[dwighttk]

Sure this situation already exists on Mac OS but that is a much smaller user base and there are plenty of alternatives where you can go and install arbitrary software.

I deal with weird stuff my parents have installed on their Macs every time I visit… so far I haven’t had to do that with their phones. If I wanted them to use a Firefox browser engine on their phone I’d get them an Android.

[devnullbrain]

It's so funny that every HN post on this topic produces more and more contrived reasons for why having less choice is better, actually. Today: my parents need to be coddled like children, so you don't get to install a new browser.

It's only because Apple's legal wrangling failed that Android even exists today.

[asadotzler]

This site stopped being for actual hackers at least 5 years ago, maybe more. These people are the opposite of hackers, literally begging for and defending walled gardens and closed systems. What a joke this community has become over the years.

[gls2ro]

Or could it be that the parents of most people who were live on this website 15, or even 10 years ago were not using computers, and the parents of the younger generation on this website are using computers?

So maybe people want their parents to avoid getting scammed or having their money stolen from their accounts.

[dwighttk]

Clearly if you aren’t personally capable of auditing an entire OS you deserve the security holes you get.

Which sorta makes me wonder why these “actual hackers” even bother to care about iOS.

[dwighttk]

You do get to install a new browser, on a platform you’d prefer, one that is open and supports choice, go over there.

[devnullbrain]

No. Follow the law.

[dwighttk]

Thankfully it is only a bad law in the European Union.

[devnullbrain]

And it's a good law elsewhere? :)

You're also welcome not to buy a phone for your parents. It would be disingenuous for me to suggest you actually do so, because we all make choices under duress or with limited options.

[dwighttk]

If this bad law were to cross the Atlantic I would still buy my parents their phones and deal with the situation.

I’m glad I don’t have to while it remains outside the US. And I’m glad I don’t have to deal with it on my own phone, even if I’m better equipped to deal with it. And I’m glad people are still free to change to different browser engines inside the US without the law.

[JKCalhoun]

Yeah, I thought the Mac comparison was easy to digest, but ultimately left me feeling still a little hungry. I'm thinking those that would install malware are obviously going to target the platform that is always online and that sells millions of units.

I remember how few Mac viruses there were back in the 90's vs. the PC platform. I don't think it had anything to do with System 7 security. ;-)

I'm not sure though if it wouldn't in fact hurt Apple's brand to give up the fight and instead install a big lever you can throw when you set up your iOS device that says, "Turn off security". Apple seems to be saying instead, you have choice — buy an Android.

I've never owned an Android though so I can say, is it rife with malware and other security compromises? Is the platform as hardened as iOS? Or it another case where the market is not as appealing as the iOS market to malware developers?

[Lacusch]

Yeah but then they just won't chage the browser enginr and nothing will change. I don't think your parents would go out of their way to change the browser engine or am I missing something?

[dwighttk]

They don’t go out of their way to install anything on their macs… every time I ask them about how their computers get this way and they do not know.

I suspect my dad is just clicking anything that gets in the way of his puzzle games. Not sure what gets mom.