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> And more importantly, the right people at Apple are now standing by to quickly shut down any stolen/malware-infested versions of our apps that we may discover
by Sidnicious 9y ago
> And more importantly, the right people at Apple are now standing by to quickly shut down any stolen/malware-infested versions of our apps that we may discover.
The "stolen" part bugs me — even though it would be incredibly shitty to distribute cracked-from-source versions of Panic apps, I hope that Apple wouldn't prevent users from running them. I appreciate the malware protection built into macOS, but this might be an abuse of it.
- Mtinie 9y agoCan you expand on your comment? I don't follow your logic. Isn't Apple legally culpable if they knowingly act as a marketplace for stolen goods?
- lanna 9y ago[deleted]
- khedoros1 9y agoIf someone broke into the KFC vault and wrote down the spice recipe used for the chicken, we'd still call that a "stolen recipe". If part of the value of the source code is its secrecy, then its value decreases when it's made public. Look at an example of one way the word "steal" is used in speech. If I say "Good artists copy; great artists steal", and I saying that great artists break into a building and illegally remove a physical artifact, or am I saying that they copy something for their own benefit? If one can "steal" an idea, then isn't that a "stolen idea"? And if that stolen idea is directly used to create some salable product, then isn't that a "stolen product", in that sense? edit: The comment I responded to made the claim that source code couldn't be stolen, only copied (similar to the standard argument "it's copyright infringement, not theft", often applied to copied media). There was more, but I don't remember the wording, and I don't want to misrepresent the position.
- sillysaurus3 9y agoIf part of the value of the source code is its secrecy, then its value decreases when it's made public. It's not necessarily true that part of the value of source code is its secrecy, though. We'd like to believe that, but it's difficult to come up with evidence to support it. Most instances where source code is leaked result in no damage to the owner, for example.
- nemothekid 9y ago>It's not necessarily true that part of the value of source code is its secrecy, though. Pretty sure the same could be said of KFC's secret spices recipe.
- pcwalton 9y agoI hate to be the person to post this comment, but anyway: We have pretty good evidence that KFC's recipe has been reverse engineered and/or leaked anyway. Doesn't seem to have affected its sales much. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KFC_Original_Recipe#Recipe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KFC_Original_Recipe#Recipe
- eric_h 9y agoIndeed, never underestimate the power of the brand itself.
- khedoros1 9y agoI concede the point. I don't think I can prove that hidden source is always beneficial for the company, and maybe not even that it ever is (although that weaker version of the claim just needs one counter-example ;-) ).
- Sidnicious 9y agoSorry, I wasn't thinking of the App Store. I read the original text as meaning that they might block cracked versions of Panic apps from running on Macs entirely.
- majormajor 9y ago"It would be incredibly shitty to try to harm their business like that, but that's no reason to try to prevent it"?
- Sidnicious 9y agoI don't believe that the role of an OS maintainer includes blocking users from running any software. (It's OK to make malware difficult to run.)
- khedoros1 9y agoI read it more as "I hope this isn't used as an excuse to lock down execution of arbitrary unsigned binaries".
- wlesieutre 9y agoI read that as more Apple being on hand to remove any unauthorized clones from the App Store. Software piracy has been around for years and they've never used their antimalware system to prevent a non-malicious app from launching just because it's pirated.