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An individual window would have completely destroyed the point. The point was to make you aware of what permissions the applications you use require access to.

An individual window would have completely destroyed the point. The point was to make you aware of what permissions the applications you use require access to. And to get explicit permission from the user.

toomim 7y ago
You could do that within a single window.
- burk96 7y ago
  You certainly could, however I guarantee a huge majority of users wouldn't read a lick of what they were agreeing to. Individual popups don't completely solve this, but it makes more obvious that a specific application is requesting a large amount of permissions. They're a bit more digestible to the crowd that won't bother to read an alert longer than one line.
- 72deluxe 7y ago
  How? It shows it at the point of access request. If 2 programs request access 5 minutes apart, how would you show that in a single window? Do you suspend the first program and wait until another application makes an access request? What happens if another doesn't make a request in a given time period? Will the user wonder why the first application has stopped doing anything useful for 5 minutes? Honestly, how would you show this in a single window?
inferiorhuman 7y ago
An individual window would have completely destroyed the point. Hardly. Apple could have used the OSX installer to scan two or three common locations for applications and do a bit of static analysis. Apple could have put the permissions notifications in the notification center with an annoying nag screen every hour or two for the first ~30 days turning into an immediate prompt after that (or after all detected programs have been processed).
- etchalon 7y ago
  That sounds like deeply awful UX.
  - inferiorhuman 7y ago
    That sounds like deeply awful UX. Indeed, almost as bad as popping up countless dialogs per application.
    - etchalon 7y ago
      Ah, yes, the tyranny of using the mechanism designed to ask a user to read and confirm something to read and confirm multiple somethings.
      - inferiorhuman 7y ago
        Ah, yes, the tyranny of using the mechanism designed to ask a user to read and confirm something to read and confirm multiple somethings. So what's the point then? To inflict more pain?
- 72deluxe 7y ago
  If a program calls fopen, how is static analysis going to help? It will just know that the program will open a file of some kind, not the location of said file.

toomim 7y ago

You could do that within a single window.

burk96 7y ago
You certainly could, however I guarantee a huge majority of users wouldn't read a lick of what they were agreeing to. Individual popups don't completely solve this, but it makes more obvious that a specific application is requesting a large amount of permissions. They're a bit more digestible to the crowd that won't bother to read an alert longer than one line.
72deluxe 7y ago
How? It shows it at the point of access request. If 2 programs request access 5 minutes apart, how would you show that in a single window? Do you suspend the first program and wait until another application makes an access request? What happens if another doesn't make a request in a given time period? Will the user wonder why the first application has stopped doing anything useful for 5 minutes? Honestly, how would you show this in a single window?

inferiorhuman 7y ago

An individual window would have completely destroyed the point. Hardly. Apple could have used the OSX installer to scan two or three common locations for applications and do a bit of static analysis. Apple could have put the permissions notifications in the notification center with an annoying nag screen every hour or two for the first ~30 days turning into an immediate prompt after that (or after all detected programs have been processed).

etchalon 7y ago
That sounds like deeply awful UX.
- inferiorhuman 7y ago
  That sounds like deeply awful UX. Indeed, almost as bad as popping up countless dialogs per application.
  - etchalon 7y ago
    Ah, yes, the tyranny of using the mechanism designed to ask a user to read and confirm something to read and confirm multiple somethings.
    - inferiorhuman 7y ago
      Ah, yes, the tyranny of using the mechanism designed to ask a user to read and confirm something to read and confirm multiple somethings. So what's the point then? To inflict more pain?
72deluxe 7y ago
If a program calls fopen, how is static analysis going to help? It will just know that the program will open a file of some kind, not the location of said file.