Are there any browsers in the Mac App Store?

[anon54919170]

@webwalrus

Because they’re forced to be there. Not because they want to be there.

Yes, but most people look at the App Store anyways, so why wouldn’t they want to be there?

@Lars

Google Docs is optimized for Chrome, as other stuff is. (Google Drive is faster, two weeks before I started Chrome just to search for something in the history.)

You’re saying that it is optimized for Google Chrome, but not Safari? How do you know that? Google pays Apple billions of dollars every year after all.

@webwalrus

I think Google even prompts various places in their services (Gmail, Drive, etc.) for the user to try Chrome - and links them to it.

I don’t think that happens in Safari or Firefox (both of which are thrown tons of money by Google).

@webwalrus

(ETA: There is a LibreOffice on the MAS. https://apps.apple.com/app/libreoffice-vanilla/id921923693 )

Why would you buy that when you can just download it for free from the internet?

@Lars

If I look at my company, people are “techy” enough to use a computer. But it’s amazing how many times spoofing emails were successful, weird email attachments were opened, etc. Getting somebody to install something weird is one of the biggest security problems out there. Ok, not on macOS, but still.

Install Malwarebytes (if only it was in the Mac App Store).

@Lars

Software from Google…certainly not the trust worthiest source.

That also includes software from (insert big tech company here).

[webwalrus]

@anon54919170

Yes, but most people look at the App Store anyways, so why wouldn’t they want to be there?

For the reasons listed above? Sandboxing issues, Apple control over update timeframes, the risk of the app being rejected at any time, … ?

@anon54919170

You’re saying that it is optimized for Google Chrome, but not Safari? How do you know that? Google pays Apple billions of dollars every year after all.

Because Google controls Chrome, top to bottom, and they control Google Docs, top to bottom. That, and the fact that people specifically have cited in this thread (and elsewhere on the Internet) the fact that Google Docs does very well in Chrome, and not so well in Safari. This would logically be because Apple isn’t making security/performance decisions with Google Docs in mind.

Regarding the money, Google is paying them to be the default search engine, and as far as I’m aware that’s only on iOS. So the payment is for a completely different thing, on a completely different platform.

The same thing is true of Firefox. Google is buying the “default search engine” privilege - not Firefox re-coding their browser to optimize for Google’s other business divisions.

@anon54919170

Why would you buy that when you can just download it for free from the internet?

Because, hypothetically, you want to get all of your software from the Mac App Store? Lars mentioned that he wishes LibreOffice was in the MAS, and it is - just not a free version. Probably because the open source people behind LibreOffice don’t want the extra hassles App Store inclusion would bring for their free app. I wouldn’t download the paid version, but the availability of LibreOffice was brought up - so I noted that there’s a version available.

@anon54919170

Install Malwarebytes (if only it was in the Mac App Store).

To borrow an excellent summary from the Apple forums regarding Malwarebytes:

As for why it’s not in the App Store, that’s because the restrictions placed on App Store apps would neuter its functionality, crippling it beyond any usefulness. Any antivirus in the App Store should be viewed with suspicion. There are a lot of scam apps in there, and those that are legit are still hamstrung by the restrictions.

The App Store’s security / sandboxing model limits what software can do. A really good antivirus needs a lot more access to your computer than what that model allows - so it’s not in the MAS because it’s actually to your benefit that they don’t make it compliant.

[tjluoma]

@anon54919170

You’re saying that it is optimized for Google Chrome, but not Safari? How do you know that?

Anyone who uses Google Docs (and related) is aware of the fact that they often work better in Chrome than Safari. Now, I don’t use Google Docs so I haven’t experienced this first-hand, but I’ve heard it from plenty of Mac users for plenty of years to trust the assessment of those who have done it.

[Lars]

@anon54919170

…
You’re saying that it is optimized for Google Chrome, but not Safari? How do you know that? Google pays Apple billions of dollars every year after all…

Through usage. One example I posted was digging through a huge Google Drive history. Safari started to get sluggisch, Chrome was way faster. Also, open a huge Google document in both browsers: there is a significant (as in “noticeable”) difference.

[anon54919170]

@webwalrus

For the reasons listed above? Sandboxing issues, Apple control over update timeframes, the risk of the app being rejected at any time, … ?

The same rules apply to the iOS/iPadOS App Store, yet Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox are in there.

@webwalrus

Because Google controls Chrome, top to bottom, and they control Google Docs, top to bottom. That, and the fact that people specifically have cited in this thread (and elsewhere on the Internet) the fact that Google Docs does very well in Chrome, and not so well in Safari. This would logically be because Apple isn’t making security/performance decisions with Google Docs in mind.

@tjluoma

Anyone who uses Google Docs (and related) is aware of the fact that they often work better in Chrome than Safari. Now, I don’t use Google Docs so I haven’t experienced this first-hand, but I’ve heard it from plenty of Mac users for plenty of years to trust the assessment of those who have done it.

@Lars

Through usage. One example I posted was digging through a huge Google Drive history. Safari started to get sluggisch, Chrome was way faster. Also, open a huge Google document in both browsers: there is a significant (as in “noticeable”) difference.

Yikes! Is it really that bad? Do other browsers (excluding Google Chrome) have the same problem?

[ACautionaryTale]

@anon54919170

The same rules apply to the iOS/iPadOS App Store, yet Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox are in there.

This isn’t quite the same thing. For iPadOS/iOS the App Store is the only way to make software available (without jail breaking and a few other edge cases that aren’t relevant to this discussion). The products that appear in the App Store with those names conform to Apple’s rules to the extent that they aren’t really Chrome or Firefox at all: they’re really nothing other than Safari with a different UI.

[anon54919170]

What about sideloading apps through profiles?

[ACautionaryTale]

@anon54919170

What about side loading apps…

That would be one of the edge cases that isn’t really relevant to this discussion.

[webwalrus]

@anon54919170

The same rules apply to the iOS/iPadOS App Store, yet Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox are in there.

This has been addressed - I believe multiple times - already.

Let’s focus on Chrome for the purposes of this discussion.

On iOS, there’s no other option. Literally, none. They have to play by Apple’s rules to be in the iOS app store. And the iOS Chrome isn’t even really “Chrome”, because it uses a completely different rendering engine than it does on the desktop…also required by the iOS App Store. Or maybe put differently…if you use Chrome, or Firefox, or Safari, or any other browser on iOS, it’s using the exact same rendering engine - Webkit.

On the desktop, none of those things are true - and it’s all downside for them being in the app store. They have to do a bunch of extra work to make their product compliant with the app store, including having to completely remove certain features and functionality, for zero benefit that I can see.

What benefits are there for Chrome to be in the Mac App Store, given the amount of work it would almost certainly take for them to get their browser in there?

Usually the answer is “discoverability”, but that doesn’t work here. Chrome is, by all metrics, the most popular browser in the world. Nothing else even comes close. They don’t have a problem with discoverability, and it’s very easy to download it from their website.

So why would they burn the time and effort to jump through Apple’s hoops?

[anon54919170]

Ah, okay. I get it now.