Re:Alan Kay: With the Tablet, Apple Will Rule the World
by hexley on Wednesday January 27, 2010 @02:23AM
(#1080055)
I wonder what people will think once the first AppStore app gets approved by Apple but turns out to be a piece of malware. I'm sure Apple has indemnified themselves against liability in such a case
Apple has stated that they have a kill switch they can use in a situation like that. It would be extremely irresponsible not to on a device like the iPhone imho.
Re:Alan Kay: With the Tablet, Apple Will Rule the World
by CamperBob on Tuesday January 26, 2010 @10:40PM
(#1079692)
You can call it a false assumption if you want, but the fact is, an un-jailbroken iPhone is a pretty safe device to hand to your grandmother.
Re:Alan Kay: With the Tablet, Apple Will Rule the World
by SwellJoe on Tuesday January 26, 2010 @10:54PM
(#1079712)
So is an Android phone. You're conflating two different concepts, as I've explained. Openness leads to good security; possibly better security than being closed. We have many years of evidence of that in desktop and server systems (where Apple does not have the best security record, by a long stretch).
iPhone can have good security, and be a walled garden. But, the two are not closely related, and it's disingenuous, or at least misinformed about computer security history, to suggest that they are closely related. Open systems can have good security, and be very open. They are orthogonal issues, and I'm surprised that people here would make the mistake of believing they are the same thing.
Re:Alan Kay: With the Tablet, Apple Will Rule the World
by hexley on Wednesday January 27, 2010 @02:43AM
(#1080092)
And you're conflating two different definitions of security. We're not talking about remote root holes or buffer overflows when discussing phone security; we're talking about trojans and other maliciously designed apps which are downloaded and run voluntarily by the user. A walled garden does provide better security in this regard, as demonstrated by the iPhone having a perfect track record at almost 3 years in, and Android already having malware in it's App Store despite the platform still being in it's infancy.
It's the (false) assumption that because someone controls what software goes onto the machine that it's impossible for 'unapproved code' to run on the machine (or that 'approved code' has been thoroughly vetted against all possible inadvertent or malicious security risks).
> The can do the right thing, and not act as gatekeepers.
I wonder what people will think once the first AppStore app gets approved by Apple but turns out to be a piece of malware. I'm sure Apple has indemnified themselves against liability in such a case, but there are plenty of people who feel it is an impossible scenario.