@pluralistic I rarely think you express one directional thinking, but on this topic you make a lot of points that only are sustainable from prior agreement with your conclusion. I frequently disagree with and dislike Apple and I know their interests do not align with mine in many cases. On the other hand, I do not want alternative app stores to exist for iPhone. I do not want my friends, family, and children to be running code from marketplaces run by Facebook, Google, Tencent, and Epic. I do not want my platform and network security invariants to be under constant exploit by such code. App Store is not a panacea, but it is better than downloading pirated wares from torrentz…and “alternative” app stores will quickly slide down that slope.
@pluralistic I would like to see phone platforms that are the equivalent of the desktop platforms in openness and extensibility, but there are obviously big barriers to that being the situation. I’m happy to have places where the rules are the way you and I like them as expert technologists.
I am very uncomfortable allowing the equivalent of unsigned code to be distributed to users who often don’t know that Apps aren’t made by Apple employees or who one-star a browser extension because they are mad about Safari button changes.
@pluralistic
I think those users will be “forced” to use the alternative app stores. Or at least tricked. “You must install the Meta App Store to use the new version Facebook”. “Install the Google Play App Store for iOS, now with privacy protection!” For many people the iPhone was Facebook or Twitter or something. I have zero faith those app stores will not immediately ship dozens of apps with location trackers, provisioning profiles, and “Privacy Protection VPNs” that not only diminish the user’s privacy, but use every trick in the book to attack mine as well.
@pluralistic
Apple is not a sainted actor, but they were the ones that showed that TikTok was sending your clipboard to their servers many times a second and stopped it.
Show me a way that only small actors with limited reach can create boutique app stores and I’d be onboard, but third-party app stores sound to me exactly like airline deregulation and “Financial Services Modernization” and I fear the actions of the rich and powerful more than I anticipate the opportunities of an open installer.
@pluralistic
I don’t think the world should be forced to use closed ecosystems, but I think there are places where I prefer a closed ecosystem. I’d prefer it if my closed phone platform was controlled by a liberal democracy rather than a C-Corp, but functional trustworthy mass institutions are hard to come by these days. But that’s another problem and not a technology one.
@joshrivers Great! No one in the entire universe believes that you should have to use an app store other than Apple's.
Unless by "I think there are places where I prefer a closed ecosystem" you mean "I think there are places where I prefer that everyone else should prefer a closed ecosystem."
@pluralistic
I bought a house in a place where everyone is required to meet a fire code, vaccinate their kids before they attend the school, and the grocery cannot knowingly sell food infected with E. Coli. I do not believe the entire world should be forced to live under my neighborhood rules, but I believe no one in the world has the right to build a firetrap housing unvaccinated children that sell garden food grown in their own fertilizer in my neighborhood.
My phone is the one device I own trusted by my employer to connect to their network and download their content. It is the one platform I trust to have my parents manage their banking. There were rules when we bought them, and I don’t think making the platform cheaper for suppliers at the expense of users is 🌹. It smells like something else.
I'm Kickstarting the audiobook for The Bezzle, sequel to Red Team Blues, narrated by #WilWheaton! Pre-order the audiobook and ebook, DRM free, as well as the hardcover. There's also bundles with Red Team Blues in ebook, audio or paperback:
My ebooks and audiobooks (from Tor Books, Head of Zeus, McSweeneys, Beacon, Verso and others) are for sale all over the net, but I sell 'em too, and when you buy 'em from me, I earn twice as much and you get books with no DRM and no license "agreements."
If you prefer a newsletter, subscribe to the plura-list, which is ad-/tracker-free, and is utterly unadorned save a single daily emoji. Today's is "👊🏾". Suggestions solicited for future emojis!
--
You can also get a fulltext RSS feed, licensed CC BY 4.0:
I'm Kickstarting the audiobook for The Bezzle, the sequel to Red Team Blues, narrated by Wil Wheaton! You can pre-order the audiobook and ebook, DRM free, as well as the hardcover, signed or unsigned. There's also bundles with Red Team Blues in ebook, audio or paperback: