No - you're not the only one. Doesn't excite me now - and won't ever really. I see it as no big deal. Unless it does, in fact mean, the closing and sandboxing of MacOS where 3rd party apps can only run if approved by Apple. That I would care about a lot...
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Mac App Store to Open January 6th
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No - you're not the only one. Doesn't excite me now - and won't ever really. I see it as no big deal. Unless it does, in fact mean, the closing and sandboxing of MacOS where 3rd party apps can only run if approved by Apple. That I would care about a lot...
I agree. Furthermore, I found the original poster's argument by way of rhetorical questioning weak. How does encouraging sales and encouraging application discovery 'open' an operating system? Take the iOS platform for example, Apple has evidently encouraged sales and app exploration via it's well-known App Store with several thousands of apps on it. Yet, we all know that iOS is a proprietary, closed wall system.
In my personal opinion, this will in fact not impact on the 'closeness' of the OS X platform. It merely provides an alternative to retrieving applications for the internet. Approved applications can be sold through the Mac App Store and yet 'unapprovable' and more questionable applications (system level hacking etc.) can continue to be sold independently by their developers on their own web sites.
In light of this, I find this move to be a good one. It makes installing applications easier for many people in a way similar to the iOS store, and yet preserves the 'open-ness' of the Mac operating system.
OS X will NEVER be closed. If it becomes such, it will no longer be OS X. So quit worrying about tech paranoid fantasies. This App Store is good news. Right now the techies know where to go to get lots of software. Mom and Pop do not. This new store will make it obvious where to go, and that will greatly increase the software market.
Remember, Mom and Pop do NOT buy software right now. They don't know how. So this will not replace their current purchase, it will add new purchases to the market.
And if it's popular, and tech-oriented sites that aggregate software disappear, techies will still know how to find the sites that remain open. That will never change.
Don't listen to the paranoid fantasies. These are PR-generated by Apple's competitors in the marketplace to get you to steer away from Apple's stuff. Sadly, some people believe what they read and think Apple is a closed company.
Remember, Mom and Pop do NOT buy software right now. They don't know how. So this will not replace their current purchase, it will add new purchases to the market.
And if it's popular, and tech-oriented sites that aggregate software disappear, techies will still know how to find the sites that remain open. That will never change.
Don't listen to the paranoid fantasies. These are PR-generated by Apple's competitors in the marketplace to get you to steer away from Apple's stuff. Sadly, some people believe what they read and think Apple is a closed company.
Yeah but...
...how many titles will there be?
Must not be many now or Apple would be heralding that number like it was on a McDonald's sign.
It will be nice to see the iLife apps sold separately.
...how many titles will there be?
Must not be many now or Apple would be heralding that number like it was on a McDonald's sign.
It will be nice to see the iLife apps sold separately.
App Store for Windows?
I thought this was pure speculation when I read it (and still do), but the way Jobs pointedly said we hope to do the same for PC apps We can't wait to get started it did made me think In official press releases (not emails) Jobs doesn't do accidents or ambiguity (unless that ambiguity is deliberate). This could just be a double bluff to put pressure on Microsoft. Otherwise he would just have said: We can't wait to do the same for Mac apps.
Below I have summarised the reasons the article gave for Apple making a Windows App Store:
I thought this was pure speculation when I read it (and still do), but the way Jobs pointedly said we hope to do the same for PC apps We can't wait to get started it did made me think In official press releases (not emails) Jobs doesn't do accidents or ambiguity (unless that ambiguity is deliberate). This could just be a double bluff to put pressure on Microsoft. Otherwise he would just have said: We can't wait to do the same for Mac apps.
Below I have summarised the reasons the article gave for Apple making a Windows App Store:
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Awesome, can't wait! I'm sure we will see a lot of iPhone/iPad apps ported to the Mac, esp. games.
So many assumptions there. And quite sad that people not only want highlight the dumbing down of society in general but want to encourage it.
Maybe your mom and dad don't know how to buy software - but my parents do. If they have questions about what they need or don't need - they google it. You don't need to be a GEEK to use google.
I don't think the storefront is a bad idea. I just don't find it EXCITING. Anymore than I found the Beatles announcement exciting. Anyone who really enjoys the Beatles or wanted it on their computer ripped their cds. Anyone who wants software just needs to google it. Or go to a brick and mortar (less convenient, sure).
Revisiting Openstep for Windows and managing the different UI Toolkits is a waste of time and resources.
This PC Store will have lower price points for applications but give the software developer a global footprint, without any investment into heavy advertising and marketing, other than strategically placed ads in iAds, tech blogs and off the company site.
Macs are already surpassing 4 million in this new quarter. I wouldn't be surprised to see that move to 6 or 8 million by 12 months, in a single quarter.
I personally think the Mac App store is a great idea as long as it allows us the ability to still go outside of the garden walls for some fresh air. Also, I worry about what effect this will have on my corp. infrastructure as locking that down seems like its going to be a PITA.
FlightControl has come to OSX already - you can find it in Steam!
I haven't tried it myself - wonder if it works so well with a mouse as it does with touch?
In a town aren't the streets, houses and offices outside the garden walls? As in crowds, congestion and noise?
I'm not really getting this metaphor.
For the average Mac user, the system is fairly well closed at the moment. Yes, they can install whatever software they want, but they very rarely do. I may be wrong here (although I doubt it), but the average user probably very rarely installs anything that isn't currently available in the Apple shops, and I suspect that about 5 titles make up the vast majority of those.
The App store will introduce the average user to a far wider range of apps than they currently even see. This is a huge opening up of their choice.
The downside is that it will disadvantage any developer who doesn't go through the App store. However, I can only see two practical reasons for this. Either it would be for financial reasons (although the increased sales should easily make up for Apples take and established products should still be able to compete from outside), or the package does something that means Apple won't approve it. In the latter case the potential market for these Apps is likely to be more tech savvy and will be able to find the product as they would now.
The closed iOS system is, in my view, far more of an issue amongst contributors here than amongst the general public, most of whom are happy with the closed system. I know many iOS users, and I'd say that well under half of them have jailbroken. Amongst the jailbreakers, I don't know of any who have done it to get apps that can't be found in the App store. It is 100% to avoid having to pay for them.
The App store will introduce the average user to a far wider range of apps than they currently even see. This is a huge opening up of their choice.
The downside is that it will disadvantage any developer who doesn't go through the App store. However, I can only see two practical reasons for this. Either it would be for financial reasons (although the increased sales should easily make up for Apples take and established products should still be able to compete from outside), or the package does something that means Apple won't approve it. In the latter case the potential market for these Apps is likely to be more tech savvy and will be able to find the product as they would now.
The closed iOS system is, in my view, far more of an issue amongst contributors here than amongst the general public, most of whom are happy with the closed system. I know many iOS users, and I'd say that well under half of them have jailbroken. Amongst the jailbreakers, I don't know of any who have done it to get apps that can't be found in the App store. It is 100% to avoid having to pay for them.
You would if you bought Apple stock at $60/share.
The app store will be a big hit (not so much with me though as I don't buy a lot). There are so many people that just want their stuff from what they believe to be a trusted source. (Regardless of the fine print exempting Apple from any responsibility).
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You are still looking at it all through your eyes.
The Beatles sales showed that many people hadn't ripped their CD's. You may be fine finding software, and your Mum and Dad may be, but the average person really isn't that fussed.
Just look at the average persons PC or Mac and see how much software is installed on it, and then compare it to their iPhone. I am a pretty tech savvy computer user, and I have very little software installed on my Mac compared to my iPad.
On the computer I identify a need and then find the software, that is not uncommon at all. On iOS devices, we have got used to browsing the App Store to find things to interest us. Bringing that to the Mac is a big development for many.
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Geek or no, this store will be good for the consumer. How on earth will this store not increase the number of available software titles, increase their quality and their diversity, and encourage developers to maintain high standards. After the first year, the iOS store has been dominated by apps of a very high quality and the ubiquitous fart apps have slowly disappeared. Before developing for Mac was a little riskier, how do you advertise effectively to a non-geek user base on a platform so much smaller than windows. Now with a concise way to access consumers, more developers will take a crack at Mac OS. And inevitably the developers who succeed eventually will be making some pretty sweet new content that would have never been offered otherwise.
Get off your snooty highstool of "I am a genius, I have tamed the wild web and need no aids in finding the software I need." 100-1 you weren't aware of some bit of code which would improve your life. Options are a good thing.
Geek or no, this store will be good for the consumer. How on earth will this store not increase the number of available software titles, increase their quality and their diversity, and encourage developers to maintain high standards. After the first year, the iOS store has been dominated by apps of a very high quality and the ubiquitous fart apps have slowly disappeared. Before developing for Mac was a little riskier, how do you advertise effectively to a non-geek user base on a platform so much smaller than windows. Now with a concise way to access consumers, more developers will take a crack at Mac OS. And inevitably the developers who succeed eventually will be making some pretty sweet new content that would have never been offered otherwise.
Get off your snooty highstool of "I am a genius, I have tamed the wild web and need no aids in finding the software I need." 100-1 you weren't aware of some bit of code which would improve your life. Options are a good thing.
In addition to exposing you (the consumer) to new software, I think the biggest impact the Mac App Store will have is encouraging software purchases. Even if the average consumer can find the application online they are much more likely to purchase it through Apple (something they're already used to) than purchasing it through a developer's website, no matter how legitimate the website/developer is.
My [parents, grandparents, friends] are great at entering their Apple ID password and buying apps, but [most of them] wouldn't touch PayPal.
My [parents, grandparents, friends] are great at entering their Apple ID password and buying apps, but [most of them] wouldn't touch PayPal.
As someone else pointed out, Jobs likes to hint about stuff in press releases - he doesn't make mistakes in pre-planned releases. The fact that the Mac App Store is for the Mom & Pop user and that Mom & Pop users are very aware of the Mac vs. PC commercials means that he is really trying to retrain folks on what PC means [maybe that's why no more Mac vs. PC ads?]. Or it means as others have suggested - iTunes is cross platform, so perhaps the Mac App Store will be too? But then, the name "Mac App Store" puts the word "Mac" in front, which PC owners like Mom & Pop know is different than a PC.
Hmm...the more I think about it, the more confusing his wording is. Why would he use the term PC to stand for personal computer [of any kind] instead of just saying "personal computer"? He knows that Mom & Pop are aware of the Mac vs. PC ads, so why confuse the matter? Is he hinting that soon that division will no longer exist?
Hmm...
/vjl/
I'm sorry you misunderstood my generalization. I wasn't talking about your mom and pop, nor my mom and pop, but "Mom and Pop" as a generalization of the average personal computer user who is not a techie. And what I said is true for far more than the average user nowadays.
You don't find the storefront idea exciting, and why should you? But I was talking about people who have never heard of MacRumors. For them this will be very exciting.
Techies are not happy that their closed universe is being taken over by the ignorant masses. Me? I'm happy that these ignorant masses will be more educated by this new opportunity. I'm very much in favor of spreading knowledge. I do not want society to be dumbed down, but sadly I recognize how much of it is dumbed down. This storefront is another effort in education, and I applaud it.
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That's funny. I'm looking for a way to bin the mail and keep the syncing.
That's funny. I'm looking for a way to bin the mail and keep the syncing.
I'm thinking about this rebuttal to the web app store Google open up earlier. I do like some of the apps over there. At the same time, it does provide leverage for those super useful utility apps that get no traffic at all. Let's hope for no desktop fart apps. But do I want an updated Captain Kirk speech app. oh......my......gosh Something good but out of the toilet.
