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Windows 8 To Natively Support ISO and VHD Mounting
MrSeb writes "With a masterful nail in the optical disc coffin, Microsoft has announced that its new operating system will natively mount ISO disc images. On the slightly more enterprisesque side of the equation, VHD files will also be supported by Windows 8. Both new features will be smoothly integrated into Windows 8 Explorer's ribbon menu, and mounting an ISO or VHD is as simple as double clicking the file. This is obviously an important addition with Windows 8 being available on tablets — and in a year or two, it wouldn't be surprising if all software is made available as an ISO on a USB drive which can be read by tablet and PC alike."
Heck, OSX has been able to Create ISOs from Disks, and mount them natively for at least the last 6-7 years (not sure if this feature was included in 10.0).
Its an incredibly useful feature in troubleshooting, in a Remote VM environment, or for bringing along a DVD full of (legal) 'old school' games to play (on a convenient USB drive instead of as lots of disks).
Its nice to see Windows catching up with the rest of the world.
This space for rent. All reasonable inquiries will be entertained at proprietors discretion.
IOS piracy is there, but it's not prevalent.
I didn't say it was prevalent or not. Maybe it is and maybe it isn't. Do you have statistics? The person I responded to said that iOS is piracy free which judging from the links I gave is an uninformed joke.
First, it requires you to jailbreak
There are millions of jailbroken iOS devices. Cydia's business model is based on that fact and they rake in millions yearly. Jailbreaking is such a reality today that there is a specific exemption from the DMCA specifically for it.
Then you have to patch the installer application to not verify IPA file signatures, this enables pirated IPAs to run.
You make it sound like people have to break out a hex editor. Don't make me laugh. It's a one-click affair.
Even then, it's obvious you're running a pirated binary - the OS requires a special set of keys to be present in the info.plist file so that it can run a decrypted binary (this same key is also present inside beta-test apps). Oh yeah, info.plist is in the same directory as the app itself, so it exists inside the sandbox and the app is perfectly free to access it at will. So it already knows it's pirated. (Many apps use this as it's basically foolproof - there's no way to avoid it).
Matters none as the ipa's themselves are patched. And Installous makes it easier to download and install programs than the app store does. I have never seen a platform that the user has an easier time finding and downloading apps than iOS and installous.
Contrast this with Android, where it seems piracy is basically prevalent
Contrast what? That it is trivial to pirate on both platforms and any developer who thinks his precious is safe from Teh Piratez just because of the platform he writes it for is sadly deluded. As are you.
The soylentnews experiment has been a dismal failure.
Just look at how quickly Apple's iPhone took off, with its walled-garden app store. And then Android came along, with the exact same concept, and it's been doing great too.
Unlike iPhone, Android phones don't lock out applications obtained outside the Market. AT&T used to hide the "Unknown sources" checkbox until earlier this year when popular demand for Amazon Appstore forced AT&T to either reconsider or lose customers at contract renewal. But even AT&T phones still supported and continue to support adb install.