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Yes! Basically, I find the distinction between 'computer' and 'device' (using the common parlance) troublesome. The control that manufacturers have in phones a

by Gunax 5y ago

Yes! Basically, I find the distinction between 'computer' and 'device' (using the common parlance) troublesome. The control that manufacturers have in phones and consoles would be appalling if done in a general computer, but I find the distinction meaningless.

quitit 5y ago
Why can't we let device makers choose that for themselves? While iOS has a streamlined application and approval process for apps, it's still an application and approval process. On the other hand Windows, macOS and similar do not have this requirement to run software on those platforms. To me that's a meaningful distinction. It seems like there is a desire out there to turn iOS into macOS through government lobbying - I can see both sides to that discussion, but I have various arguments for why this would be a mistake for actual end users, whose experience I hold above developers' wishes for new business opportunities. The targeting of a popular platform this way is killing the golden goose. Certain greedy types are spearheading initiatives that will harm small developers and the platform for the sole benefit of bigger players. Consumers don't want to fuss with stores or hand their payment details over to an unknown 3rd party, we've seen it with digital magazine/news/music/content subscriptions, we've seen it with premium SMS, we've seen it with an endless parade of scam apps and services online. We even see it offline with gym memberships, scam-charities and again magazine/newspaper subscriptions. The escrow-model of the AppStore and Google Play lets consumers ignore the trust issues in handing over their banking/CC details. If suddenly the only way you can get non-Apple or non-Google services is to give your bank or credit card details to an unknown, that is going to result in trust problems eventually turning away consumers from online purchasing, plus obvious fraud issues at the credit-card or bank level, and a shift in developers having to rely on ad-supported "free" apps, because consumers are wary of purchasing directly. "But a developer could just use IAP?!!?11" - sure they could, but now they can't compete with incumbents like Spotify who would have an unfair margin advantage, since they're well known and considered trustworthy. The likes of Spotify are then able to use their better margins to undercut smaller players who would need to use IAP for trust reasons, plus smaller operators will not be able to attain comparable rates with a payment processor. I.E. Start-ups or small operators get screwed by this. All up, this is the tip of the iceberg. Going for iOS is easy because one can frame a bunch of "open competition" arguments since the platform takes on the appearance of a general computing platform. However once the laws are in, you can bet it'll be used to crack open every kind of closed model (Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Kindle, etc) to the sole benefit of large incumbents that wish to exist as parasites to popular platforms. Meanwhile the consumer doesn't get anything new out of this, they don't get better competition nor cheaper prices, but they now have to watch out for fraud and malware.

by Gunax 5y ago

quitit 5y ago

Why can't we let device makers choose that for themselves? While iOS has a streamlined application and approval process for apps, it's still an application and approval process. On the other hand Windows, macOS and similar do not have this requirement to run software on those platforms. To me that's a meaningful distinction. It seems like there is a desire out there to turn iOS into macOS through government lobbying - I can see both sides to that discussion, but I have various arguments for why this would be a mistake for actual end users, whose experience I hold above developers' wishes for new business opportunities. The targeting of a popular platform this way is killing the golden goose. Certain greedy types are spearheading initiatives that will harm small developers and the platform for the sole benefit of bigger players. Consumers don't want to fuss with stores or hand their payment details over to an unknown 3rd party, we've seen it with digital magazine/news/music/content subscriptions, we've seen it with premium SMS, we've seen it with an endless parade of scam apps and services online. We even see it offline with gym memberships, scam-charities and again magazine/newspaper subscriptions. The escrow-model of the AppStore and Google Play lets consumers ignore the trust issues in handing over their banking/CC details. If suddenly the only way you can get non-Apple or non-Google services is to give your bank or credit card details to an unknown, that is going to result in trust problems eventually turning away consumers from online purchasing, plus obvious fraud issues at the credit-card or bank level, and a shift in developers having to rely on ad-supported "free" apps, because consumers are wary of purchasing directly. "But a developer could just use IAP?!!?11" - sure they could, but now they can't compete with incumbents like Spotify who would have an unfair margin advantage, since they're well known and considered trustworthy. The likes of Spotify are then able to use their better margins to undercut smaller players who would need to use IAP for trust reasons, plus smaller operators will not be able to attain comparable rates with a payment processor. I.E. Start-ups or small operators get screwed by this. All up, this is the tip of the iceberg. Going for iOS is easy because one can frame a bunch of "open competition" arguments since the platform takes on the appearance of a general computing platform. However once the laws are in, you can bet it'll be used to crack open every kind of closed model (Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Kindle, etc) to the sole benefit of large incumbents that wish to exist as parasites to popular platforms. Meanwhile the consumer doesn't get anything new out of this, they don't get better competition nor cheaper prices, but they now have to watch out for fraud and malware.