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Apple vs the Law

(formularsumo.co.uk)
377 points tempodox | 22 comments | 11 Jul 25 06:49 UTC | HN request time: 0.931s | source | bottom
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isodev ◴[11 Jul 25 08:33 UTC] No.44529679[source]▶
As a developer for apple platforms, it's extremely difficult to keep a positive mindset to all this. Year after year, Apple finds ways to continue unbounded fuckery. Making apps for iPhones is not that profitable anymore either, at this point is more about addressing a painful necessity - Apple is the phone company and you have to make it work if you want access to that "unmovable" infrastructure.
replies(3): >>44529851 #>>44530015 #>>44539159 #
1. amelius ◴[11 Jul 25 08:56 UTC] No.44529851[source]▶
I'm seriously at a loss about why people would support this increasingly developer-hostile ecosystem and essentially work towards their own demise and perhaps even the rest of their profession. I'd suggest switching to a different source of income while you still can, even if only out of self-respect.
replies(3): >>44529971 #>>44530397 #>>44537779 #
2. bzzzt ◴[11 Jul 25 09:12 UTC] No.44529971[source]▶
Because most people are not developers? Between ad-infested Google, enshittified Microsoft and still not ready for the desktop Linux the Apple ecosystem might be the most accessible and easy to use platform for most non-technical users. As a developer it's an annoyance but I have to admire the elegance in the way Apple uses their core software and hardware technologies over their entire stack. As a user I don't care about what developers feel about it. Apple's market share is big enough to draw lots of them.
replies(2): >>44531672 #>>44537893 #
3. grishka ◴[11 Jul 25 10:07 UTC] No.44530397[source]▶
Because as a developer, you often don't get that choice, for example, if your product is an online service. Either you have an iOS app and play by Apple's stupid rules, or you don't, and your iPhone users go to a competitor that does have an iOS app, or at the very least complain quite loudly.
replies(2): >>44530845 #>>44531089 #
4. ◴[11 Jul 25 11:16 UTC] No.44530845[source]▶
5. thaumasiotes ◴[11 Jul 25 11:53 UTC] No.44531089[source]▶
If your product is an online service, having a website seems like a slam dunk.
replies(2): >>44532457 #>>44537812 #
6. fsflover ◴[11 Jul 25 13:04 UTC] No.44531672[source]▶
> still not ready for the desktop Linux

This has been a myth for the last decade. I'm even using GNU/Linux on my smartphone, which is arguably not ready for the average consumer but can be good enough for the HN audience.

replies(1): >>44532632 #
7. isodev ◴[11 Jul 25 14:20 UTC] No.44532457{3}[source]▶
It’s a good start. But then people want push notifications, Sign in with Apple, to pay with card but they have an iPhone etc - so many points Apple makes a lot harder than they should be. Eventually, it’s economically better to just suck it up and make an app.

Do you know why QRCodes are by far the most popular banking system? Because, Apple didn’t like it if apps use NFC for payments that’s not Apple Pay. There was a time BLE beacons had to be iBeacons too etc. it’s really decades of pressure in all kinds of ways.

8. tempodox ◴[11 Jul 25 14:37 UTC] No.44532632{3}[source]▶
My Bluetooth headset does not work with Debian. But it does with WinDOS.
replies(2): >>44532725 #>>44534170 #
9. fsflover ◴[11 Jul 25 14:45 UTC] No.44532725{4}[source]▶
My Bluetooth headphones work even with my GNU/Linux phone. Perhaps your problem is not with Linux but on the other side of the connection.
replies(2): >>44532892 #>>44537855 #
10. tempodox ◴[11 Jul 25 14:59 UTC] No.44532892{5}[source]▶
Linux on the phone is not Linux on the desktop.
replies(1): >>44532929 #
11. fsflover ◴[11 Jul 25 15:02 UTC] No.44532929{6}[source]▶
Here's a working Bluetooth on a Linux laptop: https://forums.puri.sm/t/bluetooth-stopped-working-on-l14-wi...
replies(2): >>44533558 #>>44537917 #
12. tempodox ◴[11 Jul 25 15:49 UTC] No.44533558{7}[source]▶
Proving my point. “Linux on the desktop” implied that you don't need to be a DIY hacker to get it working. Probably the reason why the poster you originally replied to called it “still not ready”.
replies(1): >>44535838 #
13. ◴[11 Jul 25 16:34 UTC] No.44534170{4}[source]▶
14. fsflover ◴[11 Jul 25 19:07 UTC] No.44535838{8}[source]▶
PureOS is an FSF-endorsed OS without any propritary drivers and firmware. Any other GNU/Linux will run that module out of the box.
15. frollogaston ◴[11 Jul 25 23:17 UTC] No.44537779[source]▶
I used to be an iPhone app dev before I ragequit around 2017. Took that skill off my resumé, got a new SWE job that paid more anyway. Besides Apple's rules, it wasn't enjoyable to develop for that platform. Everyone was constantly fighting the tooling.

The worst time ever was Swift 1.0 + Core Data, two broken things combined, that was like Dark Castle on CD-i.

16. Spivak ◴[11 Jul 25 23:23 UTC] No.44537812{3}[source]▶
The darlingest of developer darlings—Linear, the PWA first lightweight website that was and still is blazing fast, caved and launched an iOS app. If they can't be web only you have zero chance.
17. frollogaston ◴[11 Jul 25 23:28 UTC] No.44537855{5}[source]▶
There are like 100 people in our department using Linux, on Thinkpad laptops that officially support Linux, and cannot use Bluetooth audio reliably. And the problem isn't with the headphones, cause they work with Mac and others. It's a known thing, desktop Linux and Bluetooth don't mix, you use the jack if you're on Linux.
replies(1): >>44537889 #
18. msgodel ◴[11 Jul 25 23:34 UTC] No.44537889{6}[source]▶
That's funny because only my Linux laptop running pulseaudio ever seems to work reliably with bluetooth headphones. I had to go back to wired headphones on my work mac because half the time when I needed them they just couldn't connect.
replies(1): >>44539527 #
19. frollogaston ◴[11 Jul 25 23:34 UTC] No.44537893[source]▶
I think the question was, why do devs support this ecosystem
20. frollogaston ◴[11 Jul 25 23:39 UTC] No.44537917{7}[source]▶
"Bluetooth stopped working on L14 with PureOS" is the title of the thread. Frankly, not very many people have patience for that. Like if I'm doing a presentation, this needs to not even be a question.
replies(1): >>44540957 #
21. tempodox ◴[12 Jul 25 05:21 UTC] No.44539527{7}[source]▶
What's really funny is that I'm getting a working BT connection between Debian and the headset, but there's still no audio. Presumably I'm missing some driver, but I don't know which.
22. fsflover ◴[12 Jul 25 10:30 UTC] No.44540957{8}[source]▶
It didn't work, because PureOS doesn't provide proprietary drivers. Please read more than just titles.