Bit Splitting
bitsplitting.org · Personal blog · on HN since 2012
Blog on Apple platforms, software development, open source licensing and app business issues.
What HN saysHN commenters link it on Apple's app stores and their restrictions, and on Apple's internal secrecy practices.
28HN people shared it
3linked it in comments
43stories submitted
159story points
7 months agolast shared
2012people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1Ersatz Free Trials5 people · 9 points · first shared 2018 · discussion on HN
- 2The Price of GPL2 people · 10 points · first shared 2016 · 3 comments on HN
- 3Log Littering2 people · 3 points · first shared 2016 · discussion on HN
- 4Whither Help Scout?2 people · 3 points · first shared 2025 · discussion on HN
- 5Unloved Patches2 people · 2 points · first shared 2019 · discussion on HN
- 6Stagnation Or Stability?2 people · 2 points · first shared 2013 · discussion on HN
- 7Apple Intelligence (2023)2 people · 2 points · first shared 2024 · discussion on HN
- 8Apparently macOS sometimes just kills some apps randomly1 people · 40 points · first shared 2022 · 16 comments on HN
- 9A Real Gatekeeper1 people · 20 points · first shared 2019 · 3 comments on HN
- 10The Imperfect Craft1 people · 13 points · first shared 2013 · 5 comments on HN
- 11Spelunking Apple’s Open Source1 people · 9 points · first shared 2023 · discussion on HN
- 12End WWDC1 people · 8 points · first shared 2013 · discussion on HN
- 13MacOS Terminal Security Profiles1 people · 4 points · first shared 2018 · discussion on HN
- 14Touch Bar Everywhere1 people · 3 points · first shared 2016 · 1 comments on HN
- 15Mobile Is a Fad1 people · 3 points · first shared 2015 · discussion on HN
What HN people wrote when they linked it
iSnow · 2022-01-28
Could be related to the decision to remove individual names from the product about boxes back when Jobs came back to better control leaking of internal information and cut down on poaching. I would think that Apple does not want anyone to know who is working on the screen capture APIs as this PR would probably come from one member of that group
"When Steve came back, one of his company-wide edicts was that the names of individuals must be removed from about boxes."
https://bitsplitting.org/2014/01/24/cant-take-that-away/
damon_c · 2014-02-20
You must have figured out how they score the different numbers. 96 is like 780 points, 192 gets 3500, 384 gets around 6200 points, 768 gets 22000 or so... Did you find an obvious pattern? I was curious about this but too busy enjoying the game to think about it.
*edit
Someone figured it out here: http://bitsplitting.org/2014/02/11/threes-scoring/
newscracker · 2018-11-07
TL;DR The app stores are messy to deal with and come with many restrictions that shouldn't be there, considering they're completely Apple's solutions, and Apple could do a whole lot more within its control (but has not been doing so far after all these years). Conversely, the only reason the App Store on iOS and tvOS are used is because there's no other way to distribute the apps to a large base of customers (at least for non-jailbroken devices).
Why many apps don't use the Mac App Store:
1. It's primarily because software distribution on the Mac had different mechanisms maintained by developers for decades (or from before the iOS App Store and the Mac App Store came to be). Many old time customers are used to buying direct from developers and having a way to have a direct contact with the developer. For example, AgileBits (maker of 1Password) had to go back to retaining its own sale/distribution mechanisms after declaring that it's going MAS only because of long standing customer backlash (and probably acknowledging that it was anyway forced to maintain this for its Windows app at that time).
2. The App Store on iOS is deficient in many ways, when you consider that it doesn't allow (easily implemented) trials, upgrades, etc., that many users from the PC/Mac computers side are used to. The Mac App Store is even worse than that. Read this mess about free trials on the App Store (iOS) from a few months ago (June 2018), written by developer Daniel Jalkut of MarsEdit fame.…