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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

#861

Post by jeroenhd »

dmz73 wrote: post #424
jeroenhd wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if you read the comments on the website there seems to be only Apple fanboys commenting who are butt-hurt about it It makes sense, though: Apple is all about making things easier for the user at the expense of third party developers. Users don't need to deal with app reviewers denying bugfixes because they used the demo credentials on the wrong app, they can just be mad at apps for being buggy. Banks all around the…

Apple claims they make things easier but that is not actually the case. They may make a few things easier than Microsoft or Google but they make a lot of things harder too. All their hardware is harder to repair than what is available from competition. Their documentation is inferior (if it exists at all) to even open source project. Software from Apple is hard to use for anyone not used to it which negates their "in…

I find their software to be as hard to use as any new OS paradigm. Their design differs from their competition, but I don't think it's superior or inferior necessarily.

Repairability and open source software isn't what the lay person cares about, at least not until they break their phones.

Apple's fix to failing software is the same as what any computer service will do for a random customer: reinstall the entire OS, see if that helped, restore the backup you definitely didn't forget to make. Someone deeply knowledgeable can often use tricks to get a broken system to run like normal again, but that's not easy or time efficient to offer as a service.

Apple removed the worst UI to intuit (3D Touch, or "you didn't press the unmarked location hard enough"). After that, I think their software isn't any better or worse than their competition's in terms of usability, unless you have a visual disability; iOS is still king when it comes to the quality of built in accessibility features for those who can't/struggle to see a screen.

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

#862

Post by fennecfoxy »

labrador wrote: post #484
nunez wrote: post #166

Fucking good. It's bullshit that you can only run Safari on iOS or that the App Store is the only store you can use. Yes, I understand the security implications of a third-party browser having deeper integrations into the OS and potential battery life concerns. I also don't care. I want to run Firefox on my phone. The actual thing. With containers and extensions. Let Safari compete on the merits. I want the choice of…

Agreed. Who doesn't want Apple to be more open?

People that have bought into the "iPhones let you join a super special secret club with superior products" rhetoric.

Only good things can come from this, if people want a vanilla Apple experience then just don't install alternatives to Apple's stuff, pretty simple. All they're worried about is their special locked down "what's a computer?" being "ruined".

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

#863

Post by scotty79 »

noirscape wrote: post #784
scotty79 wrote: post #734

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Google can finally be "properly" hit with an antitrust case over Chrome. What do you think google should do to avoid getting punished? What kind of action would you like to see from Google regarding the near monopoly of Chrome and Blink?

Break off Chrome into its own company that can serve it's own interests in making a good browser that serves the user (remember it's called the user agent because the browser must ultimately serve the user above all else) rather than serving Googles ad interests would be the right kind of action. Right now, Chrome is compromised in terms of meaningful user privacy and user security because Googles bottom line largely…

How would Chrome company make money? Nobody is going to buy the browser. They'd be selling content relevant ad space on the app or just implementing whatever google pays them to implement.

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

#864

Post by geocar »

laverya wrote: post #851
geocar wrote: post #708

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Apple doesn't even need to make an Android version of iMessage, they just need to support RCS instead of SMS/MMS: https://www.android.com/get-the-message/ Or Google could have just licensed iMessage. RCS is not a consumer benefit: RCS gives strange powers to the carrier that your phone connects to (as opposed to the company you contract with; i.e. your mobile carrier), powers over your camera, microphone, radio, po…

I think a lot of Android manufacturers would be willing to pay Apple for iMessage access/licensing. I strongly doubt that Apple would be willing to sell that without the EU forcing them to.

> I think a lot of Android manufacturers would be willing to pay Apple for iMessage access/licensing.

I think you overestimate the markup Android manufacturers make, and underestimate what Google makes.

> I strongly doubt that Apple would be willing to sell that without the EU forcing them to.

You would be wrong! Apple already allows programmatic access to iMessage (call centers can dial/message directly with it including number-fronting, do apps, etc), so it really is just a matter of the fact that Google isn't willing to pay.

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

#865

Post by rpdillon »

sureglymop wrote: post #573
henry2023 wrote: post #564

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which ones? Maybe there's one or two I can check

BreezyWeather, DavX5, jtx Board, Shelter, Floccus, FediLab, UntrackMe, Keepass2Android, andOTP, OpenKeychain, PCAPDroid, AnkiDroid. These are some good ones off the top of my head.

I love F-Droid and try to use apps from there whenever possible.

I did recently discover that andOTP is no longer maintained, though. I've switched to Aegis since.

https://github.com/andOTP/andOTP

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

#866

Post by jjoonathan »

robertlagrant wrote: post #143
threeseed wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except this has all played out before. Consumers do what they are told to do. If a website says install this app in order to use it they will. If an app says approve this permission to use this app they will. And so you will inevitably end up with websites that only support Chrome which will increase its market share up until the point it is an IE style monopoly. And aspects like the cost of testing apps/sites on mul…

Sorry - I don't see how this relates to Google paying Apple to be the default search engine.

Kickbacks cause enshittification.

Kickbacks: Apple chooses Google so long as Apple's cut is greater than ad-driven UX degradation.

No Kickbacks: Apple chooses Google so long as result quality is greater than ad-driven UX degradation.

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

#867

Post by Entalpi »

Keyframe wrote: post #493
faeriechangling wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>you can only run Safari on iOS Apple mandating WebKit is the only thing holding v8 back from a total monopoly, while WebKit itself has no chance of being a monopoly in the forseeable future, so I doubt there's a good anti-competitive case to be made for forcing Apple to stop doing this. It would only accelerate the monopolisation of the browser market if this happened. It would be good for consumers in the short ter…

You're advocating against v8 monopoly, where no one is forcing it down on anyone, by holding a candle to the actual enforced monopoly of WebKit? Where's consumer choice in this and how about having an actual choice dictate what is used and what isn't? Let me quote from a familiar case: "Antitrust laws ensure one company doesn't control the market, deplete consumer choice, and inflate prices. Microsoft was accused of…

Customer choices can still lead to monopolies..

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

#869

Post by lostgame »

tinus_hn wrote: post #200
nunez wrote: post #166

Fucking good. It's bullshit that you can only run Safari on iOS or that the App Store is the only store you can use. Yes, I understand the security implications of a third-party browser having deeper integrations into the OS and potential battery life concerns. I also don't care. I want to run Firefox on my phone. The actual thing. With containers and extensions. Let Safari compete on the merits. I want the choice of…

If only there were phones that did exactly what you wanted

Yeah, I need a phone that can run Apple's GarageBand, (easily my most-used app; hundreds and hundreds of hours, and as I use Logic to create music at home and have for 15+ years, I can open up these iPhone-created files at home, establishing a workflow Ableton, for instance, has completely failed to replicate) - ideally uses iMessage so I can more easily communicate with my romantic partners who both use it; and can run a browser of my choice. I'd also like it to work with my Apple Watch. Any non-iPhone recommendations?

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

#870

Post by Obscurity4340 »

ThatPlayer wrote: post #646
Obscurity4340 wrote: post #369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same with not allowing fine-grain control of what apps are allowed to use your WiFi/connect to the internet. I don't give a shit that an app feels entitled to it, its my internet bill and its already implemented perfectly for your cellular data stuff. There's no reason or excuse its not a privacy setting that you can tightly-control and revoke.

Apparently that is a feature that iPhones sold in China do support. But only China for some reason.

That reaction when Chinese devices are "freer" than Western ones. Shameful!
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