Comment by WhyNotHugo
5 hours ago
The whole concept of “third party App Store” is just to add friction to the whole thing.
Alice wants to use a program made by Bob. Apple won’t allow Alice to do so unless Bob pays a fee to Apple. With third party app stores, they’re just allowing _different_ middlemen. What we actually want is to be rid of middlemen imposing arbitrary restrictions on how Alice can use her own device.
> What we actually want is to be rid of middlemen imposing arbitrary restrictions on how Alice can use her own device
Isn’t it difficult to do this without rolling out a welcome mat for NSO et al?
I don't see the problem here. Nobody should be able to install or disallow installation of software on a device except for the end user.
> Nobody should be able to install or disallow installation of software on a device except for the end user
This is a value statement. There is more public concern and support for security and freedom to use commercial software than there is for using it as a Stallmanesque general-purpose computer.
End users aren’t phone experts, and a huge portion of end users would like to completely delegate this decision to phone security experts at their handset manufacturer.
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I, for one, won’t be installing anything from the NSO Store. Sure, call me paranoid, but I just don’t trust it.
Sideloading is nice and good but realistically most users are just gonna go to app stores, because they make things easy and convenient.
I prefer middlemen, especially for something like a phone. But even on a server I would rather be limited to using the OS packages from official repositories, and have a process in place if i need to compile something myself, I also think that process should be more involved than simply running as root.
I am afraid that making it too easy to install anything you want on modern smartphones is going to be a problem. Imagine how many are going to end up in botnets.
> I am afraid that making it too easy to install anything you want on modern smartphones is going to be a problem. Imagine how many are going to end up in botnets.
Android _already_ has this problem. It takes a few extra taps / coaching to get somebody to install an arbitrary and malicious APK but it's doable now. Moving towards a "if google didn't sign it and distribute it, you shall not run it" future won't really prevent the ignorant laity from installing malware regardless. The rest of us, however, are going to get screwed.
> takes a few extra taps / coaching to get somebody to install an arbitrary and malicious APK but it's doable now.
It does? Last I checked you just had to click install for a f2p mobile game on the Play store and voila, you're an exit node for various botnets
Different middlemen is not a problem because users can decide which ones to use. Not happy with the restriction one imposes? Use a different one.
Either Bob or Alice could set up an app store if this is done right.
Users actively don’t want that. This is how millions of users get malware on their phones.
Then just... don't do it? Nobody is forcing you to install third-party apps.
It's a weird knee-jerk reaction from some people to claim to sideloading = malware. Especially on the Apple side. It's like they saw Android malware clickbait headlines and just ran with it for decades.