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> But legally, the iOS and the Mac developer agreements are separate contracts. This might have been true in the past but I don't believe it's true anymore. Th

> But legally, the iOS and the Mac developer agreements are separate contracts. This might have been true in the past but I don't believe it's true anymore. The two have been combined into a single program governed by the Apple Developer Program License Agreement which can be found here: https://developer.apple.com/terms/ https://developer.apple.com/terms/

pornel 6y ago
What's really troubling is that a legitimate anti-malware feature has been tied to "we can do whatever we want" TOS. The Developer Id system was a decent compromise: gave developers way out from App Store walled garden, and still protected users from random "Update your Flash!" malware downloads. But now Apple has demonstrated that it will use it as a weapon in App Store disputes, even on a different platform, even when the Developer Id app clearly isn't malware, and the Mac app didn't violate any rules.
- ArchOversight 6y ago
  Code signing has been a thing for a while, Windows has had it for ages. With Windows though you have to get a cert from an authorized partner, with Apple you go directly to the source. That includes agreeing with the terms of the developer agreement, which clearly states that if you violate the rules, you lose access to your developer account, and thus access to the signing keys to sign new applications.
  - donmcronald 6y ago
    There's a difference between those two systems. You can get normal code signing certs from multiple vendors and if one of them unfairly revokes your certificate [1] it doesn't prevent you from getting one from another vendor. If your business is big enough you might even have more than one code signing certificate on hand. Compare that to a developer account (Apple, Google, or Microsoft) where there's ONE vendor for the signing certificate and it comes along with a significantly more complex (developer) agreement that includes curation and (often arbitrary) requirements and ToS. 1. https://it.slashdot.org/story/19/06/02/0042209/ask-slashdot-what-to-do-when-your-certificate-authority-suddenly-revokes-your-cert https://it.slashdot.org/story/19/06/02/0042209/ask-slashdot-...

pornel 6y ago

What's really troubling is that a legitimate anti-malware feature has been tied to "we can do whatever we want" TOS. The Developer Id system was a decent compromise: gave developers way out from App Store walled garden, and still protected users from random "Update your Flash!" malware downloads. But now Apple has demonstrated that it will use it as a weapon in App Store disputes, even on a different platform, even when the Developer Id app clearly isn't malware, and the Mac app didn't violate any rules.

ArchOversight 6y ago
Code signing has been a thing for a while, Windows has had it for ages. With Windows though you have to get a cert from an authorized partner, with Apple you go directly to the source. That includes agreeing with the terms of the developer agreement, which clearly states that if you violate the rules, you lose access to your developer account, and thus access to the signing keys to sign new applications.
- donmcronald 6y ago
  There's a difference between those two systems. You can get normal code signing certs from multiple vendors and if one of them unfairly revokes your certificate [1] it doesn't prevent you from getting one from another vendor. If your business is big enough you might even have more than one code signing certificate on hand. Compare that to a developer account (Apple, Google, or Microsoft) where there's ONE vendor for the signing certificate and it comes along with a significantly more complex (developer) agreement that includes curation and (often arbitrary) requirements and ToS. 1. https://it.slashdot.org/story/19/06/02/0042209/ask-slashdot-what-to-do-when-your-certificate-authority-suddenly-revokes-your-cert https://it.slashdot.org/story/19/06/02/0042209/ask-slashdot-...