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The Mac desktop is a much less controlled environment. It doesn't help Apple to block a desktop app from their app store because if they do, the developer could

The Mac desktop is a much less controlled environment. It doesn't help Apple to block a desktop app from their app store because if they do, the developer could release it outside of the dev store. Less apps in the app store means less apps Apple can say it has in the app store. On the other hand, realistically, the app store is the only way to get apps onto an iPhone for the general public. They can easily control things there because it's the app store or bust.

CamperBob2 13y ago
It doesn't help Apple to block a desktop app from their app store because if they do, the developer could release it outside of the dev store. Safe to say that the ability to release unapproved applications on the Mac is now considered a bug by Apple, and being addressed accordingly.
- Philadelphia 13y ago
  No, it's really not. Could you explain why you think that?
  - JohnTHaller 13y ago
    See Gatekeeper: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht5290 http://support.apple.com/kb/ht5290 Used to be you could install any app you wanted. Now, Gatekeeper is set to deny apps from publishers that haven't paid the yearly Apple tax (aka 'registered' developers which costs $99 a year). Note that Gatekeeper has one additional setting which is app store only. Expect this to be the default in another year or two. Yes, you can adjust this setting yourself, but most users won't change it. This will kill off most hobbyist development on the Mac and a large percentage of open source apps (GPL apps, the most popular open source license, aren't permitted in the App Store).
    - rmrfrmrf 13y ago
      Any Mac user who uses "hobby" apps knows how to edit their System Preferences. For people like my parents, who never use any third-party apps and routinely move the entire Safari app to their desktop (I think they think it's a shortcut or something lol), Gatekeeper is useful. I'm just glad they're off PCs now; the number of tech-support calls I get from them has dropped dramatically.
      - JohnTHaller 13y ago
        I wonder what will happen to apps like Firefox when Apple switches Mac OS to App Store only by default and implement some of the restrictions in iOS in the Mac app store. Restrictions like no Javascript allowed. Sure, apps like Chrome can go the same route as they do on iOS and build a custom Chrome skin atop the slower Mobile Safari engine available to 3rd party apps and always be a slower 2nd place browser. But Firefox? If it's just another slower webkit skin, it's not Firefox. Which is why there's no Firefox on iOS.
        rplacd 13y ago
        Assuming none of the rest of the infrastructure'll change - I'd consider working with possibilities as future "when"s impractical enough; a user'll go download Firefox, the standard Gatekeeper denial message'll pop up: "Firefox" can't be opened because it was not downloaded from the Mac App Store. Your security preferences allow installation of only apps from the Mac App Store. Safari downloaded this file today at... And the user'll either trip over the message and give up in frustration - there will be a class of user who'll visually pattern-match, rather than engage with a meaningful back-and-forth with their computer - or pop into the System Preferences, find Security waiting for them, and off they go. Fairly banal, but by far and large that's because the assumption that switching the default to the MAS-only option would be a novel attempt at total exclusion shouldn't be true, give or take the major assumption outlined above: not so when the current default's in fact "Mac App Store and identified developers" - narrowing the locus of trusted sources, then, is a change that should happen independently of how easy it'll be to get an unsigned app running.
        13y ago
    - deleted 13y ago
      [deleted]
    - Philadelphia 13y ago
      Gatekeeper only applies to applications that were downloaded to an HFS volume by an application that sets the quarantine bit. It doesn't apply to applications installed by other means. It's bypassed by simply choosing "Open" from the context menu instead of double clicking. It's entirely a security feature.
      - JohnTHaller 13y ago
        So, Gatekeeper applies to basically any piece of software that a user would obtain, since the internet is really the way people get software these days (as evidenced by Apple eliminating optical drives from Macbooks). Sure, it's security. So is Apple's restriction on not allowing 3rd party browsers on iOS. At least according to Apple. - unless they use the hobbled Mobile Safari engine without JIT.
JohnTHaller 13y ago
For now. Macs used to allow installs of apps from anyone. Gatekeeper is currently set to only permit installs from the app store and developers who have paid the yearly Apple tax by default now. ( http://support.apple.com/kb/ht5290 http://support.apple.com/kb/ht5290 ) In the next release or two, expect the Gatekeeper setting to be switched to app store only by default. Yes, you'll still be able to change it, but don't expect most users to.

CamperBob2 13y ago

It doesn't help Apple to block a desktop app from their app store because if they do, the developer could release it outside of the dev store. Safe to say that the ability to release unapproved applications on the Mac is now considered a bug by Apple, and being addressed accordingly.

Philadelphia 13y ago
No, it's really not. Could you explain why you think that?
- JohnTHaller 13y ago
  See Gatekeeper: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht5290 http://support.apple.com/kb/ht5290 Used to be you could install any app you wanted. Now, Gatekeeper is set to deny apps from publishers that haven't paid the yearly Apple tax (aka 'registered' developers which costs $99 a year). Note that Gatekeeper has one additional setting which is app store only. Expect this to be the default in another year or two. Yes, you can adjust this setting yourself, but most users won't change it. This will kill off most hobbyist development on the Mac and a large percentage of open source apps (GPL apps, the most popular open source license, aren't permitted in the App Store).
  - rmrfrmrf 13y ago
    Any Mac user who uses "hobby" apps knows how to edit their System Preferences. For people like my parents, who never use any third-party apps and routinely move the entire Safari app to their desktop (I think they think it's a shortcut or something lol), Gatekeeper is useful. I'm just glad they're off PCs now; the number of tech-support calls I get from them has dropped dramatically.
    - JohnTHaller 13y ago
      I wonder what will happen to apps like Firefox when Apple switches Mac OS to App Store only by default and implement some of the restrictions in iOS in the Mac app store. Restrictions like no Javascript allowed. Sure, apps like Chrome can go the same route as they do on iOS and build a custom Chrome skin atop the slower Mobile Safari engine available to 3rd party apps and always be a slower 2nd place browser. But Firefox? If it's just another slower webkit skin, it's not Firefox. Which is why there's no Firefox on iOS.
      - rplacd 13y ago
        Assuming none of the rest of the infrastructure'll change - I'd consider working with possibilities as future "when"s impractical enough; a user'll go download Firefox, the standard Gatekeeper denial message'll pop up: "Firefox" can't be opened because it was not downloaded from the Mac App Store. Your security preferences allow installation of only apps from the Mac App Store. Safari downloaded this file today at... And the user'll either trip over the message and give up in frustration - there will be a class of user who'll visually pattern-match, rather than engage with a meaningful back-and-forth with their computer - or pop into the System Preferences, find Security waiting for them, and off they go. Fairly banal, but by far and large that's because the assumption that switching the default to the MAS-only option would be a novel attempt at total exclusion shouldn't be true, give or take the major assumption outlined above: not so when the current default's in fact "Mac App Store and identified developers" - narrowing the locus of trusted sources, then, is a change that should happen independently of how easy it'll be to get an unsigned app running.
        13y ago
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
  - Philadelphia 13y ago
    Gatekeeper only applies to applications that were downloaded to an HFS volume by an application that sets the quarantine bit. It doesn't apply to applications installed by other means. It's bypassed by simply choosing "Open" from the context menu instead of double clicking. It's entirely a security feature.
    - JohnTHaller 13y ago
      So, Gatekeeper applies to basically any piece of software that a user would obtain, since the internet is really the way people get software these days (as evidenced by Apple eliminating optical drives from Macbooks). Sure, it's security. So is Apple's restriction on not allowing 3rd party browsers on iOS. At least according to Apple. - unless they use the hobbled Mobile Safari engine without JIT.

JohnTHaller 13y ago

For now. Macs used to allow installs of apps from anyone. Gatekeeper is currently set to only permit installs from the app store and developers who have paid the yearly Apple tax by default now. ( http://support.apple.com/kb/ht5290 http://support.apple.com/kb/ht5290 ) In the next release or two, expect the Gatekeeper setting to be switched to app store only by default. Yes, you'll still be able to change it, but don't expect most users to.