would really defeat the whole purpose... I'm sure this is not the intention of this law. However it is indeed possible that Apple would weasel such a requirement through the loopholes, yes.

The more they try to block this, the heavier the regulations are going to be on them.

At some point Apple might see itself being split apart because of its constant and well documented abuse of it's status in the market.

Re: Apple forced to allow sideloading and 3rd-party app stores under new EU law

#59

Post by Tozen »

tqkxzugoaupvwqr wrote: post #50

“Sideloading” is the perfect word to frame the behavior of downloading apps in a negative light or as an illicit activity. No-one has ever talked of sideloading an app on macOS – because sideloading is simply downloading an app from the Internet as we have known it from the very beginning of the Internet. I still cannot believe most people adopted this word as part of this discussion and keep using it, helping Apple’…

Very good point.

Re: Apple forced to allow sideloading and 3rd-party app stores under new EU law

#60

Post by Tozen »

Spivak wrote: post #31
_abox wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How can they? If you can sideload they have no way to enforce this.

“Not via the App Store” != “Without Apple Approval” Side loading will likely still require a business agreement with Apple and “App Review” to get a cert that allows your app to run.

I agree. Expect Apple to come up with some kind of contingency plan, so they can maximize profits and control, at the expense of their users.
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