Goodbye Apple, Fight For Freedom
In the recent years and months, Apple has taken steps to take more control of their Mac OS, changing their role to something that looks more as a dictature. As a developer of Mac OS applications, it’s time to take actions.
It used to be that you could just download any Mac OS software and just install them on you computer like you could do on Windows. With recent updates of Mac OS, Apple decided to restrict this possibility.
They added Gatekeeper to Mac OS that prevents you to run software downloaded from Internet that is not signed with an Apple certificate. Apple certificates are not free and requires you as developer to pay Apple a regular fee.
It is possible to bypass Gatekeeper but it should be done using hidden options of the operating system and Apple stated that in the future these options may be removed.
Then “for security reason”, they decided not to give access to some user folders (Like Documents, Download) for applications not signed with Apple certificate.
It’s for security and user experience reasons, is most of the time the argument of Apple. Is it ?
Is it a better user experience to hide options for user instead of showing a proper message like Windows does for unsigned applications ? Is Apple a better certificate provider than for example Verisign ?
I also read recently that restricted folders are accessible using hacks, something that Apple several months after the reporting didn’t fix or acknowledge. Meaning that these folders were accessible for Apple signed software and people creating viruses and malwares but not for other developers (as I refuse to use hacks). Like the author, I do not consider having a local application accessing the local file system as a security problem.
Is it for security or user experience reason that they are now threatening Epic to terminate their developer account?
It’s all about business. All their security and user experience changes are in the direction that is good for their business. Having one payment method is a business decision and not in the user interest. Refusing Facebook Gaming app is a business decision.
Where is this going ? My guess is that Mac OS is moving towards iOS. Only applications signed with Apple certificate will be allowed, then only using Apple App store, then only using Apple payment system, including their 30% payment fee.
Freedom should not be taken for granted. Many people died for it or went in jail for it. Apple is taking more and more control of their Mac OS operating system and by threatening Epic to remove their developer account (and certificate) because of one of their iOS app, it shows that they are abusing their position.
Time for action: I’ve decided to temporary remove most of Mac OS X applications from my websites (File Manager, Dictionary, Text Toolbox, Office, Image Editor). My software will still be available for Windows and Linux and the link for Mac OS X will go to this post.
I would also advice not to buy any Apple PC, unless you’re looking for a bigger iPad in the future.