> But option like "a possibility" available with hoops to software engineers or tech savvy people can't be.
Okay, then the only disagreement we seem to have is that you think that everyone who sideloads should continue to give a yearly donation of $100 to Apple (which they don't need or want) for the rest of their lives?
That is a very strange perspective. Keep in mind that I would fully understand if you don't think Apple should be forced by governments to provide sideloading for free; that's a separate issue, and I don't explicitly advocate for it on my website. The EU legislation has already passed; I'm just explaining what it means for tech enthusiasts.
> Only in EU I guess?
I'm referring to the "classic" version of AltStore. The EU version only allows you to install Apple-approved apps and as such doesn't present any additional risk for malware. The classic version is available worldwide and it makes use of signing certificates from Xcode.
> OK. Add couple more hundred bucks. Doesn't change the point.
It absolutely does change the point. You claimed that anyone with the required technical skills can sideload, but that isn't true; they need to be able to afford and justify spending an additional $8.33 every month to access a feature which is free on every other mainstream computing device.
> From my vantage point allowing easy sideloading and alt stores are changes I don't want
I don't want that either, as I already said.
> 1) big corporations who want to run their own stores and not pay Apple a cut for creating and maintaining the hardware and ecosystem
I don't have any sympathy for Epic Games either.
> 3) regular people who want to pirate apps and not pay small-time developers and don't realize security implications
Sideloading doesn't inherently provide the ability to pirate apps. All iOS apps are encrypted and the binaries can't be accessed by other apps; the only way to obtain them is through jailbreaking, and that's something which probably won't exist forever. There's also of course unbreakable cryptographic measures such as remote attestation that Apple could employ if the problem grows into something too bad.
Okay, this view seems perhaps more nuanced than what I expect from a typical argument. Food for thought I guess. I don't fully get how sideloading won't enable piracy and ruin solo devs but I'll look into it.
> I don't have any sympathy for Epic Games either
Maybe it was astroturfing but when this was on the news HN discussion was basically back to back people supporting Epic, one reason I feel like it's lopsided here...
Okay, then the only disagreement we seem to have is that you think that everyone who sideloads should continue to give a yearly donation of $100 to Apple (which they don't need or want) for the rest of their lives?
That is a very strange perspective. Keep in mind that I would fully understand if you don't think Apple should be forced by governments to provide sideloading for free; that's a separate issue, and I don't explicitly advocate for it on my website. The EU legislation has already passed; I'm just explaining what it means for tech enthusiasts.
> Only in EU I guess?
I'm referring to the "classic" version of AltStore. The EU version only allows you to install Apple-approved apps and as such doesn't present any additional risk for malware. The classic version is available worldwide and it makes use of signing certificates from Xcode.
https://faq.altstore.io/altstore-classic/how-to-install-alts...
> OK. Add couple more hundred bucks. Doesn't change the point.
It absolutely does change the point. You claimed that anyone with the required technical skills can sideload, but that isn't true; they need to be able to afford and justify spending an additional $8.33 every month to access a feature which is free on every other mainstream computing device.
> From my vantage point allowing easy sideloading and alt stores are changes I don't want
I don't want that either, as I already said.
> 1) big corporations who want to run their own stores and not pay Apple a cut for creating and maintaining the hardware and ecosystem
I don't have any sympathy for Epic Games either.
> 3) regular people who want to pirate apps and not pay small-time developers and don't realize security implications
Sideloading doesn't inherently provide the ability to pirate apps. All iOS apps are encrypted and the binaries can't be accessed by other apps; the only way to obtain them is through jailbreaking, and that's something which probably won't exist forever. There's also of course unbreakable cryptographic measures such as remote attestation that Apple could employ if the problem grows into something too bad.