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Stop Allowing App Reviews From Beta iOS Versions

stuartkhall.com

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Re: Stop Allowing App Reviews From Beta iOS Versions

#61

Post by krichman »

escoz wrote: post #55
rogerchucker wrote: post #43

The root of this problem, I think, is that Apple requires the $100 membership fee (and thus provide a developer account) even for testing apps on one's own device. If Apple, instead required this fee (and gave developer accounts) only when somebody has submitted an app for publishing on the App store for the first time, then there would be a legitimate filter against people who like to download betas just for experim…

If iOS7 serves as an example, this would be a terrible idea. Betas 1/2 were nowhere near acceptable for day-to-day usage, and while the new betas are better, I still get app crashes and even phone restarts every once in a while. Letting everybody use the beta from the very beginning would be the far worse thing they could do: all of a sudden, with no notice, every developer out there would be forced to fix crashes as…

The GP wants to limit the betas to what I will refer to as actual developers, measured by those who have submitted an app, so you both want it to be more restricted than it is.

Re: Stop Allowing App Reviews From Beta iOS Versions

#62

Post by krichman »

rogerchucker wrote: post #44
RKearney wrote: post #19

What people seem to forget is parts of iOS 7 are still under NDA, yet people race to post videos and full-length articles of how "the new beta has 10 more pixels on this icon!" That, plus the fact that there are websites that sell UUID registrations so non-develoeprs can use the betas are the reason this happens. So, instead of blocking iOS betas from submitting reviews, how about everyone as a whole stops breaking t…

I just never understood the grand benefits of imposing NDA on iOS/OSX pre-release versions. I can't picture this giving Apple a big strategic advantage over its competitors in mobile OS.

It's either to be able to sue a rival in the event it scoops their features or to exercise power over their serfs.

Re: Stop Allowing App Reviews From Beta iOS Versions

#63

Post by rlanday »

itafroma wrote: post #27
RKearney wrote: post #19

What people seem to forget is parts of iOS 7 are still under NDA, yet people race to post videos and full-length articles of how "the new beta has 10 more pixels on this icon!" That, plus the fact that there are websites that sell UUID registrations so non-develoeprs can use the betas are the reason this happens. So, instead of blocking iOS betas from submitting reviews, how about everyone as a whole stops breaking t…

To be fair, the license agreement to which Apple developers agree has the following clause (line breaks added by me): > Notwithstanding the foregoing, Apple Confidential Information will not include: > (i) information that is generally and legitimately available to the public through no fault or breach of Yours, > (ii) information that is generally made available to the public by Apple, > (iii) information that is in…

“information that is independently developed by You without the use of any Apple Confidential Information”

I imagine there has to be some provision for being allowed to tell other developers about bugs in their apps (does it have to be on Apple’s official forums?), but I think Apple makes developers agree to NDAs exactly to keep dumbass CS students from trying to impress their friends by telling them how many bugs they’ve found and how crappy the prerelease builds are. I’ve never had a paid developer account, but my impression is that people used to take the NDA a lot more seriously several years ago; I’m not sure if it’s because Apple dropped the price from $500 to $99 or because I spend a lot more time around CS students, or maybe because so many more people have iPhones now, but it seems like even a lot of non-developers are finding it worth $99 a year to get prerelease iOS builds, and everyone is wildly violating the NDA.

Re: Stop Allowing App Reviews From Beta iOS Versions

#64

Post by rlanday »

rogerchucker wrote: post #44
RKearney wrote: post #19

What people seem to forget is parts of iOS 7 are still under NDA, yet people race to post videos and full-length articles of how "the new beta has 10 more pixels on this icon!" That, plus the fact that there are websites that sell UUID registrations so non-develoeprs can use the betas are the reason this happens. So, instead of blocking iOS betas from submitting reviews, how about everyone as a whole stops breaking t…

I just never understood the grand benefits of imposing NDA on iOS/OSX pre-release versions. I can't picture this giving Apple a big strategic advantage over its competitors in mobile OS.

I think a big part of the reason is that they don’t want random people posting on the internet about all the bugs they encountered with prerelease software and how much it sucks, because it can taint people’s opinions of the final product.

Re: Stop Allowing App Reviews From Beta iOS Versions

#65

Post by Tehnix »

jcampbell1 wrote: post #26

Can someone comment on what is going to happen when iOS 7 is released? The upgrade from 5->6 didn't break any apps by default. It appears 7 resizes all the stock controls, and this breaks tons of apps by default. Will an existing iOS6 app work unchanged in iOS 7, or will it have to be fixed.

I doubt it's under the NDA to say that most apps (that I use) work fine under iOS 7 (and these are iOS 6 apps). Of course there are some that crash/break, but overall, it's okay.

In short, the app situation feels more or less just as 5->6 beta did.

Re: Stop Allowing App Reviews From Beta iOS Versions

#67

Post by rogerchucker »

rlanday wrote: post #64
rogerchucker wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just never understood the grand benefits of imposing NDA on iOS/OSX pre-release versions. I can't picture this giving Apple a big strategic advantage over its competitors in mobile OS.

I think a big part of the reason is that they don’t want random people posting on the internet about all the bugs they encountered with prerelease software and how much it sucks, because it can taint people’s opinions of the final product.

I kinda figured that part but to me that's a very very archaic way of thinking given that a significant number of people will eventually break the NDA and hint about bugs.

Re: Stop Allowing App Reviews From Beta iOS Versions

#68

Post by HNLogInShit »

verelo wrote: post #42
grecy wrote: post #8

When a customer submits an app review from a beta iOS, that review should just be emailed directly to the developer, and not show up on any of the "official" review lists that other customers can see. That way the developer is getting feedback about potential problems with the upcoming iOS, and can fix them, but it doesn't hurt their image for the 99.9% of customers running the non-beta iOS.

All i can say to this is SERIOUSLY! It drives me insane that our customers who are just technical enough to be dangerous can figure out how to get iOS 7 and give us feedback. Its distracting for the team and not helpful. Apple needs to sort this kind of stuff out, i'm seriously frustrated by how many problems (dev centre + iOS 7) we're currently going through that we have zero control over.

Yep. There's no excuse for allowing reviews from iOS devices running beta OSes.

However: Can't you also post reviews from your computer? In that situation, Apple has no way of knowing that the reviewer is running a beta OS on his mobile device. So blocking reviews from the devices themselves is a half-assed "solution."

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