Makin’ Apps
There is some concern over the impending Mac App Store, and rightly so. The Mac App Store would be a tidy revenue stream for Apple – they’d take 30% of all sales, and the advantage, from what I’ve read online, is the potential exposure app developers would receive for their products.
While the advent of the Mac App Store does not mean that the tried and true method if installing apps will go way, one can certainly feel a sense of foreboding. Some speculate that it’s only a matter of time before the garden becomes truly walled off. It would be a sad day indeed to have to jail-break a Mac to run apps that weren’t available on the Mac App Store, and I for one – hope that day never happens. I want the freedom to choose which applications I want to install and use on my Mac.
The terms of Apple’s guidelines (or restrictions, as I see it) would seem to eliminate many popular applications off the bat, including FTP apps, competing browsers, preferencePane utilities, and much, much more. It’s as if Apple is trying to bypass the web altogether. What are your thoughts on the Mac App Store? Will it level the playing field for developers? Or will it hinder the development of apps that don’t fit Apple’s restrictive criterion?
Sound off in the comments below.
-Krishna
P.S. I have some new PC Weenies artwork for sale. Thanks for looking!
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Tell me what you think!
Kevin S
October 24, 2010 at 2:23 pmI think everyone is overreacting. I don’t think Apple could ever remove the ability to install apps through other means because their guidelines would kill most of the software that makes the Mac great.
The worst that can happen is developers might feel that their app NEEDS to be on the app store in order to compete, but I know for certain that anyone distributing an app today that doesn’t meet the guidelines will just continue distributing the app as they always have and nothing will come of it.
Peope are decrying this as the end of the Mac, but having watched the keynote, I can tell you my reaction to the Mac App Store was very positive, and I think the benefits of having a prominent (but not solitary) application distribution channel will outweigh the negatives.
Bartimaeus
October 25, 2010 at 6:15 amI read analyses stating the same thing; however, other people were worried about a darker possibility: That Mac OS X could segment into a ‘normal’ version (locked like iOS) and a ‘pro’ version (for developers and whatnot. the os x we now know and love. extraordinarily expensive).
As for me, I don’t have any hard facts for or against it either way, but my gut says it stinks. And I trust my gut.
Antonious
October 25, 2010 at 1:02 amThere is a reason for economic competition. It weeds out the unready and those of little innovation. A monopoly stifles innovation since why create something new to attract buyers when they have no choice but come to you. Eventually all but the most esoteric apps will have been created and esoteric apps do not bring in the bucks mainstream apps do.
Jake Eskel
October 25, 2010 at 10:45 amWell, I agree with you. Which is why I am beginning to learn Linux. However, it does seem to be going the direction of the iPad, so we can expect the same service in apps as the iPad can supply, unfortuantly.
Jim
October 27, 2010 at 10:54 pmI would be personally dismayed at the thought of a locked system for the Mac, but at the same time, there is *nothing* I do today or would do in the future which would be likely to be at odds with a walled system they might implement.
The big question is thus what the benefits would be, to Apple and to users. If they could create a vastly more secure and stable environment — emphasis on “vastly” — it might be good for a majority of users.