Re:Apple Is an Acceptable Evil
by taylodl on Monday May 03, 2021 @02:34PM
(#27028934)
I was thinking along the lines of some people like libre software, some people like FOSS software, some people want to be able to use different app stores and still others want to be able to install different browser engines. I was loosely referring to those things as "freedoms" that you lose in the Apple ecosystem. Obviously a lot of people don't care as much about these things, or they care more about convenience and simplicity, or they care more about something else entirely - whatever it is Apple is fulfilling their needs better than Apple's competitors.
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But you can install whatever FOSS you want, as long as you can figure it out or find it on App Store. Not providing easy way to do it outside of their platform is not the same as not allowing it.
People are framing the argument against App Store as if they are blocking people from installing software into the devices they bought. Probably this attracts more sympathy but the reality is different, what Apple restricts is the access to its software distribution platform. That's why it's not the users that are pissed off but the developers.
Apple is not selling the right to install software to your iDevice, that's the developers who sell the right to install the software they created. Apple sells the right to distribute software to the devices they make, it's called Apple Developer Program and that's the one that costs money and has restrictions.