I cannot load half (?) of the article, but the situation right now is a joke, indeed. I don't remember if there are other alternative stores outside SetApp, which is still in Beta, and AltStore PAL. I have downloaded the later. It has two (2) applications and 4-5 extra sources. I have only subscribed (?) to the UTM one. Epic Games also has one, by the way.
Now, AltStore has been a thing for some time now. There are many more sources (repositories of sort) out there. But, if you go to add a new one, it says "no marketplace ID was found, there are no notarized apps in this source, which is not supported in this version." Googling what is up I found that Apple has to give the greenlight for apps to get posted to the alternative store(s). Which already has been inspected by Apple. It's a joke of the kind only Apple can make.
And I was just aware that alternative app stores will be a thing and Googled explicitly for them, of course I found no promotion in the App Store for them. They are too busy promoting the same apps again and again and falsely advertising stuff, as Apple does.
The comments here are exactly the same set of comments under every single article related to US companies facing issues in European markets. There's another article on the front page about Netflix's Dutch offices being raided in a tax probe and I could copy/paste entire comment chains between the two and you wouldn't know it.<p>-> Irate American complaint about how it's a stealth tax<p>-> equally irate European rebuttal that US companies should just follow the laws if they want to do business here<p>-> Follow up irate American reply<p><pre><code> ... Repeat until 3 or 4 comments down it's somehow become:
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-> American: US GDP is so much higher than in the EU<p>-> European: but quality of life is better here because of free healthcare etc, GDP isn't a good measure, I went to the US once and saw poors on the street!<p>-> American: something angry about socialism<p>... And so on. It's the same tedious argument on every single article about EU privacy laws <i>or</i> taxes, and I could also copy/paste these exact comments from a Reddit post about the same issue and nobody would be the wiser.