Re:On iPhone sideloading: it’s ok, I’m changing my mind
by rektide on Wednesday February 09, 2022 @04:29PM
(#30278775)
The Safari team is asking for feedback, after "Safari is the new IE"[1] is getting steam again as an idea. This idea that they want to do better is good, but your arguments really cut into the heart of it.
Even if Safari turns the ship around & decides to support fun & interesting new platform capabilities that make the web interesting, like WebMIDI, WebUSB, the mere fact that Safari is the gauntlet for innovation, that Apple & Apple alone gets to say what parts of the web will work, is highly poisonous to the web. iOS users having no choice, having a centralized actor now & forever gating progress is untennable, is wrong, prevents healthy emergence & discovery. However good they are today, they may drift tomorrow, and having no fallback, no options is a technocratic fascism that society should recognize as structurally sick.
Even if Safari turns the ship around & decides to support fun & interesting new platform capabilities that make the web interesting, like WebMIDI, WebUSB, the mere fact that Safari is the gauntlet for innovation, that Apple & Apple alone gets to say what parts of the web will work, is highly poisonous to the web. iOS users having no choice, having a centralized actor now & forever gating progress is untennable, is wrong, prevents healthy emergence & discovery. However good they are today, they may drift tomorrow, and having no fallback, no options is a technocratic fascism that society should recognize as structurally sick.
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30277179