The problem is that with software, platforms often develop into near monopolistic entities. Society hasn't yet found a good way to curb monopolistic behaviour of software platform owners. The EU Commission has tried and is trying in a couple of cases but the legal process is slow and the issues so complex that this has not made much of an impact (yet).
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'Dash' App Removed From App Store for Alleged Review Manipulation
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At this point it's clear the developer has not been completely forthcoming.
Or Apple ****ed up.
50% odds on either one.
Or Apple ****ed up.
50% odds on either one.
See, I personally think Phil Schiller is a moron. He's said things that are just so absolutely ridiculous in public, that I just assume everything he says is 100% Pro Apple and probably nonsense. And he's DEFINITELY one of the contingent at Apple that believes the Reality Distortion Field is real, and works all the time. So I have little doubt that he'd think he could say whatever he wanted, it would feed the fanboys, and bury the problem. And out came those fanboys. Huh. Interesting. Any other developer, who wasn't known in the community, that might have been successful.
Because for a company with $220 Billion with a B in the bank, I expect a bit more of a response than a Phil Schiller "I looked into it, trust me" email. That reflects cult leader behavior. Apple PR should have been able to respond to this before Phil the Shill; they didn't, he did. Dismissively. The dev made claims, it –should be– fairly trivial for Apple to publicly refute them with detail. Apple wants to make sure review fraud doesn't happen? Make the indictment waterproof. But Apple didn't decide to go that way. Instead, they are vague, opaque, and respond like a bad neighborhood restaurant with a Yelp review axe to grind. Streisand Effect. Companies that can't afford to spend the time/money to BE right, and document it appropriately, tend NOT to be right. Big, oafish, cultish companies even worse so. And they tend to follow with authoritarianism as cover. "It cannot be appealed."
With Sierra it's obvious Apple's heading there. I wouldn't dare leaving tho, rather simply not upgrading to newer macOS versions.
NO CONTROL, NO DUE PROCESS, NO VOICE all reasons I try not to buy anything important from Apple's app store, if I could avoid the iOS app store I would.
Is it possible Apple is trying to avoid a fight with someone bigger using the Dash name? Is it possible Bogdan was target by a third party? Unless Apple opens up a bit we'll never know. I do know even as a beginning programmer/site coder Dash has been a fantastic tool, thankfully I purchased it directly.
Is it possible Apple is trying to avoid a fight with someone bigger using the Dash name? Is it possible Bogdan was target by a third party? Unless Apple opens up a bit we'll never know. I do know even as a beginning programmer/site coder Dash has been a fantastic tool, thankfully I purchased it directly.
This is the problem with "App Stores" where some corporation decides what you can and cannot release for their platform. It reminds me of Nintendo in a lot of ways (i.e. FASCISM). I support OPEN PLATFORMS and if they ever decide to not allow 3rd party software for the Mac that is free from their "controls", I will never buy an Apple product ever again.
All I can say is FRACK APPLE. THEY SUCK ANYMORE. No new Thunderbolt 3 Mac with USB-C. No Mac Pro updates since the "trash can" came out. "Sierra" is little more than a bunch of BUGS plus a mostly useless form of Siri. Metal isn't updated enough to encourage gaming developers to actually use it and they refuse to even finish OpenGL releases (to 4.5). Drivers are slow. macOS is BUGGY anymore. This is not the Apple I bought computers from in 2008 and 2012. Even Microsoft's OS is starting to look better (if it weren't for their Draconian data collection in Windows 10 and shameful upgrade tactics).
All I can say is FRACK APPLE. THEY SUCK ANYMORE. No new Thunderbolt 3 Mac with USB-C. No Mac Pro updates since the "trash can" came out. "Sierra" is little more than a bunch of BUGS plus a mostly useless form of Siri. Metal isn't updated enough to encourage gaming developers to actually use it and they refuse to even finish OpenGL releases (to 4.5). Drivers are slow. macOS is BUGGY anymore. This is not the Apple I bought computers from in 2008 and 2012. Even Microsoft's OS is starting to look better (if it weren't for their Draconian data collection in Windows 10 and shameful upgrade tactics).
Yes, I agree 100%! This is a far better solution to the problem.
I don't remember another time when an app was removed even from my purchases tab, but indeed Dash has been.
The developer has made a tool available to migrate your license to a standalone one, I suggest getting it and running it. I assume it checks the app store purchase receipt to validate the installed app and that will probably be valid forever, but no point waiting.
Having used Dash for years, recommended it to many people and corresponded with the developer on occasion, I find it very hard to believe that the guy has intentionally messed around with app store reviews.
Fortunately you can still buy Dash for the Mac, if not iOS any more and it even works with the new docsets Apple introduced in Sierra, support for which was added in a matter of days.
Could Dash have been confused, by Apple or by a review manipulation service, with an endless runner with "dash" in the name?
If people have evidence that the dev is a fraud please post it here because if he really is I don't want to run his unsandboxed migrator..
If people have evidence that the dev is a fraud please post it here because if he really is I don't want to run his unsandboxed migrator..
Maybe. But there will be a point where I'm looking forward to Apple getting in anti-trust problems, the way Microsoft has.
From the Dash developer at https://blog.kapeli.com/apple-removed-dash-from-the-app-store
"Apple Has Removed Dash from the App Store
Oct 5th, 2016
Earlier today, Apple cancelled my developer account and has removed Dash from the App Store.
What Happened?
I don’t know.
Yesterday I sent Apple a request to migrate my account from an individual one to a company one. Once I verified my company with its D-U-N-S Number, they notified me that some features in iTunes Connect won’t be available during account migration.
A while later my iTunes Connect account started showing as “CLOSED” and my apps were removed from sale. I thought this was normal and part of the migration.
Today I called them and they confirmed my account migration went through and that everything is okay as far as they can tell. A few hours ago I received a “Notice of Termination” email, saying that my account was terminated due to fraudulent conduct. I called them again and they said they can’t provide more information.
Update: Apple contacted me and told me they found evidence of App Store review manipulation. This is something I’ve never done.
Apple’s decision is final and can’t be appealed.
Going Forward
I can’t update Dash for iOS anymore and I can’t distribute it outside of the App Store.
Dash for macOS will continue to be supported outside of the App Store. If you purchased Dash on the Mac App Store, you should migrate your license as soon as possible. At the moment you are not able to download Dash from your App Store’s Purchases tab anymore, so if you lose access to your currently activated version of Dash you won’t be able to migrate your license anymore.
I don’t know if/when things will go back to normal."
"Apple Has Removed Dash from the App Store
Oct 5th, 2016
Earlier today, Apple cancelled my developer account and has removed Dash from the App Store.
What Happened?
I don’t know.
Yesterday I sent Apple a request to migrate my account from an individual one to a company one. Once I verified my company with its D-U-N-S Number, they notified me that some features in iTunes Connect won’t be available during account migration.
A while later my iTunes Connect account started showing as “CLOSED” and my apps were removed from sale. I thought this was normal and part of the migration.
Today I called them and they confirmed my account migration went through and that everything is okay as far as they can tell. A few hours ago I received a “Notice of Termination” email, saying that my account was terminated due to fraudulent conduct. I called them again and they said they can’t provide more information.
Update: Apple contacted me and told me they found evidence of App Store review manipulation. This is something I’ve never done.
Apple’s decision is final and can’t be appealed.
Going Forward
I can’t update Dash for iOS anymore and I can’t distribute it outside of the App Store.
Dash for macOS will continue to be supported outside of the App Store. If you purchased Dash on the Mac App Store, you should migrate your license as soon as possible. At the moment you are not able to download Dash from your App Store’s Purchases tab anymore, so if you lose access to your currently activated version of Dash you won’t be able to migrate your license anymore.
I don’t know if/when things will go back to normal."
They won't give you that option. Before they go there, they will first slip an update into macOS so that upgrading is no longer optional, just like they did with iOS 9.
... or apps that are cheap ripoffs/clones of other, decent apps. Seems that stuff should be removed long before a decent app like Dash.
Yeah, a scarlet letter. I think this approach would accomplish more than banning an app and/or developer.
Hey, I like this app! Seems like kind of a bummer to prevent future downloads from Purchases... What about those who bought it and want to keep using it?
That wouldn't surprise me. There also seems to be an assumption that the problem here was falsely positive ratings-- it could just as easily be putting negative reviews on other apps and directing people to Dash.
I'm sorry, were you expecting Phil to crack his knuckles, open an SQL session into the App Store database and start running traffic correlation reports? Reviewing it personally means calling the head of the fraud department and saying "Are you sure this is right? People seem to like this app."
Hi, you must be new here!
FWIW
- I don't know any back story about the Dev team, so no wish to throw shade either way, but I use Dash every day just for its awesome snippets feature...is a VERY handy app. If Kapell needs a positive review to replace their suspect one(s) - I'd happily provide. Lol. .
- I don't know any back story about the Dev team, so no wish to throw shade either way, but I use Dash every day just for its awesome snippets feature...is a VERY handy app. If Kapell needs a positive review to replace their suspect one(s) - I'd happily provide. Lol. .
Umm , you can install any app you like from source code on any device you own. It only has a 60 day provisioning profile, so you'll need to re-install every couple of months, but totally #firstworldproblem
Looks to me like Apple are deliberately setting an example to developers considering review manipulation by coming down hard an app popular with developers.
Don't count on it! Phils looking into could have been as simple as having an executive aid call the gatekeepers for the app stores saying what's up? This then followed by a short technical response with all the details left out by the time Phils response is generated.
Not trying to would negative here but often what we might think is somebody looking into it at the executive level is more likely an executive with too little time on his hands to actually do much of anything personally with the problem. Now I don't know what happened here I'm just say what you might imagined happened and what really happened could be two different things.
What bothers me about this is Apple's stance as judge, jury and executioner. Even if the developer is guilty is a permanent ban the appropriate sentence? It's hard to know because it's a secret court and the evidence is never tabled. What if it was only one or two reviews that didn't effectively game the system?
I'm torn because I believe Apple has detected something suspicious but without seeing the evidence I believe the developer is entitled to the benefit of the doubt regarding the seriousness of the crime.
Closed systems give a little too much power to Apple. I can certainly see Apple pushing to lock down macOS further in this regard.
I'm torn because I believe Apple has detected something suspicious but without seeing the evidence I believe the developer is entitled to the benefit of the doubt regarding the seriousness of the crime.
Closed systems give a little too much power to Apple. I can certainly see Apple pushing to lock down macOS further in this regard.
No its not, not if they aren't bringing civil charges against the developer. If I owned a business I could terminate my relationship with another person if I believed they were dishonest without relying on courts especially if a contract exists that explicitly states that.
Developers have such an agreement with Apple and (so far) there appears to be nothing untoward or illegal about that. Maybe that will change, maybe various governments while pass "app store developer protection laws" and if they do Apple would have to follow those rules. But at this point? No indication a court is or should be involved.