Since personal computers became a matter , we ’ve always been free to install any app we like as long as the code was compatible on a very basic level . No commendation processes . No regulation . OS X has been no exception . But this calendar week , two things happened in Appleland that could change that entirely . The introduction ofOS X Mountain Lionwith its new security system features , and anupdated developer policyin the Mac App Store .
Included in the latest version of OS X is Gatekeeper , a security app intended to protect users from malicious software package . It vocalise fine on paper , but Gatekeeper very conspicuously includes the options to limit app installs to those purchased and downloaded through the Mac App Store . rummy , no ?
And then today , word broke through a small developer , Atlassian , that the Mac App Store has adopteda more stringent attitude towards sandboxing . One that all but breaks apps , or at the very least , ruin drug user experiences for apps attempting to serve as more than a document editor in chief .
In very evident term , sandboxing is a way to protect the rest of your computer from potentially harmful apps . Think of your app like a timebomb . When you sandbox it , you are putting it in a bomb - proof elbow room , so that if it explodes ( in this instance , with computer virus and malware ) , it does n’t destroy the rest of the building ( in this caseful , your reckoner ) .
Apple control sandboxing as such :
App Sandbox is an access restraint technology provided in Mac OS X , enforced at the heart level . Its scheme is twofold :
App Sandbox enables you to describe how your app interacts with the system . The system then grants your app the access it necessitate to get its line done , and no more .
App Sandbox reserve the drug user to transparently grant your app extra entree by way of Open and Save dialogs , drag and bead , and other familiar drug user interactions .
Atlassian on the other hand , sees it like this :
Sandboxed app …
only have reflex single file access to their ‘ Container ’ , which is a chroot - alike frame-up for just that exclusive applications programme , with local version of the user home directory , preferences folders , and so on
can only access other file location if the exploiter gives denotative access via an ‘ Open File ’ dialogue , a latterly - used file listing , the restoration of windows in Lion , or puff / drop
can not even necessarily have knowledge of the track to the ‘ genuine ’ drug user home directory , only to the container interpretation
can not commit Apple event to communicate with other applications
Third - political party apps such as the to - do tilt Anxiety , would be affected by this variety . It has the ability to automatically trade data with the to - do list in Apple ’s iCal . Under the latest Apple policy , this would no longer be allowed without some serious drug user propel and pick off that would interrupt UX .
That said , the existent severeness of these changes remains to be see and will be dictate by how developers adjust to these changes , but it make you question about what centering Apple really intends to head in .
When badgered about his decision to stop supporting Flash - base technology on Apple platform , Steve Jobswould target tothe opened - source Darwin foundation OS X is built on , and the level of freedom all of us have to tinker under the hoodlum . Though iOS had been locked down for the sake of UX , it seemed damn near certain that OS X would always maintain some degree of unshackled exemption .
But Apple has also all but laid unembellished its desire to make OS cristal and iOS very interchangeable , if not one and the same . iOS of course , has a more stringent approving cognitive process for its apps , and seldom do those apps get unchecked approach to the deepest layer of iOS .
As such , that free reign access to OS X has start to shift . The introduction of the Mac App Store was the first indicator , which has slow given Apple more control over what apps run natively on their computers . They charter that one footprint further with the initial introduction of their app sandboxing policy in November , which trammel the amount of organisation access apps had without specific permission .
And now with the latest two occurences , the questions can no longer be avoided . Will OS X become a closed in platform ? Will HTML5 web apps be Apple ’s alternative to
The means HTML5 is shaping up , we might not even feel the effects of a closed program ( with the exception of offline app enjoyment , maybe ) . Google of course , believe in the exponent of HTML5 as a platform , and maybe Apple is leaning in the same direction .
But Apple ’s willingness to let us go and explore through the deepest , darkest niche of OS X , and in many a casing , improve on it , is what attracted so many modern user to the platform to begin with . It ’s what allowed the central core of the OS to have such a long living brace . If Apple have that by , you have to marvel if they ’ll be closing themselves off to unexplored ideas , and untapped potency for their product .
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