macOS can be seen as a test bed here. The App Store come pre-installed, but developers have dropped it in favor of going with their own payment systems, updates, etc.
On the Mac I don’t think it should be locked down. I guess I view something like the iPhone differently than an actual computer.
Feel like that’s a bit comparing apples to oranges. Apps weren’t originally acquired through some store on Macs, that’s a fairly novel thing. There were package managers and such before that but you’d more or less always get software from the vendor. Disregarding that the original iPhones didn’t have apps, as long as apps have been a thing they’ve always come from the app store.
Sure you can root it and get apps from Cydia and whatnot (if that’s still around) but I really don’t think many apps will migrate away, at least not fully. Users are lazy, and installing a separate app store or getting an app elsewhere is too much work for some. I don’t think you and I fall into that category given the platform we’re having this conversation on, but the fediverse is “too unapproachable” for a lot of people, even tech savvy ones, because you can’t simply download an app and sign up.
I’m in favour of third party app stores (or just the ability to install apps through the browser, no store attached) simply because I’m miffed my Apple TV cannot run Xbox Game Stream.
I think I’d be more accepting of side loading than full blown 3rd party app stores (of course one will inevitably lead to the other, unless there is a lot of sandboxing going on). Something you need to enable in the settings and jump through some hoops to do. It would open up things for some interesting use cases, but be enough trouble that no developer would do that unless it was absolutely necessary.
Back on the v1 iPhone I installed Cydia and messed with all that. As the platform matured it seemed less and less of a thing. I do agree with you on the AppleTV. Allowing things like Xbox Game Steam, or various other things like that, would put it into a whole new class of device. It could be what OnLive wanted to be, but more.
One thing that I find kind of funny is the first iPhone didn’t have 3rd party apps, as you mention. The answer for them was web apps, which everyone rolled their eyes at. However, here we are 16 years later and frameworks like Electron are essentially just wrapping web apps to run on the desktop. Maybe that web app thing wasn’t totally wrong, but just a little ahead of it’s time. I don’t like Electron apps, but I will say they have made Linux on the desktop a lot more viable for the average user.
I guess I have a lot of mixed opinions on this. I just like my phone to be a tool. A portal into some things while I’m away from a proper computer. I don’t use it as my primary device like so many do these days. It’s my link to the outside world, my life line while away from home, and thanks to all the 2FA stuff, proof of my identity. I just want it to work, be reliable, and stay out of my way. Complicating the App Store threatens that simplicity. I’ve often said that if I was 16 I’d probably love Android, or the idea of 3rd party everything on iOS, as I’d have the time to tinker and no real risk if something breaks. Not being 16, I have different priorities and I like that there is an option in the market that serves those priorities rather well.
Yeah the iPhone was definitely out a bit too early with aiming for webapps. Now the tools and APIs are really mature so webapps are more of an option, but back then? Goodness I dread to think.
Not being 16, I have different priorities and I like that there is an option in the market that serves those priorities rather well.
I feel this, and it’s in large parts why I chose to swap from Android to iOS when I got fed up with manually fixing my OnePlus One back in 2020. I spent 8 hours a day working with tech as it is, I don’t want to spend my free-time tweaking Linux or flashing ROMs to my phone.
Time will tell how the third party app stores will turn out, if they turn out at all that is. Apple might still find a way to severely limit them, like restricting API access to apps not installed through the first party app store, or something similar.
macOS can be seen as a test bed here. The App Store come pre-installed, but developers have dropped it in favor of going with their own payment systems, updates, etc.
On the Mac I don’t think it should be locked down. I guess I view something like the iPhone differently than an actual computer.
Feel like that’s a bit comparing apples to oranges. Apps weren’t originally acquired through some store on Macs, that’s a fairly novel thing. There were package managers and such before that but you’d more or less always get software from the vendor. Disregarding that the original iPhones didn’t have apps, as long as apps have been a thing they’ve always come from the app store.
Sure you can root it and get apps from Cydia and whatnot (if that’s still around) but I really don’t think many apps will migrate away, at least not fully. Users are lazy, and installing a separate app store or getting an app elsewhere is too much work for some. I don’t think you and I fall into that category given the platform we’re having this conversation on, but the fediverse is “too unapproachable” for a lot of people, even tech savvy ones, because you can’t simply download an app and sign up.
I’m in favour of third party app stores (or just the ability to install apps through the browser, no store attached) simply because I’m miffed my Apple TV cannot run Xbox Game Stream.
I think I’d be more accepting of side loading than full blown 3rd party app stores (of course one will inevitably lead to the other, unless there is a lot of sandboxing going on). Something you need to enable in the settings and jump through some hoops to do. It would open up things for some interesting use cases, but be enough trouble that no developer would do that unless it was absolutely necessary.
Back on the v1 iPhone I installed Cydia and messed with all that. As the platform matured it seemed less and less of a thing. I do agree with you on the AppleTV. Allowing things like Xbox Game Steam, or various other things like that, would put it into a whole new class of device. It could be what OnLive wanted to be, but more.
One thing that I find kind of funny is the first iPhone didn’t have 3rd party apps, as you mention. The answer for them was web apps, which everyone rolled their eyes at. However, here we are 16 years later and frameworks like Electron are essentially just wrapping web apps to run on the desktop. Maybe that web app thing wasn’t totally wrong, but just a little ahead of it’s time. I don’t like Electron apps, but I will say they have made Linux on the desktop a lot more viable for the average user.
I guess I have a lot of mixed opinions on this. I just like my phone to be a tool. A portal into some things while I’m away from a proper computer. I don’t use it as my primary device like so many do these days. It’s my link to the outside world, my life line while away from home, and thanks to all the 2FA stuff, proof of my identity. I just want it to work, be reliable, and stay out of my way. Complicating the App Store threatens that simplicity. I’ve often said that if I was 16 I’d probably love Android, or the idea of 3rd party everything on iOS, as I’d have the time to tinker and no real risk if something breaks. Not being 16, I have different priorities and I like that there is an option in the market that serves those priorities rather well.
Yeah the iPhone was definitely out a bit too early with aiming for webapps. Now the tools and APIs are really mature so webapps are more of an option, but back then? Goodness I dread to think.
I feel this, and it’s in large parts why I chose to swap from Android to iOS when I got fed up with manually fixing my OnePlus One back in 2020. I spent 8 hours a day working with tech as it is, I don’t want to spend my free-time tweaking Linux or flashing ROMs to my phone.
Time will tell how the third party app stores will turn out, if they turn out at all that is. Apple might still find a way to severely limit them, like restricting API access to apps not installed through the first party app store, or something similar.