• @nous@programming.dev
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    36813 days ago

    Yen also pointed out how such a court decision could help cut inflation in the US, too, “by dropping the price of a significant chunk of digital purchases by 30% overnight”.

    I bet most companies will just take that extra 30% as profit rather than giving it back to their users like proton has.

    • @athairmor@lemmy.world
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      13 days ago

      Yeah, even of the companies don’t pocket the difference, he’s an idiot to suggest that this will cut inflation.

      This guy is just not very smart, I think.

      • @NOT_RICK@lemmy.world
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        11113 days ago

        I think he’s a salesperson trying to sell the idea that getting rid of the apple tax is good for consumers.

        • Lka1988
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          4413 days ago

          getting rid of the apple tax is good for consumers.

          I mean that’s not wrong. I had no idea Apple was double-dipping like this. I wonder if Google is doing the same thing…

            • Lka1988
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              13 days ago

              Every company who takes a cut from in-app purchases, be it subscriptions or DLC, should be kneecapped by this ruling.

              It’s one thing for the hosting marketplace (App Store, Steam, Play Store, etc) to take a cut from the initial purchase of a game/app. But it’s a whole other issue for that initial marketplace to keep reaching further into the dev’s pockets and take a cut from in-app purchases unrelated to where it was originally obtained.

              • @Greercase@lemmus.org
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                2113 days ago

                That just turns paid apps into splash screens for in-app purchases though. That way apple never gets a cut because the “purchase” is in-app. Pay to be listed (maybe tiered depending on downloads) seems fair especially because it doesn’t incentivize people to do scammy things with pricing. It’s already a fee anyway.

                • Lka1988
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                  1413 days ago

                  That just turns paid apps into splash screens for in-app purchases though

                  Welcome to Android lol

              • @lepinkainen@lemmy.world
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                13 days ago

                I’m not entirely optimistic about this ruling, but we’ll see.

                Apple had no reason NOT to give refunds and then use their weight to claw it back from the app developer.

                But what happens when not-too-legit apps use non-AppStore external sites to unlock features in an app?

                In a perfect world it’s cheap and easy and reliable.

                But it can also be a scammy shop that lures you into expensive subscriptions with no easy way to cancel them (eg. gym membership) and what happens when Little Timmy spends $9000 for Nlartbux in a mobile game’s external store?

                Could go either way 🤷🏻‍♂️

                • Lka1988
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                  13 days ago

                  I’m not entirely optimistic about this ruling, but we’ll see.

                  Apple had no reason NOT to give refunds and then use their weight to claw it back from the app developer.

                  Greed.

                  But what happens when not-too-legit apps use non-AppStore external sites to unlock features in an app?

                  I suppose we will see what happens. That’s a very slippery slope though, full of FUD, and is the same logic that Apple, Microsoft, and others try to use to keep users locked into their walled gardens.

                  In a perfect world it’s cheap and easy and reliable.

                  But it can also be a scammy shop that lures you into expensive subscriptions with no easy way to cancel them (eg. gym membership) and what happens when Little Timmy spends $9000 for Nlartbux in a mobile game’s external store?

                  Could be. Multiple alternative markets exist for Android already though, and some shops are scammy as fuck. Google has already put protections in place to prevent sideloading potentially harmful apps (including alternative markets), but the savvy user who knows how to bypass those restrictions should* know how to spot scammy shit.

                  Could go either way 🤷🏻‍♂️

                  “For your security” was never about security.

                • @cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de
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                  213 days ago

                  what happens when Little Timmy spends $9000 for Nlartbux in a mobile game’s external store?

                  That’s why you don’t put your credit card info in a phone or tablet and let kids play with it.

            • @hikaru755@lemmy.world
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              13 days ago

              What? Since when does Valve prohibit companies from redirecting customers to non-Valve purchasing flows? Because that’s what this ruling is about, it says Apple can’t prohibit apps from telling users to go buy off-platform for lower prices. Valve isn’t doing that with Steam afaik, actually I’m not aware of any other platform that does this

              • @JimmyMcGill@lemmy.world
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                1913 days ago

                Valve will even allow developers to create their own Steam keys free of charge and sell them wherever they want with no commission whatsoever

                That’s pretty open I’d say

                • @sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                  111 days ago

                  Lol, as long as you properly plan in advance and coordinate such a thing, not the way that uh… Dead Matter tried to do it.

                  Dear god what a fustercluck.

            • @TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world
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              13 days ago

              They literally do not lol

              In game purchases in steam games don’t have to pay Valve, nor does Valve prevent you from uploading your game to other stores, which is what this ruling was about.

              • @ExtantHuman@lemm.ee
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                12 days ago

                I have many issues with the gamer deference to the steam monopoly… But they don’t partake in this particular abuse: taking a cut from the dev for all in game purchases. They only take a (sizeable) cut for the initial game purchase.

          • Ulrich
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            313 days ago

            What do you mean “double dipping”? I don’t own any Apple products. I purchased through Proton’s website.

            • Lka1988
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              13 days ago

              If someone purchases a Proton plan through their iOS app, Apple got a 30% cut of that. Which is stupid. Because Proton (and every other company with an iOS app) already pays Apple to simply have their app on Apple’s app store.

              • Ulrich
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                13 days ago

                Proton…already pays Apple to simply have their app on Apple’s app store.

                Uhhh I mean they pay a $100/year developer fee, which probably doesn’t even cover the infrastructure costs. Is that what you’re referring to?

                I’m not arguing against you, Apple should consider those costs as a service to their (overpaying) customers. I’m just not sure what other costs you’re referring to.

                • Lka1988
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                  13 days ago

                  Is that what you’re referring to?

                  Yes (I thought it was more, but w/e). I’ll admit, I don’t know a whole lot about development and everything that it entails, but nuance is key here. Say what you will about Proton, but this ruling just set a precedent that a company hosting an app/game download cannot take a cut from purchases completed within said app/game. That affects everyone.

                  I’m just looking at this from a bigger picture perspective. Apple has more than enough money already, and frankly there are far too many companies like this who need to be cut back down.

              • @Rozz@lemmy.sdf.org
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                112 days ago

                That explains my experience. I just brought proton vpn for the easiest travel solution for me, and when I was shopping around I thought I was losing my mind. Checked the price online and it was one price and then checked from the Apple app for convenience and it was higher. I was confused, but just bought it online and used it on the app after (along with other devices).

      • Ulrich
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        311 days ago

        Interesting that Andy Yen does not have a Wiki page. But Proton says “Previously, Andy was a research scientist at CERN and has a PhD in particle physics from Harvard University.” so, I think he’s very smart, he’s just outside of his lane here.

      • @sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        11 days ago

        So, I initially wanted to just kneejerk respond yes, it is absurd to suggest this ruling against Apple… would have any kind of generally noticable effect on inflation.

        But I wanted to check the actual numbers.

        Ok, so, total US consumer spending in 2024 is about $64 Trillion.

        … The Apple App Store generated $105 Billion in revenue in 2024.

        Ok, napkin math: 30% off of lets just say literally all App Store payments… , ok, we’ve cut costs by about $32 Billion… shave that off the $64 Trillion…

        And voila!

        A rough general price reduction of… 0.05%

        Call a median US yearly income $60K, and they’ve saved $30 bucks. Maybe the cost of either one or two DoorDash meals, depending on where you live… probably much closer to just one.

        We’re saved from inflation rofl!

    • plz1
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      3513 days ago

      Yeah, Proton is bucking the obvious trend, with this one. Most companies will totally take the profits rather than lowering prices.

    • @Zak@lemmy.world
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      2913 days ago

      Companies that were app-first like mobile games probably won’t cut prices much if any. Companies that were web-first like Proton and Patreon probably will.

    • Ulrich
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      613 days ago

      Yep, product prices are not based on costs but rather just the absolute maximum of what consumers are willing to pay.

      Proton just seems to be an exception.

        • Ulrich
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          111 days ago

          It’s not. It’s just related to the competition AKA what people are willing to pay.

          • @sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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            11 days ago

            With enough competition, someone is going to compete on price to attract customers. They obviously can’t sell for less than their costs (again, sufficiently competitive so you don’t get monopolies starving their competition), so that’s the floor for what they can sustainably charge.

            It doesn’t matter what the service is, if there are enough viable alternatives, at least one of them will go for the value play. Customers aren’t willing to pay more than they have to, so they’ll be attracted to lower cost options.

            • Ulrich
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              111 days ago

              What I’m saying is that competition is included in “what people are willing to pay”. Cost of production is not.

              • @sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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                11 days ago

                Sure. But if people aren’t willing to pay more than the cost of production, games wouldn’t be made. The cost of production is the floor, and the cost people are willing to pay is the ceiling, and competition finds a line somewhere in the middle. The more competition, the closer it is to the cost of production.

                • Ulrich
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                  111 days ago

                  if people aren’t willing to pay more than the cost of production, games wouldn’t be made.

                  Then that unmade game wouldn’t be relevant to this discussion.

                  The cost of production is the floor, and the cost people are willing to pay is the ceiling, and competition finds a line somewhere in the middle

                  Again, no it doesn’t. “What people are willing to pay” includes the competition. If one company undercuts another with a comparable product, consumers won’t pay for the more expensive one.

    • katy ✨
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      113 days ago

      i’m scared how many ceos don’t understand that rapid fall of inflation or zero inflation is bad because it means your economy is stagnant.

      • @Saleh@feddit.org
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        612 days ago

        That is a very broad generalization. First of all inflation is not just some co-product of economic activity. It has specific reasons. An economy is not stagnant because the oil price sinks after geopolitical tensions ease. An economy is not stagnant because businesses are kept from price gouging in cartels or monopoly situations.

        Also “stagnant” is not inherently bad. The reason why we need economic growth is because the super rich are siphoning off more and more wealth, so economic growth is the only thing keeping poor people from revolting. A zero growth or even degrowth economy could serve the people very well, if wealth wouldn’t be hoarded away by select few.

    • @radon12445@lemm.ee
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      4613 days ago

      If only he ever said that you weren’t making up bullshit by misrepresenting his statement.

    • @doodledup@lemmy.world
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      312 days ago

      Why is it bad though? This business is in no form related to politics. It wouldn’t change fundamentally even if Hitler ran it.

      • @philycheeze@sh.itjust.works
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        512 days ago

        I’m not going to willingly put my money towards someone who supports that kind of thing. The first response to my comment was a very level headed response and provided evidence that he does not directly support the administration.

        Still doesn’t provide me a lot of consumer confidence though.

        • @doodledup@lemmy.world
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          212 days ago

          Maybe you should reconsider your threat model. You seem to be very light on information. If political views is an issue than you’re the issue.

          • @gimmemahlulz@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            612 days ago

            Political views are 100% the issue, they drive all other business decisions. If you’re fucked enough to support what’s going on in the US government, I can’t trust you to be a normal human, let alone run a business.

            Fuck off with your apologisim for nazis

  • @commander@lemmy.world
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    12 days ago

    Damn. People here sure love purity testing. The guy could pay for their cancer treatment and still slap him every chance because they got it wrong publicly in the past but once you get it wrong publicly once, you’re out of the club. Go be a conservative we don’t want you. When someone at Tuta has a bad year and ends up in the wrong publicly, find another email service to try and convince people to go too. Probably worse in functionality than Tuta as you go down to smaller and worse funded efforts in this niche field of Internet activism

    But people here do it here too to Mozilla because they don’t like their social outreach programs and their attempts to get advertising revenue so screw Mozilla too. So because nothing but perfection is acceptable, push away people that may be adjacent/left leaning right and switch to less developed products. Switch from Firefox and attack Mozilla who do the bulk of Firefox development and use Waterfox who do a custom deployment/build. Pure display of perfection being the enemy of good here.

    You want people to embrace privacy but keep whiplashing people around when the org/anyone in leadership says something wrong. Screw Signal, they’re not perfect. Screw Matrix/Element, some developer said something one day so it’s all bad. I’m surprised anyone here uses any privacy software or a major open source software like Linux or Krita or Blender at the risk that someone in the background may be wrong in someway which I am 100% certain they exist in important positions. Same with Lemmy

    Go back to the 60s and you all would be shitting on Fred Hampton for accepting the impure and the color coalition for everyone that had ever said something wrong. Al Franken definitely would not make it with y’all. Y’all can’t build up leftist communities because y’all are bitter assholes that can’t move on and spend so much time purity testing. Y’all are probably mediocre too so can’t make a difference in privacy and data ownership activism anyways so should be lining up to support not just Tuta, someone hasn’t screwed up publicly yet, and Proton

    Reminds me of Aung San Suu Kyi. She was under the gun of the military ruling class that permitted limited democratic government and because she didn’t make speech as if she lived in the US, a bunch of Americans turned on her and celebrated when the military dictatorship came back to rule and put her in prison the moment it seemed like the civilian government would actually assert more power

    • @anachrohack@lemmy.world
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      3012 days ago

      It’s not a purity test so much as a fear that publicly signaling loyalty to trump devalued their trustworthiness as private and secure. If their CEO legitimately believes that Republicans are better on tech policy than democrats because conservatives want to weaponize the federal government to control speech online, then I don’t really trust him not to cooperate with federal authorities when they want to access someone’s emails or vpn traffic. Conservatives are simply not trustworthy to me

      • socsa
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        1212 days ago

        This. It’s amazing how naive people here can be just because they fanboyed some random CEO before they were revealed to be problematic.

        • @commander@lemmy.world
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          That’s just ad hominem to say people are fanboying the CEO. I never heard the name of the CEO until people started complaining about him. Then I read the statements he put out and that people are hysterical over and reading into as if he’s some Trump fanboy. The guys not even an American. He doesn’t live in the US. He just runs a service as an alternative to the big tech companies. Was he even in the US for anything but his university years and he’s 40?

          Americans read more into him than his record and statements say. Not everyone’s politics revolve around Americans. I’m waiting for American leftist to turn on Shawn Fain too for supporting Trump auto tariffs and be anti auto workers union because too many in the union are Trump supporters and even someone in opposition like Shawn Fain is supporting a Trump policy. That’s even more direct and influential than a guy in Europe that runs a niche privacy centric internet service company

          Problematic, barely. It’s a handful of statements months ago compared to his life of work. Magnifying glass to your whole life and people would likely find something problematic. If this guy is representative of what a problematic person is, the world would be pretty solid. Waste of energy to be so anti this guy and Proton when it’s a service more conducive to privacy rights than anything I or probably any of us have done. Problematic has become such an empty insult with how easily it’s thrown around with such passion. Waste of passion

        • @Vinstaal0@feddit.nl
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          311 days ago

          Yeah a lot of people fan over celeberties politicians or CEO’s, but at the same time a lot of people also hate those same people for various reasons. And people believe in bad against bad and not even the law anymore and don’t believe in second changes or forgiveness.

          We call that, the internet.

          • @sudneo@lemm.ee
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            212 days ago

            The premise is already wrong. There was no promise or loyalty, not even close.

            • @anachrohack@lemmy.world
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              12 days ago

              He endorsed the republican party. He said we should clean house of democrats. Is that not declaring party loyalty? It was also a completely unnecessary comment, in response to nothing. It was shortly after Trump’s election when every CEO went out of their way to kowtow to the new regime. Its transparently a loyalty pledge to the new boss

              • @sudneo@lemm.ee
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                712 days ago

                He didn’t endorse the republican party.

                The fact that you inflate the meaning of that tweet to make it more meaningful than it is, doesn’t mean he did anything of the sort. The tweet happened after the election but before the government, and it was an endorsement of the antitrust appointee. He also expressed his opinion that republicans were more likely than democrats to fight big tech monopolies in the antitrust space. This is far from an endorsement.

                It was also a completely unnecessary comment, in response to nothing.

                It was in response to Trump’s tweet about the antitrust appointee. I would say quite relevant context for a tweet about the antitrust appointee.

                It was unnecessary, true. Like every tweet. He expressed his unnecessary opinion, the same way we are doing now.

                • @anachrohack@lemmy.world
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                  12 days ago

                  10 years ago, Republicans were the party of big business and Dems stood for the little guys, but today the tables have completely turned.

                  Bro I mean come on, this is literally an endorsement of the republican party. I don’t know how more explicit it can get. You’re asking people to not believe their own eyes here. Even worse:

                  By working on the front lines of many policy issues, we have seen the shift between Dems and Republicans over the past decade first hand. And that’s a missed opportunity for Dems, because by and large, support for cracking down on corporate monopolies is popular on both sides of the political spectrum. Unfortunately, corporate capture of Dems is real and in the end money won. It is hard to see how this changes, and Republicans are likely to lead the antitrust charge in the coming years

                  He decries the “corporate capture” of the Democratic party while completely failing to address to much larger and more immediate threat of an outright christo-fascist movement capturing the entire Republican party and all 3 branches of federal government. Like he thinks that “the democrats didnt move as fast on this thing as I wanted them to” somehow compares to “the president is kidnapping people with a personal army of gestapo and disappearing them to a black site in El Salvador”.

                  And you may say “well he’s not interested in immigration policy; he’s interested in technology policy”. If you are in the business of privacy and security, then you should not be putting yourself in the corner of a political cult with zero respect for the law, zero guiding moral principles, and which is only motivated by using any means necessary to crush their political enemies. Yen is supporting a wannabe dictator because he’s willing to weaponize the federal government to destroy his competitors.

                  If all he said was “good pick by Trump, look forward to working with them”, I’d accept it as a politically neutral statement that you often see from business leaders and even democratic politicians sometimes. But he went out of his way to demonize the democratic party and somehow hold the Republicans up as the defenders of small business

                  It’s such an unbelievably bad take (which he dug in on like 5 times even though he could have said nothing and waited for it to blow over) and completely tone deaf as to be unbelievable. Like I literally don’t believe that he doesn’t know what he’s saying; I think he, like many tech CEOs, is simply a conservative who’s too ashamed to admit it.

    • sunzu2
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      713 days ago

      It doesn’t matter either way. Never do it that anyway. You would think people would learn a thing after being thoroughly fucked by apple and google…

      It is amazing how sundar and Tim literally violated you in sexually uncomfortable ways but you are crying about Andy being a pathetic regime whore…

  • @suicidaleggroll@lemm.ee
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    13 days ago

    If they can charge 30% less without Apple’s fees, then why are their prices the same whether you buy on their iOS app or direct on their website? Why have they been overcharging users who don’t buy through the iOS app by 30% all this time?

    • @Scipitie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      10913 days ago

      Old knowledge disclaimer, but if they didn’t change it then:

      Because Apple literally tells people that they’re not allowed to charge less somewhere else - at least that was the case several years ago…

      • patrick
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        2713 days ago

        Some things do charge different amounts though. YouTube Premium for example is more expensive if you subscribe in iOS but maybe that’s just because it’s Google.

        They also could have just not let anyone subscribe through the iOS app. Lots of things do that.

        • @errer@lemmy.world
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          1413 days ago

          I’ve noticed this too, there’s no consistency. Some companies seem to get away with two prices, others not.

          • @DeathsEmbrace@lemm.ee
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            213 days ago

            When people tell you the laws are behind internet they’re taking about this all of this ND social media is unregulated but imagine if psychological abuse was the reason social media was successful.

      • Ulrich
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        1713 days ago

        This is the same on most platforms. You’ll rarely find a product for different prices in different places because if they’re listed on Amazon, Steam, Apple, Google, etc. they’re not allowed to.

        • Buelldozer
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          That isn’t exactly true with Steam. Valve does allow a dev to offer a discount at a different store as long as that same discount comes to Steam in a reasonable amount of time.

          Straight from the docs:“It’s OK to run a discount for Steam Keys on different stores at different times as long as you plan to give a comparable offer to Steam customers within a reasonable amount of time.”

          • Max
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            913 days ago

            That’s probably only for selling steam keys on another store. You might be able to sell non steam versions for any price you want

          • Ulrich
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            113 days ago

            Yes but recent lawsuits have exposed that their policies and their enforcement aren’t aligned.

            • Buelldozer
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              913 days ago

              Got a link to an article or something discussing that?

              • Ulrich
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                113 days ago

                I don’t even know how to find it again.

      • @Cort@lemmy.world
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        513 days ago

        Most favored nation clause. Apple gets the lowest price that you offer. I’d you offer any discounts elsewhere, that have to be the same on the app store

  • @throwawayacc0430@sh.itjust.works
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    7113 days ago

    So, Mr. Yen, are you still sympathetic to the republicans, who have a disdain for the same courts that gave you a win?

    Or is your head burried so deep in your particle accelerator you don’t even have any clue about politics?

    Dude thinks he knows everything because he has a PhD in Physics, literally out of touch with the politics that anyone doing 5 minutes of web searching can understand.

    • @prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      1713 days ago

      Dude thinks he knows everything because he has a PhD in Physics, literally out of touch with the politics that anyone doing 5 minutes of web searching can understand.

      This is such a common thing. STEM education needs to be more well rounded.

      • @Saleh@feddit.org
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        612 days ago

        Why? Idiots thinking they know more than they do won’t be stopped by this. Also if we wanted to round humanities and liberal arts by making it mandatory to pass analysis, linear algebra, organic chemistry and classical physics would just lead to much more people not graduating anything.

        School is for a general education. Academia is for specialization.

        • @prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          I can only speak for myself… But I had 2+ years at university before declaring a (STEM) major, allowing me to take courses in political science, history, etc.

          So, as someone with a STEM degree, in a field of specialists who have zero understanding of the real world outside of their field, the difference is instantly recognizable.

          The idea that a more well rounded education can ever be a bad thing is just straight up ignorant and it comes off as some sort of insecurity on your part.

          • @Saleh@feddit.org
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            Nobody is kept from taking additional education if they want to, like you did. But the general education should be from school and school education needs to define the standard of what everyone should know or should at least have known at some point so he or she can refresh upon it.

            If you make it mandatory to make academic education contain every subject like school did, you will end up with programs taking 20 years instead of 5 years to graduate. If you want to discriminate against certain subjects you end up in the same trap of defining certain subjects as relevant and others as irrelevant, like the criticized “STEM-lords”

    • @chamgireum@lemm.ee
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      1613 days ago

      no no, you see Trump is totally anti-big tech. once he bleeds them dry from all the bribes they’ll be gone! /s

    • @Vinstaal0@feddit.nl
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      613 days ago

      What does politics even have to do with a ruling like this? Isn’t the law separated from the government in the US? Or is the US just a corrupt country that allow people to influence the judges ruling to impact the lawsuit in a certain outcome … O wait …

  • @AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world
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    No doubt Proton’s CEO will use this to justify his “Trump is better for regulating big tech” claim, while ignoring that the judge is an Obama appointee.

    • sunzu2
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      413 days ago

      Andy big mad they didn’t invite him to the Inauguration, he should sitting there next to sundar the creep!!!

      And Faceberg and Bezonator

  • @jsomae@lemmy.ml
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    5712 days ago

    I am sad because of all the people in this thread who think the CEO is “fascist-sympathetic” because he said Trump did something better than the Democrats one time.

    • @skisnow@lemmy.ca
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      2612 days ago

      Yeah, having only just switched from GMail to Proton last week my heart sank when I saw “Proton are MAGA”.

      Then I spent three minutes reading up on it and it’s like, the CEO said one thing about policy on regulation of big tech that was critical of the Democrats for not doing enough, and the internet has decided that means he’s MAGA.

      • @anachrohack@lemmy.world
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        12 days ago

        He said Republicans are better on tech policy than democrats. Republicans tech policy is motivated entirely by the fact that their racist and conspiratorial views were getting them banned on social media sites from 2015 - 2024

        Conservatives have absolutely zero principles. If they say they want to break up big tech, it’s because they want to control it in some way. They want the platforms to promote speech that’s beneficial to them.

        If you believe that Republicans truly are better for tech policy than democrats, then you either whole-heartedly agree that a group of criminals and wannabe dictators should be able to destroy any business that publishes speech against them, or you are extremely gullible. Either way, why would I want to give you my business?

        • @sudneo@lemm.ee
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          612 days ago

          Republicans tech policy is motivated entirely by the fact that their racist and conspiratorial views were getting them banned on social media sites from 2015 - 2024

          And i should care because…? Why should I care why republicans wanted to break up tech monopolies, if breaking monopolies is anyway something that I consider a positive change?

          Breaking monopolies give people more choice. More choice (free) leads to hopefully people choosing more privacy conscious tools. More privacy means less data that can be handed over to doge, less data that ICE has to target minorities, etc.

          then you either whole-heartedly agree that a group of criminals and wannabe dictators should be able to destroy any business that publishes speech against them, or you are extremely gullible.

          Those are not the only 2 options. I am instead very happy that they will do the right thing for the wrong reason, and outside those monopolies more people will choose services that republicans have no power over. Moreover, your whole argument assumes someone is in US. I am sympathetic to the people in US, but tech monopolies are a global problem.

          • @anachrohack@lemmy.world
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            412 days ago

            Why should I care why republicans wanted to break up tech monopolies, if breaking monopolies is anyway something that I consider a positive change?

            Because they’re not interested in breaking up monopolies; they’re interested in threatening their political enemies with breakup so they can control speech on those platforms. Mark Zuckerberg is kowtowing to Trump now to avoid being broken up.

            You think the Republicans are going to break up tech and create a more diverse online publishing ecosystem that’s harder for any one party to control? No, they’ll crush their enemies and bolster their allies, so we’ll end up with even fewer choices

            • @sudneo@lemm.ee
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              311 days ago

              There are less than 10 companies that control almost the entire tech space. What “fewer choices”…?

              Breaking up google would be already enough, which is what the focus was. All your comment sounds very fuzzy to me. Basically the whole antitrust thing is on google, if republicans break it up, great. Which " allies" are they going to bolster?

    • @Nobilmantis@feddit.it
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      1212 days ago

      Absolutely agreed. I think when you have such role in a company you should avoid making political statements at all, because no matter what you say you will end up upsetting some people. In this case, “try-hard” democrats.

      • @jsomae@lemmy.ml
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        12 days ago

        Well, it’s worth leveraging your status to communicate to the politicians (i.e. this tweet). In this case, it cost him more than I think he was expecting.

        • @kobra@lemm.ee
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          112 days ago

          lol that is done with money, not social media posts. A CEO should know that.

          • @jsomae@lemmy.ml
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            11 days ago

            why would he want to donate to trump? Public praise is worth more in many instances.

            • @kobra@lemm.ee
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              111 days ago

              I’m of the opinion he should’ve shut the fuck up or said better words, so I don’t have any interest in trying to answer that for you.

              • @jsomae@lemmy.ml
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                111 days ago

                Yeah he should’ve said what he said more tactfully. But sometimes one’s most controversial comments are ones that one wouldn’t have thought would get a lot of attention at all.

    • @Vinstaal0@feddit.nl
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      4913 days ago

      Proton itself never directly commited on anything from Trump in a positive way.

      Their current CEO Andy Yen posted this Tweet. Yes he is an idiot and even doubled down on it with the Proton account Now I am not from a country with a 2 party system, but last time I checked agreeing with one statement from somebody doesn’t mean you support them. Heck finding common ground is often a way to find compromises.

      Do what you want and don’t support them if you don’t want them, but don’t act like the company Proton is a Trump supporter. Heck there are a lot of articles on the Proton site which are pro privacy and pro consumer.

    • @jsomae@lemmy.ml
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      12 days ago

      Their CEO approved of an appointment Trump made, and criticized Dem on the issue – doesn’t make him a Trump supporter. If we can’t tell the Dems off when we think the GOP does better, how can we proceed?

      • @anachrohack@lemmy.world
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        12 days ago

        People aren’t criticizing him because he criticized the democrats. Liberals and leftists are pretty unhappy with the DNC right now, too. Anybody can criticize the democrats all day if they want, thats not forbidden.

        They’re criticizing him because the things he said are actually fucking braindead retarded.

        • @unicorn710@lemmy.zip
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          2013 days ago

          This article keeps getting posted but it really just shows the author doesn’t understand the issue that was presented. It goes as far as brushing of the criticism almost immediately. Truth is Proton decided they would publicly praise a running fascist leader for goodboy points

          • @Vinstaal0@feddit.nl
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            2313 days ago

            Proton didn’t decide anything, Andy Yen posted ONE tweet and then doubled down on it with the Proton Reddit account which was deleted.

            I know the US is really into this “us vs them” or Republicans against the Democrats or whatever you want to and that is fair, that’s how US policies sadly work which is also one of the reasons why the country is basically corrupt. For most people agreeing with one statement a politician made doesn’t mean anything. I can agree with some things Geert Wilders said, but that doesn’t mean Ill vote for him.

            There are other articles about the whole situation, but I believe that the Tweet says more than the bullshit some people have been shouting on every post regarding Proton. Share the Tweet yes, but don’t share the bullshit.

              • @Vinstaal0@feddit.nl
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                813 days ago

                Proton is not responsible for everything Andy Yen does, Andy Yen has to take responsibility for everything Proton does.

                But his power is limited anyway since there is a governance structure by using the non profit that is shareholder of Proton. This is not America.

                • @unicorn710@lemmy.zip
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                  312 days ago

                  Never said I was American. Proton as a team has kept him on so that’s their answer. He did not have to make a post at all complementing Donald but he did and that fact says A LOT.

            • @anachrohack@lemmy.world
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              312 days ago

              Calling this an “us vs them” is disingenuous. Republicans are actively shredding the rule of law in the US by the day. Democrats are weak on some policy points (though not tech policy, by the way). The two are not the same at all

              • @Vinstaal0@feddit.nl
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                111 days ago

                Well yes, but Proton is still located in Switzerland and has a decent governance structure in play with a non profit. He cannot just kill the company by switching it’s core USP

            • socsa
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              112 days ago

              I mean this is like saying “I only agree with that one thing Hitler did” and then trying to explain to everyone why you felt the need to defend Hitler. I mean sure, there were probably a handful of policies the Nazis got right, but people are going to look at you funny if you go around phrasing it like that. Especially, in this case, if that “one thing” was actually just praise for shitty authoritarian policies.

        • @pool_spray_098@lemmy.world
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          1513 days ago

          Thanks for sharing this!

          It really does appear that the “Proton is MAGA” thing is just quote taken out of context nonsense.

          • @Vinstaal0@feddit.nl
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            13 days ago

            Yeah no problem, everybody is allowed to make their own decisions, but I feel like everybody should at least see the actual Tweet.

            Edit: apparantly people don’t want the truth to be shared? Share the dang Tweet people.

    • @medgremlin@midwest.social
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      513 days ago

      Yeah, my 2 year plan is up in June. I haven’t decided what I’m switching to. I’ve heard good things about Mullvad’s privacy policies and politics, but I’ve also seen reviews that a bunch of sites and services have them blocked.

      I’m open to suggestions at this point.

        • @medgremlin@midwest.social
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          412 days ago

          That’s what I’ve been seeing. I don’t use Netflix anyways and I mostly just have a VPN for when I’m on a university or hospital campus and I’d like to keep my internet usage private. (Or when sailing the high seas for books.)

        • @jmf@lemm.ee
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          412 days ago

          Except that Mullvad is hostile to the torrent infrastructure since there is no port forwarding. No thanks!

    • @doodledup@lemmy.world
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      12 days ago

      I’d use their VPN even if Hitler owns it. It’s private, secure and they stand to their values with respect to that. Why would I care about political views? Politics don’t change the service on a technical level. Literally don’t give a shit.

        • @doodledup@lemmy.world
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          12 days ago

          If your threat model depends of political idiologies then you should reconsider your threat model.

          • @anachrohack@lemmy.world
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            12 days ago

            If a person signals loyalty to a criminal government which is violating the rights of its people daily, why would I trust them not to cooperate with that government when they ask for a backdoor to be installed? Conservatives are simply not trustworthy. They’re lying, backstabbing, and manipulative. They have no principles at all and will say or do anything to acquire more power and money

            • @doodledup@lemmy.world
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              111 days ago

              So why do you trust any company? Every company has people like that employed. Do you make a political-views check on every employee of a company before choosing your product?

                • @Vinstaal0@feddit.nl
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                  110 days ago

                  And that’s why you need to have a governance structure to prevent that BS. Putting a non profit above it with 3 people who together have to make decisions that to them seem to be the best for the mission will make it really hard to start being a Nazi al besudden.

        • @Vinstaal0@feddit.nl
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          111 days ago

          Unless the governance structure agrees to it they can’t and even the we vaj sue them for abusing a Swiss non profit

  • Optional
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    4213 days ago

    This the trump-licker? Yeah, bye Proton.

    Buh bye now

    • ugjka
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      13 days ago

      You mean tariffs on services and the EU been floating the idea of putting tariff on US big tech

  • @dutchkimble@lemy.lol
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    1913 days ago

    But I already use proton and purchased outside the Apple Store (on the proton website) and use it on my iPhone? What changed?

  • @fubarx@lemmy.world
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    1913 days ago

    It’s not exactly 30%. For sales below $1M, it’s 15%: https://developer.apple.com/app-store/small-business-program/

    In Europe, where this was established last year, they started charging a Core Technology Fee to cover the cost of hosting and data transfer: https://developer.apple.com/support/core-technology-fee/

    And if you switch payment providers, you have to pay at least 2.5% plus transaction and any intermediary fees.

    It’s nice that Proton is offering a discount, but for everyone else there may be additional ongoing costs.