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because unlike the iOS platform, you can trivially distribute unvetted programs yourself. But do you think developers will always have that option?
by remi 16y ago
because unlike the iOS platform, you can trivially distribute unvetted programs yourself.
But do you think developers will always have that option?
- tofumatt 16y agoApple will not prevent ad-hoc app distribution on the Mac; doing so would prevent Adobe from releasing Creative Suite on the Mac because of their non-App Store-compatible licensing. Won't happen. Or if it does, easy: time to leave the Mac.
- lukeschlather 16y agoFor most people a $600+ dollar purchase with highly depreciating value is not something you can just walk away from.
- aristidb 16y agoGiven that this will certainly not happen in the next 2+ years, I think you would have gotten some value from the device by that time.
- tptacek 16y agoYes.
- generalk 16y agoPreventing users from running code not obtained through the Mac App Store would change the Mac fundamentally from a personal computer to something like a console. Apple making that move would alienate every software dev and anyone who's ever bought a boxed retail app that's unavailable on the App Store, just to start. Clearly, Apple likes markets they can control completely, but I think that if the time comes Apple will simply stop selling and supporting Macs rather than attempt to fundamentally change what a Mac is. And if it does happen, it'll happen very slowly.
- tptacek 16y agoAnd, Apple already has a platform exclusively for curated apps: iOS. The whole notion of a "Mac App Store" revolves around curated apps on an otherwise open platform. A locked-down MacOS is really, from the perspective of consumers (the only thing that actually matters), just iOS.
- orangecat 16y agoI think that if the time comes Apple will simply stop selling and supporting Macs rather than attempt to fundamentally change what a Mac is. I'd say that would still count. A prediction I'm more than 50% confident of: by the end of 2016, Apple will not sell any consumer-targeted products that run unapproved apps.
- foljs 16y agoI.e do you decide on your business moves with 10 year plans about what MIGHT happen...