Tribruin

urashid said:

I must be in the minority, but i never use password autofill or understand why people use it.  So if someone is able to get into my device, suddenly they have access to ALL my logins?  It Seems like such a breach of security protocol.

So how do remember individual passwords for every site you visit? If you aren't using a password managers, you likely using either weak passwords, or re-using passwords over and over again. Chance are you are less secure than someone using a password manage. 

For someone to access my passwords (I use 1Password), they would have to know my computer password (or iPhone PIN) PLUS my 1Password master password. Good luck with that. Even Keychain is not as secure. While it does prompt for a password (or FaceID/TouchID authentication), it is using the same authentication as my computer/phone. 1Password is a separate authentication process. 

boxcatcher said:

This story is bizarre.

Why would Apple deploy a third-party password vault app? To support employees who want to use Chrome...? 

Even acquiring the company would only serve to support use-cases outside the Apple ecosystem (e.g., enable an Apple user to pull down an iCloud Keychain password on their Windows machine at work), which is 180-degrees out of phase with Apple's historical practices.

Take a look at 1Password for Business. It is much more than a simple password manager. It allows companies to create different vaults and manage password (and other data) and control what the users have access to. For example, an accounting department might need a set of passwords for various excel spreadsheets. If multiple people need access to these files, how do you control the password? Send an email to everyone? What happens when one person leaves the department and the passwords need to be changed? How do you notify all the current users of the new password? What about when a new person starts? Just email them the password. 

With 1Password for Business, a company could create a new Vault called Accounting. You assign permissions to individual users (or even a user Group). Any one with access to that vault can access the passwords at any time. If someone new is added, just added them to the permitted list. Someone leaves, remove them from the access list (and, if needed, update the passwords on the files and in the vault.)

I pay for and use 1Password for Families. My wife, dad, son, and I all have our own accounts. I have several vaults, each with their own permissions. I have a personal vault (for all my personal data), I have a "Financial" vault with passwords for our Financial websites, (only myself and wife have access to it), and I have a "Video" vault with has our Netflix, HBOGo, etc. accounts (everyone has access to it.) There is no way to do this in Keychain. 

rob53 said:

This doesn't surprise me especially since Apple is pushing for more use of iCloud services making the deprecated server services redundant. This is especially true in educational and government installations.

On the brighter side, putting (more?) resources into creating a better low-cost MDM service might be the hidden gem in this announcement. Server software is $20 without any client license fees making it a huge bargain compared to MDM systems like jamf and Blackberry's offering. Grab a Mac mini and it might be enough to manage a large number of Apple devices. Of course, having MDM on your main server that does everything else would be preferable but in this case it might be more cost effective to run it on a small, dedicated server.

Anyone want to compare Apple Server's MDM to jamf and others?

I hope you are kidding. There is no comparison between Profile Manager and JAMF (or AirWatch, MasS360, MobileIron, or any of a hundred others.)  

Profile Manager is strictly for Apple devices and Apple users. It is missing so many Enterprise features, including Active Directory and Exchange Integration, Device tracking and location services (for corporate devices), Dashboards and reporting, and  Advanced group support (Smart Groups). 

Even Apple System Engineers will tell you that Profile Manager is strictly a "Proof of Concept" MDM that Apple uses to introduce new MDM features. This of PM like a reference design.