I just think it’s ridiculous to have to pay a 100$ a year subscription to run whatever code I want on the devices I own.
Even OSS have licenses and warranties.
For instance, imagine if you had a car such that the company which made it controlled where you could drive it to, and which stations you could stop at to buy gas. Would that make sense to anyone?
This is already happening to an extent with Tesla, though you can still charge it at home.
EVs with different plug types are also a thing, with software even blocking use of adapters.
Your example doesn’t seem to illustrate anything weird. (Unless you mean to say “everything is weird”)
My example would be, what if your car refused to accept fuel at a given gas station because that station did not sign a licensing agreement with Honda? Or what if your car refused to drive to restaurants which were not approved by the manufacturer? I think we would all agree that would seem very strange indeed, and people would be livid.
EV's with different plug types are a relatively new thing, using DRM for charging stations seems pretty weird if you ask me.
It's a similar situation with BMW's move to lock heated seats behind a paywall as a software feature. A lot of people are quite livid about other industries trying to adopt these kinds of norms from software.
The point being that I am not allowed to run code on a piece of hardware that I purchased and own.
Yes, that’s the cost of buying into the Apple ecosystem. The point is that ecosystem is hostile to developers and tinkerers.
(Not OP, but I share their sentiment).
Well, no.
The free option is to install AltStore on your computer, and when your device connects to the same wifi network as your computer, the renewal process will be automated for you.
For the vast majority of people, getting home at least once a week is a given.
If you travel for work, I imagine your laptop goes with you.
> The free option is to install AltStore...
I'm confused. You've just re-stated what you already said. When I said "only option", I was referring to the fact that the only way to run my own code without spending $100/year is to jump through hoops that still result in scenarios where I can't travel without bringing my dev laptop with me (which is generally not the computer I travel with).
> If you travel for work, I imagine your laptop goes with you.
And if you're writing iOS/iPadOS code on a work laptop, presumably you've got a developer certificate.
But again, this misses the point.
That point being that I, as a tinkerer, cannot run my own code on my own device without bringing an App Store Server with me or spending $100/year.
Yes, that's Apple's policy and that's well known.
Doesn't mean anyone I have to like it or find it acceptable.