Apple announces App Store changes in the EU

Apple is already a big, festering, malignant growth. The EU needs to jump in with both feet to let all that pus out.

And I hope Brazil joins

Maybe they need to come in with a scalpel. I feel like using your feet is just kind of gross for that task.

But they're basically the only large scale consumer computational hardware company driving actual, stable innovation?

Or maybe don't buy Apple products if you don't like them. Seems that would work fine and you would save some money too.

What have they innovated in the last 10 years?

I like their products, without all the detours they force on me.

I'm not an Apple fan by any means. But I think it's fair to say that Apple Silicon and actually useful ARM-powered laptops was a major hardware innovation.

Should we all also quit the software development market now that a company is gatekeeping 50%+ of the it and don't allow the device owners to install apps they want if Apple does not approve?

It kinda feels like Apple Silicon was the exception to the rule. And even then, a lot of the innovation is hardly Apple's to claim:

- ARM is not Apple IP, it's owned by SoftBank and licensed to Apple at rates low enough that it's impossible to undercut them.

- TSMC's 5nm manufacturing capacity was entirely bought-out for Apple Silicon, blocking other OEMs from competing on equal footing.

- The SOC team, who arguably did the most innovation of all, was gutted with the founding of Nuvia immediately after Apple Silicon's launch.

Not how it works though.

It's OK, we'll make it how it works through legislation.

Why? On what grounds? “Oh they are too powerful, I don’t like what they do! Let’s legislate!”

It’s honestly pathetic. You don’t like it you don’t buy it, period.

Nah, they got rich by selling their products while brainwashing their customers, literally turning them into cultists. And in the process they just raising and raising their prices. So in essence shitting on those who elevated them.

If anyone dares to speak up gets strong armed. Instead of giving ordinary people a chance to earn some extra income by creating a market for them, they squeeze them out. They force their fucking, non customisable, shitty ui/ux on people and they also do everything in order to hinder diy fixing of their products. They also skim the developers because they can. They create a soulless society in the process, and they just don't give a fuck. They just love their oppressing rules, so ft.

What kind of inherently evil shitfaced scum comes up with ideas like these? Well, screw these greedy bottom-feeders. Do they think that hiding behind a facade, a faceless corporate entity, means they can do whatever they want? Pull them out into the sunshine, let them burn.

You seem to have strong opinions about products you are not interested in buying.

I hate pomegranate juice. Should I try to ruin the business of pomegranate juice producers until they start producing orange juice? Or should I just buy orange juice from another business instead.

Because it's my device and I should be able to run whatever I want on it. Period.

If you were stupid enough to buy a device on which you are not able to run whatever you wanted on it you kind of deserve it, though. It’s not like they lie by telling you “you can run whatever you want” and then it’s not possible! It’s super clear from the start.

How is that pathetic?

In a democracy, power comes from the people and not from the profit motives of a private entity. It is well within the right of the people to vote to curtail capitalist excesses.

The point is they shouldn't be allowed to sell a device that is artificially crippled just so they can make more money.

It's not stupid to democratically set up ground rules to ban antisocial behavior.

Should an orange juice producer be allowed to restrict which glasses you are allowed to use with their juice and charge glassware manufacturers a commission?

I don’t agree. As long as it’s super clear what you’re being sold, there should be no issues.

Please note I don’t say I’m right. It’s just my opinion on the matter.

We have a philosophical difference of opinion there, but have an upvote anyways for the civil way of disagreeing.

In my opinion capital can use their power to the detriment of society at large. At that point it is the duty of a democratic humanist government to protect its populace.

The market is a tool, not an end in itself.

Couldn't agree more. And recently they have mostly increased frequency to stay competitive, at the expense of heat, throttling and to a minor extent battery life (not that much because some efficiency was gained elsewhere).

They look good on specific workflows because they are focused on specific accelerators and code path optimisation that they know is more beneficial to the way most of their customers use their hardware.

But their lead is hardly uniform and there are still plenty of things where they are barely doing better than intel, if at all. And their GPUs that are supposedly good don't perform that well outside of benchmarks, efficient, surely but not exactly something to rave about.

When you look at it from a high vantage point, there have been a lot of compromises to be made to get mostly efficiency/battery life, the transition wasn't cheap and some stuff will forever stay stuck.

With the progress of Intel/AMD it doesn't feel like that big of a win. And this is also why ARM isn't working so well on the Windows side. So much to give up for not that significant gains.

At least we know it was mostly about architecture optimisation and access to better lithography processes. Eventually they will all converge to similar performances and we will regret the code compatibility. Some big software houses (like Autodesk) basically got vindicated for not building software for macOS, it's not a really good sentiment for the Mac long term.

It's not clear if any of it matters because clearly, they would rather sell iPads with a software distribution monopoly in the form of their App Store. Maybe with EU ruling they will change their mind, but I doubt it, as long as they can maintain their marketing...

Thank you for your kind answer. To give more context, part of my reasoning is I actually bought my devices for their closed system + tight integration and I feel angry for having it being ripped from underneath me, while also having less features because of these laws (e.g. iPhone Mirroring which is not available in Europe).

Basically: “I know what I buy, why should I pay for those who do not even try to get informed?”

Believe it or not, some people (at least me) want the closed ecosystem. It’s literally one of the reasons why I buy that stuff. And now it’s being ripped out of my products just because the people cannot be fathomed to understand what they buy. It’s pathetic.