Hackulous Shuts Down, Taking Down Popular Pirated App Source Installous

[hayesk]

Originally Posted by blueroom

I never understood the kiddies who could afford an iPhone but couldn't afford $1 apps. Guess they'll flock to Android and crush that platforms app programmers.

They forget to ask for an iTunes gift card along with their iDevice.

Originally Posted by Xgm541

Exactly what I was thinking. Time and time again I have paid money for apps that look good but are ultimate crap. And it is almost impossible to get a refund.

True, but how much money have you lost. If you buy a $3 app that you really like, be honest; it's worth much more than $3 to you. So take that into consideration with the money you "lost" on bad apps, and you'll probably come out ahead.

That said, I agree that demo versions would be really nice.

Originally Posted by pubwvj

I fail to understand why this is such a problem. I am a developer. I write software. So I have a bit of knowledge in this area. It is easy to implement protection against pirated software especially on server based games and the like. The fact that these developers like Hunted Cow choose not to do so is strange.

Lots of app don't, and shouldn't, have a server component.

Originally Posted by freeskier989

I pirate apps. I pirate music. I pirate software. I pirate just about anything i can. I have not bought Adobe Creative Suite ever and have had just about every version. For free. I have a massive library of music. All for free. I download the latest movies, sometimes still in the theater. For free.

Sorry, but its a dog eat dog world, survival of the fittest. If you don't want people stealing your software, build in better protection.

Maybe one day you'll work hard at a job and your boss decides not to pay you. Maybe then you'll understand the value of rewarding someone for hard work.

[akbarali.ch]

as someone said the reason for piracy is diverting more towards pirating apps than getting features enabled as in the earlier case.

i think if we had some sort of trial for apps it would help reduce the piracy a bit. There are lot of apps that i want to download but not sure whether they are worth it. most of the non games apps that i paid for only to realize that the free'er ones are better and ended up deleting the paid ones.

[Jibbajabba]

Originally Posted by philr5150

Funny to read all the righteous-ness and "holier than thou" attitudes on here, all the people bashing piracy - of course, none of you have EVER had an app without paying (on any platform), watched a pirated movie or downloaded/listened to pirated music. No way, never. Right?

I don't advocate piracy. I have no desire to install pirated apps - however apps that are $2.99 or $3.99 then turn out to be crap, suck. At least Android Play gives you the chance to get a refund.

Jailbreaking has legit uses, people should remember that (holier-than-thou'ers). Also, remember, as long as people produce software, there will be piracy. It is impossible to stop if your target is consumers. Music, DVD, movies, games, apps, NOTHING is un-pirateable. If a user can access a device, it can be hacked. Period.

Actually I did pirate apps 'back in the days' but never for ios. But as pirating required JB, I never bothered. And yes, testing was the only reason I even considered it. Incredible how many so called #1 apps turn out to be *****. I prefer Googles refund policy - you got 15 minutes after purchasing the app to uninstall it again to get a refund. Plenty of time to test an app.

[Furifo]

Originally Posted by bigjnyc

That does suck, I usually avoid this since I am very picky and only buy apps that are essential and that I know I'll use regularly. I have very few apps compared to most people... But I have gotten burned a few times by crappy apps. The price is low enough that you can live with it I guess.

This.

This is why I feel that Apple should incorporate, into the App Store, some way of letting developers offer a trial version of their App (10 days/14 days/30 days etc).

Either that or at least make refunding apps within a set time period (15 minutes/20 minutes/60 minutes) available directly through the App Store.

[ctdonath]

Originally Posted by i-John

It shut down because of stagnation, because the vast majority of people would rather give the developers their due.

The core act of piracy is not trivial, requiring cleverness and intelligence and effort and resources which, one eventually finds, equates to producing something meaningful people are in fact willing to pay for. Since piracy clients are unwilling to give piracy developers their due (such as it may be), the piracy developers can't keep up and find sustenance elsewhere, leaving their clients little choice but to join the aforementioned vast majority or fall out of the market by attrition.

[BornAgainApple]

I'm all for jailbreaking for the right reasons. Hackulous wasn't one of them. Sadly, my jailbreaking days appear to be over now that I have the iPhone 5. The only tweaks I miss are MyWi, SBSettings and Zephyr. Tether.com solved my first missed tweak, and while it's annual fee is a bit steep, it's a fraction of what AT$T charges. I'm still waiting for a decent app to replace SBSettings. As for Zephyr, I didn't realize until just a few days ago that Apple has a decent app of its own called Assistive Touch.

[kbotc]

Originally Posted by pubwvj

"Piracy is a major problem for many iOS app developers, and there have been several instances of piracy forcing developers to remove their apps from the App Store. One such case earlier this month saw Hunted Cow shut down its multiplayer title Battle Dungeon after piracy rates of roughly 90% made it impossible to handle the game's server load based on the revenue generated through legitimate sales."

I fail to understand why this is such a problem. I am a developer. I write software. So I have a bit of knowledge in this area. It is easy to implement protection against pirated software especially on server based games and the like. The fact that these developers like Hunted Cow choose not to do so is strange.

Analogy time: I also farm. We have lots of predators out in the woods that want to eat our livestock. So I put up electric fences and have a pack of livestock guardian herding dogs. Most predators simply stay away from us because they see our dogs, smell our dogs territorial markings and hear our dogs howling at them. Most predators are smart enough not to actually try for that tasty piglet, chicken or lamb and risk getting eaten by our dogs. And the dogs DO eat the predators who are foolish enough to try. The result is we get very little predation. On the other hand, another farm further down the valley has a house dog and no guardian dogs. They regularly lose livestock to the local coyotes and bears.

The world is full of predators. Make wise choices. Have good defenses.

A server based game is like having the only watering hole around. The predators will come to you and you can pick them off at your leisure. So why doesn't Hunted Cow get guard dogs?

It depends. Apple has gone out of their way to block apps that attempt to do their own piracy checks, especially when you send that information server side. One of my clients who wrote an IM client that was absolutely swamped with pirates attempted to verify the purchase, and Apple decided that was enough reason to deny the update. I guess it just depends on how Apple is feeling at the moment that they accept/reject your app.

[Hidesuru]

Originally Posted by keaton85

There are a ton of different situations for Jailbreaking and using installous. Blindly putting a bad label on it is just ignorance.

Personally:
- I used installous for trying apps out since there is no "demo" mode on most apps. Particularly the more expensive ones. Once you buy it your stuck with it, for better or worse. NO THANKS!
- Disabling the stupid password feature on FMF
- Tethering (I use Page+, so it wont register tethering correctly)

Those items for me are deal breakers. Ive been a diehard mac person for years and I still am, with dozens of iPhones in the family. BUT personally, without these two items (JB & Installous), I won't have an issue going to Jelly Bean. iOS has really taken a dive in my personal opinion with limiting the ability to do anything. Sadly, I feel that iOS has not progressed with the times....

Then DONT buy it.

The dev had the option of making a trial version if they wanted to. Bad morals, terrible excuse. Sick of people like you legitimizing piracy.

[justinwebb]

Funding was never an issue as each time it would ask you to enter a captcha code and on that page are ad's. So each time they would get paid so I highly doubt that funding was an issue. The forums themselves were miserable place where tons of n00bs posted asking the same questions over and over and then apptrackr had some downtime. It never really came back to what it once was and had lots of database issues driving people away.

If anything the closing of one will strengthen piracy due to all apps now not having to be spread around to more sites they will be able to concentrate on other top sites.

To anyone arguing about whether piracy is bad or not is like complaining about the weather, nothing will come of it and you will just end up wasting your time. People will always do what they want to do no matter the repercussions or consequences.

[Pompiliu]

R.I.P. Hackulous...

I think i'll switch to Android now.

[I WAS the one]

I wonder how much Apple paid for this small group of hackers shut down their number one app of cydia? I know money was the reason for the season.

[bingeciren]

Jailbreak and pirated apps should not even be related. Unfortunately there seems to be a lot of people who cannot differentiate the two. If there was a "try before you buy" type of scheme for the AppStore, Hackulo would not be as popular. I used Hackulo to try the programs before I bought them. If I liked it, I paid and bought it. If not, I deleted and saved myself a few bucks. Being a program developer, I hate piracy. However, I don't like the AppStore way of buying without trying, and not being able to get a refund either.

[nia820]

You know if apple would just allow us to use apps other than on the App Store easily there would be no need for jail breaking. I can't even change the icons on ios.

[rendevouspoo]

Jailbreaking and Pirating are not the same. Apple strictly limits what you can do with your phone. Some may love the hardware, but may not like having to abide by the rules that Apple requires consumers to do. Jailbreaking allows users to modify and customize THEIR phone to their liking.

[DJJAZZYJET]

Good riddance, I used to use Installous/Hackulous a long time ago. Its just not right.

[itjw]

Originally Posted by freeskier989

I pirate apps. I pirate music. I pirate software. I pirate just about anything i can. I have not bought Adobe Creative Suite ever and have had just about every version. For free. I have a massive library of music. All for free. I download the latest movies, sometimes still in the theater. For free.

Sorry, but its a dog eat dog world, survival of the fittest. If you don't want people stealing your software, build in better protection.

It's a dog eat dog world. Why not go rob a liquor store?

Why not get a gun and hold up old ladies for their jewelry?

Why not?

Because you're probably the type of criminal that thinks it's cool to steal electronically and that it's somehow different than taking something directly from a person.

It's not, but whatever you think. Hopefully you won't bother calling the cops when the bigger dog comes for you, especially since it's only fair....

[Matrixfan]

I don't want to comment on the moral side of Hackiulous, however I want to point out that jailbreak is always needed to to show Apple that people should be able to install whatever they want on their purchased and owned phone regardless of the type of applications.

[mrsir2009]

Good riddance.

[Sardonick007]

There's also no shortage of app developers trying to cheat users out of their money, so turnabout is fair play.

[newdeal]

I used it, need a way to try out various apps. If i didnt like it I deleted it, if I did I bought it. I now have no pirated apps and no jailbroken devices however I also havent downloaded an app that wasnt free in ages since I have all the apps I need already since I have had iOS devices for years...thank goodness Apple makes all upgrades free and not paid that may change the equation

[pubwvj]

Originally Posted by hayesk

Lots of app don't, and shouldn't, have a server component.

But this one does and they're not using it. Like leaving the fences down and locking your dogs in the house.

[ZacNicholson]

Originally Posted by freeskier989

I pirate apps. I pirate music. I pirate software. I pirate just about anything i can. I have not bought Adobe Creative Suite ever and have had just about every version. For free. I have a massive library of music. All for free. I download the latest movies, sometimes still in the theater. For free.

Sorry, but its a dog eat dog world, survival of the fittest. If you don't want people stealing your software, build in better protection.

i totally agree with you man! I do the same thing!

[mrsir2009]

Originally Posted by itjw

Why not?

Coz internet pirates are cowards. At least crimminals who rob people's houses and hold up shopkeepers etc have some balls.

[rdlink]

Originally Posted by atomwork

All that piracy talk is kinda BS. in the 80/90ies we copied music and games too. Remember the old AMIGA days. You did purchased your music when you where a fan, otherwise copied a CD from a friend. Nothing changed.

As far as the above posters cheering for this, i find it hard to accept that the iTunes vending machine is our only place to get and test out apps. Ever purchased a 30 buck app that you couldn't return or get your money back because it wasn't what you needed.

I feel it's part of the game. I purchase tons of apps, other I'd rather like to try out before purchasing.

And the whole JAILBREAK think should be a good thing. I buy the phone and I should be in control what I want to install. CYDIA has dope apps you can buy or get for free. One true thing I do envy on the android side. Open source.

FYI, if you copied music and games that were licensed to others you were a thief in the 80s and 90s, also.

[The Bulge]

Originally Posted by Sardonick007

There's also no shortage of app developers trying to cheat users out of their money, so turnabout is fair play.

Indeed. Selling in-app currency for small children that happen to be using their parents iOS Device or i general making a game where you can barely do anything without buying some ****. Not cool at all.

----------

Originally Posted by rdlink

FYI, if you copied music and games that were licensed to others you were a thief in the 80s and 90s, also.

Don't be melodramatic.