On 6/1/12 8:18 AM, Benjamin Smedberg wrote:
On 5/31/2012 8:41 PM, Asa Dotzler wrote:
Installing an app is not the same thing as visiting a website.
I have not yet seen a coherent description of how they are or should be
different. Technically they are exactly the same thing; when the store
"installs" an app, it is merely installing a URL link to where the app
is located. This is fundamentally different from the current android/iOS
stores, where the store actually delivers the app permanently to the
device. If the user perceives that they are getting their app from a
store when they actually are not (they are merely getting a *link* to an
app from the store!), there are going to be all sorts of disconnects
between perception and reality which could lead to unhappy users.
Clicking a link to a website is a very lightweight operation. The risk
to the user is minimal, users may or may not like what they see after
clicking a link, but the chances of any harm occurring is minimal.
Additionally, no matter what the site that had the link had to say about
the contents of the page they linked to, the user will always end up at
the right place so they can see for themselves.
None of this is true when the user clicks an Install button. Installing
an app is more heavyweight. It's the equivalent of the user clicking
through an ActiveX or Java control prompt. It implies a certain level of
trust. There might be permissions that go along with it. And the user
cannot trust an app unless they know what it is.
Some developers may choose certain stores to faithfully represent their
app. Others may have install pages on their own sites so they have a
chance to tell the user what the app is about. Many others will choose
to have no such restriction at all (and this is the default). I think we
should enable this whole spectrum.
-Anant
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