What Apple's sandboxing means for developers and users
Since Apple initially scheduled to implement this requirement in November of this year, this announcement is nothing new and is more of a timeframe shift than anything else; however, it still raises questions and concern over what this means for developers and end users.
Sandboxing is a security technique that acts as a last line of defense against exploited, buggy, or otherwise compromised applications, which Apple is implementing to ensure programs distributed through the Mac App Store are as safe and secure as possible.
The way this works is a virtual barrier called a "sandbox" is set up around a running program that isolates it from the rest of the system. The system cannot do this itself, so the developer voluntarily turns on sandboxing for its program. When enabled, the program will by default have no access to the system resources, including the network, user documents, the ability to open and save files, access to peripherals such as printers and cameras, and access to locations, address books, calendars, and similar central services.
