Buzz Comments Degraded into a Mac App Store Sucks Battle Royal

So I've been wanting to post this discussion for a while and just haven't got around to doing so.  It was a discussion that happened on Google Buzz a while back where one person posted a link that talked about all the things that flash can do that HTML5 cannot.  It then degraded into an Apple sucks festival to which I wasn't really invited and was summarily dejected from.  Although I could have probably picked a better leg to stand on since I'm not the biggest fan of XCode (although XCode 4 does seem to be a pretty substantial improvement).  Anyway I hope someone finds this conversation as amusing as I did.  I've posted the full comment history with the names of those who are not me edited out.  Everything else is as it was in the discussion...bad grammer, bad spelling et al.

Commenter #1 - Dropping Flash support was such a bad move. And now dropping Java support is even worse. I honestly think Jobs might have gone crazy. Or, he's a Cylon.Oct 29

Commenter #2 - I kind of see a possible reasoning for it. Apple has always benefited from not being too popular; people didn't care enough about macs to write viruses for it, etc. Standard security through obscurity. Now that it's growing, people are starting to care and are using attack vectors being found for macs through trusted public script interpreters like java/flash/etc. It doesn't matter that the interpreters run in the user space and the vulnerabilities are in OS X. Jobs will push the blame elsewhere. So by discontinuing support for anything they don't explicitly approve of (upcoming mac app store), they can continue to falsely claim that they're "secure" because of their walled garden. "you're safe because we only give you approved crayons and safety scissors".
I'm interested to see if they start voiding mac warranties for installing applications that aren't in the mac store because they can compromise system security (like jailbreaking iphones).Oct 29

Commenter #3 - I can't believe that even mac fanboys are into the idea of an imac store... I also can't imagine that developers are too keen to have to share 20% of their income with apple in a space where they previously didn't have to share anything with anyone.Oct 29

Commenter #2 - But now there's the argument that a store will help smaller developers that won't need separate publishers etc. 70% is better than 0. I'm guessing (completely on whimsical speculation) that there would be a paid Apple-certification process for large companies that want to be supported with a one-time fee.Oct 29

Kevin Hendry - If by 20% you mean 30% I'd agree.Oct 29

Commenter #3 - good point. As a dyed-in-the-wool apple fan; what is your take on the iMac app store? Do you think it's a good thing or a bad thing? Do you think Jobs is going to go insane a look future iOS releases to only allowed apps from the supported store - and if that happens will you switch away from apple or smile and tell everyone that you love it?Oct 29

Kevin Hendry - Also it isn't exactly true that they get everything now. They pay for other services to manage the payment systems and they have to pay to maintain those systems if they decide to build them...which most can't afford to do. Plus the idea would be similar to that with the mobile store where a common place for application discovery may spur enough traffic and business to offset the increased percentage take that Apple gets. If it works. Also it provides a greatly simplified interface for payments compared to go-it-alone options. However I'm pretty skeptical it will work unless they loosen up the restrictions more than they have thus far.Oct 29

Kevin Hendry - IF it starts to prove that monies can be made like the mobile store did, there will be a lot of new crazy applications for the Mac we've not seen or thought of yet. But similar to TV I don't know if the medium is all that ripe for a lot of creativity.Oct 29

Kevin Hendry - Also if Apple actually starts to lock down the Mac platform similar to what they've got on the mobile devices I think it will flop. I need my Mac to be open enough for a number of tools to work on it. It is a swiss army knife of sorts. The phone being an embedded device I can understand why it is more restricted. But a PC cannot have those same restrictions other wise its a tablet.Oct 29

Commenter #2 - Isn't the industry moving closer to a tablet-like experience? Multi-touch / Chrome OS / dumbed down netbook UI's / etc? Most people just need access to their "google internet" and their fart apps.Oct 29

Commenter #1 - Haha. Sadly, I think you're right BC.Oct 29

Kevin Hendry - Yes, for a large number of average consumers iPad like devices are on the way, but they still need machines to develop the code on at some point. Part of Apples recent success is due to a number of moves it made to modernize its development environment, and the OSX platform (not just the GUI). Things like CLANG (via LLVM), WebKit, Grand Central Dispatch, Blocks for C (and possibly the next C spec). These things get developers excited about building code on their platform. I'm certainly disconcerted that they've deprecated their Java port, but I think it's probably better if that is supported via the community regardless.

They have to keep building machines & technologies that developers want to build code on top of...not just consumption devices for the masses. The nice thing is that they're building application/media consumption devices that are popular and they're providing a good development platform us to make monies with. If they were to remove the pillar of the development platform by restricting the options available to developers they will likely lose them in droves. I believe that since I think that although everyone likes to make money, mostly developers like other things and if you piss them off enough they'll walk away from the money in the short term and probably make you regret it. I don't think Apple is going to lock things down on the Mac....but they might...and I think they'd pay dearly for such a mistake.Oct 29

Commenter #2 - If Steve Jobs sucker punched his average fan, they'd probably thank him for the "real" experience he just gifted them. He presents a smaller netbook that costs a thousand dollars with minimal specs, and the reviews are glowing because it's small and it "just screams" for everyday tasks. Apple already treats developers and device owners like worthless piles of waste, and they stick with it because ..... well, I don't know why. But they do.
I've already stated that the locked-down mac strategy was completely wild speculation, but for the sake of fun I'm going to continue with it. Developers already have to pay, what is it, $100 to be able to make apps for iCrap devices. Who's to say that they wouldn't put a similar idea to use with mac development kits? It, itself, could be an approved app in iTunes. And part of the sdk could be a sandboxed environment for testing code, so you wouldn't void your warranty by running non-approved code directly on Apple's hardware (that you have the privilege of having in your house).

Anyhow, just a fun thought exercise. I'm sure that in reality they'll be far more creative in finding ways to fuck over their client base while being thanked for it.

I need TimmiesOct 31