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Trouble For Microsoft Developers With the Windows Store
An anonymous reader writes "This blog post from an un-happy Microsoft developer highlights many of the problems that developers are having with submitting to the new Windows store. His app, that won 2 App X challenges from Microsoft, has been rejected 6 times over 2 months with no clear indications as to the cause. This is even after going through a rigorous early-certification process. With Windows RT relying solely on apps from the store, and there being just over 7,000 apps total, Microsoft could have a big problem here."
Uhm. The OS is released and there's major dumb-fuckery going on in their online store, the ONLY place you can buy apps from for certain versions of the new OS.
That's not a "could have a big problem" thing.
That's a "HAS a big problem" thing.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
This isn't an Apple only problem. With any delivery system, as soon as you hit critical mass people get lost in the din. Look at music, movies, books, etc. It's all the same and Microsoft will have the same problems if they too can get their store off the ground.
In between those I strongly prefer Google's terms.
First of all the Play Store has little virus issues. No idea on numbers, but it's not that I hear often about viruses in apps. Certainly the more popular apps are generally safe. And Apples app store is also not 100% clean, the vetting process is far from perfect.
I don't use third-party stores, but I have installed software directly from an app vendor's site. And have installed my own apps directly on my phone, without any issues. Having these possibilities is great. Being limited to a single store, and not being able to easily install apps in any other way, that just sucks.
Even if the Play Store started vetting their apps, then still not much lost as you're not limited to that store. There are alternatives. Unfortunately MS decides to go the Apple way - forgetting how the openness of Windows is part of what made the platform so ubiquitous.
You aren't post-geek, you've just graduated past the larval stage. :P
This post expresses my opinion, not that of my employer. And yes, IAAL.
Most computer users don't want a Wild West computer experience. They want a safe, functional one where the computer interface is as inobtrusive as possible. They want as little burden on their consciousness as possible, so they can focus on what they want to use the computer to do in the first place.
When you have an audience like that, expect tradeoffs. Less flexibility, more stability. Fewer options, more consistency. And now, the days of downloading random bits of code are over.
For 90% of the users out there, this will be a great experience. The rest will dual-boot...
Futurist Traditionalism
Yes, there is nothing about OSX or iOS that is remotely interesting or useful, and it's all just pretty enclosures making them $40B a year in profit. You are so right and all of Apple's engineers are incompetent!
Implementing the first iPhone was about 1% ID, 5% hardware, and the rest software by resources. And whatever you think of it personally, it absolutely redefined the mobile industry and has been so ridiculously successful it made Apple the most valuable company in the world. Fools, indeed.
I recently tried to use the Mac App store for the first time, and it's a complete UI disaster. Or it only has about 100 things in it, because those were the only ones that were easily discoverable by browsing. I could search and find specific applications if I knew I wanted them, but what do app developers get from Apple taking 30% of the purchase price if the potential customer has to be actively looking for their application? A credit card processor and a CDN cost a fraction of that. For small usage, PayPal or Google Checkout charge around 3% and you can host the data in Amazon's cloud and get a pretty scalable distribution system for a lot less than Apple charges (unless your app is free or no one ever buys it).
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
Is post-geek a label? As in, one who used to pay attention to the excessive details of digging deep into how something works, but now has graduated into the realization that one can do whatever one needs to do with just about any tools or platform or system and no longer has a need to scrutinize so strongly because one's skills are good enough to weather any circumstances regardless of the technological changes?
Indeed, if you're more obsessed with your tools than with your work, you might want to reconsider your priorities. Still, doesn't mean you have to be content with inferior tools. Just realize that in the end what matters is that they allow you to work more productively and deliver better quality; if your search for a productivity boosting tool results in not getting anything done, you're doing it wrong.
Install windows on my workstation? You crazy? Got any idea how much I paid for the damn thing?