How do you feel about the Mac AppStore?

[Winni]

The bloody thing doesn't work well. First, I had to re-download and re-install Safari 5, because apparently something was broken on my Mac since the 10.6.5 update (and 10.6.6 Combo did not fix it). After the Safari 5 re-installation, the AppStore no longer crashed and I could finally use it.

Things the AppStore did properly identify as installed on my Mac:
- Aperture 3
- BBEdit

Things it did not recognize:
- The entire iWork suite
- StoryMill
- Omnigraffle Pro
- A bunch of other installed stuff that is also available in the AppStore

Since it recognized my retail version of Aperture 3, this leads me to an academic question: Do I now have a downgraded version of Aperture 3? Because the license in the AppStore says that I can use Aperture on all Apple-branded computers that I own (aka personal use). I think when push comes to shove, many lawyers will have a lot of fun fighting about this wording in a court of law once an AppStore version of Aperture 3 is used in a studio by somebody who does not own the computer on which it is installed (aka commercial use). Since the retail box that I bought explicitly allows for commercial use, but the AppStore now "took over" that license, I think this whole thing entered a gray legal area, which needs to be clarified by Apple.

Another thing is that Apple destroyed the resell value of the boxed software. And yes, here in Germany, we CAN legally re-sell used software, thank you for asking.

And reselling is a big issue with the entire AppStore concept: Of course, Apple does NOT want anybody to sell their software or transfer the license to somebody else. The AppStore takes that option away from the customers, forcing them to spend more money on software on the long run. Heck, even Steam allows license transfers (aka "gift").

The tight integration of the AppStore in the OS is another thing. If Microsoft had done something like that, they'd have to take a lot of hostile fire. Apple still gets away with it because of their tiny market share. Personally, I think they should not be allowed to bundle iTunes and the Mac AppStore with their computers. If people want to explicitly download, install and use that software and those stores - fine, it's their choice. But for the same reasoning why Microsoft is not allowed to do these things, Apple should not be allowed to do it either.

Besides all that, I have to join the chorus of some other posters here: There is nothing interesting in that AppStore that I don't already own, and a lot of interesting stuff that I do own is not in the AppStore (yet). This might quickly change, but unless they get the big ones like Adobe and Microsoft (and Ableton and Propellerheads and, and, and) on board, the AppStore will remain a nice try. On the other hand, I hope that the AppStore won't become a huge success -- Apple would be too tempted to turn the Mac into another Walled Garden.

 

[gsmumbo]

I would have liked the OPTION to install the App Store.

Instead, it was bundled with 10.6.6.

I guess I could delete it?

I'd rather visit a developer's website, and download the software from there.

I think it's a neat idea, but again, I wanted the OPTION to install it or not.

Am I too old school?

Has nothing to do with old school. Just stubbornness for a lack of better words. That's like complaining that spotlight comes with OS X. or that Safari or Dashboard or Time Machine come with it. It's a part of the OS. If you want to use it then use it. If you don't, then there is nothing saying you have to. Apple didn't disable the ability to go to a developers website and download the software. They just built in an easier way to download stuff. Trying to delete it is just trying to say you are above trivial things like app stores, which just seems kind of pretentious. lol.

 

[Merthyrboy]

I personally quite like it. Nice easy way to get some apps and it's nice the apple apps are cheaper like with the iLife suite. Some negatives are though that the Lego harry potter is £30 compared to £3 on iOS. Still we'll have to see how the system develops.

 

[gsmumbo]

For the record I love it. I have a bunch of stuff already downloaded as it is, but what I love about the app store is the price race it eventually starts(who can get the lowest prices to get the most customers) and the fact that the similarities between this and the iOS app store / dev environment means that more and more people will be developing for mac. We are already seeing iOS devs that have never really made programs for macs before port their stuff over. It is a good thing for us mac owners

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

I like it, but more time is needed and to be on the safe side, the best way to open an account is to use a iTunes gift card.

 

[Gomff]

It has it's place but will never be the one and only place to get applications (which is probably a good thing). Adobe, Autodesk and the other big software corps won't like the commission Apple take on sales for some of the more expensive software out there.

Aperture for £44 is a steal though. Some bargains to be had but you need to work out where the best place to buy is first.

 

[gewordenzijn]

Has nothing to do with old school. Just stubbornness for a lack of better words. That's like complaining that spotlight comes with OS X. or that Safari or Dashboard or Time Machine come with it. It's a part of the OS. If you want to use it then use it. If you don't, then there is nothing saying you have to. Apple didn't disable the ability to go to a developers website and download the software. They just built in an easier way to download stuff. Trying to delete it is just trying to say you are above trivial things like app stores, which just seems kind of pretentious. lol.

The fact that it was bundled with 10.6.6. almost felt like it was forced down my throat.

App stores aren't trivial. I can certainly see the usefulness of the store.

 

[MOFS]

The fact that it was bundled with 10.6.6. almost felt like it was forced down my throat.

App stores aren't trivial. I can certainly see the usefulness of the store.

I don't think it has been "forced down your throat". It's a new feature, like Ping. Most people who update the system software won't even notice it until they see a new icon in the Dock, and even then you have to actively log into your AppleID to buy software. It's a new feature: many won't use it because they'd rather download from the source site, but many will because it simplifies the process. Demo's and "lite" versions are still available, but programmers will have to advertise these through their own sites as previously.

I llike the App store. It's convenient, but is crippled by some obvious omissions (Skype, Adium, Mozilla) and non-Apple paid software. TBH I'm very surprised Mozilla haven't launched Thunderbird in there as an alternative mail client, and InDesign might be an interesting opportunistic reduced price download from Adobe for those not quite fully set on a dedicated DTP program.

 

[NewGenAdam]

The value is opening a potentially lucrative market to developers.

Over the coming year I expect we'll see a handful of new, creative, innovative Apps which the majority of us couldn't have foreseen. The minority with creative vision now have better means and a better incentive to realise their ideas.

As consumers, we can all benefit from that!

 

[swingerofbirch]

Feel? How do I feel? You can't handle my feelings!

My first observation was that seeing it in the Apple menu where "Mac OS X Software..." used to be looks odd! It seems random, but I guess the previous Mac OS X Software link was kind of random, too.

My second thought on opening the App Store was that, oh, yeah, this is a separate application from iTunes. That's weird. And it's called the App Store, which is what the app store inside the iTunes Store is called. That could be confusing to people.

I feel like in the past Apple did things that were elegant and made a lot of sense, but at this point they are riding on their success and making moves that would be obvious to outsiders, like making an App Store for the Mac.

I wonder if they ever think about how it's confusing that iTunes serves so many functions. Within iTunes, you sync a phone and iPods, and within a store that used to sell only music you can buy phone applications, and within the store that sells phone applications you can download a program from which you can download books. iTunes was a jukebox player that added a music store, which made sense. Movies kind of made sense. But everything since then hasn't really made sense, but it's worked well enough. But now to have a separate store for the Mac makes sense in a way, but I think it will be confusing to people who are used to everything be in iTunes (I used to think iTunes would become the OS itself). Plus the name App Store is the exact same as the other App Store.

OK, on to the UI. What is up with Apple using non-standard UIs out of the blue? I personally find this one jarring and ugly. Everything about it looks ridiculous compared to the vision of beauty Mac OS X originally aspired to.

The traffic lights position is odd. The back and forward buttons are flooded with the background color of the window. The buttons across the top look amateurish and missable. The one for featured looks very retro. Is there even a need for this bar? Could the icons features just be added to the Quick Links area? I think so.

Also under quick links, they have the Welcome (your name) link, which takes to your account as does the link beneath it which says Account, a bit redundant.

As in iTunes, the Welcome (your name) contains no comma. Say my name is Mark. And it reads: Welcome Mark. That reads as a command that someone should welcome Mark. Doesn't make sense. I wrote Apple about this and several other grammatical errors on their web-site and never heard back and the errors were never fixed. Unless you are commanding someone to welcome Mark, or, for some strange reason you are using welcome as an adjective to describe Mark, there should be a comma separating the two words. It's just like you would never write "Hi Mark." Come on, Apple!

I will say that I like that the App Store is faster than the iTunes Store, and there are no obnoxious horizontal scrolling areas that trip you up when you are scrolling vertically through the page.

As for the apps, I have a feeling that the style of the apps we see here will change. I worry that apps will become and feel cheaper over time, as the Mac App Store itself already seems to me. I know the thrust is toward apps with full screen modes, and when in this full screen modes you will obviously not be interacting with standard UI elements, like menu bars and Mac OS X buttons to a large degree. I see that already a bit in some of the apps that are not full screen, like Twitter, where the window control buttons are invisible as they are in jet black. I feel like the apps will try to feel like iOS apps and be much more graphical, use animations, and feel more "appliance"-like than traditional computer applications, which tend to have a more tempered feel and look, like Safari.

As I said, I downloaded Twitter. I never really use Twitter, only to follow one cute celebrity I like. And I don't really get how to use Twitter in an enjoyable way. But I downloaded that one first to try it out. Installation was amazingly simple, and the app was ready instantly. Like I said, it had a completely non-standard interface, and I think looks out of place on a computer. If we have tens of these crazy iOS interface looking apps running at once in the "windows" desktop section of Lion along with the full screen apps, and Launch Pad, expose, whatever else they throw in, I feel like everything will start looking like a cheap mess.


Anyhow, I also bought Angry Birds to see what all the fuss was about. I posted a review of it on the App Store, which has not been published in over 24 hours time, even though grammatically incorrect, angry reviews have been published in that time. I basically don't like the game in its lack of documentation, difficulty with controls, and what I later learned is a bug--that there is no cursor--I figured they designed it that way. But I later learned through other reviews this is a defect. There is no way to get support from that company and Apple puts up a huge brick wall to get support from them--only after clicking tens of links did I find an e-mail form to contact them. No refunds available, I'm sure. I think they should at the least have live-chat in place. I can't think of any other online retailer other than Apple with no phone support. I'm not saying it doesn't exist, but I haven't experienced it.

In closing, Apple got really successful doing some things the right way. Doing things people didn't expect would be popular. They anticipated what the public would want that it didn't know could exist. They created really easy to use paradigms where once you learned them, you could be incredibly powerful in how you control your computer. Lately their moves seem to be about creating products that outsiders expect them to. There's nothing shocking, nothing remarkably innovative. No new paradigms. And as I explained with the lack of intuitiveness of what is contained in iTunes, it seems like they have gone backward in some ways.

It's 3 AM falling, falling asleep, haven't proofread this, but I was just so mad about my review not going through and not being able to get satisfaction re: Angry Birds, that I was just an angry bird myself and wanted to get this out.

I need to sum up. Come on, Apple! That says it.

 

[yoak]

That might just be the longest post I've read on this forum. And it's about the app store. Either you type really fast or you have much spare time ;-)
I don't think may will be confused though. That it dosent look to appealing I can agree on though. But, it's easy enough to navigate

 

[MOFS]

As in iTunes, the Welcome (your name) contains no comma. Say my name is Mark. And it reads: Welcome Mark. That reads as a command that someone should welcome Mark. Doesn't make sense. I wrote Apple about this and several other grammatical errors on their web-site and never heard back and the errors were never fixed. Unless you are commanding someone to welcome Mark, or, for some strange reason you are using welcome as an adjective to describe Mark, there should be a comma separating the two words. It's just like you would never write "Hi Mark." Come on, Apple!

From the BBC website here, it highlights how the comma should be used. "Welcome Mark" is correct but "Welcome, Mark" is not. In "Welcome, Mark", your are essentially using it as a breathing point. Commas should only be used in lists and in lieu of brackets (ie to separate thoughts).

 

[bsmr]

Short and simple... I love it!

 

[The Phazer]

I really don't like the idea of a company that's so against freedom of sexual expression having so much control over the native code environment, so I won't be buying anything from the Mac App Store.

Phazer

 

[*LTD*]

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

It's a brilliant idea. Should have been implemented long ago. One place for everything, which is fantastic for consumers (it'll help drive Mac sales, too.) And maximum exposure for developers

 

[AndyfromTucson]

It's a brilliant idea. Should have been implemented long ago. One place for everything, which is fantastic for consumers (it'll help drive Mac sales, too.) And maximum exposure for developers

Exactly. Something like this should have been part of the OS from the beginning.

 

[balamw]

Maybe some devs don't like Apple's rather strict policies.

VLC for iOS was removed from the App Store yesterday. http://www.tuaw.com/2011/01/08/vlc-app-removed-from-app-store/

The App Store licenses are incompatible with some interpretations of the GPL, so you can expect that any free apps that are released under the GPL or include GPL software will not find their way to MAS.

B

 

[swingerofbirch]

From the BBC website here, it highlights how the comma should be used. "Welcome Mark" is correct but "Welcome, Mark" is not. In "Welcome, Mark", your are essentially using it as a breathing point. Commas should only be used in lists and in lieu of brackets (ie to separate thoughts).

I looked at that page, and it doesn't list all the times you should use commas. Google "direct address" grammar.

 

[lPHONE]

I've been stuck on this thing all night long, that's how I feel about it.

 

[demingy]

I must admit that I was fairly indifferent about the Mac AppStore until I found that it will not stay out of my dock. Every time I restart my computer it is back in my dock. I even tried uninstalling it, deleting all of the files that seem to be associated with it, repairing permissions, you name it, I still get a ? in place of where the AppStore was every time I restart my computer. Not too pleased right now.

 

[Frosties]

The not being able to uninstall the Appstore could be tied to that it is the way for os x to find programs for unassociated files.

 

[emptyCup]

I must admit that I was fairly indifferent about the Mac AppStore until I found that it will not stay out of my dock

I pulled the alias out of my dock and it stayed out. Make sure it is not set to run at startup.

 

[dtblaze]

Dude it just came out 2 days ago...it will take time for them to put demos in..patience is a virtue.

 

[motohooligan]

I like it... The licensing is pretty cool. It's about time I'm allowed to install a piece of software on all my computers without multiple licenses. One thing that sucks for me though is that my connection is pretty slow... Not Apple's fault, but downloading a very large program ties up my system for hours.

 

[demingy]

I pulled the alias out of my dock and it stayed out. Make sure it is not set to run at startup.

It wasn't & isn't set to run at startup - it still won't stay out.

ETA - finally was able to fix this by deleting the dock plist files