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"Douchebaggery"?

We're allowed to use that word?
Had I known, I wouldn't have used "vinegar and water" metaphors.

If Sir Ives is designing the next evolution of TV form factor, I can imagine it will be a compelling product regardless of content deals. On the other hand, if Apple is simply going to integrate it's present Apple TV functionality with some added content deals into the current TV form factors and put an Apple logo on it, I doubt you'll see long lines at the Apple store to buy it. Hopefully we'll see the former and not the latter but that's the problem with Pendola; he ignorantly presumes the latter and preempts any rational debate by throwing out the Apple fan boy canard.

Let's see...

I really, really need to see a malware app attack iOS devices so I can sell hundreds of millions of iOS AV apps.

I wonder what I can do?

markbyrn, on 26 May 2012 - 06:33 AM, said:

Having stood in line for three hours at Motor Vehicle's yesterday, I can't fathom doing so voluntarily (for even longer). The "long lines" argument isn't entirely without merit, as that too is not quite rational.

I liked the section about Kaspersky - I keep finding people who have installed some kind of antivirus software on their Mac, and I keep telling them to get rid of it - unless their Mac is running Windows in either Boot Camp or a virtual machine such as Fusion or Parallels. All those viruses out there are for Windows, and only a small handful of trojans have made it in the wild on the Mac.

I disagree with the Macalope's claim that Apple takes a lackadaisical approach to security - I think they are the best security experts in the industry, they just don't go out there and whoop it up for themselves (a la Steve Balmer's famous stage antics). I believe that the approach of announcing a security vulnerability and proclaiming that a patch is in the works, is the worst thing that the software companies are doing, because it gives hackers an opportunity to exploit the vulnerability before the patch is released. Apple, on the other hand, announces the patch first, then explains it was to deal with a vulnerability that they discovered a week or a month prior. As soon as the patch is announced, it is pushed out to everyone's computers, so hackers don't have time to exploit it. I think Apple's approach to security is bang on.

Regarding Apple's removal of Rogue Amoeba's Airfoil from the App Store, I've read that RA had to reverse engineer the AirPlay protocol to implement the new features of the pulled version. If that's correct, isn't that like the reason for Apple's action? The rules say you can't use private APIs, and what is reverse engineering but figuring out what the private API would be if there were one? Granted, the rules don't state explicitly that reverse engineering is forbidden, but I can't be surprised that Apple believes it violates the spirit if not the letter of the law as they enforce it.

<i>It takes a cleaver intellect to dismantle bull**</i>

I've always used a shovel on bull**. Horse** too.

No need to ruin a good cleaver by using it to muck out the barn.

Thank goodness the "antivirus industry" is starting to get called out for their complete and utter BS.

I'll take a fundamentally more secure platform over layering more crap on top of other crap and hoping that the two piles of crap are somehow better.

I felt bad for Microsoft when they were, incorrectly savaged, for securing 64bit Vista. it was the right thing to do and I was disappointed when they backed down a little. That whole antitrust thing probably bit them in the butt and ended as a net negative for all of us who still use Windows.

I think iOS is brilliant, and the "walled garden" that all the techno weenies get hyped up about is the secret to why the likelihood that there be a widespread malware outbreak on iOS is next to zero, even when iOS devices eventually outnumber Macs, Windows PC's and every other operating system combined. The vast majority of malware these days is getting a user to execute code that requires privileges - i.e. Trojan Horses. Very very few exploits these days are real, honest to goodness exploits like the recent Flashback malware that targeted Java. That's the exception these days, not the rule - and that's going to be the ONLY way malware is going to get on iOS.

Yes, someone could try to get an app approved and on the App store for download - but how do you get it on lots of phones? As soon as you activate the "nastiness", the app gets pulled, the developer account gets deleted and the bad guys have to start over. Steal another credit card, set up another account, get program on store and then - the really hard part - convince people to install it. And lather, rinse, repeat... not gonna happen. Way to much easier to crack stuff out there.

As Apple continues with software in the Mac App store with Sandboxing and signing, the same benefits are extended to Mac OS too. The difference is, you can still install software outside the Mac App Store. And no, I don't ever see Apple changing that as some overly paranoid commenters run around doing their best chicken little impersonations insist. They don't need to. At a certain point, the majority of the programs that average people want will be on the App store and most people won't even bother looking for software elsewhere. The option will be there for those that need it - for example I use several utilities that I know will never be offered in the Mac App store because they don't work with it's sandboxing model... But for most people, they will never have to look beyond the Mac App Store. And if they stick within it, they inherit all the security benefits of it without even having to think or know about them.

TheHeeNow, on 26 May 2012 - 06:46 AM, said:

Realistically? Pick a different platform. Android, in looking at the constant news reports, is a fertile ground. And there are more Android devices out there so double bonus!

What if, when Steve Jobs claimed he cracked it, that what he really meant was he found out a way to put *all* contents on Apple TV like no one else had?

Guy English? Please. I read that article three times and I still don't know what the point was. The guy is a terrible writer and I could not understand the raison d'être of the post. The only point I got from the article was a vague, "Apple shouldn't get too comfortable." That can be said in a sentence, doesn't need an entire article, and a point so obvious it doesn't merit any mention outside of a Facebook status update. You, Macalope, had not one quibble? I guess you are just being nice as there was nothing to quibble with. So why mention it at all? This was the non-mention of the year. Did this guy lick your antler, or worse?

What you could have mentioned is that John Gruber said on his site that he wishes he had written it. Then you could have put forth any number of idiotic reasons why Gruber would say that. Senility? Drugs? Kidnapped and held at gunpoint? He couldn't really wish he had written that page of tripe.

disorderlycjhp, on 26 May 2012 - 07:38 AM, said:

That's fine - but on this I do agree with the Macalope and developers in general - Apple needs to be far more consistent and transparent in the whole app approval process. I think people have no problems working with rules as long as they know what they are and that they won't be changed arbitrarily on them.

Then again, I have little sympathy with Rouge Amoeba - their whole little "let's break the rules of the app store, and when rejected throw a temper-tantrum and swear off for life" when the iOS app store was new really soured me with them. And lo and behold, they are not only on the iOS app store but now the Mac App store? Hypocrites.

What sucks is they do have some brilliant developers and good apps - but their whole "Were smarter than Apple when it comes to their sandbox" is just the hight of arrogance. I don't have a problem if you have legitimate completes like lack of transparency or consistency in the review process - but if you don't like the fundamental model of what Apple is doing with the App stores - then stay out of 'em! Stop insisting Apple be like the rest of the screwed up industry - go play with the rest of the screwed up industry. If you feel compelled to play with Apple because, oh I don't know, there's lots of money to be made - perhaps that's for a reason? Perhaps it's because Apple has models other than the rest of the industry?

It's like the idiots that bash Apple for not being more "open" or like Android. Hello - perhaps they are successful because THEY AREN'T anything like the cesspool of inconsistency and malware that is Android? Hmm? Then again, for many of Apple's critics that would mean that they would have to admit that Apple's successful because they make products that people genuinely want instead of some vision that they subscribe to where Apple brainwashes everyone into buying their products through superior marketing

DocNo, on 26 May 2012 - 10:01 AM, said:

Well said. I would accuse Google of being absolutely reckless with Android. Why release something that's malware-ready? There's little or no protection in Android at all and Google doesn't seem to think that that's an issue. People are going to buy this Android device, put it in charge of their email, their web browsing, their passwords, their contacts, their credit cards, their life basically, and there's no security? It could be hacked with a toothpick and a hairpin! You'd have to be crazy to release that, never mind buy it!