Apple Has Removed Dash from the App Store: Update | Hacker News Reader

Apple Has Removed Dash from the App Store: Update

blog.kapeli.com

59 pointsokket21 comments

That actually sounds like a great* idea if you have competition. Just hire few shady "pay for reviews" to review your competition and you'll be the last one standing. Play it smart and they might not even realize of it (I am guessing they contacted the Dash creator due to the blog post popularity).

great as in horrifying. As in make America great* again.

> That actually sounds like a great* idea if you have competition.

It does, but Dash doesn’t...

> great as in horrifying. As in make America great* again.

Please keep the politics out of a story that has absolutely nothing to do with politics. It adds nothing to the conversation.

I completely agree, and felt a mere upvote was not sufficient to say how much I agree.

Woops, sorry I'm Spanish and that was just meant to be a joke, not really trying to get into politics.

> Update: Apple contacted me and told me they found evidence of App Store review manipulation. This is something I’ve never done.

> Apple’s decision is final and can’t be appealed.

Enjoying the walled garden. This is why I always suggest to buy apps outside the store, directly from the developers' website.

> This is why I always suggest to buy apps outside the store, directly from the developers' website.

This is something that I used to recommend as well, but then I ran into a licensing issue with an app.

I'd purchased a license directly from the developer's website but due to either a bug in the application or a bug in the licensing server, activating the license would fail. I ended up re-purchasing it from the Mac App Store.

I'm completely for putting money directly in developers' pockets and avoiding walled gardens, but what happens when the app requires activation against some licensing server and the company goes out of business?

It's even worse when the company is a one man shop - if that one person decides to accept a full time job elsewhere, gets tired of supporting the software, or just gets hit by a bus...

I have more faith in Apple supporting app store purchases long term than I do in indie developers supporting their licensing mechanisms, especially when they decide to discontinue support for an app or when they go out of business.

If the app was on the App Store, it would cease to be procurable entirely whenever your hypothetical developer missed their Developer Program payment, so I'm not sure I follow this reasoning.

That's a good point, I haven't published anything on the App Store in a while and I'd forgotten that failing to renew the Developer Programme results in the app being pulled from the App Store.

I'm not sure why, but I figured that the app would still be available for download by existing users from the "Purchased" tab.

In that case, I suppose I'd have to recommend purchasing directly from developers, with the caveat that I have more faith in the licensing mechanisms for apps that are _actively_ supported and purchased from the Mac App Store than for apps that are _actively_ maintained and purchased directly from the developer. Either way, I've only had one or two issues with third party licensing mechanisms, so I suppose it isn't a big issue at the end of the day.

Only other reason I'd recommend purchases from the Mac App Store for users that aren't technically inclined would be features like required sandboxing.

I think the long term support for apps where the developer got hit by a bus/truck/whatever is to remove the app from the store.

This is why I always suggest to buy apps outside the store, directly from the developers' website.

With trojaned downloads from hacked download sites becoming more commonplace (see e.g. Transmission) I started suggesting the opposite. I trust the Mac App store far more than the download site of some random software vendor who may have little experience with server maintenance.

Moreover, App Store apps are required to be sandboxed. So, even if malicious software ends up in the App store, the damage is limited.

(Of course, I agree that the removal of Dash totally sucks and Apple should rectify this ASAP.)

Most people want to point their finger at Apple here for being the bad guy but the reality is is that we're getting a one-sided view here and we're already getting out our pitchforks. Maybe, just maybe, the developer in question here did what Apple is accusing them of doing and isn't being completely forthcoming and honest about it.

I'm not saying they didn't, but I really don't see what they would have to gain by doing so.

Seems unlikely. It's a very popular app with a focused niche. Gaming the system doesn't really get the developer anything. He might have, but it would have been foolish of him — lots to lose and not much to gain.

> Update: Apple contacted me and told me they found evidence of App Store review manipulation. This is something I’ve never done.

This makes no sense. Why would he done that? Dash is very popular and has no competition to speak of, why would he bother doing anything shady (and costly)?

I was going to write Apple asking why I can't download my purchased copy of Dash from the App Store.

But, I wonder if that would just make things worse (ie. if suddenly hundreds of users write Apple would Apple see this as more 'manipulation' of their Store).

Is there a list/forum where all victims of Apples power-abuse can unite? There must be a legal case against closed App Store abuse one day.

Coincidental: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12660339#12660541

Conservative estimate: There are hundreds of developers being pissed of by Apple daily, a significant fraction rightfully so and another fraction in a legally significant way.

Current/Previous discussion:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12646919 (22 hours ago, 441 comments)

See also Michael Tsais Blog about this incident:

http://mjtsai.com/blog/2016/10/05/apple-removed-dash-from-th...

(As I posted on the duplicate discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12654395 )

Would this be the time to explore selling iOS apps outside of the app store?

Offer users a binary download (like when you buy the desktop app outside of the store). Then have a little tool that you run on your Mac, connect the iOS device, enter your developer credentials (since this is a developer's tool the user likely has them, otherwise registration is quick and free)... and the tool sideloads the app to the iOS device.

Conspiracy theory: Apple is intending to launch its own documentation reader built-in to macOS. This is just a way to "out" the incumbent.

I don't understand why they can't have an appeals process or even the possibility to talk to a live person and work things out. This is a business relationship, after all. This is simply indefensible on Apple's (and other companies' that do this) part.

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