<story><title>Apple&apos;s &quot;benign dictatorship&quot; of the App Store leaves users, devs in the dark.</title><url>http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/06/app-store-enigma-the-patent-holder-the-developer-and-the-voiceless-child/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>josteink</author><text>If Speak for Yourself had developed an app for Android they would have had &lt;i&gt;none&lt;/i&gt; of these problems. None. Zilch. There are several markets. There are several stores. You can install standalone APKs if you like.&lt;p&gt;The nature of the platform &lt;i&gt;protects you&lt;/i&gt; from the likes of Apple.&lt;p&gt;That there are options doesn&apos;t make Apple any more right here. I&apos;m not saying that. But there are other platforms than Apple&apos;s closed circus. And people should consider them.&lt;p&gt;With time I hope people will see that value in an open platform. That these people, those who have their daughter threatened to be &lt;i&gt;re-muted&lt;/i&gt; by Apple, that they still insist on using Apple&apos;s hardware is a mystery to me.&lt;p&gt;You would at least think that &lt;i&gt;they&lt;/i&gt; saw why choosing Apple is fundamentally wrong for any person who considers himself free. If you&apos;re not free to do with your own property as you please, how much of a free being are you really?</text></comment>
<story><title>Apple&apos;s &quot;benign dictatorship&quot; of the App Store leaves users, devs in the dark.</title><url>http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/06/app-store-enigma-the-patent-holder-the-developer-and-the-voiceless-child/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>soup10</author><text>I&apos;m still waiting for the lawsuit that forces apple to provide an option to install unreviewed apps.  Nobody would tolerate this kind of total platform control in OS X or windows.  Why is it tolerated in iOS?&lt;p&gt;It&apos;s perfectly fine to have a a curated app store by default, it&apos;s not OK when it&apos;s the only option.  Especially when your as big as Apple is.</text></comment>