"I can't believe that it's 2013 and people are still basing their entire company around the App Store with it's murky rules"
"But there's a lot of money to be made there, it's worth it!"
"Apple needs to change their procedures"
They're all true. Basing a business around an app is both risky and potentially very profitable. Apple should change their practises but have little incentive to. So, for now, I can just express sympathy- this situation sucks.
Regarding the OP; I hope the blog post kicks up enough noise that they allow the app again. Having a large public outcry is the only way to get Apple to do anything other than sue Samsung in attempt to prevent them from innovating faster.
Not that I'd want to do actual development that way, but we do it for iOS CI.
install, use and run up to two (2) additional copies or instances of the Apple Software within virtual operating system environments on each Mac Computer you own or control that is already running the Apple Software, for purposes of: (a) software development; (b) testing during software development; (c) using OS X Server; or (d) personal, non-commercial use.
http://www.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/OSX1082.pdf
B.2.iii
Sure, the odds of Apple coming after you are low. But that doesn't mean that it's any less of a violation of the license agreement that you agree to when installing the software. AppGratis also thought they were in the clear with their ToS issue.
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text
Here are the ones that it is OK to break:
(Most of the rest)
TL;DR use your common sense
A ToS, on the other hand, lays out terms for the ongoing use of a service. If I violate the ToS, the service provider is within their rights to decline to provide me service. They're within their rights to do that anyway for nearly any reason they feel like, because this is an ongoing relationship and I don't have them enslaved. Beyond that, they could also sue, at which point things get a bit murky.
There's nothing wrong with breaking a EULA, and their legal enforceability is worrying. There's also nothing wrong with a service provider terminating service when a user breaks a ToS, which is what happened here.
There's no inconsistency.
Luckily they're not legally enforceable (at least in the U.S.) under many circumstances, though you may not want to take it to court since you could get unlucky: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/End-user_license_agreement#Enfo...
BTW, I'm sure all Apple Boot Camp and Parallels users pay the $250 Microsoft license, NOT.
If anyone develops for iPhone without Xcode I'd love to hear it. I'd switch in a second if something could provide even half the functionality as long as it had half the usability issues.
android, linux, suing samsung, lack of innovation - it's like reading an Engadget comment.
apple's business model around the app store is to protect users from CRAP. malware, viruses, etc. it acts like a spam filter of sorts. just like any spam filter there are false positives, some things get through, etc. but this concrete case? good riddance.
and watch how google will tighten the screws in their play store due to facebook, malware, etc. they run ads for nexus without mentioning android. they run ads for chrome.
Apple's business model around the App Store involves protecting users from crap, but it also has healthy doses of limiting competition and establishing first-party app dominance.
The stock market is irrational and driven by fear and greed. While revenues and profits are objective performance indicators.
"Google removed 60,000 Low-Quality Apps from Play Store in February"
how does Google define low-quality again?
I haven't seen any significant innovation on their end since Notification Center. Android already has alternate lock screens, alternate keyboards, widgets.
My opinion is this; Android is both more innovative and more free. Since I know how to protect myself from malware reasonably well there's no benefit for me using the iPhone. My next phone will be an Android. It [Edit: the iPhone] would be good for, say, my wife, because she could care less about using it as a computing device and just wants to have something that works and takes photos.
PS Google can tighten the screws as much as they like; Android users can just sideload APKs without using the store AFAIK. I think that's far more appropriate. Lock down the store but allow alternatives.
> are aimed directly at people who don't know how to use
> computers
If you base your definition of "drive" as "being able to do the most basic of tasks", then sure, most everyone can drive a car. However, if you're an auto enthusiast, then to you being able to "drive" takes on a whole new definition; can you J-turn? How about drift? Can you jumpstart a car with a dead battery by push-starting? Can you correct your trajectory after losing control? To the hardcore drivers, these are the types of skills that will prove whether or not you can really "drive".
In the end, most people will get the normal use out of their car. It might be a bit more expensive and inconvenient, but in the end it will be just enthusiasts that actually care about being able to install custom parts on the car, or adjust the engine, or for that matter do repairs themselves.
> hacker - A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and stretching their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary.
His original statement (and what you excised, in italics):
> The iPhone in entirety and OS X lately are aimed directly at people who don't know how to use computers even if it comes at the expense of those who do.
That's basically a truism. What's been happening over the past three releases of OS X is testament to that.
There will come a day when users like me can no longer install and run whatever they'd like on their Apple computers; all application downloads will be funneled through the App Store, and you'll have to "jailbreak" your laptop just to do anything useful with it. I may have already purchased my last Mac.
They are certainly (specially iOS) not aimed at people who like to spend hours messing with a thousand settings screens, buttons and checkboxes - self-proclaimed "power users".
I've been using OS X since version 10.2, I think (maybe even 10.1, looking at the timeline), and came to it in large part because it married things I liked about the Mac--but never quite enough to justify buying one--with the things I liked about FreeBSD and, to some degree, BeOS. And with every iteration of the OS it got easier for everybody to use.
But it's also gotten better for power users to use. Automator keeps seeing improvements. AppleScript, for both better and worse, doesn't seem to be going away. The Terminal app has gotten improvements with every release. And Mission Control -- whether you personally like it or not -- represents the latest in what's very clearly a quixotic quest on Apple's part to get everyone in the world to love virtual desktops. Mission Control may not be nerdy enough for you personally, but its very existence is pretty nerdy. (And I actually think power users should give it a chance; it's certainly not like anybody else's virtual desktop management system, but once I got used to it I found it struck a really nice balance between power and usability.)
Certainly, OS X is getting better at catering to neophytes and is bringing over ideas from iOS. But I don't see anything substantial that they're taking away from OS X in the process, and that should really be what concerns us, shouldn't it? If you start hearing credible rumors that they're taking away your shell prompt, then the sky may really be falling. But as long as you can still do everything you could before, complaining about the fact that you can also do swipey stuff on your trackpad and pull up a big iPhone grid of applications seems just a little silly.
Yes, which is why you should treat your ambiguously legitimate AppStore business like a vein of gold which might suddenly run out. You make sure you can put the money in your pocket as you go (note: fundraising can hurt your ability to do this), you don't invest too much in crazy expansion (forty-five employees? hopefully it was all sales) and you don't get too attached to future plans.
It's an unfortunate situation for AppGratis, who did the best they could to keep the wolf from the door in the face of uncertainly, but this was pretty likely to happen eventually.
The problem with the app market is that you literally can't be your own bitch. Your entire business lies in the hands of either Apple or Google. And until HTML5 (or non-native alternatives) gain traction and press Apple/Google into changing their ways a little bit, what is the solution?