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

[deadkennedy]

Get ready, the new age is coming

 

[Dr McKay]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-gb) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

I've never before heard anyone suggest that Steve Jobs has an actual heart....

We only know he has a liver because of the transplant

Regardless what either one of you think about him he can buy both you guys out a million times over. He's laughing at you all the way to the bank while you sit here behind a computer talking ish about him.

Buy them out? I thought slavery was illegal? Unless it's Apple, which people seem to get angry when Apple are forced to abide by law or regulation.

 

[nsayer]

Whither widgets?

Unless I am mistaken, the app store doesn't have the plumbing to vend dashboard widgets, nor does the Safari extension gallery.

I wrote a widget. It's a MiFi status widget. Will there be a place (other than here, hehehe) that I can show it off?

 

[wrldwzrd89]

Not only am I wondering about widgets, but also things such as Boot Camp updates... how are users supposed to get those with the Downloads site gone?

 

[zanax]

Regardless what either one of you think about him he can buy both you guys out a million times over. He's laughing at you all the way to the bank while you sit here behind a computer talking ish about him.

You can only buy someone as long as they are up for sale....your assumption everyone is up for sale....so your logic is wrong.

Also you don't know who is posting if it is Woz or Billy Gates (may be he is also a secret apple fanboy) then a million times...come on?

 

[ten-oak-druid]

Unless I am mistaken, the app store doesn't have the plumbing to vend dashboard widgets, nor does the Safari extension gallery.

I wrote a widget. It's a MiFi status widget. Will there be a place (other than here, hehehe) that I can show it off?

I have always considered the apps for iOS to be widgets in a sense. Applications for OS X are usually capable of more tasks than a widget which is usually a one trick pony. The iOS apps are like widgets in that sense. The features are far fewer for an app or a widget compared to a full blown application. The Dashboard in a sense allows multiple widgets/apps to run at once side by side.

Compare a flight tracker or weather widget to an iOS app. They are virtually identical.

I am new to iOS as I waited a long time to get an iphone and my ipod is an 80GB classic. But from the ads and the occasional trial at the Apple store, I had gotten the impression long ago that the Dashboard widgets were the basis for the iOS apps.

 

[Mal]

Okay, I missed that part. Good to hear! Strange no demo apps, I mean, at least allow devs to have say a "Try" button that downloads a demo in addition to the "Buy" button... Driving people the devs website is great and all, but too many people will ignore it because it costs money.

Just look how well free trial versions work on the App Store for iOS!

iOS doesn't have demo apps either. On the Mac App Store, the rules are the same regarding this as the iOS App Store. No time-limited demos. Lite apps are what have taken off in their place on the iOS App Store, not trials. Reduced functionality, but permanent usage. That's still allowed on the Mac App Store too. The only thing disallowed (in this discussion) is time-limited demos.

Of course, without in-app purchases, we may have to deal with redownloading the full version if we like the demo, so not quite as convenient as the iOS store can be now, but there are still some apps that work that way even on iOS. It's not the end of the world, but it'll be nice if/when Apple gives the Mac App Store that feature too.

jW

 

[Corbin052198]

Does this include widgets also??

Apple has not said anything about it......

Not sure, but it would make sense considering how much Apple has been pushing HTML5, which widgets are developed in.

Widgets can be developed in HTML, JavaScript, Flash, Java, and any other web technologies.

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?

I think many people still use Dashboard, and many developers still make Widgets. Some more than others, though.

It needs desperately to be tweaked and polished though. Seems like it hasn't been touched since it was introduced.

An iPhone compatibility layer would be nice. But then again, if you make a Dashboard widget, you know it will work on 10.4, 10.5, 10.6, and (probably) 10.7.

 

[Corbin052198]

I really hate to see this. App Store apps will be Intel-only and 10.6 only. But, it's been almost 5 years since the first Intel hardware came out.

I still have my iMac G4 in my room.

 

[Manderby]

I'm not very moved by the Mac App Store. The fact that it replaces the downloads page is perfectly logical. I wasn't there that many times as I really don't care about demos and shareware. Either free or payed apps please. So the Mac App store can only be better.

But on the other hand, if (which happends about once a year) I want to find new software, I usually don't go to the Apple download site nor probably will I go to the Mac App Store. I just google it and usually, after less than one minute, I got something.

When I look at the current (iPhone-)App Store, I don't even understand, where to start, I'm slammed with all that useless staff picks, recommendations and hottest sellings which I'm not interested in. And even more, when I find some product on the homepage of the developer, why not order it directly there? The developer will thank me for his additional 30% income. Additionally, there are homepages which offer different ways of payment than with credit cards.

SJ said it will be the best place to discover Apps. Well they better make it clean and pro. Otherwise, they just got another download link collection.

 

[Harmush]

So, I assume older applications/patches/etc that aren't packaged up for the app store are lost to the void?

Won't it just be like uploading a DMG to an apple server somewhere? You'll still be able to download apps from anywhere, am i right in thinking? Apple won't make it like the iPhone where their app store is the only location to get applications will they?

(Reading that back i think i know the answer already, just have to double check though)

 

[farmboy]

Am I reading this right? One step closer to the cloud, all the vendors are prepping us for the change and it seems like Jobs is again leading the pack. This is fine for high speed but rural America will be left in a cloud of dust, myself included because we have no high speed and can't get it. I feel less and less support for my MAC. As it is now I have to download in the middle of the night for unlimited access via satellite off hours. I really wish Apple would prove they are really a different kind of company and not follow the pack to the cloud.

Just settle down. I live in the country too. Really not a problem, order the CD/DVDs instead, still available from everybody. And you get the printed manuals. Physical media will always be around in one form or another, until the infrastructure is capable of sustaining the load of all cloud-all the time.

 

[farmboy]

Bad thing, since now dev's have to pay money to Apple, and play by their rules, if they want mention.

Or they can continue to do it the way they are doing it now. Pay Apple for the cost of exposure, web support, credit card processing, etc. or do it yourself. It's a business decision of cost-benefit.

 

[shneady]

I think they should have at least kept the option and left the download site stay the way it is for at least another year. I know people who are still running 10.5.x and below. I know there are other options out there like Amazon and others for OS X software, but these people to me have been left out to dry by Apple. They now have no option but to upgrade to 10.6 if they want to download software though Apple. I don't know... Oh yeah, what about the "Mac OS X Software" button in the top left Apple button? Is that going to change too. Not like it matters, just curious...

 

[FourCandles]

So what happens to the menu item?

It will become MAC OS X App Store... in the 10.6.6 update.

^^ Almost certainly true, but not strictly necessary....

> Mac OS X Software... currently goes to apple.com/macosx/get , which redirects on Apple's servers to apple.com/downloads. All they have to do is change the redirect their end. No need for an update to OS X (and, bearing in mind there won't be any OS X updates for Leopard, Tiger etc. users, there will have to be some change at Apple's end).

 

[commander.data]

Yep cause managing hosting and billing is totally the same as a link on a webpage.

You seem to be so hung up on what you call "a 30% cut". What kind of software distribution to you think a Mac Developer can use that will cost less than 30%?

I guess my concern here is that the Mac App Store for most developers won't be a replacement distribution model, but a parallel distribution model. If you previously sold through your own website, you are still going to need to pay to keep that website since you'll need it to offer demos, updates for existing customers or those who didn't buy through the Mac App Store, support questions, addition product information, etc. So instead of selling on your own website where the product is priced to cover your website expenses, you'll sell through the Mac App Store that incorporates both Apple's 30% cut and also your website expenses. That seems to mean that either your profit margin goes down, your price goes up or you hope to make a lot more sales to have the same end profit from a thinner margin.

I don't doubt there will be some breakout cases of some Mac developers hugely increasing their sales, but I think for many established players sales won't significantly change since everyone knows about Office, iWork, and Photoshop so it's not like they need more exposure or software like DiskWarrior, if it's allowed on the Mac App Store, is already well known to it's target audience of techies so it's unclear if they really want to market to the everyday Joe and risk support problems. The iOS App Store was a new market so anything that happens there is a new revenue stream so it's harder to complain, but the Mac App Store's success is really dependent whether they can grow the established user base for developers, which is harder to do, otherwise they are just shuffling customers between distribution models and racking up costs for Apple in the form of the 30% fee which ends up being a cost for developers and customers if it becomes and additional expense rather than a replacement expense.

 

[Antares]

Do people still use Dashboard? (I'm not trying to be snarky... I actually have been curious about this).

I do. I use it multiple times every day. Quick access to a dictionary/thesaurus, weather, local movie times, the calculator, etc. There's no other place to get all this information, instantly and ad free, on one screen/page.

I never used Apple's download page for full applications. If I wanted to download something, I always went to the developer's site directly. I don't know, yet, if the Mac App Store will change this for me.

 

[tempusfugit]

And so it begins.

But, I still don't think OSX will ever be as 'closed' as iOS.

I'm trying to make sense out of what you're saying. How has mac OS become in any way more "closed" by the introduction of the mac app store?

That's like saying now that Hulu exists its the only way to watch television programming.

 

[AppleFan1984]

what kind of software distribution to you think a mac developer can use that will cost less than 30%?

www

 

[AppleFan1984]

Like it or not. the cloud is coming.

Hello. This is 1997 calling. We'd like our thin clients back.

 

[Mochi Hana]

I used the downloads listing maybe once or twice, so I won't really miss it.

 

[Bubba Satori]

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."

Bingo. We have an early winner. The walls are going up higher. Magic.
One hundred billion in the bank, soon. Think obscenely rich.

Or they can continue to do it the way they are doing it now. Pay Apple for the cost of exposure, web support, credit card processing, etc. or do it yourself. It's a business decision of cost-benefit.

You left out the part about arbitrary, proprietary, iron-fisted control of the Apple ecosystem.
Apple should move their headquarters to North Korea.
Glorious Leader leads us to glory.

 

[nsayer]

You left out the part about arbitrary, proprietary, iron-fisted control of the Apple ecosystem.
Apple should move their headquarters to North Korea.
Glorious Leader leads us to glory.

And if Apple had a monopoly in either the phone or computer market, then I'd say you had drawn a reasonable analogy.

Don't like the IOS store? Return or eBay your IOS device and go buy something else.

Don't like the Mac App store? Then you don't even have to go that far. Simply don't shop there and instead obtain your apps the way you have been.

 

[Hugh]

Not only am I wondering about widgets, but also things such as Boot Camp updates... how are users supposed to get those with the Downloads site gone?

You know you can get them though the Software Update in Windows?

I really hate to see this. App Store apps will be Intel-only and 10.6 only. But, it's been almost 5 years since the first Intel hardware came out.

I still have my iMac G4 in my room.

No offense but Apple dropped PPC ever since 10.6 came out. :/

c'mon what about the people that don't have the newest os??? They can't download apps from apple anymore??

I think they should have at least kept the option and left the download site stay the way it is for at least another year. I know people who are still running 10.5.x and below. I know there are other options out there like Amazon and others for OS X software, but these people to me have been left out to dry by Apple. They now have no option but to upgrade to 10.6 if they want to download software though Apple. I don't know... Oh yeah, what about the "Mac OS X Software" button in the top left Apple button? Is that going to change too. Not like it matters, just curious...

I really wonder how many people were actually using 'Mac OS X Software'. Like you said there are other sources to go. Like www.macupdate.com or go to CNet's website: download.cnet.com. Also keep in mind not a lot of people are still writing for PPC and, those with INTEL can always upgrade for $29.

So what's the problem?


Hugh

 

[Zc456]

Makes sense. They kinda stopped supporting the download listening after a while which sucked for the time that I was a Mac user.