[Peter]

Just installed Smart Scroll -- really cool app.. very impressed.
But I really hate applications that install APE and a) don't tell you and b) don't even install the pref panel so you have no idea they're using it.
GIven the 10.4 ->10.5 issues with APE I hoped developers had learnt better.
Anyone else wary of APE?

[Mastrap]

Didn't you read the reviews? They express just those concerns. And I wouldn't touch anything that relies on APE with the proverbial pole.

[Peter]

I read those reviews after a friend (who hates APE also but was unaware it was installed with this app) recommended it

[Big Mac]

I live mostly in the Leopard side of the Mac universe, and I didn't know APE was even an issue at this point.

[zro]

I've only ever installed one APE gizmo, and that was years ago. Never really found much use in what apps that leverage it do.

[JKT]

Worse yet is apps that install SmartCrashReporter (also another APE poison) and don't tell you what it is or the implications of doing so.

[Peter]

what are the implications?

[Chuckit]

So if something hacks the system without relying on APE, it's OK (even though the risks are probably higher that way), but if it uses APE, that's horrible? I don't follow. If you don't like APE, don't install system modifications.

[CharlesS]

Except that it's not that simple - there are a lot of apps out there that you'd think wouldn't install APE, but do anyway - take the Tiger version of the Logitech drivers for a particularly infamous example, not to mention all of the random shareware having nothing to do with "system modifications" (read: hacks) that installs that worthless "Smart Crash Reports" thing. If I had a nickel for every time I've discovered SCR in my ~/Library/InputManagers folder, cursed, and deleted it, I'd have a decent amount of change.

[Chuckit]

That's true, but I mean, this is a system mod. If it didn't use APE, it would use something else equivalent.

[JKT]

Originally Posted by Peter 

what are the implications?

Potential for instability introduced into other apps, weird system behaviour all around, refusal of developers to support you if they know it is present, refusal of Apple to support you when it is present, serious OS upgrade issues, gaping security hole. Need I go on?

If you don't like APE, don't install system modifications.

That is the point - I am not installing system modifications, I am ostensibly installing applications. If those applications are also going to install a hack that modifies my entire system then they should tell me so that I can abort the installation, and/or they should tell me the implications of doing so so that I can make an informed decision of whether to proceed or not.

[Big Mac]

But I don't get it - isn't APE virtually dead? Or did they finally subvert Leopard's security to get it running?

[analogika]

The newest version is supposedly "finally" Leopard-compatible.