Beware the Garden of Steven

theodp writes "With its forthcoming Lion Mac OS and new Apple-curated Mac Apps Store, Apple will be locking down top tier applications on the Mac similar to the way apps are locked down on the iPad and iPhone. Only by submitting their apps to Apple's store and giving up 30% of their receipts will developers get to take advantage of two new OS features. The first is Apple's new 'Launchpad,' a tool for easily opening application; the second is the ability to update apps to new versions with one click. It will be a lot easier to use apps bought from the Mac App Store than ones downloaded in the wild. It didn't have to be that way, says Valleywag's Ryan Tate: 'Apple could have enabled its Launchpad and auto-update features for all applications, sold through the Apple Store or not. For example, an open system for updating applications has been in use for years on Ubuntu... Ubuntu's 'Apt' (Advanced Packaging Tool) lets users install, update, and remove software of their choosing with a single command. There's a central list of apps curated by Ubuntu's maintainers, but users are free to add and install from other lists... But Apple seems to have made a very clear choice not to take the open route.' Longtime Apple developer Dave Winer was also concerned, tweeting during Apple's presentation 'Is this the end of the Mac as an open platform?' The news also prompted developer Anil Dash to call for an open alternative to the Mac App Store."

Comments

Mission statement

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The very fact that we're having this discussion implies that there's a business model associated with being a one-stop third-party repository for all platforms, handling software sale (if cost), download, install, payment processing, vetting software vendors, uninstallation, recommendation, rating and reviewing, and that such a business will be profitable. Since it's a business model, at this moment there are businessmen all over the country filing papers for the corporations that are going to get in on the ground level. There will no doubt be several competing businesses offerring you this boon next month, each advertising "exclusives" and vying for your attention.

The obvious thing to do is to patent an API for the arbitrage of trust and control in competing integrated software market distributors and updaters, so that licensees could implement customer-driven subrogation and promotion of their preferred software markets and still perform their search and update duties in a fashion coordinated with each other. Then lock it in a drawer and forget about it for ten years.