<story><title>Apple to allow outside app stores in overhaul spurred by EU laws</title><url>https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-13/will-apple-allow-users-to-install-third-party-app-stores-sideload-in-europe</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>heavyset_go</author><text>Yet another example of the Facebook boogeyman being trotted out in an effort to explain why lack of user freedom, lack of consumer choice and anticompetitive business practices are actually good for the customers that are being fleeced by them.&lt;p&gt;This didn&amp;#x27;t happen on Android, macOS, or Windows, despite all of them allowing alternative app stores.</text></item><item><author>slg</author><text>What I&amp;#x27;m worried about is if the next time we open WhatsApp we see a splash message that says &amp;quot;Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp are moving to the Meta Store! Please restart your phone and follow these easy steps to continue using these apps.&amp;quot;  App developers have a lot more influence on mobile devices than they do on desktop OSes.  This change would shift even more power to those large developers.&lt;p&gt;You can say a lot of negative things about Apple, but their incentives lined up with the end users more often than companies like Meta and Google.</text></item><item><author>themagician</author><text>Honestly, Apple could simply do exactly what they do for macOS now. The two are close enough to a merge at the architectural level that it would not be difficult. macOS is one step away from removing the ability to install unsigned software by default.&lt;p&gt;If you want to run unsigned software or extensions you will have to boot into a recovery console and change the security model. The warning dialogs will be enough to discourage most use. Things like ApplePay and iCloud may be disabled depending how far you reduce security, but you&amp;#x27;ll be able to do whatever you want.&lt;p&gt;I think it be a great solution to have a more uniform solution across all devices and platforms. It would create a boom in the hacker community, while still keeping &amp;gt;99.99% of users running from sealed system snapshots.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>slg</author><text>&amp;gt;This didn&amp;#x27;t happen on Android, macOS, or Windows, despite all of them allowing alternative app stores.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m guessing you aren&amp;#x27;t a gamer.  This absolutely happened on Android and PC.  Fortnight is the most obvious example on Android and the various PC game stores are constantly battling over exclusives which has led to bizarre and annoying situations like this[1]&lt;p&gt;[1] - &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;wccftech.com&amp;#x2F;goat-simulator-3-devs-tell-players-to-use-steam-as-a-response-to-lack-of-native-controller-support&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;wccftech.com&amp;#x2F;goat-simulator-3-devs-tell-players-to-u...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Apple to allow outside app stores in overhaul spurred by EU laws</title><url>https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-13/will-apple-allow-users-to-install-third-party-app-stores-sideload-in-europe</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>heavyset_go</author><text>Yet another example of the Facebook boogeyman being trotted out in an effort to explain why lack of user freedom, lack of consumer choice and anticompetitive business practices are actually good for the customers that are being fleeced by them.&lt;p&gt;This didn&amp;#x27;t happen on Android, macOS, or Windows, despite all of them allowing alternative app stores.</text></item><item><author>slg</author><text>What I&amp;#x27;m worried about is if the next time we open WhatsApp we see a splash message that says &amp;quot;Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp are moving to the Meta Store! Please restart your phone and follow these easy steps to continue using these apps.&amp;quot;  App developers have a lot more influence on mobile devices than they do on desktop OSes.  This change would shift even more power to those large developers.&lt;p&gt;You can say a lot of negative things about Apple, but their incentives lined up with the end users more often than companies like Meta and Google.</text></item><item><author>themagician</author><text>Honestly, Apple could simply do exactly what they do for macOS now. The two are close enough to a merge at the architectural level that it would not be difficult. macOS is one step away from removing the ability to install unsigned software by default.&lt;p&gt;If you want to run unsigned software or extensions you will have to boot into a recovery console and change the security model. The warning dialogs will be enough to discourage most use. Things like ApplePay and iCloud may be disabled depending how far you reduce security, but you&amp;#x27;ll be able to do whatever you want.&lt;p&gt;I think it be a great solution to have a more uniform solution across all devices and platforms. It would create a boom in the hacker community, while still keeping &amp;gt;99.99% of users running from sealed system snapshots.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>hoistbypetard</author><text>&amp;gt; This didn&amp;#x27;t happen on Android, macOS, or Windows, despite all of them allowing alternative app stores.&lt;p&gt;EA and Epic have entered the chat. This has absolutely happened on Windows. Source: the PC attached to my TV where my kid plays games, just this week.&lt;p&gt;I would posit that there are two possibilities for why it hasn&amp;#x27;t happened on Android:&lt;p&gt;1. The UX for alternative app stores is so terrible that they may as well not be allowed.&lt;p&gt;2. Not enough people want to pay for software on Anrdoid for this to be worthwhile.</text></comment>