iOS App Store - Fake Microsoft Word 2012 Approved • Hacker News Board

Re: iOS App Store - Fake Microsoft Word 2012 Approved

#121

Post by saurik » Tue, Jun 19, 2012, 12:35 AM UTC

0x0 wrote: post #114

saurik wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had just noticed, in passing through the open tab to the link you provided, that I had not adequately explained the old iBooks-on-4.2 check. I added some clarification, and then saw that in fact you had noticed the issue now in this reply as well ;P. It seems that Corona (the iOS 5.0.1 untether), at least, does allow an App Store application to call exec(). I am honestly not certain why that is allowed... I am, how…

Neat! Thanks again for the super-detailed clarifications! Going back to my comment that started this sub-thread, I guess the point then still stands, "Too bad there's no way to side-load unsigned (or signed by a custom CA) apps while still maintaining the sandbox restrictions." (i.e. no "safe thirdparty appstores") ;) [quick note on the camera roll thing, I think apps are denied access before the user confirms a loca…

It would be easy to provide such a thing on top of a jailbroken system, but in practice there are very few use cases for it: Apple's curation is only evil in a small handful of situations. Again: the vast and overwhelming majority of things people jailbreak to do (and even ten pay for in Cydia) are not apps and fundamentally cannot be installed as an app with an icon into a sandbox. It would likely then be a political death blow of that, as opposed to "ability to bypass the sandbox" we're all that was allowed (as explaining to people, even to developers, even to those actively at that minute using them, what substrate extensions are and how they have no similarity to the apps they modify, is sufficiently tricky that the response will just be "we already gave you the ability to side-load apps").

Re: iOS App Store - Fake Microsoft Word 2012 Approved

#122

Post by andrewaylett » Wed, Jun 20, 2012, 8:37 AM UTC

saurik wrote: post #84

miketucker wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

both options void the warranty. I'm an apple fanboy, but what iOS needs is what android, OSX, and Windows has already done.. - a carefully groomed, public facing store monitored by apple (they have already) - allow other app stores for non-monopolistic competition (eg: Amazon's android store) - allow developers to use DRM on their apps - allow app files to be loaded manually by the user

This looks attractive, but does not /really/ help: the reason people use Cydia is not to get apps, but is instead to download "extensions". It is not possible to install these modifications (things "be able to put five icons on the dock instead of the default four") on any of the modern mobile platforms without first jailbreaking: the ability to "side load" an app is honestly kind of boring.

It's certainly possible to perform that particular customisation on Android: the launcher is just another app, and many are available.

Re: iOS App Store - Fake Microsoft Word 2012 Approved

#123

Post by saurik » Wed, Jun 20, 2012, 5:28 PM UTC

andrewaylett wrote: post #122

saurik wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This looks attractive, but does not /really/ help: the reason people use Cydia is not to get apps, but is instead to download "extensions". It is not possible to install these modifications (things "be able to put five icons on the dock instead of the default four") on any of the modern mobile platforms without first jailbreaking: the ability to "side load" an app is honestly kind of boring.

It's certainly possible to perform that particular customisation on Android: the launcher is just another app, and many are available.

That specific customization is possible but requires you to replace that entire component, so it isn't really a customization any more than saying you can customize that particular thing by just replacing the entire phone. ;P

This distinction becomes important when you want to install that customization on a device for which the stock launcher is not open source but has been customized to fit with other apps, or simply when you want multiple customizations from different people.

However, if you insist on something a little more concrete: what if you want to add new buttons to the Android notification center, add new features to the status bar, or affect the behavior of the lock screen? These are not apps you can replace.