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EU tells Apple to open everything up to its rivals

appleinsider.com

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Re: EU tells Apple to open everything up to its rivals

#621

Post by shaan7 »

caskstrength wrote: post #581
shaan7 wrote: post #576

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No, they don't need "freedom" to be tricked into installing crapware on their devices same way as I don't need "freedom" to cut my face with an open razor But guess what, in the real world you do have the freedom to cut your face with an open razor. Still, you don't see everyone using one (unless they know what they're doing), they rather use a safe razor - they have the sensibility. I find it demeaning that we "ha…

You conveniently skipped part of my comment where I suggested that people who want to install software from outside of corporate app stores are free to vote with their money and buy a phone that allows that? I just want to be free to continue buying safe razors and locked devices for use-cases I deem beneficial.

Um, you're making the wrong comparison. Apple can just offer a "locked" version of iPhone if you want that. You could buy a unlocked one for you, and a locked one for $whoever. iOS vs Android should not a safe vs unsafe argument, it should be a Gillette razor vs Philips razor argument.

Also, I don't think the only merit that iPhone brings is this so-called safety, it is also a very well engineered device. I'd like to buy one but the only thing that has held me back is how closed the ecosystem is. If the EU is able to force Apple to fix that, I might finally buy an iPhone for the first time :)

Re: EU tells Apple to open everything up to its rivals

#622

Post by Moldoteck »

nouveaux wrote: post #374
cmcaleer wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Pixel 5's security update end of life is in two weeks[0]. This is a phone that launched October 2020. My iPhone XS which I bought in 2018 just got the iOS 17 update and it's working pretty well. I want to be able to load whatever I want on my phone, but I also don't want to have to buy a new phone every couple years (or sooner! Looks like the 5a is still in production with security updates ending in 11 months) to…

Just spitballing here but it's possible that Android's openness is exactly why Google Pixel doesn't have better resources to have long term support. Some bean counters probably determined that Google doesn't make enough money to have teams supporting older Pixels. Samsung is taking a ton of profits from Pixel and the end result is piss poor Android support on Pixels. Guess what? Samsung doesn't care about long term A…

Imo it's bs in the context where fairphone 5 will have 8y of os updates

Re: EU tells Apple to open everything up to its rivals

#623

Post by politelemon »

PartiallyTyped wrote: post #620
breeze1990 wrote: post #587

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Has it occurred to you that Apple might not be that different from other companies you listed. It's just good marketing strategy like Google had "don't be evil" years ago. Essentially apple is like only I can access all user data for profit, improving products, ads, while others can't.

Apple a) has a mutual interest in them remaining privacy centric as we do. B) most of your data is locked onto the device and cannot be accessed by anyone including apple themselves.

Both of your statements are Apple marketing speaking, and demonstrably false.

Re: EU tells Apple to open everything up to its rivals

#624

Post by politelemon »

FredPret wrote: post #560
seydor wrote: post #535

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dont agree with it at all, but you are right, people buy apple because need to trust somebody and they trust apple to keep making the right product for them. I don't even consider them superior but certainly trustworthy. Whatever changes apple implements would have to be easily revertable so people can go back to their golden prison.

It’s not a prison to keep me in. It’s a wall to keep bad things out.

This reads like a modern retelling of the Stockholm syndrome and I cringe at this prevalent attitude on HN.

If you do not have choice on the platform, you are in a prison. That is why it's called jailbreaking.

Re: EU tells Apple to open everything up to its rivals

#625

Post by Moldoteck »

ericmay wrote: post #232
hamandcheese wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Extensions that are less powerful and must go through App Store review. Which is fine, if you want that keep using Safari! But I'd like to run actual Firefox.

Why not buy an Android device then? Once you remove these things that you want to remove, you wind up losing the very things that attract you to iPhone in the first place!

Ppl are not buying iphone bc they think they can't install ff with gecko lol, they buy iphones bc these are good hardware and longterm support. Both of these will remain unchanged with ability to sideload apps

Re: EU tells Apple to open everything up to its rivals

#626

Post by robocat »

bsimpson wrote: post #605
ValentineC wrote: post #512

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's bullshit that you can only run Safari on iOS or that the App Store is the only store you can use. What I really want is an up-to-date browser even if iOS stops being supported on an old phone of mine. (And they seem to be dropping support faster, what with iOS 17 not supporting the iPhone X — introduced in 2017 — without any legitimate hardware reason.) It's ridiculous that Safari and the underlying WebKit eng…

That's the biggest problem with Chromebooks (or at least was the last time I used one). The thing becomes useless as soon as it stops getting updates, because your browser doesn't get new features and gets locked out of various parts of the internet as time matches on without you. On any other computer, you can keep the browser up to date long after the OS stops receiving patches.

"Chromebooks will get 10 years of automatic updates": https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37510865

Re: EU tells Apple to open everything up to its rivals

#627

Post by dugite-code »

robertlagrant wrote: post #59
andersa wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those are not considered general purpose computing devices under the current legislation, so no. It's currently targeted at mobile phones.

Isn't this going to try and turn iPhones into general purpose computing devices? Currently they're much more locked down than that.

> Isn't this going to try and turn iPhones into general purpose computing devices? Currently they're much more locked down than that.

They already are general purpose computing devices, the restrictions on how the general purpose software (apps) interact with the hardware in no-way negates that fact same with the restrictions on how you get the general purpose software (app-store). At the end of the day an iPhone is nothing more than a portable a computer, it's as simple as that.

Re: EU tells Apple to open everything up to its rivals

#628

Post by koito17 »

troupo wrote: post #533
makeitdouble wrote: post #457

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Apple mandating WebKit is the only thing holding v8 back from a total monopoly, You say that as if Apple was a powerless victim with no money and no lawyers. I'd argue Apple having to straight face Google's domination and doing something about it on the open (basically forcing regulation) would be a better outcome than letting them take iOS users in hostage forever.

> I'd argue Apple having to straight face Google's domination and doing something about it on the open Apple has never been big on the web. Google has the world's most popular web properties which it has used to both push Chrome and sabotage competition.

> Apple has never been big on the web.

That may be true today, but I don't think it was true during the early days of the iPhone, where Steve Jobs wanted no third-party native code running on the iPhone, only web apps that connect to third-party services.[1][2] It wasn't until lots of developer backlash and subsequent success of the App Store that they decided to de-prioritize the web.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1nwLilQy64

[2] https://9to5mac.com/2011/10/21/jobs-original-vision-for-the-...

Re: EU tells Apple to open everything up to its rivals

#630

Post by jokethrowaway »

gigatexal wrote: post #523

I’m going to get pilloried for this but I like the rather draconian heavy handed way Apple keeps iOS locked down. It’s an appliance. I can trust it. If or when it gets opened up I’ll still stick to all the Apple or first party stores and things. That the iPhone is locked down and android is open is a feature and difference that consumers choose I think.

Indeed, if you don't like it you can buy another product. That should be Apple's choice.

Sure, users will likely benefit from this but I don't see why the EU needs to regulate this.

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