Comments on: Marketplace Value Add For Devs and Customers

By: MichaelApproved

MichaelApproved — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 03:40:57 +0000

I recently switched from iPhone to Droid2 and I keep thinking about this article every time I try to download an app. The permission slip is meaningless to me. I have no idea what the app is doing with that information and why it even needs it. At the very least the app should explain why it needs to use each of those functions. So frustrating to install something without some trusted source first reviewing the code.

Curating the apps without censoring would be the perfect model. Let me download whatever I want, just make sure the app is only doing what it's advertising.

By: Freedom loving developer

Freedom loving developer — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 01:23:29 +0000

So, we can't write apps that can read the GPS or make web service calls or communicate outside the device at all? We can't make IM clients or e-mail clients or video chat clients or take pictures or use the camera or the voice recorder or access the contacts list for contact related activities? I don't understand. What use is the phone to a developer if all we can do is draw on the screen?

If we /can/ do more than that, then either the phone allows us without warning the user (bad security model), or it warns the user and gets their permission (like Android does).

BTW, before you download an Android app, the phone lists exactly what secure features an app is coded for (access the internet, read contact info, read/write to SD card, send SMS, etc...). I examine that on each download and if it's attempting to do something that doesn't make sense for it's design (like a game being able to make phone calls), then I don't download it.

You didn't mention the user review process either. Each app has user reviews with a 1-5 star rating along with comments. Though, early adopters of a program (before reviews exist) are the guinea pigs, most users have the benefit of the comments. You can also report a suspected malicious program too.

It all comes down to features vs. security. The more features you allow for apps, the less secure you are. It's always a trade off.

We definitely need, at the very least, a toggle switch (even if buried deep inside system settings) to let those of us who are intelligent enough to disable the restriction of a single market place. I need to develop apps for my family and for local community groups and local businesses... apps that have no business being available for the general public AND some of these are none of Microsoft's business because of the intellectual property of the contents of the apps and privacy matters too.

By: Thoughts on closed platforms

Thoughts on closed platforms — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 14:42:08 +0000

[...] Brandon Watsons interesting take on the whole closed vs open platforms debate (which can be read here), and I feel like chiming in on the [...]

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By: Shalan007

Shalan007 — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 11:10:51 +0000

Never heard about a wipe function for apps for Android. But its a good thing in my opinion to get a bit of security into the system – but that has a bit of a bad taste too…
All depends on how wisely you would use such a feature.
I would like to have some control as a customer whats happening on and with my payed devices. If I dont want that something is interfering I like to have the choice.
After all – just send an email out to the accounts and ask for permission to wipe that risky app or even the phone (I would like to have such a function in WP7 too to make a lost phone unusable).

By: Shalan007

Shalan007 — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 12:52:27 +0000

I have written a little app for Android too and I need to use some “advanced” apis where I had to declare some usage of external network services and the SD card.
Only ONE user has asked why I need to use the network connection. Thats strange because thousands of users installed the app…
So a new approach of getting the user some info what exactly the app is trying to do would be good. But I doubt that its enough to just put a popup during install to it. And letting the app show a popup every time it tries to access a (restricted) resource would be very bad too…

The review process might help a bit to find the black sheeps. But there is no way of telling if the reviewer has found every possible thread. Keep in mind that there is only about $20/app review (estimated by me) – so a review could only take maybe 20min… You can automate alot because .Net gives some abilities to that.
Some freedom to do sophisticated apps is needed. Ok, there should be some restriction on how to access possibly expense generation resources. So sending an SMS or calling should be comtrollable through the user. But I would like to see some API on controlling phone calling features (like TAPI or CSTA). That would enable a lot of nice apps.
Try to limit the annoying popups asking the user. That has lead to the failing of Vista
Ther is no free lunch

By: Shalan007

Shalan007 — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 12:52:27 +0000

By: Parag

Parag — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 11:00:11 +0000

This is exactly the reason why Iphone has been successful. If you rely on users to use Task manager and free up memory you fail! (EVO fans, I am sorry, but Android sucks!)

I think Multi-tasking has to be there, but it should not be freely available to 3rd party apps.

By: Mobility Digest - Android - MS Explains The Protections You Expect From Them

Mobility Digest - Android - MS Explains The Protections You Expect From Them — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 03:07:48 +0000

[...] “knowing Google’s got [his] back.” OK so real malicious code stayed, crap app wiped. Anyway, Brandon Watson of MS addressed the benefits of a stringent Marketplace in a blog posting today. He notes: What is being lost in this discussion is that there is no curation of the Android [...]

By: Ben Reierson

Ben Reierson — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 21:54:24 +0000

I take your point here, but this blog post might be a somewhat annoying reference if/when WP7 changes some of these policies in the future. Allowing an app “…no access to any data other than its own isolated storage, or the ability to communicate with other apps.” is a strange thing to use as a selling point. If Windows worked that way, the PC likely wouldn't have made it very far.

Btw, the Android marketplace *does* warn you of all the apis utilized by the app you're installing. I'm not saying everyone reads it, but I feel your comment saying customers “…have no way of knowing with certainty what those apps are doing behind the scenes” is somewhat misleading. They DO know, for instance, whether an app can make calls.

I'm really looking forward to WP7. I'm developing apps for it. But some of the exact limitations/features you mentioned here are actually going to prevent me from using the first version as my primary phone. I really hope I can someday.