Apple Shuts Down Mac OS X Download Listing, Moving to App Store

Isn't the app store going to be for Snow Leopard users only? If so, how will users of earlier versions of OS X be able to get the apps?
 
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Fine. Bring on the Mac App Store. It's about time, too.
 
Mike Oxard said:
Isn't the app store going to be for Snow Leopard users only? If so, how will users of earlier versions of OS X be able to get the apps?
Click to expand...

Damn you Mike Oxard, you've uncovered our nefarious plan to force users to upgrade! You will pay for this! :D
 
commander.data said:
Maybe I'm cynical but what this is saying is something along the lines of:

"If you are a Mac developer and want exposure through an official Apple channel you will sell through the Mac App Store and give us a 30% cut rather providing free listing on the previous Mac Download List."
Click to expand...

Not only that, but outright free programs (including demos) are now gone from Apple-managed listings. I have discovered many great free apps, and found a few from free demos that I like a lot.

Yet the App Store has been declared that no free apps will be allowed. (Assuming I read the documentation correctly.)
 
zim said:
Consolidation is good.. but I still wish that the Mac store app and the iOS store could be one application, that would be a good consolidation.. I want less with more functionality not more clutter on my hard drive... plus iTunes is always open, it has multiple purposes.. Mac store? I know I will use it but I'm not sure I will browse it as casually as I do iTunes.
Click to expand...

This wouldn't be a good idea seeing as there are many iPod Touch/iPhone users that are still Windows users. :rolleyes:. They will bog down the App store's servers and Mac users will have a hard time dealing with a sloppy store overloaded with non-Mac customers.
 
Does it annoy anyone else when they see the words "on the App Store"? I always want to say in the store, not on it.
 
Keep Dem Doggies Rollin

Mooooo

As part of the "herd" I sometimes wonder where we are being herded and for what purpose? But that is as far as it goes and that is why I am only a "cow".

My only dream is to be a byte in Steve's "big Mac"......
 
GFLPraxis said:
So, I assume older applications/patches/etc that aren't packaged up for the app store are lost to the void?
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Yup, Apple always hates legacy stuff, real shame, considering that page was a valuable resource for finding new apps and patches for apps gone by.
 
Kid A said:
Do people still use Dashboard? (I'm not trying to be snarky... I actually have been curious about this).

More importantly, do developers still develop for Dashboard?
Click to expand...

Sure! But not anywhere near the amount of dev activity as seen on the iPhone. It's a really powerful platform that has quietly benefitted from the updates to the WebKit engine. You can do much more with widgets today than one could a year ago. This widget I just released (http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/music/neptunes.html) is a great example of that.

A lot of people use Dashboard - although they are a small percentage of Mac users. Even less venture to the Downloads page to check out the neat ways to extend their Dashboard. With Lion, the Dashboard will become much more accessible to the average user and we should see a lot more from devs at that time.
 
This was obviously coming: that Mac downloads page has long been the 3rd item in the Apple menu on Macs. It should surprise nobody that it will now point to the newer, better service instead.

There are plenty of other ways to find non-App Store apps without Apple maintaining two parallel services. CNet Downloads for one; MacUpdate for another. Apple continuing to maintain their own similar service would make little sense when they are moving toward something different.

Apple could leave the old service unattended and not update it any further (new versions etc.) but that wouldn’t be a great service. Instead, they’re shutting down their older service, which may be loved by many, but needed by none.
 
commander.data said:
Maybe I'm cynical but what this is saying is something along the lines of:

"If you are a Mac developer and want exposure through an official Apple channel you will sell through the Mac App Store and give us a 30% cut rather providing free listing on the previous Mac Download List."
Click to expand...

Yep cause managing hosting and billing is totally the same as a link on a webpage.
 
Kid A said:
Do people still use Dashboard? (I'm not trying to be snarky... I actually have been curious about this).

More importantly, do developers still develop for Dashboard?
Click to expand...

Absolutely! Calculator...calendar to see days/dates at a quick glance; SportsFanWidget (Andreas Aman) to see NFL/NCAA and MLB, NHL, NBA scores immediately and at a glance. LOTS of value to be able to tap F4, see all this within a second at a quick glance, and the move on back to work. Would be very cumbersome just to drill down on a website to see a single score - much less multiple; or to have to leave my current app and launch iCal or a standalone calculator app just to see a date or do a quick calculation.

That's the utility i get out of t, and an very glad for dashboard personally!!

Mark
 
Kid A said:
Do people still use Dashboard?
Click to expand...

Yes. (I use it mostly for quickly checking the weather--the only third-party widget I have is RadarInMotion--or for Calculator when I don't want to bring up the real app or use Spotlight.)

And at least you aren't one of those "I don't use it; therefore, it must be that nobody else does, either" people. :D
 
Anonymous Freak said:
Not only that, but outright free programs (including demos) are now gone from Apple-managed listings. I have discovered many great free apps, and found a few from free demos that I like a lot.

Yet the App Store has been declared that no free apps will be allowed. (Assuming I read the documentation correctly.)
Click to expand...

:confused:

You read wrong. Free apps are definitely allowed. Demo apps are not, but free apps are allowed, even possibly encouraged.

jW
 
The Mac App store will only feature a particular type of app: one that is fully self contained and doesn't alter the look and feel of the Mac. Any interesting enhancement, mail plug-in or complex app that needs to install other supporting files isn't welcome in the store.

That means other download sites will continue to be necessary, but their traffic volumes will shrink because the general public will naïvely assume that if it's not in the Mac App Store it doesn't exist.

If the general public does get into their heads that the Mac App Store is the only place to get Mac software there is significant risk that the Mac will be seen a just a big iPad, a toy that can't run "real software".

Mac market share will make a very fast U-turn if people get it into their heads that Macs can't run business software.

In my mind the big losers in all this are companies not named Microsoft or Adobe that make complex software. They will be forced to buy advertising in the Mac App Store or risk being completely forgotten.
 
Kid A said:
Do people still use Dashboard? (I'm not trying to be snarky... I actually have been curious about this).
Click to expand...

Yep. I have the weather, radar, calendar, package tracking, and a comics widget, plus I sometimes use the translator widget.

More importantly, do developers still develop for Dashboard?
Click to expand...

This, less so from what I've seen. There's still some widgets actively developed, but not as many as when Dashboard was released, which is saying something about the popularity of the platform.

jW
 
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