5 ms·

An Open Letter to Apple Computer, Inc.

22 points by chrisrhoden 16y ago

Apple Computer, Inc., I have watched, with a certain amount of surprise and agreement, as the nerd elite have rallied in response to your announcement of the Mac App Store. I will summarize their concerns here, for your benefit: First, if you ever decide to distribute software solely through the Mac App Store for Apple Computers, independent software producers will not have an easy way to distribute their software on their own terms. Second, A lot of software licensing requires that it be redistributable, but if the only way to load software onto a machine is through a third party, that licensing is not satisfied even when the software is free of charge. That's it. That's the whole reason that people are upset. Other people can talk about various other issues with your approval process, but they would frankly get over it if there was an assurance that it will always remain as easy as it currently is to install software on a Mac outside of the App Store channel. To be honest, your assurance would probably not mean very much. Apple made it very clear that they would never make a netbook, and now we have the new MacBook Air, which absolutely meets the requirements to be described as such. This is but the last in a long string of what I will generously call misdirections. I have a solution which will, however, satisfy the nerds and make them happier than you have likely considered possible. It's a solution that will lessen the load of your approval team, not cut into your revenue streams, and lower your bandwidth and infrastructure costs. I'm asking you to harness the power of open standards and the internet, something that you have spoken in favor of a number of times, but in a slightly different light. Open your App Store protocol. Allow people to host their own App Store servers. Provide a single, buried configuration dialog that allows people to add the urls of these servers. Don't even worry about payment, because the nerds want to distribute their software for free. When you have done this, you win. Of course, it would mean one more dialog, one that would likely be very confusing to some of your users. But then, I might consider buying another Mac or 50 over the course of my life, and I am fairly confident that there are others who feel the same way. Please don't underestimate how many of your customers care about their computers. Thanks very much for your time, Chris Rhoden

some1else 16y ago
Your proposition has merit. I think this is another place where Apple's ideology might be counterproductive. But as we all know, they tend to stick to it regardless :-I I hope the least they do is leave ordinary install options in tact. Other App Stores will probably emerge just like the Android Store clones.
huntero 16y ago
That would be nice for the power users, but opening the App Store protocol seems opposite to Apple's entire vision for their mobile iOS and OSX app stores. Apple doesn't water down their products with compromise and while that upsets a lot of users, it's also the entire reason why a lot of Apple software and hardware feels an entire generation above competitors products. Apple's choices and thick-headedness bugs me, but I'm happy there is a major player out there who doesn't give in to the loud minority of power-users.
zoomzoom 16y ago
All this does is make it easy for someone to package an app server full of malware for grandma to download. Never gonna happen.
- chrisrhoden 16y ago
  If you opt to add a repository that is full of malware, that is no different from downloading a piece of software from an unreputable website. I don't really see the issue here, especially since most users will not every find a need to use this.
  - Xuzz 16y ago
    Or even find the option -- hiding it well is important.
arn 16y ago
fwiw, Apple never said they would never make a netbook. I believe the relevant quote was "We don't know how to build a sub-$500 computer that is not a piece of junk." (And, the MacBook Air is still not sub-$500.) http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_47/b4156000345421.htm http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_47/b41560003...
lylejohnson 16y ago
> An Open Letter to Apple Computer, Inc. It's been almost four years since the company was named "Apple Computer". A lot of words were written at the time about what the name change signified, but I think it's reasonable to say that making the "nerd elite" happy has taken a back seat to producing more locked-down, consumer-oriented products. Apple has hit on a pretty successful model with the iPhone app store and I'd be surprised if they move towards opening that up with the Mac App Store.
ceejayoz 16y ago
If you're paranoid enough to think Apple is going to make the Mac App Store the only way to install software (not going to happen, but whatever)... ... why on earth would you trust Apple not to remove the third-party app store support in some future release?
saurik 16y ago
So, there is a lot of confusion over these issues, and I always find that very distress distressing, so let me make this clear: Apple's application approval process on the iPhone, and soon on Mac OS X with the Mac App Store, is a small part of the story, and frankly I will say it is the least interesting part. I recently gave a talk at TEDxAmericanRiviera that touched on this subject: I think it is an enjoyable and understandable explanation of what it means that the ecosystem of software on the iPhone is limited to "applications", and how that is not what consumers want. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReKCp9K_Jqw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReKCp9K_Jqw As some people may not wish to watch a video, I will go ahead and attempt to provide a little context here, in text. The idea is that the App Store is designed to install "applications": units of software that typically involve an icon on some kind of launcher that opens a window into some new functionality the device previously did not have. However, is that really all that users want to be able to do with their devices? If we just look at the stories posted to Hacker News about Android software we already see that would be a flawed premise: there is a long train of "cool" surrounding products like Swype and 8pen. These programs replace the system input manager, aka the keyboard, for all applications. These programs are not just apps: they are extensions to other applications on the device. We also see this in the form of custom launchers, dialers, and widgets: Android has numerous ways that developers can extend the core functionality of the handset in ways that escape the trap that is the icon. Now, before you start thinking "woah, Android is awesome", you still can't add functionality to the address book, the notification area, or the task switcher... or any of the other insanely large number of things that the device is capable of doing. Every time you add a little bit more ability there is still going to be a ton of things that are not exposed. You may now ask: what else is there? Go look at your average jailbroken iPhone: the stuff people are developing and installing is /amazing/. There are almost no limits to what you can change on the device; it isn't open source, but it is damned close. No system feature or application is immune to the influence of small and large changes. (For some cool examples and screenshots, watch the aforementioned talk.) And, if you really insist that open isn't open until it is open source you can gut the bootloader and install Android on the thing thanks to the iDroid project. This is why I absolutely hate it when I read people focusing on rejected applications or "opening up" the app store. In a future where Apple did /exactly what you are asking them to do/ almost nothing will have changed: people will still need to jailbreak their phones and developers will still be writing and distributing all of this cool software using Cydia. Seriously: Apple doesn't actually deny much from their App Store. They are occasionally a little anti-competitive, and that sucks, but these really boil down to a handful of high-profile cases: the effect on the market is minimal. Most of what they deny either a) doesn't work or b) is illegal or morally objectionable to your average American. I say "American", as that's key: by having Apple, a US company, be the gatekeeper of content, there is a plethora of software involving aspects of copyright or slander law that is simply illegal for them to distribute. Meanwhile, things like pornography are a nigh-unto-no-go for their business model. But please understand: that's the /only/ important issue with Apple being the shepherd, that is not an issue that your average iPhone jailbreaker or Android rooter (the classes of user that I think are central to this discussion as they are the poster child of a user affected by the closed policies of these companies enough to take matters into their own hand) gives a care in the world to. Really, if you browse through Cydia, you will find only a small handful of applications. The number of applications that are in Cydia as "refugees" from the App Store was always low, and it is dwindling very rapidly as Apple slowly opens up their Store more (thanks to some nice efforts by companies like Adobe). Everything people jailbreak for is fundamentally not deployable by the App Store applications they /are not apps/. So please... PLEASE... I /implore/ you: drop the battle to get Apple to open up their App Store(s). Instead, work on getting Apple to open up their /device/ (and, in the case of desktop Mac OS X, to maintain the reasonable open-ness of their MacBook line of computers). Until users are able to install whatever software they wish on the hardware that they own we will not truly have won back any of our freedom.
chc 16y ago
There are so many problems in the world right now — big problems, small problems, even problems that people don't know they have. Why would you waste time on a problem that you admit in your very first paragraph does not exist?
JustinD 16y ago
Just stop. Really.

22 points by chrisrhoden 16y ago

some1else 16y ago

Your proposition has merit. I think this is another place where Apple's ideology might be counterproductive. But as we all know, they tend to stick to it regardless :-I I hope the least they do is leave ordinary install options in tact. Other App Stores will probably emerge just like the Android Store clones.

huntero 16y ago

That would be nice for the power users, but opening the App Store protocol seems opposite to Apple's entire vision for their mobile iOS and OSX app stores. Apple doesn't water down their products with compromise and while that upsets a lot of users, it's also the entire reason why a lot of Apple software and hardware feels an entire generation above competitors products. Apple's choices and thick-headedness bugs me, but I'm happy there is a major player out there who doesn't give in to the loud minority of power-users.

zoomzoom 16y ago

All this does is make it easy for someone to package an app server full of malware for grandma to download. Never gonna happen.

chrisrhoden 16y ago
If you opt to add a repository that is full of malware, that is no different from downloading a piece of software from an unreputable website. I don't really see the issue here, especially since most users will not every find a need to use this.
- Xuzz 16y ago
  Or even find the option -- hiding it well is important.

arn 16y ago

fwiw, Apple never said they would never make a netbook. I believe the relevant quote was "We don't know how to build a sub-$500 computer that is not a piece of junk." (And, the MacBook Air is still not sub-$500.) http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_47/b4156000345421.htm http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_47/b41560003...

lylejohnson 16y ago

> An Open Letter to Apple Computer, Inc. It's been almost four years since the company was named "Apple Computer". A lot of words were written at the time about what the name change signified, but I think it's reasonable to say that making the "nerd elite" happy has taken a back seat to producing more locked-down, consumer-oriented products. Apple has hit on a pretty successful model with the iPhone app store and I'd be surprised if they move towards opening that up with the Mac App Store.

ceejayoz 16y ago

If you're paranoid enough to think Apple is going to make the Mac App Store the only way to install software (not going to happen, but whatever)... ... why on earth would you trust Apple not to remove the third-party app store support in some future release?

saurik 16y ago

So, there is a lot of confusion over these issues, and I always find that very distress distressing, so let me make this clear: Apple's application approval process on the iPhone, and soon on Mac OS X with the Mac App Store, is a small part of the story, and frankly I will say it is the least interesting part. I recently gave a talk at TEDxAmericanRiviera that touched on this subject: I think it is an enjoyable and understandable explanation of what it means that the ecosystem of software on the iPhone is limited to "applications", and how that is not what consumers want. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReKCp9K_Jqw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReKCp9K_Jqw As some people may not wish to watch a video, I will go ahead and attempt to provide a little context here, in text. The idea is that the App Store is designed to install "applications": units of software that typically involve an icon on some kind of launcher that opens a window into some new functionality the device previously did not have. However, is that really all that users want to be able to do with their devices? If we just look at the stories posted to Hacker News about Android software we already see that would be a flawed premise: there is a long train of "cool" surrounding products like Swype and 8pen. These programs replace the system input manager, aka the keyboard, for all applications. These programs are not just apps: they are extensions to other applications on the device. We also see this in the form of custom launchers, dialers, and widgets: Android has numerous ways that developers can extend the core functionality of the handset in ways that escape the trap that is the icon. Now, before you start thinking "woah, Android is awesome", you still can't add functionality to the address book, the notification area, or the task switcher... or any of the other insanely large number of things that the device is capable of doing. Every time you add a little bit more ability there is still going to be a ton of things that are not exposed. You may now ask: what else is there? Go look at your average jailbroken iPhone: the stuff people are developing and installing is /amazing/. There are almost no limits to what you can change on the device; it isn't open source, but it is damned close. No system feature or application is immune to the influence of small and large changes. (For some cool examples and screenshots, watch the aforementioned talk.) And, if you really insist that open isn't open until it is open source you can gut the bootloader and install Android on the thing thanks to the iDroid project. This is why I absolutely hate it when I read people focusing on rejected applications or "opening up" the app store. In a future where Apple did /exactly what you are asking them to do/ almost nothing will have changed: people will still need to jailbreak their phones and developers will still be writing and distributing all of this cool software using Cydia. Seriously: Apple doesn't actually deny much from their App Store. They are occasionally a little anti-competitive, and that sucks, but these really boil down to a handful of high-profile cases: the effect on the market is minimal. Most of what they deny either a) doesn't work or b) is illegal or morally objectionable to your average American. I say "American", as that's key: by having Apple, a US company, be the gatekeeper of content, there is a plethora of software involving aspects of copyright or slander law that is simply illegal for them to distribute. Meanwhile, things like pornography are a nigh-unto-no-go for their business model. But please understand: that's the /only/ important issue with Apple being the shepherd, that is not an issue that your average iPhone jailbreaker or Android rooter (the classes of user that I think are central to this discussion as they are the poster child of a user affected by the closed policies of these companies enough to take matters into their own hand) gives a care in the world to. Really, if you browse through Cydia, you will find only a small handful of applications. The number of applications that are in Cydia as "refugees" from the App Store was always low, and it is dwindling very rapidly as Apple slowly opens up their Store more (thanks to some nice efforts by companies like Adobe). Everything people jailbreak for is fundamentally not deployable by the App Store applications they /are not apps/. So please... PLEASE... I /implore/ you: drop the battle to get Apple to open up their App Store(s). Instead, work on getting Apple to open up their /device/ (and, in the case of desktop Mac OS X, to maintain the reasonable open-ness of their MacBook line of computers). Until users are able to install whatever software they wish on the hardware that they own we will not truly have won back any of our freedom.

chc 16y ago

There are so many problems in the world right now — big problems, small problems, even problems that people don't know they have. Why would you waste time on a problem that you admit in your very first paragraph does not exist?

JustinD 16y ago

Just stop. Really.