Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by b112 870 days ago
I agree, but...

That can also mean "wipe the device of the OS, and install your own".

Ownership of hardware, has never implied ownership of software. Usage rights, with first sale in most countries, but not ownership of the software.

But where do usage rights end, and where does "right to use the device as purchased" start? Certainly, Apple advertises the security, safety of their locked down ecosystem.

I suspect Apple's next move might be disabling their apps, and ecosystem, leaving a bare OS, if you move to a competing app store.

Or maybe leaving core apps, and prohibiting installation of other apps while removing their app store.

They might have a case for that. And Google for the longest time, will not allow the play store in a legit way, unless the OS is validated by them. So in this Apple wouldn't be an outlier.

1 comments

> Apple advertises the security, safety of their locked down ecosystem

Unfortunately this advertisement is just an illusion designed to lure naive customers, as has been amply proven by the long list of CVE's revealed at the end of 2023, due to which the Apple devices have been completely insecure against those who had known them many years before the public.

After such a precedent, any argument that Apple prevents third party applications for the benefit of the customers has become completely baseless.

After such a precedent, any argument that Apple prevents third party applications for the benefit of the customers has become completely baseless

This isn't a legit argument. Sadly, like it or not, no software on the planet escapes CVEs. You'd never successfully argue what you're suggesting in court.

Forget CVEs. The App Store itself is a hive of scum and villainy[1]. How this stuff gets past review while email and calendar apps have to raise a public stink[2] to get in is beyond me.

[1] https://daringfireball.net/2017/06/in-app_purchase_scams_in_...

[2] https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/06/apples-response-hey-sh...

This isn't relevant for the legal premise of what the goal is. And more importantly, what people are told, and their expectations when purchasing.

Apple can easily argue that people full well know its ecosystem is a walled garden, and that it is a selling point.