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There's an explosion of people trying to get their software on your phone and application tricks scraping away information and control from the end user. Someon
by friendlybus 6y ago
There's an explosion of people trying to get their software on your phone and application tricks scraping away information and control from the end user. Someone has got to filter the deluge of garbage, and people cling to Apple to do it.
Phones aren't simple enough that the end user can manage everything it does and the software world isn't well behaved enough that we can exist without gatekeepers.
- fakedang 6y agoWake me up when Apple filters away Facebook and a host of Google Apps from its store, since their apps trick users into divulging information involuntarily.
- II2II 6y agoAs relevant as the gatekeeper argument is, there is also a big drawback: you need to trust the gatekeeper's competence and motivations. Not only do you need to trust them in the here and now, but you have to trust it into the future. Keep in mind that a change in management or a change in the viability of a company can lead to radical changes in their direction. Contrast the locked down model to the open source approach. Yes, there are nefarious operators in the world of open source. On the other hand the privacy concerns are much lessened. Now there are many reasons for that, but two of those reasons are the visibility of how the software works and the ability to modify it when necessary.