4 ms·

Apple shouldn't open the gates to the App Store, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't open the gates to the iPhone. If you want to be listed in the App Store a

by mrshoe 17y ago

Apple shouldn't open the gates to the App Store, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't open the gates to the iPhone. If you want to be listed in the App Store and have Apple handle your payment processing and even a bit of marketing for you, you're going to have to go through their approval process. Every single store in the world decides which products it will and won't sell. The App Store isn't, and shouldn't be, any different. However, on the Mac platform you can develop an app and sell it on your own web site or put it on a CD in a box and sell it at Best Buy or any other store. You can't do that on the iPhone. I guess opening up the iPhone platform wouldn't really help DHH, since I'm sure he wants his app listed and sold in the App Store, but I can see why developers expect more parity between the two platforms (Mac and iPhone). However, I can also see how it's easier for Apple to provide a better (and more consistent) customer experience when the App Store is the only way to buy and install apps. And since Apple cares more about customers, and customers don't really care about the openness of their phone's OS... that's probably not going to change any time soon.

mechanical_fish 17y ago
On the Mac platform you can develop an app and sell it on your own web site Yes. And you can also develop malware and give it away on your own website. And then, when customers complain to Apple, they can do... what, exactly? In other words, DHH is wrong when he suggests that the App Store isn't about security. Sure, the App Store is not about prescreening for security holes -- obviously they can't find every hole or every trojan in their pitiful half-hour code review. But if every app goes through the store, and every store app can be revoked, and every store app comes attached to a known submitter with a valid identity and credit card... You can get a trojan through the system. But you very likely can't do it more than once, it won't survive long in the wild after it's detected, and the FBI has a paper trail to your house.
- middayc 17y ago
  so how many viruses have you downloaded to your Mac in last year?
- bad_user 17y ago
  > Yes. And you can also develop malware and give it away on your own website. Yeah, and doing sex with random strangers is as dangerous ... you never know what you're going to get. That's why I'm a proponent of Sex licenses, given by state institutions after testing your general health, your mental health and the quality of your DNA ... people without a license shouldn't be allowed to have sex, to work in public institutions (since that's where people fuck around the most), or to leave town without notifying the proper authorities.
- GeneralMaximus 17y ago
  Yeah, sure. While we're doing this so-called "quality control", let's create App Stores for Linux and Windows as well, and make it impossible for people to install anything which doesn't go through a review process by clerks who probably have no idea about software development. That would awesome, right? No more malware! Sheesh.
jstevens85 17y ago
The obvious problem of allowing arbitrary programs on the iPhone is that it opens the door to piracy. That's the main reason why Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo spend a huge amount of resources trying to prevent hackers from opening up their game consoles. Considering that Apple is going hard for the games market, they need to enforce strict control to get games publishers on side.
- pyre 17y ago
  That's a hard pill to swallow for me. Apple didn't seem that interested in the iPhone becoming a gaming platform until the success of games in the AppStore forced them to pay attention to the market for them. At the very least, this was not their original plan for the AppStore and the 'iron fist' that they wield today.
elblanco 17y ago
The App Store should purely be a signalling message about the quality of apps. A "seal of approval" by Apple. If somebody doesn't care, then they should be able to install anything they want without falling afoul of federal law.

by mrshoe 17y ago

mechanical_fish 17y ago

On the Mac platform you can develop an app and sell it on your own web site Yes. And you can also develop malware and give it away on your own website. And then, when customers complain to Apple, they can do... what, exactly? In other words, DHH is wrong when he suggests that the App Store isn't about security. Sure, the App Store is not about prescreening for security holes -- obviously they can't find every hole or every trojan in their pitiful half-hour code review. But if every app goes through the store, and every store app can be revoked, and every store app comes attached to a known submitter with a valid identity and credit card... You can get a trojan through the system. But you very likely can't do it more than once, it won't survive long in the wild after it's detected, and the FBI has a paper trail to your house.

middayc 17y ago
so how many viruses have you downloaded to your Mac in last year?
bad_user 17y ago
> Yes. And you can also develop malware and give it away on your own website. Yeah, and doing sex with random strangers is as dangerous ... you never know what you're going to get. That's why I'm a proponent of Sex licenses, given by state institutions after testing your general health, your mental health and the quality of your DNA ... people without a license shouldn't be allowed to have sex, to work in public institutions (since that's where people fuck around the most), or to leave town without notifying the proper authorities.
GeneralMaximus 17y ago
Yeah, sure. While we're doing this so-called "quality control", let's create App Stores for Linux and Windows as well, and make it impossible for people to install anything which doesn't go through a review process by clerks who probably have no idea about software development. That would awesome, right? No more malware! Sheesh.

jstevens85 17y ago

The obvious problem of allowing arbitrary programs on the iPhone is that it opens the door to piracy. That's the main reason why Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo spend a huge amount of resources trying to prevent hackers from opening up their game consoles. Considering that Apple is going hard for the games market, they need to enforce strict control to get games publishers on side.

pyre 17y ago
That's a hard pill to swallow for me. Apple didn't seem that interested in the iPhone becoming a gaming platform until the success of games in the AppStore forced them to pay attention to the market for them. At the very least, this was not their original plan for the AppStore and the 'iron fist' that they wield today.

elblanco 17y ago

The App Store should purely be a signalling message about the quality of apps. A "seal of approval" by Apple. If somebody doesn't care, then they should be able to install anything they want without falling afoul of federal law.