Fear of Apple • Hacker News Board

Re: Fear of Apple

#271

Post by anon_adderlan » Fri, Apr 03, 2015, 6:43 PM UTC

tomjen3 wrote: post #137

ableal wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Back in 2003, Tim Bray hit that nail: "Are You a Sharecropper?" https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2003/07/12/WebsThePl...

It was that mentality that, finally, made me buy a little piece of land in cyberspace (others may call it a domain name) - yeah you can get your blog hosted a million places for free, but by owning your own you can move to a new host. I think this Neocities blog post( https://neocities.org/blog/neocities-web-sites-now-have-prop... ) said it best: You have to have your own domain, otherwise you will be a sharecropper…

Actually, you don't own that domain, only rent/lease it. And you don't own the servers neocities uses to host websites either, and they can "terminate the agreement at any time for any reason for no reason.".

There's a lot of confusion surrounding what defines ownership in the information age. For example, IP addresses are held like real property despite just being numbers in a database. However, a physical device isn't owned by the user if the carrier can restrict what can be done with it and/or modified/disabled it at any time for any reason without explanation. It also varies by culture too, with most 'Eastern' countries treating virtual goods like real property, and most 'Western' ones treating them as non-transferable services which can be cancelled.

Mind, that post you link to has the right idea, just that the only way to achieve what it recommends is to buy a server and IP address, and lease a T1 line or the like.

Re: Fear of Apple

#272

Post by anon_adderlan » Fri, Apr 03, 2015, 7:26 PM UTC

shimfish wrote: post #101

nothrabannosir wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not me in particular, but there have been many suggestions: * Allow competing stores (like Android) * Allow customers to install raw packages (like Android) * Improve their search engine to "not be completely useless" * Fairer algorithm for featured apps Etc. This is not my list, it's just some of the common suggestions I hear for improving the App Store.

* That assumes other stores are better. They are not. * That would basically open the door to insanely easy piracy. Like on Android. * A fairly nebulous and meaningful requirement * I don't think it is an algorithm.

* It doesn't matter if other stores are better, only that they exist and competition is possible.

* Even the Copyright Office has implemented DMCA exceptions for 'jailbreaking' to run legally owned/leased software which may not be available on, or restricted by, the 'official' sources. So even the curators of the DMCA recognize this requirement.

* Many times you cannot even successfully search for an App BY ITS UNIQUE NAME. That's just entirely and incompetently broken. Know who gets search right? Torrent sites and eMule. I can sooner find what I'm looking for there than on either Apple's, Google's, or Microsoft's App stores. And if these channels can do it, so can the majors.

No, it's obvious the majors all consider their App stores 'good enough', and since they can lock users into their services and out of others (both through technical barriers and unenforceable claims), there's no incentive for improvement. In fact, things have and (I suspect) will continue to get WORSE.

Re: Fear of Apple

#273

Post by anon_adderlan » Fri, Apr 03, 2015, 7:42 PM UTC

krschultz wrote: post #87

shimfish wrote: post #24

While I agree with the basic thrust of the article (Apple is not your friend, is often vindictive in response to criticism and could do more to help developers), I always feel when reading App Store articles that there's quite an odd underlying assumption, namely that Apple somehow owes all developers a living and has it within its power to achieve this if only it wanted. Please correct me if my history is wrong but…

Prior to mobile becoming popular, the two ecosystem models were desktop computers and gaming consoles. On the desktop there are no gate keepers. There may be aggregators and bundlers, but no one prevents you from installing anything you want on a Windows, Linux, or Mac computer. On the consoles developers were beholden to Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, Sega, etc. The question was whether mobile would follow the desktop m…

> Clearly, they have gone the way of the console.

With one minor difference.

You actually OWNED the disk/cartridge the game was on, and it came with a warranty.

...two, TWO minor differences.

On other words, there was legally enforceable accountability on the part of the manufacturer. These days not so much, because you don't own anything to hold as leverage, and software has always been full of warranty and liability disclaimers (even though I suspect many of them would not hold in a court of law).

Re: Fear of Apple

#274

Post by anon_adderlan » Fri, Apr 03, 2015, 7:57 PM UTC

Dotnaught wrote: post #39

The commodification of software isn't just an issue for Apple developers. It applies to all content, because there's so much competition for limited attention and the tools to produce content are so widely accessible. Many ebooks get released for free and $2.99 seems to be the upper limit for self-published authors. Established software and literary brands can ask more. But among those trying to get recognition, the…

> It applies to all content, because there's so much competition for limited attention and the tools to produce content are so widely accessible.

What isn't widely accessible however are the tools needed to filter and find the content a user might like/need, which is now far more important to a work's success than any other factor.

Re: Fear of Apple

#275

Post by anon_adderlan » Fri, Apr 03, 2015, 8:13 PM UTC

JimDabell wrote: post #111

vinceguidry wrote: post #106

I've learned to adopt the following attitude concerning software and hardware: Use a device for things that the company making the device cares seriously about. My iPhone was absolutely fantastic at music playback. Apple takes a great deal of pride in its relationship to the music community and it shows. Bluetooth happens instantly. Songs sound great. When I switched to a Nexus 5 last year, the difference in software…

> The more I used my iPhone when I had it, the more I started to understand the issues Apple faces when providing a mobile platform and why that philosophy and opinionated-ness exists. > I'm really glad Apple has found a way to ignore the noise from developers that don't understand those challenges. To mangle a Churchill quote, the best argument in favour of a curated App Store is a five-minute conversation with the…

> Especially in the early days, there were no end of clients asking for user-hostile and abusive behaviour.

Sadly true, and still true when it comes to the world of desktop adware.

The problem is when you sandbox hostile apps, you also end up sandboxing a lot of potential functionality which now becomes impossible. For example, I need call recording for my work, but the only mobile platform that still supports that is Android, but only on specific devices, with specific Android versions, and even then you may still need to root the device to get it working.

I'm sure there's a middle ground here, but it's going to take some effort to get there.

Re: Fear of Apple

#276

Post by anon_adderlan » Tue, Apr 07, 2015, 4:18 AM UTC

I have no idea if I should fear Apple. Then again, I have no idea if what I say affects my relationship with Apple. But assumptions emerge in this information vacuum, and because my relationship with Apple is the only 'legitimate' way I have of getting my Apps on a user's iOS device, I have to be concerned with this.

No wonder conclusions like this emerge. And while it may have cost more money to market software in the 'bad' old days, you could still give it away for free, which is NOT possible on iOS or Windows Phone, and even Android requires extra hoops which many users are not savvy enough to jump through.

So Fear of Apple makes sense if you think they can hurt your bottom line. And given that Apple (or at least Steve Jobs) has been a very spiteful in the past, I think it's more than warranted. And just because it's better now (which it is) doesn't mean we shouldn't continue to push to make it even better.