As a phone user though, I WANT you to be vetted, because I don't want your "stock quote app" to suddenly brick my phone unless I send you $59.99 to get the "fix".
You don't download software off the net unless it's vetted first by Apple? Have you never installed Chrome, Office or Photoshop?
Maybe you haven't considered the alternative. It's something that Apple users don't really get much of, but there's a thing called choice.
Why can't we have an app store AND allow side-loading? That'd be a nice choice. That way, the people who want to trade freedom for security can do so and the people who want freedom can have it. A third option would be to allow competing app stores (as well as side-loading).
You're on the wrong side in the war on general purpose computing. If you want to see general purpose computing go away, by all means...keep trading your freedoms in.
Just about the only proven method to really mitigate the malware problem is with whitelisting. In the future, virtually all end-user computing platforms will be mandatorily whitelisted. The company I just left was in the process of requiring whitelisting (through Bit9) for ALL Windows AND Linux desktops. Which is a pain in the ass if you're a dev, but when it comes down to that or watching all your IP go across the sea, guess which option upper management is going to choose?
Apple has brought the benefits of whitelisting to the masses with its App Store certification process. The result is an extremely popular, superior smartphone platform with virtually no malware. Android? Malware city. Platform vendors in the future are going to handle app distribution the Apple way or they'll be out of the game entirely.
Whitelisting is a wholly different concept than being locked into a single vendor's app store.
Being forced to abide by a single whitelist provider would be similar, but I personally won't be buying into those platforms and if I don't have a choice, I'll be jailbreaking...barring that, well we simply wouldn't be living in a free society at that point so I think I'd have bigger issues to deal with than computing freedom.
> Have you never installed Chrome, Office or Photoshop?
You are either completely ignorant of smartphone technology or deliberately missing the point.
I just searched for weather on my iPhone. There are 4055 weather related apps to chose from. It isn't a problem. What's more, is that I know that all 4055 of those apps will in no way prevent me from using my phone 10 minutes after I install them.
> Why can't we have an app store AND allow side-loading?
Why can't we tackle people during a soccer game? Same shit.
I've chosen to play by Apple's rules as many others have. I could also have chosen to play by Google's rules. When I play soccer or hockey, I choose to play by those rules as well. It makes for an overall more enjoyable experience.
Just because I play a weekly soccer game and prefer you not to intrude with your revised soccer-rugby rules does not mean I will limit myself to never playing baseball, or that I don't appreciate your variation. It means that I'm perfectly content playing soccer.
I'm perfectly content with my app-store only iPhone, thank you very much. You as a developer - if you want to play this on this field - need to abide by the rules the rest of use are already playing by. Otherwise, go find your own piece of grass and play whatever game you want there.
When Apple starts forcing everyone to play soccer, come talk to me. If you want to play in the soccer tourney though, I expect you to play the right game.
>You're on the wrong side in the war
You know who says shit like this? Zealots. Unthinking, self righteous, dangerous zealots. Like the Taliban. Or the Tea Party.
My phone is a fucking phone! It's not a damn religious crusade. There is no war to fight. There is no freedom to lose. I'm not trading liberty for security when I play soccer anymore than I'm doing so by making a fucking phone call.
You obviously don't understand smartphone tech because it's just a computer.
> Why can't we tackle people during a soccer game? Same shit.
Not really. There are no rules against complaining about Apple's rules. Customer complaints change rules. Apathetic people such as yourself, who just roll over and take it, are part of the problem.
> My phone is a fucking phone! It's not a damn religious crusade.
Then why did you respond to my original comment, as if I had offended you in some way?
I said "I don't want to have to go through anybody to be able to get my app to my customers. This tendency towards closed-off app stores is really depressing."
How exactly did my comment affect you? It sounds to me like you're on a crusade to get me to think just like you. I simply stated an opinion in response to someone else who shared my opinion. You, on the other hand, started off sounding like you were on a crusade.
Apathetic people such as yourself, who just roll over and take it, are part of the problem.
There is no problem from a consumer point of view. You seem to be failing to understand this. I have little to no need for your no-name unregistered app. Why should the entire ecosystem change to benefit you?
Then why did you respond to my original comment
I didn't respond in this way to your original comment, I responded in this way to you suggesting that I "keep trading your freedoms in." Please, spare me.
It sounds to me like you're on a crusade to get me to think just like you.
I don't care what you do, to be honest, and I don't think you understand one thing I'm trying to say to you. You're the one who wants to play in Apple/Google's sandbox and is bitching about the rules of the sandbox. By all means, create a new sandbox.
Again, all I said was that if you want to play soccer, play by the already established rules. Don't sign your team up for the tourney and then proceed to tell us all how much better the game would be if we could use our hands. STFU and get on the pitch, or go find an empty field to play whatever game you want to invent.
The apple/google closed markets are designed 100% to be the benefit of the consumer, because the consumers are paying $500+ for the phone. Consumers want things to be easy and work well. Consumers are not really interested in you having 6 different methods of delivering your app to our phone so that your life is easier. That's your issue, not the consumer's.
That's weak sauce. If nobody ever complained about anything and just played by the rules, nothing would ever change.
> The apple...closed markets are designed 100% to be the benefit of the consumer...
Oh please dude, gimme a break. Hogwash. Everybody knows that captive markets are lucrative and that Apple's 30% cut makes them a pretty profit. Google's market may be closed, but their mobile platform is about as open as can be. Android itself doesn't stop anybody from side-loading or using a competing store.
Everybody knows how Apple likes to do things. There's no denying it. They want absolute control over their platform because it's good for them.
This tendency towards closed-off app stores is really depressing.