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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."
Although clearly Apple has not yet closed down OS X - you would still be able to download and install apps from elsewhere I can't help but think this is just the stepping stone to eventual lock down of OSX. The Flash and Java exclusion timings are not mere coincidences. That would be a sad day indeed after Apple took so much from Open Source and used it to build the most closed down system you can imagine. It almost sounds like Apple is asking "Just how much can I get away with?". They will gauge the response, make sure they have enough developer backing to ride on and then one day close it all up. I am sure they will get enough people to both develop and buy apps and that's really going to be the driver to the lock down.
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.
Man, this "apt" business sounds amazing. Wouldn't it be great if Debian had something like this? Ubuntu should definitely contribute this "apt" upstream.
This just in, Only by using Apple's central repository can you launch and update your apps through Apple's central repository... Err? Duh?
I don't need a million points of light, just two points of multi-mode fiber and a 10 Gig-E router.
I have not seen any evidence that the Launchpad is limited ONLY to apps from the Mac App Store. What the Apple site says is that apps from the store are automatically added to Launchpad. That's not the same thing as saying "only" store apps are added to Launchpad. In fact what it says is "Your open windows fade away, replaced by an elegant, full-screen display of all the apps on your Mac." All the apps. (If there's a statement I'm not aware, please post a link...)
Including the apps in the update tool might be useful, but most apps on my Mac check for updates themselves when I start them. It's not like I have to remember to go out and check the Firefox or Adobe sites for patches myself.
Build a man a fire, he's warm for one night. Set him on fire, and he's warm for the rest of his life.
Longtime Apple developer Dave Winer was also concerned, tweeting during Apple's presentation 'Is this the end of the Mac as an open platform?'
If Apple is restricting operating system features to whitelisted applications, then it is, by definition, no longer an open platform. There are degrees of openness, of course, but given Apple's approach to the iPhone, my guess is that the Mac will eventually become a similar prison.
The news also prompted developer Anil Dash to call for an open alternative to the Mac App Store."
Rather, pick an open alternative to Apple. It's truly remarkable that Steve Jobs is finally starting to make Microsoft look good. And this comes at a time when Windows is, actually, looking halfway decent and MacOS is starting to look a little dated. If Ballmer has half a brain he'll exploit this to the max.
I guess Apple is expecting the same mindset that made the iPod and iPhone so phenomenally successful to carry over into the personal computer world. Time will tell, but truthfully I don't think much of the bulk of Macintosh users' hold on reality, so chances are, Jobs is going to be right once again. Enough people will stand for this that it will make a metric fuckton of money. That depresses me, somehow.
The amazing thing to me, speaking as someone who was in the ground floor of the personal computer revolution, and still has an Apple ][ Standard with the Integer ROM sitting on a shelf somewhere, is that it is Apple Computer that is pulling this crap on its users. It's the kind of thing that one would more reasonably have expected from the likes of the old IBM, or even MIcrosoft. But no, it comes from the company that once stood for freedom in computing.
No thanks. You've fallen a looong way, Mr. Jobs. What little respect I once had for you just jumped out the window.
In a world of does, Mac doesn't. How's that for a marketing tagline?
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
You apparently missed the fact that you also can't include Flash and Java apps in the Mac App Store. If 90% of Mac users get all their apps from the App Store, then that will quickly kill off Flash and Java on the Mac, even before Apple starts locking down the OS.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
Actually, yeah .. Winsus can be extended for third party apps. And it's trivial to point your Windows update at a different update server. That said, only corporate entities and bored hyper-boxers really do that kinda stuff...
Code softly but carry a big magnet.
but I can readily admit that most Mac users are Yahoo Answers-grade stupid when it comes to computers.
What, and Windows users aren't? I agree that most Mac users aren't exactly the brightest computer users, but get real, most Windows users don't even know other OS's exist, let alone what an OS is. Mindless flock of sheep, really.
Anybody remember when FUD used to mean Fear Uncertainty and Doubt. Now it just means "not true". Back in the day something could be FUD and still be 100% true.
I know, I know, word meanings change, languages devolve over time....blah de blah. Still, I miss the days when English was a tool of subtlety and precision.
signed - Wistful Grammar Nazi.
None of them can see the clouds; The polished wings don't care.
They don't need to make it difficult to install applications outside of the Mac App Store. They just need to re-educate users so that most users will refuse to install applications not from the Mac App Store.
My blog
They just don't pay as much to be stupid.
You are welcome on my lawn.
(which I'm sure happens with Linux repos too. I can't imagine they accept any piece of trash "hello world" app just because it was submitted.)
$ aptitude show hello
Package: hello
State: not installed
Version: 2.4-3 [wtf?]
[blah blah blah]
Description: The classic greeting, and a good example
The GNU hello program produces a familiar, friendly greeting. It allows
non-programmers to use a classic computer science tool which would otherwise be
unavailable to them.
Seriously, though: this is an example of how to do a Debian package. It is the
Debian version of the GNU Project's `hello world' program (which is itself an
example for the GNU Project).
$ make available
They target two different parts of the market.
For one, unlike in game consoles, Microsoft is not a core hardware provider in the PC space. They only sell peripherals and software. They go after the commodity OS market.
Apple is a hardware and software vendor. They don't want the commodity OS market on commodity hardware, and have fought hard not to allow OS X to be used on commodity hardware. They have a limited breadth, deep stack market with high margins. That's the way they like it. Setting up a central software market for the Mac lets them bring the type of control of experience they've leveraged on the iPhone, iPod, iPod Touch, and iPad to the Mac. It also allows them to expose their core software market to many smaller vendors in one place, and for Apple itself to have some level of quality control over third-party software.
For Microsoft, letting everyone develop and distribute lets them hold on to the widespread use they worked so hard (legally and illegally) to get. For Apple, having control over the quality of third-party apps and offering third-party vendors things like Apple DRM, Apple-sponsored marketing, Apple-paid distribution, and Apple endorsements in exchange for a payment of tribute lets them consolidate control over their most powerful differentiator: nearly identical user experience across applications.
Honestly, I think if Apple mishandles this it'll be disastrous for the Mac. If they execute the plan well, though, it could be a huge strength for them. It's a high-stakes, moderate risk play with huge payoff potential.
What's more, the centralized application repository is popular and familiar among Linux users. We're quite used to making the decision between a fully vendor-supported repository, a third-party repository, and stuff we install ourselves and must update ourselves. Since OS X is a high-end desktop Unix with its own custom user interface (with the option of X), using long-time Linux and BSD software distribution methods makes sense to me. Let's just hope they execute it well and fairly.
Good Lord, people, get hold of yourselves...
Only one problem with this complete nonsense about the platform becoming "locked down" with the creation of the Mac App Store. It's a complete load of crap. The "Mac" and Mac OS X is and will continue to be a general purpose computer system, where you will _always_ be able to install software from any site on the web or install from any boxed CD or DVD or USB stick. The Mac App Store is a brilliant piece of marketing strategy that the Mac users will absolutely adore from day one. When it is in place Apple will have finally succeeded in getting the general public to use something that the Unix/Linux world has been madly barking about for decades: a nearly system-wide package management system. Only Apple will have managed to create a package management system that commercial entities will actually "buy into", so to speak, which has been the major flaw in the package management systems in the Unix/Linux world for so very long. Once again, without even breaking a sweat, Apple is about to something we wish we'd been able to do for the last couple of decades.
Mac OS X has had a sort of package management system (which works very well, BTW) for system updates for... well pretty much forever. Since its inception, I believe. But now, with a Mac App Store, users will have a single source to browse for and download both free and commercial software, have it _automatically_ install itself in the proper location with a single click*, and then keep dozens upon dozens of large and small apps completely up to date with a system-wide single-click update mechanism. Users will know that software from the Mac App Store has been vetted as being safe, having a certain quality level and not being completely pointless. Currently, most Mac applications are pretty smart about telling you there is an update available, and many of them will do a single-click download and update without much fuss. But this normally only happens when you run the app. Unfortunately, when you're starting an app it's usually because you want to use it, so it's kind of a pain to be constantly having one individual app after another telling you there is an update available. With the Mac App Store the users will have a central place to look for and receive notices of application updates, and a single button that will download and apply all relevant updates.
The moment the Mac App Store was revealed I immediately saw that it would change the way the typical Mac user will manage software on their computer, and everyone else will once again be stuck trying to cobble something together and catch up. Microsoft will desperately attempt to have something similar in place in the next version of Windows. Of course they will fail horribly, as usual. What will happen is that the Mac platform will continue to accelerate and gain more and more users on into the foreseeable future, because Apple is completely boxing in all market demographics. Between the iPhone, the iPad and now a new mind-bogglingly simple to use Mac platform, the PC world is going to be in serious trouble. Mark my words. Remember, the paying market could not care less about the kinds of "openness" we're always worrying about here on /. They want stuff that's as easy to use as their TV, and Apple is the only one giving them what they want.
Trust me folks, this is going to be _big_. The few developers who complain that the Mac App Store is too tightly controlled and refuse to use it will unfortunately be completely drowned out by the thundering horde who will be rushing to use it and showering praise on it for the next decade. Those of us "in the know" will continue to download apps from the general internet and use our general purpose computers as general purpose computers. That simply won't change. If it does change somewhere down the line, there's always Linux. Ten years from now I'm sure Linux will be kicking some major ass and still be just as open as ever. And even if the Mac platform keeps growing phenomenally the way it h
Difference? ALL Apple development tools are free downloads. Not just a cut-down version; the complete development suite with everything in it; same as every other developer uses. You can develop and distribute/sell Mac apps with Apple's tools without giving Apple a cent, and that isn't changing.