twitter – Tuhinanshu’s Blog

In Memoriam: T Pierce

A close friend's father suddenly passed away today. Death puts so much of life's frivolity and triviality into perspective.

— Terence Tuhinanshu (@rajadain) May 5, 2015

We have an innate sense of presence of the people we love, no matter how far away they may be, or how long it's been since we met them.

— Terence Tuhinanshu (@rajadain) May 5, 2015

To have it snuffed so suddenly and unexpectedly takes a great toll. To come out of that grief and mourning takes a great time.

— Terence Tuhinanshu (@rajadain) May 5, 2015

Things will never be the same again, but that doesn't mean they will never be good again. Realizing this can take years. I've seen it.

— Terence Tuhinanshu (@rajadain) May 5, 2015

Continue reading “In Memoriam: T Pierce”

Future Windows 8 Apps

A set of tweets about how the Sandboxing model of Windows 8 Metro / Modern apps, designed for safety of tablets, is limiting their potential for the Desktop.

I think that excluding Metro / Modern apps from Desktop is an ill mindset to have for today's Windows developers #Win8Apps

— Terence Tuhinanshu (@rajadain) April 14, 2014

And equally ill mindset for Microsoft who develops the platform. I understand their One Windows vision, and that's great #Win8Apps

— Terence Tuhinanshu (@rajadain) April 14, 2014

But each platform as its own strengths and weaknesses, and that should not be neglected in pursuit of universality #Win8Apps

— Terence Tuhinanshu (@rajadain) April 14, 2014

The largest dichotomy comes from the Desktop / Tablet fracture in Windows, vis-a-vis Win 8 Pro and Win RT #Win8Apps

— Terence Tuhinanshu (@rajadain) April 14, 2014

Because of WinRT sandboxing which makes sense (or does it?) for tablets, the WinRT apps for Desktop are feeble and useless #Win8Apps

— Terence Tuhinanshu (@rajadain) April 14, 2014

Modern apps for Desktop should be akin (somewhat) to the fullscreen apps in OS X that one can swipe through. The gesture is there #Win8Apps

— Terence Tuhinanshu (@rajadain) April 14, 2014

Here is the swipe gesture built-in to Windows 8 to facilitate that. #Win8Apps pic.twitter.com/4RYFRMkBL7

— Terence Tuhinanshu (@rajadain) April 14, 2014

And #Win8Apps have the added advantage of having 0 chrome: only content. Big, beautiful content! I'd love to have a shell and a browser open

— Terence Tuhinanshu (@rajadain) April 14, 2014

To focus only on my work and nothing else! But they won't let you make a real shell / console / terminal app in Metro / Modern UI #Win8Apps

— Terence Tuhinanshu (@rajadain) April 14, 2014

because of the sandboxing that is in place. #Win8Apps If there is a work around, I would love to hear it.

— Terence Tuhinanshu (@rajadain) April 14, 2014

Tablets, phones, TV are certainly the next steps in OS evolution, but the Desktop is ultimately where real work is done even today #Win8Apps

— Terence Tuhinanshu (@rajadain) April 14, 2014

And Microsoft is still committed to it, as evidenced by the most recent Windows 8.1 Update 1 #Win8Apps

— Terence Tuhinanshu (@rajadain) April 14, 2014

But as long as Metro apps are shackled by the WinRT sandboxes, they will never truly break out of the window chrome #Win8Apps

— Terence Tuhinanshu (@rajadain) April 14, 2014

They are still held, pigeonholed and imprisoned in a little frame: one you can't see anymore, but one you that can definitely feel #Win8Apps

— Terence Tuhinanshu (@rajadain) April 14, 2014

Play Store Privacy

A set of tweets about a potential way in which apps and developers can be more explicit and accountable for the permissions and access they demand of their users when installing.

Android devs should start listing *why* their app needs the permissions it does, and that description should be binding for that version

— Terence Tuhinanshu (@rajadain) November 2, 2013

Only then can we have a system of transparency, accountability and ease of understanding privacy in apps #privacy #Android

— Terence Tuhinanshu (@rajadain) November 2, 2013

This information doesn't need to be front and center, but should be available for inspection by potential users in the Play Store app

— Terence Tuhinanshu (@rajadain) November 2, 2013

Starting as voluntary convention adopted by some influential developers, it should slowly become standardized and then required by Google

— Terence Tuhinanshu (@rajadain) November 2, 2013

Apps already use some mechanism of declaring the permissions they use (as evidenced by the prompt shown upon installation)

— Terence Tuhinanshu (@rajadain) November 2, 2013

How hard would it be to have a text field against every permission to be filled out during app submission? Just say why you need it

— Terence Tuhinanshu (@rajadain) November 2, 2013

Eventually these reasons should become legally (or store policy wise) binding, so if a security researcher finds violations, someone answers

— Terence Tuhinanshu (@rajadain) November 2, 2013

Of course, laws are not always the answer. Look at the mess that is the software copyright landscape right now. With laws come trolls

— Terence Tuhinanshu (@rajadain) November 2, 2013

And these added regulations could make it more difficult for new people to submit their apps. But there are ways around this

— Terence Tuhinanshu (@rajadain) November 2, 2013

For example, especially stringent requirements could be asked of apps that exceed a certain user base.

— Terence Tuhinanshu (@rajadain) November 2, 2013

Also, you can make it so that at least a certain number of people complain, a-la Class Action, for a review to take place

— Terence Tuhinanshu (@rajadain) November 2, 2013

Having a certain number is better than having a percentage, which might be laughable eg Facebook's policy voting system with 1/3rd turnout

— Terence Tuhinanshu (@rajadain) November 2, 2013

What I'm describing might not happen for a year or two, but it will inevitably become a necessity as app stores mature.

— Terence Tuhinanshu (@rajadain) November 2, 2013

Tag: twitter

In Memoriam: T Pierce

Future Windows 8 Apps

Play Store Privacy

Continue reading “Play Store Privacy”