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This is a huge move. Apple striking at the core of Facebook's play to own your identity, which they had with Facebook Connect but have completely fudged out wit

This is a huge move. Apple striking at the core of Facebook's play to own your identity, which they had with Facebook Connect but have completely fudged out with countless breaches of user privacy and trust. I used to be the biggest fanboy of facebook connect, but now I have to say: Go Apple.

basch 7y ago
Apple ID as SSO, iMessage Profile, Memoji, and Apple Pay. Apple is near FB Messenger parity, now that it functions as an account for external services. It's an extremely strong move on Apple's part, especially considering how close to it they have been for a while. They sure like taking their time sometimes.
- mindgam3 7y ago
  True. Apple definitely playing the long game here, effectively. When iMessage came out I totally didn't see it ever becoming a viable identity play. But with all these privacy concerns, now it feels like the one to beat.
  - damnyou 7y ago
    How can I access iMessage from my Linux laptop?
    - mindgam3 7y ago
      Not sure if that's possible. iMessage is a mobile first product, so presumably you need an iPhone to start using it. Then a Mac computer. It's definitely a closed system that works great if you buy into Apple's family of products, less great otherwise.
      - damnyou 7y ago
        I know it's impossible. Since I don't have any Apple phones iMessage is useless for me. The vast majority of people in the world are similar to me. Apple's products are not a play for anything. Their services are built for people with more money than sense.
    - baroffoos 7y ago
      There is an app you can use on a jailbroken ios device that turns it in to a relay/web server which allows you to use imessage on any device. I guess if you really wanted to use it you could just buy an ancient iphone and leave it always plugged in.
- damnyou 7y ago
  Sorry how can I get iMessage on my Android phone? Sensible people do not deliberately handcuff themselves to trillion dollar megacorps and then throw away the key.
  - basch 7y ago
    Yes they do https://bgr.com/2019/05/31/iphone-11-rumors-leaks-vs-android-survey-surprise/ https://bgr.com/2019/05/31/iphone-11-rumors-leaks-vs-android... AND https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/iphone-use-teens-2018/ https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/iphone-use-teens-2018/ >He works in IT at an unnamed company, and his team noticed something crazy: of the 500 employees at the company, only 8 of them chose to use an Android phone. Everyone else — all 492 of them — chose an iPhone over Android phones. It was because they didn’t want to be “green bubbles,” a reference to the fact that iMessage chats in the iPhone’s Messages app use blue bubbles while SMS chats are displayed with green bubbles. Forget all of the great advantages iPhones might offer, iMessage is the main reason all these people wanted an iPhone. 98% of the employees at this company went with Apple over Android, and for the majority of them, it was mainly because of a single service. If people didnt "throw away the key" services like Google ID, Microsoft ID, and Facebook ID wouldnt exist. Centralized OAuth providers are here to say, even if a lot of us on HN dont like them. You want to get into your tshirtclub account after facebook locks your account, too bad!
    - damnyou 7y ago
      Google and Facebook IDs work on Android, Windows and Linux.
      - basch 7y ago
        Apple doesn't care. (despite me thinking they should, their biggest growth was right after iTunes for windows.) They care about offering services to their paying customers, not anyone else. If you don't buy their stuff, they don't care about you. Compared to fb/Google who care about you to make you pay attention to ads, it's a refreshing twist.
- noelsusman 7y ago
  They're close to parity with a giant exception that it's not available to the overwhelming majority of Facebook users.
  - pluffycat 7y ago
    Fb and G screwed themselves by: forcing users to submit real cell phone numbers (no forwarding numbers allowed) and real names. I’m laughing all the way to the apple oauth signup. So tired of G and Fb abusing users
    - rconti 7y ago
      From a privacy standpoint, yes, but from a Signal:Noise ratio, this is what made Fb usable for so long.
    - throaway5533 7y ago
      Apple now requires 2FA for new accounts created on an iPhone and for 2FA they require a phone number.
      - pluffycat 7y ago
        Hmmm that’s annoying then.
      - basch 7y ago
        but you can just go to icloud.com, sign up, and then type that into your phone. a pretty easy workaround.
  - basch 7y ago
    Feature parity for most people, not userbase parity.
    - noelsusman 7y ago
      The ability to run on my phone seems like an important feature.
MRD85 7y ago
I've been anti-Apple since I was a high school kid in the 90's. Those big colourful Mac's looked dumb. They're close to winning me over and I'm probably buying a new laptop within 12 months
- mindgam3 7y ago
  I highly recommend buying a 2015 Macbook Pro, if you can find someone willing to part with theirs. Apple laptop hardware started going off the rails after they shipped that one with touch bar + keyboard shenanigans.
  - MRD85 7y ago
    Ok, thanks. I know nothing at all about Apple hardware. It's still a very daunting decision to make. I like the ability to buy my own hardware, for desktops, and to build what I like at a cheaper price. Apple charges a premium but now I have more of an idea of what that premium will get me. It would be a huge migration for me. Everything I own is tied to one of a few Gmail accounts. My photo history, my uni work in GDrive, my contact lists, my email history, everything about my entire online identity. I'm just increasingly fed up with how Google approaches privacy.
    - alexis_fr 7y ago
      You can use everything gmail on Apple products. But, as he said, Macbooks 2015 were the top of their art, and it’s all going downhill now. Since 2014 they start to have kernel panics, since 2016 they have a failure-prone keyboard with no hardware “Esc” key. And it now costs 150$ for an external keyboard. Prices up, quality down, emojis in.
    - baroffoos 7y ago
      At my office every single one of the new macbooks (since about 3-4 years ago) has had the keyboard fail. Some of them have had the keyboard fail repeatedly after getting apple to fix it. The ifixit tear down shows that the 2019 model has done nothing to fix the issue. I highly recommend the Dell XPS over a macbook pro. The form factor is very similar but the hardware is much more reliable and fixing it is way way easier as most parts can be replaced separately.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

basch 7y ago

Apple ID as SSO, iMessage Profile, Memoji, and Apple Pay. Apple is near FB Messenger parity, now that it functions as an account for external services. It's an extremely strong move on Apple's part, especially considering how close to it they have been for a while. They sure like taking their time sometimes.

mindgam3 7y ago
True. Apple definitely playing the long game here, effectively. When iMessage came out I totally didn't see it ever becoming a viable identity play. But with all these privacy concerns, now it feels like the one to beat.
- damnyou 7y ago
  How can I access iMessage from my Linux laptop?
  - mindgam3 7y ago
    Not sure if that's possible. iMessage is a mobile first product, so presumably you need an iPhone to start using it. Then a Mac computer. It's definitely a closed system that works great if you buy into Apple's family of products, less great otherwise.
    - damnyou 7y ago
      I know it's impossible. Since I don't have any Apple phones iMessage is useless for me. The vast majority of people in the world are similar to me. Apple's products are not a play for anything. Their services are built for people with more money than sense.
  - baroffoos 7y ago
    There is an app you can use on a jailbroken ios device that turns it in to a relay/web server which allows you to use imessage on any device. I guess if you really wanted to use it you could just buy an ancient iphone and leave it always plugged in.
damnyou 7y ago
Sorry how can I get iMessage on my Android phone? Sensible people do not deliberately handcuff themselves to trillion dollar megacorps and then throw away the key.
- basch 7y ago
  Yes they do https://bgr.com/2019/05/31/iphone-11-rumors-leaks-vs-android-survey-surprise/ https://bgr.com/2019/05/31/iphone-11-rumors-leaks-vs-android... AND https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/iphone-use-teens-2018/ https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/iphone-use-teens-2018/ >He works in IT at an unnamed company, and his team noticed something crazy: of the 500 employees at the company, only 8 of them chose to use an Android phone. Everyone else — all 492 of them — chose an iPhone over Android phones. It was because they didn’t want to be “green bubbles,” a reference to the fact that iMessage chats in the iPhone’s Messages app use blue bubbles while SMS chats are displayed with green bubbles. Forget all of the great advantages iPhones might offer, iMessage is the main reason all these people wanted an iPhone. 98% of the employees at this company went with Apple over Android, and for the majority of them, it was mainly because of a single service. If people didnt "throw away the key" services like Google ID, Microsoft ID, and Facebook ID wouldnt exist. Centralized OAuth providers are here to say, even if a lot of us on HN dont like them. You want to get into your tshirtclub account after facebook locks your account, too bad!
  - damnyou 7y ago
    Google and Facebook IDs work on Android, Windows and Linux.
    - basch 7y ago
      Apple doesn't care. (despite me thinking they should, their biggest growth was right after iTunes for windows.) They care about offering services to their paying customers, not anyone else. If you don't buy their stuff, they don't care about you. Compared to fb/Google who care about you to make you pay attention to ads, it's a refreshing twist.
noelsusman 7y ago
They're close to parity with a giant exception that it's not available to the overwhelming majority of Facebook users.
- pluffycat 7y ago
  Fb and G screwed themselves by: forcing users to submit real cell phone numbers (no forwarding numbers allowed) and real names. I’m laughing all the way to the apple oauth signup. So tired of G and Fb abusing users
  - rconti 7y ago
    From a privacy standpoint, yes, but from a Signal:Noise ratio, this is what made Fb usable for so long.
  - throaway5533 7y ago
    Apple now requires 2FA for new accounts created on an iPhone and for 2FA they require a phone number.
    - pluffycat 7y ago
      Hmmm that’s annoying then.
    - basch 7y ago
      but you can just go to icloud.com, sign up, and then type that into your phone. a pretty easy workaround.
- basch 7y ago
  Feature parity for most people, not userbase parity.
  - noelsusman 7y ago
    The ability to run on my phone seems like an important feature.

MRD85 7y ago

I've been anti-Apple since I was a high school kid in the 90's. Those big colourful Mac's looked dumb. They're close to winning me over and I'm probably buying a new laptop within 12 months

mindgam3 7y ago
I highly recommend buying a 2015 Macbook Pro, if you can find someone willing to part with theirs. Apple laptop hardware started going off the rails after they shipped that one with touch bar + keyboard shenanigans.
- MRD85 7y ago
  Ok, thanks. I know nothing at all about Apple hardware. It's still a very daunting decision to make. I like the ability to buy my own hardware, for desktops, and to build what I like at a cheaper price. Apple charges a premium but now I have more of an idea of what that premium will get me. It would be a huge migration for me. Everything I own is tied to one of a few Gmail accounts. My photo history, my uni work in GDrive, my contact lists, my email history, everything about my entire online identity. I'm just increasingly fed up with how Google approaches privacy.
  - alexis_fr 7y ago
    You can use everything gmail on Apple products. But, as he said, Macbooks 2015 were the top of their art, and it’s all going downhill now. Since 2014 they start to have kernel panics, since 2016 they have a failure-prone keyboard with no hardware “Esc” key. And it now costs 150$ for an external keyboard. Prices up, quality down, emojis in.
  - baroffoos 7y ago
    At my office every single one of the new macbooks (since about 3-4 years ago) has had the keyboard fail. Some of them have had the keyboard fail repeatedly after getting apple to fix it. The ifixit tear down shows that the 2019 model has done nothing to fix the issue. I highly recommend the Dell XPS over a macbook pro. The form factor is very similar but the hardware is much more reliable and fixing it is way way easier as most parts can be replaced separately.

deleted 7y ago

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