Apple’s developers have now been introduced to the company’s new Developer ID program, and have been asked to ready their applications in anticipation of the program’s launch, reports “Technology Tell” (http://macte.ch/Z7bEw). The Developer ID system allows Apple to distribute certificates to registered developers which they can sign their apps with in order to avoid being blocked by Gatekeeper, the article adds.
Gatekeeper is a new security feature in Mountain Lion that, according to Apple, gives you control over which apps can be downloaded and installed on your Mac. You can choose to install apps from any source, just as you do on a Mac today, or you can use the safer default setting to install apps from the Mac App Store, along with apps from developers that have a unique Developer ID from Apple. For maximum security, you can set Gatekeeper to only allow apps from the Mac App Store to be downloaded and installed.