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Apple themselves distributed software as a binary before they had an App Store. If there was some other "norm" to speak of, it didn't exist when the Apple IIc h

• simondotau 3y ago
  Correct, it didn't exist back then, because just about the only software a consumer would ever be exposed to was some kind of desktop computer. The closed model got its early start in the nineties when it became increasingly common for consumer devices to include software in their design. Among the earliest examples of this emerging new normal in its gestational phase would be game consoles from the 16-bit era onwards. It also included just about all pre-smart cellular phones (but for occasional a rather pointless Java support), nearly all printers, nearly all camcorders, and so on. There are probably between 5 and 50 internet connected "computers" in the typical home and the typical consumer has some semblance of software control on maybe three of them.
  • smoldesu 3y ago
    Game consoles defend their software ecosystem because they don't have hardware margins (unlike Apple). Apple could try to use the console manufacturer defense, but they'd have to abandon their biggest cash cow to make it work. > nearly all printers, nearly all camcorders, and so on. I'm really starting to think nobody here read the Digital Service Act. Unless your toaster or smart-refrigerator is a gatekeeper platform with the required number of users, it doesn't matter. Apple is rightfully being called out for anticompetitive conduct, regardless of how you feel about the morality of an App Store. If App Stores are the future, we'll have to Think Different and implement them in better way. Apple has their work cut out for them, the preemptive apologism falls on deaf ears.