It has a real “serf begging his lord” feel to it.
I fear App Review is getting too powerful (2015) [pdf]
111–120 of 369 posts
Re: I fear App Review is getting too powerful (2015) [pdf]
#112I mean, there’s a point to be made about how much monopoly power Apple holds, and it’s now clear these questions weren’t asked until now because lawmakers were really sweet on the maker of their shiny iPhone - but this letter ain’t it. The author is grovelling to the point of it being honestly pitiful. The amount of derogatory references to the web and Android also make it really hard for me not to question the motiv…
> the lesson to be learned here is that if your business depends exclusively on another company for its survival then it’s not your business. This point is made frequently, and it's generally true. But, at the same time, every business is built on top of some kind of opportunity and there is no guarantee in life that opportunities are perpetual. The mine runs out of ore. People stop buying records. The fish stop biti…
I agree -- for everyone complaining about sharecropping there's someone else making money from the platform. One just has to be aware of the risk and more people are getting aware of that risk every day.
Perhaps this risk is not justified but that's a moral and legal issue not a business one.
Re: I fear App Review is getting too powerful (2015) [pdf]
#113> I fear App Review is getting too powerful. It's no longer about keeping iDevices safe or protecting the user's best Its amazing that people right here on hackernews, 5 years later, actually think it is about keeping iDevices safe when they see these legislature and regulatory movements against Apple I’m glad to see your email now
It's not amazing. If the regulatory and govt moves against apple succeed apple will be shipping devices with back door / root access for intercept purposes within months. The idea that the govt is going to do more to protect your privacy than apple is is a joke.
If you are the out group -> govt will be after you (depending on which administration is in power the out groups may change). I'm all for subpoena's and access to records, but there is a whole secondary national security letter / secret process you never get to challenge. And yes, there are agents harassing ex-girlfriends using their existing tools.
So what's amazing to some of us is that there are folks looking to gobble up whatever garbage is coming from the regulatory movements against apple.
There is a reason Apple get to charge so much. They are TRUSTED - trusted FAR FAR more than tump admin political appointees running DOJ / FTC etc despite the fact the govt spends trillions and should be most trusted player out there.
Heads up - look to australia to see govt "succeeding" - pretty soon we will all have to pay a mandatory murdoch license fee if the regulatory lovers get their way.
Re: I fear App Review is getting too powerful (2015) [pdf]
#114Earlier quoted context omitted.
I actually think it’s about keeping iDevices safe. However I’m also someone who thinks app recommendation apps are a good thing and should be allowed on the store. I think the author of the PDF is not only trying to provide a valuable service, but is also right in pointing out that there are problems. These things are not mutually exclusive.
Security or freedom, chose one. You can't have both.
I think we are slowly coming to the consensus (as a society) that security is preferable to freedom because it maximizes harm reduction (harm reduction being the ultimate metric by which to measure the value of something).
I don't agree at all, but the way our government is, it's a one way ratchet to get new laws passed. Speech laws only get stricter (one inch at a time) over the years, never looser. Gun laws only get stricter (one inch at a time) over the years, never looser. Intellectual property laws only get stricter (one inch at a time) over the years, never looser.
Lives are saved every time the ratchet torques an inch of freedom into security, so I guess that's the upside. I just worry that life won't be as fulfilling when we are perfectly secure.
Re: I fear App Review is getting too powerful (2015) [pdf]
#115One thing missing from this discussion is: where is academia? The WWW was created inside academia, and it's because of that that it's still open and competitive. The internet itself was created in the military. Where is the equivalent for mobile apps? It's a problematic category that is wholly dominated by 2 actors, one of which isn't even interested in phones. We need a common set of standards for mobile development…
I suspect you’d quickly find that consumers don’t have much of an appetite for a third set of standards, unless it offers a substantially better UX than existing offerings.
Re: I fear App Review is getting too powerful (2015) [pdf]
#116Wow. I am the author of this email. I have no idea how it resurfaced after 5 years, I was only made aware of this when a friend emailed me the HN link. The sad thing is it was not just my company which was targeted, but Apple removed this entire product category. We never knew the real reason why, or if it was bigger than just a random app reviewer trying to apply Apple policy, until May 2019. That's when Bloomberg i…
My sympathies. That's a really sad story. I don't know if it's any consolation that it was at least discussed among the executives. I don't know why you originally eschewed the web. I've developed on closed platforms in the past: Facebook (when Facebook games like Farmville and Mafia Wars were crazy hot), Silverlight, OpenSocial, Twitter, and now Google Apps Script. My work is always worthless in 2-3 years, and what…
Honestly, making fun of old platforms like the web (which isn't even that old) suggests that the writer is the kind of wide-eyed business huckster playing into Americans' cultural affinity for new tech, and folks like that are a huge chunk of the reason why we have so much technology churn today
Old, mature technology is a treasure. Not something to make fun of
Re: I fear App Review is getting too powerful (2015) [pdf]
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I actually think it’s about keeping iDevices safe. How are Hey or xCloud about keeping iDevices safe?
xCloud deliberately avoids the app review process AIUI by allowing it to be an umbrella for any game.
Yeah, but the technology used for all of the games is the same isn't it? It's just streaming.
And if it's about content, I doube Apple is pre-approving every Netflix show. I bet some of the offerings on Netflix even show female nipples.
https://www.businessinsider.com/why-instagram-bans-freetheni...
Re: I fear App Review is getting too powerful (2015) [pdf]
#118Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are you arguing that because of the current possibility to install apps from third-party sources that might turn out to be malware, Windows should only allow installing apps from the Windows Store? Should we no longer be able to run software that has not received third-party approval?
No, I am not arguing any of those things. Users should be able to sideload apps if they wish to enable sideloading and are fully cognizant of the risks. However, users who wish to use the official installation channel should be protected from malicious behaviours. This is why the official distribution channels have rules which block behaviour very open to malicious gaming, such as in-app links, which is what the OP i…
I agree that Apple should be free to make their own rules on the App Store, but because of the lack of sideloading, some of the rules they enforce eliminate legitimate apps from the iOS platform, not just malware, and they can destroy businesses. OP is complaining about App Store rules because that's the only distribution platform for apps on iOS, but I agree that they should instead argue for the possibility of sideloading.
Re: I fear App Review is getting too powerful (2015) [pdf]
#119I mean, there’s a point to be made about how much monopoly power Apple holds, and it’s now clear these questions weren’t asked until now because lawmakers were really sweet on the maker of their shiny iPhone - but this letter ain’t it. The author is grovelling to the point of it being honestly pitiful. The amount of derogatory references to the web and Android also make it really hard for me not to question the motiv…
> If anything, the lesson to be learned here is that if your business depends exclusively on another company for its survival then it’s not your business.
But this means it's nearly impossible to build a software business that's "your business". Do you really not see the problem with that?
The major platforms are iOS, Android, MacOS, Windows and the web. Of those, the web is theoretically open, except that the browsers are made by Apple and Google, and both of them drive change to the platforms based on their business strategy (Apple hobbling PWAs, for example.) Firefox exists, but with single-digit market share, and with a substantial portion of their budget evidently coming from Google, it's not clear how much of a force they really are.
This is why I think even though these platform are not technically monopolies, some kind of regulation or oversight is warranted. The economic value of the software world is too great to leave entirely to the whims of private companies.
Re: I fear App Review is getting too powerful (2015) [pdf]
#120Earlier quoted context omitted.
At least on iOS, native apps matter because Apple suffocated web apps by blocking a lot of functionality (APIs, PWA support).
> Apple suffocated web apps by blocking a lot of functionality (APIs, PWA support) Rightfully so: I, as a user, do not want the web to have anywhere near the functionality that Google grants it; and absolutely not without clear and explicit permission. The unfortunate flip side is that native apps sidestep that whole paradigm anyway.
So just add a manifest to a web app, like in KaiOS, the third largest phone OS?
A permission model isn't hard to implement