The Moderate's Position on iPad Openness • Hacker News Board

Re: The Moderate's Position on iPad Openness

#31

Post by theBobMcCormick » Wed, Apr 07, 2010, 2:47 PM UTC

tjogin wrote: post #16

pyre wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The AppStore approval process does not guarantee that something is not malware. At best it's just a superficial filter. It's like creating a mail filter that puts any email that contains the word 'viagra' into your spam folder and calling it a 'spam filter.'

Unlike the non-functioning spam-filters you speak of, the AppStore approval process actually has a flawless record of keeping it out. Now, I'm not saying that's squarely because of the diligence of the reviewers. Most likely, it's just as much or more because there's a paper trail from every app to its publisher, a long with the fact that someone is at least going to make a cursory review of the app before giving it…

That makes about as much sense as athletes who believe their winning streak is caused by their "lucky socks" or some such. By that logic, the lack of review process in the Android market has also had a flawless record of keeping out malware.

Re: The Moderate's Position on iPad Openness

#32

Post by pyre » Thu, Apr 08, 2010, 3:19 AM UTC

tjogin wrote: post #30

pyre wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Unlike the non-functioning spam-filters you speak of, the AppStore approval process actually has a flawless record of keeping it out. Those non-functioning spam-filters also kept spam out when all you had to filter on were the words 'real estate,' 'viagra,' and 'cialis.' Lo and behold though, the world does not stagnate and those same filters are woefully inadequate today. > Most likely, it's just as much or more b…

Fact remains: no malware on AppStore.

Absence of malware does not prove that the AppStore model is superior. It just proves that there is currently no known malware. It is much easier to disprove something (i.e. find malware on the AppStore; therefore the model is flawed) than it is to prove something (i.e. there is no malware on the AppStore; therefore the model is perfect).

Re: The Moderate's Position on iPad Openness

#33

Post by tjogin » Thu, Apr 08, 2010, 7:47 AM UTC

pyre wrote: post #32

tjogin wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fact remains: no malware on AppStore.

Absence of malware does not prove that the AppStore model is superior. It just proves that there is currently no known malware. It is much easier to disprove something (i.e. find malware on the AppStore; therefore the model is flawed) than it is to prove something (i.e. there is no malware on the AppStore; therefore the model is perfect).

It also certainly doesn't prove that AppStore's malware filtering is broken. It suggests that it does work, very well.