Apple's walled garden closes in on Mac developers

By techbeck
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Grand Master

techbeck

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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

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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

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Grand Master

neufuse Veteran

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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
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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

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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.

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