baddox

14 ms·

151.
by baddox 6y ago
> Google doesn't do that because that would be an abuse of their market position and they would get rinsed in the courts. Are you sure that Google doesn't do that because the Android platform is an extremely viable and lucrativ
152.
by baddox 6y ago
> They want to ensure that games are of high quality so as to not hurt the reputation of the platform itself. They want games to help sell consoles. And that's how video game consoles always worked. And my argument is that an overal
153.
by baddox 6y ago
Of course. My point is that this doesn't seem to be related to any anticompetitive behavior on Apple's part. If Apple was using market power to force smartphone competitors out of the market to increase Apple's own market sha
154.
by baddox 6y ago
If you are consistent in your claims and believe that all computing devices, including smartphones, game consoles, e-book readers, GPS watches, car entertainment centers, etc. should be required to provide a way for owners to run unsigned c
155.
by baddox 6y ago
That's a very flimsy definition of the difference. Game consoles are generally much more powerful general-purpose PCs that can do everything an iPhone can do (except connecting to cell networks). They tend to be full multimedia consump
156.
by baddox 6y ago
Most people I've seen commenting on this Epic vs. Apple debate seem to think that it's okay on game consoles but not okay on iPhones, which is just preposterous. At least you're consistent. But what about e-readers, GPS devic
157.
by baddox 6y ago
> That's a misleading question, because on other platforms you can choose to avoid the store. That's definitely not true. You cannot run unsigned code on most video game consoles. And for PC game marketplaces, those platforms s
158.
by baddox 6y ago
Isn't that just because Apple's customers are more willing to spend money on apps than other customers?
159.
by baddox 6y ago
Okay, then since we've failed to argue that Apple is a monopoly, what's the next antitrust argument, and how does it apple to iPhones but not to game consoles (which have the same if not stricter restrictions to third-party softwa
160.
by baddox 6y ago
Being banned from the iOS App Store also doesn't make your software unusable on Windows, or Mac, or any other non-iOS platform. The App Store's exclusivity is precisely the same as that of nearly every video game console.
161.
by baddox 6y ago
Arguments of this form always rely on nebulous definitions of what counts as a "choice." Sure, if you're banned from a specific app store, you cannot use that specific app store, because that's just what is means to be b
162.
by baddox 6y ago
Perhaps the footer is a joke, as if the true timestamp failed to load but was interpreted as Unix timestamp zero in a different time zone?
163.
by baddox 6y ago
You don’t need taxes to offset subsidies, of course. You just need to end the subsidies. But yeah, there are likely major environmental externalities that could be eliminated by taxation.
164.
by baddox 6y ago
I’m sure most of the Sierras don’t require day use reservations, but I’m pretty sure nearly all of it requires permits for car camping or backcountry camping, and those permits are difficult to get (apart from taking the risk of showing up
165.
by baddox 6y ago
I love the Sierras and have spent a lot of nights in the backcountry, but good luck getting any permits now. Pre-pandemic it was already extremely difficult. Now you need to get up at 7am and grab a day use ticket to even enter Yosemite (or
166.
by baddox 6y ago
So where are all the automatic bridge-building machines? Isn’t our bridge infrastructure famously poor?
167.
by baddox 6y ago
> Google hasn't made much progress getting away from "page rank". Is that so? I thought conventional wisdom is that they now have much stronger signals about how well results satisfy queries, from Google Analytics and Chro
168.
by baddox 6y ago
A little more explanation is required, since the boiling pot still needs to pass through room temperature on its way to freezing, and it’s not clear how at that point it has a head start on the other room temperature pot.
169.
by baddox 6y ago
The British East India company was a government actor. It’s silly to consider them otherwise simply because it was technically a “joint-stock company.” It was part of the government. Wikipedia even notes: > Originally chartered as the
170.
by baddox 6y ago
There is a long tradition of Mac customers expecting that ability, and Apple has explicitly said they recognize that desire in the market and is not removing the ability. That said, they have added some extra warnings and confirmation steps
171.
by baddox 6y ago
> Unless Apple really screws up, that malware would have to be downloaded and installed by me. If I "flip a switch" and enable that option, that's on me. The fact that Apple does not have this attitude is why their product
172.
by baddox 6y ago
> The thing is, if Apple alienates developers enough/makes them go bankrupt, the only applications you will be able to use would be the first party Apple ones. That won't be a very enjoyable thing, would be? I doubt this is a p
173.
by baddox 6y ago
I don't get that argument. You're saying developers don't have a choice because smartphone customers do have a choice. If you only care about customers who choose iPhone then shouldn't you respect the clear wishes of tho
174.
by baddox 6y ago
On the other hand, I like several Apple products and I'm confident their products would get much much worse if the company was effectively split up, and I suspect the vast majority of Apple customers would feel the same way. I'm n
175.
by baddox 6y ago
Ha, you should see US prices. I had to buy a T-Mobile hotspot for work-from-home continuity when my home Internet suffered a major outage. The prepaid plans for $40 a month for 10 GB, with no rollover. It's impossible to just buy 50 GB
176.
by baddox 6y ago
> Fortnite could have chosen a different game engine at the start (this is not about terms changing after all) Right. Apple's terms were clear from the start, so Fortnite had no reasonable expectation to be allowed to violate them.
177.
by baddox 6y ago
It’s no more realistic to say “if you don’t like the licensing terms of your game engine then just rewrite your game.”
178.
by baddox 6y ago
Okay, but imagine that Fortnite used Unreal but wasn’t created by the creators of Unreal. Do you think that Fortnite would be more comfortable playing chicken with the App Store and risking getting banned like this, or playing chicken with
179.
by baddox 6y ago
Why do you associate those things specifically with urban life? Cinemas, televised sports, and listening to music are pretty broadly-enjoyed things. I don’t think they’re particularly “passive” either, but they’re certainly not uniquely urb
180.
by baddox 6y ago
> The number of people who I've talked to who legitimately don't know what to do without work during the pandemic is staggering. I wouldn't look at that and conclude that these people are just domesticated livestock who ha

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