Episode #253
This week on For Mac Eyes Only: Are Mike and Eric making too big a deal over Sandboxing and Gatekeeper?, AppleScript and Mountain Lion, Apple Expands in Texas, iWork.com Shuts its Doors, Improved Compression for iTunes, Winclone and Quicken are Back, G4 Apple //c, A Braille Primer, Syncing Snowy to iCloud.
NEWS
> Apple Script & Automator in the Sandbox
> Apple’s 3600 Jobs in Texas
> iWork.com Shutting Down in July
> iNEWS: Improved Compression for iTunes 1080p Video
> iNEWS: Netflix Everywhere
> UPDATE: iTunes 10.6
> UPDATE: iPhoto 9.2.2 for OS X
> UPDATE: GarageBand 6.0.5 for OS X
> UPDATE: OS X 10.7.3 Supplemental Update
> UPDATE: iMac Graphic FW Update 3.0
> UPDATE: MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 2.8
> UPDATE: Winclone 3
> UPDATE: Quicken for Mac 2007 Lion Compatible
> FUN NEWS: The G4 Apple //c
ADDITIONAL LINKS to KNOW
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Feedback: Christos provides a short explanation of Braille.
> BrailleTouch
Question: How can Bill sync Snowy’s Address Book to iCloud?
> iOS: Syncing with iTunes
> Google Contacts
> Plaxo
> OS X Lion
CONTACT US
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Running Time: 49:44
Eric says to the effect, “Apple’s APP stores aren’t about making money.
Get real. 30% of 25 Billion iOS Applications even if they were only $1 each? $7.5 Billion, plus lots of $99 developer fees. And betcha’ the average iOS price is higher than a mere buck.
Mike’s exactly right. Apple is moving us closer to corporate control of what we can do on our Macs, and the software that will run, with each new version of OS X.
And as you guys agreed, there’s no security gain if everything isn’t locked down and controlled through signatures and Gatekeeper. Right now it is easy to invade a “sandbox” and screw it up. Applications that gain SUDO privileges can hack away at the system, so Apple will have to block them to attain its desired security state. Any less is ineffective. Then we’ll be left with inevitably crippled Apps, crippled to meet Apple rules. Crippled, like the Mac App Store version of ClamXav that isnt allowed to scan downloads for malware and viruses AS they’re downloaded.
To be fair to Eric, before we began recording, he and I were discussing Robert’s letter where Robert pointed out that I’ve mentioned on the show in the past that, historically, Apple’s always been about hardware not software, and Robert went on to say that “the main purpose of the App store is to sell the hardware. They don’t make any money from the app stores”
Eric picked up on Robert’s comment after recording started and ran with it — but I neglected to frame Eric’s comments within the context of the conversation Eric and I had earlier regarding the letter.
As you pointed out regarding ClamXav, it’s common for developers to disable key functionality in their apps for no other reason than to receive the blessing of Apple. It’s a shame, but as long as developers let Apple bully them around, then these ineffectual apps are what we’ll be left with.
Mike