Apple's walled garden closes in on Mac developers

By techbeck
in Back Page News

 Share

Recommended Posts

Grand Master

techbeck

Posted
Posted

Apple's OS X Mountain Lion launched on Wednesday, and with it came a new set of rules laid out by Apple that restrict what Mac developers can do with their apps. To sum it up, in order to take advantage of new features like iCloud and Notification Center, developers must "sandbox" their app ? which limits its access to system data, almost like how apps work on iOS. Sandboxed apps are much easier for Apple to verify, check, and approve for the Mac App store, since they are inherently self-contained, but this poses a big problem: sandboxing your app sometimes means that features that dig deep into OS X must be removed. Developers lashed out at Apple for its new rules when Mountain Lion was announced back in February, in part because of how much effort might go into re-architecting their apps. Tech pundit Andy Ihnatko wrote, "Time, money, and resources that developers could be investing in making a great product even better must instead be spent just to keep their software working."

However, most developers have taken the past few months to update their apps according to Apple's new standards ? which for some developers means checking a few boxes, and for others means sacrificing features users love. Since Mountain Lion was announced, many top apps like Fantastical, Sparrow, and 1Password have prepared for a Mac world that looks more like iOS's perceived "walled garden." For better or for worse, most developers seem to agree that adding support for Mountain Lion seems to be a do or die.

"Any developer who wants to build for Apple's products typically stays as on pace with the curve as possible, because that's what a significant portion of Apple's customers do," says 1Password's David Chartier. Developers now have two choices: sell unrestricted apps independent of the Mac App Store, or abide by Apple's rules to gain access to the App Store, its enormous distribution power, and new features in OS X like iCloud document syncing for apps and iOS-style push notifications from the cloud in Notification Center.

More in source....

http://www.theverge.com/2012/7/27/3186875/mac-app-store-sandboxing-frustration-mountain-lion

Grand Master

neufuse Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted

This is eventually going to lead to the death of the open operating system environment..... you know others will start to adopt closed OS's to cash in at some point and then go full blown closed gate model

  • thealexweb, Noir Angel, Tha Bloo Monkee and 2 others
  • Like 5
Grand Master

neufuse Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted

We really are heading down a horrible road here, Microsoft and OS X are becoming more and more locked down :/

yeah a horrible road where if you want to make money writing software you have to pony up a good percentage of your profit to the OS maker ugh....

Grand Master

ichi

Posted
Posted

Why not go completely open. I mean android does it and it has no viruses at all.

It's a tradeoff.

Not talking about Android specifically here, but I'd rather take some reasonable security measures that don't get in my way and allow me to do whatever the heck I want (even if that means having a certain degree of responsability on keeping my system safe) over being babysitted and getting my computer turned into a blackbox appliance, which is where computing seems to be heading.

YMMV.

Rising Star

The King of GnG

Posted
Posted

The (IBM) PC platform has been built on the premises of an open architecture, that's the reason that brought the industry to where it is now. These *******s (Microsoft, Apple, Google or whatever), with their "walled garden" and "app store" bullpoop, are just marching in the completely opposed direction - ie no open architecture, no industry that thrives and evolves.

They really disgust me, and they will NEVER have me. I have purchased a single "app" in my life (a GPS navigator on Windows Phone), I won't do the same mistake another time.

Grand Master

Noir Angel

Posted
Posted

This is eventually going to lead to the death of the open operating system environment..... you know others will start to adopt closed OS's to cash in at some point and then go full blown closed gate model

Disappointingly true. It looks as if those that want a truly open computing experience may have to look into Linux in the future, it's clear Microsoft and Apple are both intent on pushing people towards being walled into their app stores.

Grand Master

Osiris

Posted
Posted

Yeah I agree profits are at work here however I think consumers have also brought this on themselves demanding seemless out of the box experiences, no dramas, easy to use etc. To some degree the only way to control those variables, particularly with the out of the box experience, is to lock it down. Whilst things will probably get worse before they get better, it means open OS' will resurge with popularity again and maybe even something completely new will come about

Grand Master

Noir Angel

Posted
Posted

I get the feeling that the computing future of Windows and Apple users will end up being an app store lockin, with no customisation. It will suit people that love fart apps and angry birds, but little more.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Posts

    • NASA: This asteroid may not kill us but it probably won't be far off either

      By hellowalkman · Posted

      NASA: This asteroid may not kill us but it probably won't be far off either by Sayan Sen Image by Zelch Csaba via Pexels New observations by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope have eliminated the last remaining impact threat posed by asteroid 2024 YR4, ruling out the possibility that the near-Earth object could strike the Moon in December 2032. NASA said observations collected by Webb on February 18 and 26, 2026, enabled scientists to refine the asteroid's orbit enough to "rule out a chance of lunar impact on Dec. 22, 2032." Instead, asteroid 2024 YR4 is now expected to pass the Moon at a distance of about 13,200 miles (21,200 km). The agency stressed that the update "reflects improved precision in our understanding of where the asteroid is expected to be in 2032 rather than a shift in its orbital path." The announcement closes a remarkable chapter in planetary defence that began in late 2024, when the approximately 60-metre-wide asteroid briefly became the most closely watched near-Earth object in the world. Discovered on December 27, 2024, by the ATLAS telescope in Chile, 2024 YR4 initially appeared to have a small chance of colliding with Earth on December 22, 2032. As astronomers gathered more observations, the impact probability briefly climbed to around 3%—the highest ever recorded for an asteroid of its size—before steadily falling as its orbit became better understood. By early 2025, international observations had ruled out any significant risk to Earth. However, astronomers were left with another possibility: a roughly 4% chance that the asteroid could instead strike the Moon. "The probability that asteroid 2024 YR4 will strike the Moon on 22 December 2032 is now approximately 4%," the European Space Agency (ESA) had said last year, noting that "there is a 96% chance that the asteroid will not impact the Moon." ESA said such an impact, while unlikely, would have presented an extraordinary scientific opportunity. "It is a very rare event for an asteroid this large to impact the Moon – and it is rarer still that we know about it in advance. The impact would likely be visible from Earth, and so scientists will be very excited by the prospect of observing and analysing it," said Richard Moissl, Head of ESA's Planetary Defence Office. "It would certainly leave a new crater on the surface. However, we wouldn't be able to accurately predict in advance how much material would be thrown into space, or whether any would reach Earth," he added. The asteroid also exposed an important blind spot in planetary defence. Because 2024 YR4 approached Earth from the direction of the Sun, it remained hidden from ground-based telescopes until after its closest approach. "We looked into how Neomir would have performed in this situation, and the simulations surprised even us," Moissl said. "Neomir would have detected asteroid 2024 YR4 about a month earlier than ground-based telescopes did. This would have given astronomers more time to study the asteroid's trajectory and allowed them to much sooner rule out any chance of Earth impact in 2032." He added, "As an infrared telescope, like Webb, Neomir would have also immediately given us a much better estimate for the asteroid's size, which is very important for assessing the significance of the hazard." The latest NASA observations underscore the value of space-based infrared telescopes in tracking faint asteroids. According to NASA, Webb made "among the faintest ever observations of an asteroid," extending the object's observational record by nearly eight months at a time when it had become too faint for other telescopes. That additional data allowed scientists to eliminate the remaining uncertainty surrounding its 2032 flyby. Although asteroid 2024 YR4 is now confirmed to pose no threat to either Earth or the Moon, scientists say its discovery remains one of the most significant real-world tests of the international planetary defence system, demonstrating how continued observations can rapidly transform an object once considered hazardous into one whose future path is known with high confidence. Source: NASA, ESA This article was generated with some help from AI and reviewed by an editor. Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, this material is used for the purpose of news reporting. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.
    • Google reshuffles its AI coding team as it struggles to catch Anthropic

      By excalpius · Posted

      Yup. Google is just scraping the entire internet for their own ad profits without sharing revenue with the sources. It's obviously stealing, but since these sites depend upon Google's search scraps to survive... As for me, I just stopped using Google for anything except Reddit searches. If Reddit's own search wasn't complete crapola, I'd never use Google search again.
    • Apple raises MacBook and iPad prices as memory costs surge

      By ExPat · Posted

      I had a feeling this was coming. Picked up my first Mac ever last Saturday. Glad I did.
    • Steam Summer Sale 2026 kicks off offering weeks of PC game discounts

      By Xenon · Posted

      In a major surprise there is actually some good deals for the first time in years. At least for me.
    • The official Funny Pictures thread

      By +primortal · Posted

  • Recent Achievements

    • Conversation Starter
      Admir earned a badge
      Conversation Starter
    • First Post
      The_Focal_Point earned a badge
      First Post
    • Apprentice
      daryld went up a rank
      Apprentice
    • Contributor
      Carltonbar went up a rank
      Contributor
    • One Month Later
      The_Focal_Point earned a badge
      One Month Later

  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      419
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      169
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      130
    4. 4
      Xenon
      70
    5. 5
      neufuse
      69
    Show More

  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!