DHH on Apple Talking Out of Both Sides of Their Mouth About Security
The Mac is such an inconvenient platform for Apple. It prevents the company from making any credible claim of an impending security catastrophe, if lawmakers force the iPhone to allow installation of apps without the App Store. With the Mac, we have almost forty years of proof that computers don’t need an App Store to be safe. Made by the same company that now tries to pretend to legislators that this isn’t possible!
Worse still, Apple continues to brag about this solid security record for the Mac when they try to sell you a new computer while their lobbyists argue the opposite on Capitol Hill.
I mean, he has an agenda, but he’s got a point.
If you think back to the Mac vs. PC ads, Apple pushed pretty hard on the rock-solid security of their platform. Sure, things have gotten more complicated since those aired, but does Apple really think users should worry about trusting their Mac?
Here are a couple of other examples.
To be clear, I’m not in favor of allowing side-loading on iOS. Nor do I think that the Mac should be locked down to iOS levels. I like that iOS and macOS are different in that regard. I just think that Hansson is rightfully holding Apple’s feet to the flame on how they characterize the relative security of their platforms.
As an aside, I still love the Mac vs. PC ads. They were a stroke of genius and hold up to this day.