This scares me. Not so much the action by apple ( they are flexing their muscle), but the reactions here. "Great!", is the jist.
It you think an unilateral revoke, and shutdown of a company internal tools, because of an external issue, without recourse is a good thing... I'm guessing you have no issues with Crazy EULA's, Monopolies, Corporate abuse, Corporations doing as they please. ( I can keep going down this slope.. )
Facebook had a program, with willing participants, that broke a third parties rules. We can argue infinitum about this.
But this is a company, STOPPING your usage of YOUR hardware, AFTER you purchased it (I'm talking about apple stopping Facebook from distributing internal tools as well, this is the side effect of this ). Think deep and clear about this. Are you ok with this?
Secondly, from the company (apple ) that literally turned everyones devices into wiretaps, globally, and ignored the issue for who knows how long... This is just.. wow. ( and they continue not to issue a formal reason for this ).
Yeah, no. Facebook had a cert for distributing internal apps. When one of their external projects was rejected by the App store, they used the internal cert to try and distribute it externally (circumventing the App Store). As a response Apple revoked the certificate that was being used in violation of its use agreement. There is nothing wrong with that action.
You're introducing a straw man argument by trying to make this about hardware ownership.
With due respect, I think you misunderstand what a straw-man argument is. This is not a different point. This IS post purchase control of hardware.
Would you be ok with Tesla disabling cars because you were using illegal drugs in them? Now do you get it? I'm not defending facebook. I'm telling you this behavior from Apple is truly scary. Apple is not law/moral/societal enforcement "police".
This is the ONLY way to run internal apps. and it wasn't one cert btw. Google has a similar "research app", their certs have not been revoked. Maybe because apple relies on google more? Maybe because they generate revenue from their search and app placement deals? Hrrm?
My point is simple, arbitrary revokes, without process, are a scary thing. Specially when they are done POST purchase, and have real tangible effects.
Since Apple didn't catch Facebook either, but reacted half a day after the media report, I don't think taking this 3 hour old story as "Apple isn't doing anything to Google!!!" is reliable: We'll see what happens.
(replying to the reply of my comment, since threading doesn't go further)
Do you think apple does not have reports of the number of users that have apps installed via an enterprise cert?
That's pretty much the basic type of stats you would gather when having an enterprise licensing/authority system. Fact is, they knew about this, this was not hidden by google OR Facebook.
Apple decided to release this the DAY after they had a huge privacy flaw in Facetime.
It's not the only way to run internal apps: They can also install them through XCode. Also, the revokation was in no way arbitrary, but due to a grave violation of the terms under which the certificate was obtained.
Exactly this. I think Apple handles it perfectly on macOS: if you want to run an app downloaded outside of the App Store, you have to explicitly go to System Preferences -> Security & Privacy -> Allow apps downloaded from: anywhere. This provides a great mix of consumer protection against malicious code, and freedom for professionals to download and run anything on their machines. Disappointed in how they handle apps outside the 'walled garden' for iOS devices.
> if you want to run an app downloaded outside of the App Store, you have to explicitly go to System Preferences -> Security & Privacy -> Allow apps downloaded from: anywhere.
You can just right click the app and choose “Open”. That deliberate action will allow you to open an app from an unidentified developer without changing your Gatekeeper preferences.
> This provides a great mix of consumer protection against malicious code, and freedom for professionals to download and run anything on their machines.
Android has something similar. Remember the Fortnite fiasco?
Yeah, but if you don't err on the side of freedom, then you're basically supporting Apple-style totalitarianism.
I'm glad that Microsoft's business model won out in the PC wars and I look forward to a time when Apple loses again in their home field. As a power user, I can't stand the amount of control has over my own hardware. In my profession, I can't afford to ignore Apple though. I really hope they lose their anti-trust case!
As others have said, all Apple did was revoke a certificate that was used to intentionally circumvent the AppStore. The fact that Facebook had a slew of internal apps that depended on that cert shows their stupidity, arrogance, or both. It's not Apple's responsibility to figure out how badly it will hurt if they revoke a cert that was used to violate their terms.
They can't test facebook tools or internal apps on apple phones, because they used their cert that signs facebook tools or internal apps to make consumer facing spyware in violation of their agreement (that they had been warned about before!).
Its not like they shut down their macbooks.
> Secondly, from the company (apple ) that literally turned everyones devices into wiretaps, globally, and ignored the issue for who knows how long... This is just.. wow. ( and they continue not to issue a formal reason for this ).
If you think there's a major equivalency of the bug on facetime, I can't help but think you're hopelessly biased.
It you think an unilateral revoke, and shutdown of a company internal tools, because of an external issue, without recourse is a good thing... I'm guessing you have no issues with Crazy EULA's, Monopolies, Corporate abuse, Corporations doing as they please. ( I can keep going down this slope.. )
Facebook had a program, with willing participants, that broke a third parties rules. We can argue infinitum about this.
But this is a company, STOPPING your usage of YOUR hardware, AFTER you purchased it (I'm talking about apple stopping Facebook from distributing internal tools as well, this is the side effect of this ). Think deep and clear about this. Are you ok with this?
Secondly, from the company (apple ) that literally turned everyones devices into wiretaps, globally, and ignored the issue for who knows how long... This is just.. wow. ( and they continue not to issue a formal reason for this ).
Just.. wow.