
Apple brings App Store to Mac OS X - there
http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/20/app-store-for-os-x-unveiled/
======
danilocampos
This is very exciting. The problem of distribution and monetization for
desktop software is significant and largely unsolved. Steam is already proof
that a digital store can make desktop users really happy, but it addresses
gamers, who are cheerful early adopters. Most other people who don't game only
know this model through their mobile device, but now they're ready for more.

As for developers? For more than half of 2009, the App Store paid for my rent
and cell phone bill. It helped me move across the country to the west coast.
This was huge for me. I barely had to do much more than write code, design UI,
and ship things. A huge chunk of the business of actually selling bits to
other people was abstracted behind a bunch of buttons on iTunes Connect. This
was such a powerful thing – I couldn't have had anything close to the moderate
success I did without Apple's App Store strategy.

This is going to enable a new wave of great work for OS X. This platform
already has some of the best shareware and freeware ever. Now that indie Mac
devs will have an easy way to get paid, they'll be able to devote even more
attention to their wares.

~~~
tlrobinson
I'm not so excited about this. Am I the only one who thinks this is Apple's
first step in exerting more control over developers and users on the OS X
platform like they do on iOS?

EDIT: to all the replies about how you still have a choice of distribution on
OS X: yes, you do right now, but who knows how long that will last? As I said,
this might be the _first step_ in locking down the platform. I don't believe
this will happen in 1 or 2 or 3 years, but maybe 5 years.

~~~
danilocampos
> I'm not so excited about this... this might be the first step in locking
> down the platform.

Of course you're not excited about this. You're a brilliant nerd who founded a
startup that _invented a new programming language_. This isn't for you. Or for
me.

Getting to be Nerd Jesus every time a computer runs into trouble is
gratifying. We get to be important. We get to trick out our gear to do all
kinds of goofy, custom stuff. We get to build things that are neat.

Serving our needs is certainly important. It's important, also, to understand
that _we are the minority_. Everyone else just wants a tool that works. The
majority of human beings on earth find computers to be mystifying,
frustrating, even scary things. Absent Nerd Jesus, the computer just seems to
have a mind of its own. It has its own agenda and interacting with it is an
exercise in guesswork and black magic.

What the iPad, and the iPhone before it, has taught us is simple: people want
a computer they understand. They want technology, but optimizing for Nerd
Jesus has given them _shit_ technology that doesn't respect them, so they're
used to being defensive around it.

This is all a long way of saying that I agree with you – this could be a first
step in "locking down the platform" for you and me. And streamlining it so
it's actually useful for everyone else who doesn't fetishize the Terminal,
kernel extensions or compilers.

I think there will always be a place for Nerd Jesus to do his thing. But
instead of being the focus of the market, we're finally going to focus on the
vast majority of what _most people actually care about doing_.

We'll see what it costs us from a nerd perspective. I suspect it's less than
we think – aside from the high of our indispensability as troubleshooters, of
course.

~~~
orangecat
I don't understand the geek self-flagellation that iOS has caused. It seems to
have instigated the meme that if a platform appeals to geeks then it must
necessarily be unfriendly to normal users, and I would think Mac OS X itself
shows that to be false...

 _What the iPad, and the iPhone before it, has taught us is simple: people
want a computer they understand. They want technology, but optimizing for Nerd
Jesus has given them shit technology that doesn't respect them, so they're
used to being defensive around it._

...except that so many Apple fans have also retroactively determined that OS X
is actually completely unusable unless you're an uber-nerd.

 _And streamlining it so it's actually useful for everyone else who doesn't
fetishize the Terminal, kernel extensions or compilers._

How does getting rid of the terminal improve the experience for the average
user who has no idea it even exists?

~~~
danilocampos
> I don't understand the geek self-flagellation that iOS has caused.

A product like the iPad, which didn't exist a year ago, provides an
interesting reference for what computing could be outside the existing rules.
My mom has a much, much easier time using the iPad than her Mac, and can do
many of the same tasks with it.

Oh, orangecat. Look at these strawmen.

> OS X is actually completely unusable unless you're an uber-nerd.

Not really. It's just a lot _more_ usable for nerds. And less so the less you
know about technology. Again, compare this to the iPad, whose usability
remains about the same regardless of where you exist in the tech savviness
distribution. Once you learn how to use it, which is easy, you're fine.

> How does getting rid of the terminal improve the experience

It... doesn't. Liking the terminal, like caring about compilers or kernel
extensions, signals being a technical user. Getting rid of kexts or gcc would
be similarly irrelevant to the user experience.

------
ZachPruckowski
One thing that's always been really annoying about Mac apps has been the lack
of an update system. Most Mac apps check for updates on launch, which is
spectacularly annoying, since you're being prompted on the update right when
you're most wanting to use the app, and it makes it really hard to make sure
you're up to date (since you'd have to manually cycle through your
Applications folder).

Compare this to Linux package managers, where a simple "sudo apt-get yada
yada" line or two updates everything on your system, whether first party or
third party.

Insofar as a Mac App Store solves that problem, great.

~~~
grandalf
Excellent point. Is it too much to hope that Apple will base its app system
software distribution on apt?

~~~
e1ven
Apt is, at it's core, a dependency engine. These apps have no dependencies-
It's the whole app package.

Also- Why wouldn't they base it on the already successful package distribution
platform they have for iOS devices?

In short, yes.

------
mdemare
I've found myself designing apps for iOS that should really be Mac apps,
simply because of the commercial convenience of the app store.

My hope is that this will lead to a renaissance of development for the
desktop.

~~~
phamilton
I've been doing the exact same thing. I could easily build a web version of
the app, but monetizing it is so much easier through the app store.

~~~
mikeyur
Anyone else looking forwards to iAds in every free app they use on their Mac?
Just me?

------
gcv
1\. I hope I can still build my own custom Emacs.app from source and install
it.

2\. I hope App Store apps will be sandboxed and prevented from polluting the
system.

3\. I hope Adobe switches to the App Store model, and that it will mean that
the behavior of the horrific Creative Suite installer will finally be reigned
in (take a look in /Applications/.AdobePatchFiles and check how large it is).

~~~
jaaron
Oh, please, please tell me Adobe will work with the OS X app store. Adobe's
updater needs terminated with prejudice.

~~~
pluies
If it ever does, it's only going to be the updater. Adobe would _never_ sell
anything through that Mac App Store if it means giving a 30% cut to Apple.

~~~
CaptainZapp
What is the cut for the distributor / importer and for the retail channel?

I doubt it's less then 30% and I'd wager that Adobe still ships a lot of
software in boxes.

------
mirkules
Does anyone know if you have an app in the OS X app store, but you also want
to distribute on your own, if this is allowed under the terms? Or, is it
pretty much once you go into the app store there is no coming out of it?

From Apple's business perspective, it would make sense to lock you in -- they
probably don't want to foot the bill to advertise for you and then you go sell
your software on the side full price without Apple getting their cut.

From developers' perspective, this would severely limit distribution channels,
and force them to give up 30% of revenue.

In theory, a developer could release the "lite" version of his app, and link
to his own distribution mechanism within that app. Is this allowed?

~~~
derefr
A more interesting question to me is, if I install an app—that's also on the
App Store—manually, will the App Store still update it for me? To put that
another way, are these apps "App Store apps" that make particular calls to the
OS to tell them as such? Or are they just regular bundles, with external
metadata stored only on the Store's servers?

------
protomyth
Here is my big question: "How do I move existing customers to the app store
version of the software without making them purchase it at full price?"

~~~
bconway
The bigger question I have is: why would you/anyone move them at all? If
you're already selling for OS X and have an avenue for updating your app, are
you really going to give up 30% of your revenue to Apple for the same-old?
This only works on the iPhone because it's the _only_ way to get software on
the device. Unless that's the next step...

~~~
protomyth
I think the savings in dealing with credit card processing / paypal along with
not having to maintain my own updates. Bandwidth / Hosting is not a small
issue.

~~~
hermitcrab
I pay PayPal about 2.5% for payment processing. For a full featured ecommerce
provider you typically pay 5 to 10%. Hosting costs for a commercial software
vendor are pretty trivial. 30% is taking the piss.

~~~
jonhendry
That's great until they balk at turning over a few hundred thousand dollars
for whatever reason.

~~~
kranner
Avoid PayPal then, with their screwed up antifraud data mining. Everybody else
should be glad to process your money and take their commissions.

------
shade
As long as it's not the only way to get software on your Mac -- and I don't
really see Apple doing that with their "truck" line of devices since there's
probably always going to be obscure stuff that the publishers aren't going to
want in the app store.

For that matter, I can't really see Adobe (for example) wanting to give 30% of
the cost of Photoshop to Apple.

On the other hand, I think this is potentially fantastic for smaller
developers -- it will make it easier for people to find their apps, and as
with the iPad/iPhone, that 30% cut to let Apple manage all the billing issues
for you might be well worth it.

~~~
lukifer
> For that matter, I can't really see Adobe (for example) wanting to give 30%
> of the cost of Photoshop to Apple.

Makes me wonder if big companies like Adobe will be able to negotiate a better
price with Apple behind closed doors, in exchange for helping to legitimize
the new store to both users and developers.

OTOH, if they don't jump on board, they might lose a large number of potential
"prosumer" customers to upstarts like Acorn and Pixelmator.

------
al_james
Its about time this happened really. Its an obvious idea, and could
potentially be a great user experience. I bet Microsoft have their own within
a year.

~~~
qeorge
Incidentally, an App Store is planned for Windows 8:

[http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2010/06/leaked-
windows...](http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2010/06/leaked-
windows-8-slides-an-app-store-for-windows-ie9-beta-in-august.ars)

I'm still skeptical that MS can ship an app store with Windows and not run
afoul of anti-trust laws. We shall see.

~~~
nlogn
How would Microsoft run afoul of anti-trust laws? I could see that happening
if and only if they made their app store the exclusive software channel.

------
jcromartie
There has been something like this for indie devs for a while.

<http://appbodega.com/>

~~~
goatforce5
The big difference being that the App Store will be preinstalled, and probably
have a default place on the Dock and a permanent home under the Apple menu in
the top left of the screen.

~~~
derefr
I'm hoping, but not expecting, that the App Store will replace Software
Update, so updates to Safari/iTunes/etc can show up right next to updates to
your own installed apps, and OS security updates can just be treated as
updates to the (non-removable) OS "app."

~~~
goatforce5
Yes, I imagine so.

If you want to keep getting updates to Safari, etc., you better have the Mac
App Store installed which will (coincidentally) try to get you to spend cash
money while you're in there.

------
YooLi
I guess next will be iAds availability for desktop Apps? I am not seeing
anything about Free apps in the description of the Mac App Store, but free
with iAds makes sense.

~~~
JofArnold
Good spot! In the deep dark recesses of my memory I'm fairly sure Apple
applied for a patent on desktop iAd integration...

~~~
callahad
Yep, here's AppleInsider's coverage of that patent:
[http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/07/22/apple_shows_co...](http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/07/22/apple_shows_continued_interest_in_an_ad_supported_operating_system.html)

------
akadien
For users, Macs are great. But Apple has always had a contentious at best
relationship with developers. Their tone has always struck me as small
developers are a pain, and they would rather have fewer developers ergo less
software.

That said, I think developers should be very concerned for a couple of
reasons:

1\. People will automatically associated this with the iOS App Store
experience, which will drive prices way down for richer desktop applications.
That was my very first thought.

2\. Apple will justify a review and approval process for desktop applications
on the basis of something like "application security" and "keeping viruses off
your Mac". They went that direction with the argument of eliminating porn,
which was silly.

In the end, this closes the software ecosystem. It may work for Apple, but I'm
not sure I would want to be a part of it.

~~~
siglesias
"1. People will automatically associated this with the iOS App Store
experience, which will drive prices way down for richer desktop applications.
That was my very first thought."

Why does everyone keep saying this? Supply and demand! If you think your
software is worth more, charge more for it!

~~~
wmeredith
I concur. There's also another factor that I think will make this a non-issue.
For whatever reason, iPad apps are pretty consistently 3-5x their iPhone
equivalent price. I doubt users will balk when OS X apps are 3-5 times that.

------
Aqua_Geek
It will be interesting to see how well it does on Mac OS X. I doubt it will
bring in the same number of new developers as iOS did, but I imagine it will
bring in a nice chunk of new revenue for Apple and hopefully help some indie
dev shops reach some more customers.

~~~
JofArnold
30,000 new OSX developers a month apparently... The iOS halo effect is pretty
significant it would appear.

------
iloveyouocean
Will there be an approval process and what will it look like?

~~~
rcoder
There's an approval guidelines document for the Mac App Store up on the Apple
developer site now. It's behind a login wall, so I assume it's under the usual
NDA, but if you're a registered Apple dev, you should be able to get it at the
following URL:

[https://developer.apple.com/appstore/mac/resources/approval/...](https://developer.apple.com/appstore/mac/resources/approval/guidelines.html)

~~~
dasil003
Isn't about time this NDA got tested in court? It seems so ridiculous that
anyone can get in and read it, but no one can talk about it due to the NDA.

~~~
msbarnett
Non-Disclosure Agreements are well-tested legal territory, and not uncommon
for proprietary SDKs (you should see some of the terms you have to agree to
for some company's hardware dev kits).

What about this particular NDA strikes you as being exceptional or
impermissible?

------
makecheck
Both 10.7 and 10.6.

------
sshumaker
There seems like there's one serious flaw in this idea.

What's to prevent people from inserting malware into their applications?
Unlike the iPhone, OSX isn't sandboxed. And there's no way Apple's approval
process can possibly check for possible badness hiding in the compiled code.

Unless, of course, they are building a special sandbox for these OSX apps as
well. Which means that you'll have to write apps specifically for this
platform.

~~~
msbarnett
Well, if you're going to stick malware in your OS X app, there's nothing
stopping you from doing it _right now_.

Why you would wait until there is an app store that gives a large company a
lot more information on who you are and where the authorities should come find
you before inserting malware, I can't even begin to guess.

~~~
sazzal
Right now I just don't download random OSX apps for fun. I only download
applications that I really need - and I make sure it seems like a reputable
company. And I certainly wouldn't download fart apps, or a lot of the other
5-second novelty apps that have a lot of traffic on the app store.

The first time an OSX app store has malware in it, it's going to be big news.
And it's going to make Apple look bad, since by putting it in their store
their effectively condoning it.

~~~
chc
When that happens, Apple will devote its considerable resources to making the
offender wish he was dead (he had to give up his information to get into the
Mac Dev Program, remember?), and then it won't happen again.

------
gabea
This is very exciting for those users who would love a fully integrated
computing experience.

I am someone who uses multiple computing devices throughout my day, and the
idea of having my phone, a hand held tablet, and my desktop/laptop all in sync
sharing my data with a click of a button is a very enticing proposal.

Yes there are concerns about whether Apple completely closes down developers
of OS X, but I just cannot see this as a likely event.

Apple is all about user experience. What Apple is doing right now is laying
the ground work for the future.

Imagine 10-15 years from now your vehicle, home, place of work, even a
personal robotic assistant all running on one platform acting in sync. Some
may think it is scary, but to me it is the natural progression of technology.

Helping to make life more entertaining, and helping to rid us of our everyday
problems is why we consume these devices. I think we are all lucky to
experience what is happening in this industry.

Change is hard, but we are the consumers of these products and we get to shape
them contrary to what it sometimes feels like.

------
masonmark
As a Mac developer, I find this very exciting.

While I share tlrobinson's concern about the mac getting locked down (and
therefore dumbed down) like iOS, I think at least it is now clear that we have
several years in front of us, at least, where Apple won't try that.

A Mac app I worked on a couple years back got "Staff Pick" on Apple's old,
lame, "Get Mac OS X Software" page that just linked to our site. Lame as that
page was, we saw a considerable sales bump. But it was nothing like the
gargantuan effect we've seen from getting featured on the iOS app store.

The exposure from getting featured is major, but even if it doesn't happen,
the fact that Apple handles billing and provides the one-step, one-click
process is a huge win for the developer.

I expect that with an Apple-backed Mac app store, if you have Mac apps that
are at all successful in the market now, you're going to see a _massive_
increase in unit sales.

I think that would be the case even if the Mac installed base was magically
frozen at this point in time. (And that definitely _isn't_ the case.)

------
neovive
If it works similar to Ubuntu Software Center then it should be a very nice
option for many people. I like being able to quickly download applications
through the Software Center, while also having the ability to manually install
packages or compile code when necessary. As long as those choices remain on OS
X, it should offer a good balance for all user types.

------
johnrob
Years ago, my boss at the time told me that every 5 or so years, the hot trend
switches between client-based and server-based architecture. It was probably
2004 at the time, and web apps were getting hot.

He was definitely right. ~6 years later, and we're about to see a bunch of web
apps re-written as desktop software.

------
martingordon
I think we'll begin to see a ton of improvements to both App Stores once the
Mac App Store is open for submissions, namely: bundles (see iLife),
more/unlimited promo codes (for transitioning users from non-App Store to App
Store), and customizable "developer" pages (rather than just a list of apps).

------
slillibri
TUAW has posted a summary of the Mac App Store guidelines, for those not in
the developer program. [http://www.tuaw.com/2010/10/20/apple-posts-guidelines-
for-ma...](http://www.tuaw.com/2010/10/20/apple-posts-guidelines-for-mac-app-
store-and-we-have-highlights/)

------
mambodog
As an Australian indie game dev, this presents an interesting situation. To
sell games in Australia, you are legally required submit your game to the
Office of Film and Literature Classification so that its content can be rated.
This can cost upwards of $1000 per game, which isn't chump change for indie
devs. For us, the iPhone App Store has been somewhat of a loophole, as games
sold on the App Store somehow manage to avoid the classification system
entirely.

Here's to hoping I can get away with using this loophole in the desktop App
Store as well.

~~~
ghiculescu
How exactly does it bypass that loophole, out of curiosity? (fellow Australian
here)

------
wallflower
I believe this will shift the marketplace to apps that consumers actually want
- not the DTerms of the world. Little swiss-army type apps with consumer
friendly interfaces. Stuff like a drag-and-drop photos to upload them to the
cloud so they show up on grandma's digital photo frame.

------
code_duck
Hooray, I called it! I was asking when they were going to do this a few months
ago. It seems like a pretty obvious step, of course - they have that Mac
Software link in the Apple menu in Finder, but it just links to a fairly
boring website.

~~~
code_duck
Gosh, that must have been a really offensive post. Sorry.

I'd be happy to analyze how awesome this site is
<http://www.apple.com/downloads/> if anyone wants to have an actual discussion
rather than just anonymously show vague disapproval.

~~~
andfarm
That link has been there since... oh, I don't know exactly, but I definitely
remember it from 10.2 or so. So something like eight years.

~~~
code_duck
Right, and the move to an App Store model seemed logical and imminent. But,
people here and on Reddit were telling me I was wrong when I said that 4
months ago.

------
timmins
I, for one, would like to thank Steve for saving my desktop from Mac porn
apps.

~~~
mkramlich
You touched on a good point that I haven't seen brought up elsewhere yet. If
Apple brings the same kind of Big Brother censorship to the content of Mac
apps as they currently do to iOS apps, that's going to have a chilling effect.
There are plenty of big companies and small shops that sell media and software
with 'adult' content, and if the Mac becomes locked down for them, that's
going to suck. Both by reducing consumer choice, and reducing developer &
vendor freedom.

~~~
YooLi
They aren't censoring Mac apps, they are choosing what gets sold in their Mac
software store. Same way Best Buy isn't censoring porn by not stocking it on
the shelves of their stores. If you are tin-foil-hatting this and thinking
soon the Mac App Store will be the only way to get software on the Mac, then
guess what, you can use Linux or Windows. If they do something stupid the
market will let them know about it by leaving their products. *

Apple is a minority player in computers, there isn't going to be a chilling
effect even if they did something as monumentally stupid as only allowing apps
installed via their Mac App Store.

* The market is currently validating their stance of no porn on the iOS App Store with quite good sales.

~~~
mkramlich
Censorship is censorship even if it's possible to get a thing through some
other means. For example, if a library banned books by Mark Twain, yet you
could get it from another library or from Amazon, or in another country, most
reasonable people would still call that censorship. If all the governments on
Earth got together and outlawed Mark Twain, that would be censorship even if
in theory you could fly to Mars, and buy/possess/read Mark Twain there.

The danger comes partly in the so-called tyranny of the majority. Just because
the majority prefers something over the minority doesn't necessarily mean it's
right. Also, just because the iOS App Store has a heavy-handed approach to
adult content and yet it's doing well financially, it doesn't mean (1) that it
couldn't do _even better_ if it didn't have the heavy-handed approach, and (2)
that all markets/channels should adopt the same approach. Those conclusions
just do not follow, in my judgment.

Also, while Apple does many smart things, they are not perfect. I would not
rule out them doing something you or I might consider as monumentally stupid.
They are human. They make mistakes, and they have a different perspective, and
their interests are not always aligned with ours.

~~~
YooLi
By your logic then every company that sells any kind of product is engaged in
censorship because they don't carry every possible product ever made. Also, I
didn't say Apple couldn't do monumentally stupid things, I said if they did
they would know about it when it affects their bottom line.

------
tvon
My big question, will non-App Store apps be able to use Home Screen?

edit: I mean Launchpad, not "home screen"...

------
mjfern
Today, Apple announced four key products at its “Back to the Mac” event:

\- An application store for OS X

\- Facetime for the Mac, which links with Facetime on other Apple devices

\- An instant-on MacBook Air, 11” and 13” models, starting at $999

\- The next major version of the Mac OS X, “Lion” (and iLife 11)

Individually and as a collection, these new product announcements are
interesting. Apple is extending the value it delivers to its Mac customers by
launching a combination of new hardware (MacBook Air) combined with an
innovative operating system (OS X Lion), building out a collection of new
complements (OS X application store), and further linking Macs with Apple’s
other thin computing devices (via Facetime).

If we step back, and consider today’s announcements from a broader
perspective, we can gain some insight about Apple’s overall corporate strategy
with respect to its position in the future of computing.

Apple’s recent product innovations have largely focused around thin devices,
first the iPod, then the iPhone and Touch, the Apple TV, and recently the
iPad. The new MacBook Air coupled with the new Mac OS X Lion represents a
natural progression from the iPad. While Apple’s other thin devices are better
suited for consuming content and media, the new MacBook Air is Apple’s first
thin device that is particularly well suited for creating content and media
(note that Apple is referring to the new MacBook Air as “The Next Generation
of MacBooks”). Meanwhile, the new OS X application store extends Apple’s
success with iTunes and the App Store to the Mac environment, thus further
establishing Apple’s presence in cloud services and online media. Facetime,
along with other services such as MobileMe, provides the linkages that begin
connecting all these thin devices and services together.

Looking broadly, Apple is now pushing the frontier on two key fronts. On the
one hand there’s thin device computing with the iPod, iPhone, iPad, Apple TV,
and now its new MacBook Air products; each targeting a distinctive market
segment, roughly arranged by those customers seeking to consume (iPod) or
create media (new MacBook Air). On the other hand, Apple is developing a range
of cloud services and online media with iTunes, the current App Store, and now
the new OS X application store. iTunes already operates across platforms and,
despite its name, now includes much more than music, given it also provides a
gateway to movies, TV shows, Podcasts, Audiobooks, and so on. As Apple
continues to push forward on these two fronts it will soon have developed a
full and coherent line of thin device hardware, a unified and powerful
operating system (iOS/OS X, and slight variants), and a tightly integrated set
of cloud services and online media.

In closing, today’s product introductions, along with Apple’s rapid
progression over the last decade in thin devices and cloud services, brings
into stark relief the gap between Apple and the historical high flyers in
personal computing, such as Dell and HP. It appears Google is the only company
that fairs a chance to stay competitive in this breakneck race.

(I just posted this to my blog and submitted the post to HN. If you enjoyed
the read, I'd appreciate an upvote (article title is "A broader view on
Apple's 'Back to the Mac' Event").

~~~
zppx
Ten years ago everyone talked about the burst of the Bubble, about how
Microsoft would dominate the world, although Linux was growing, nobody saw it
fighting for prominence in various areas, nobody saw the the prominence of
Facebook in the network (or even the idea of social network), nobody saw the
rise of Apple, only a small fraction saw virtualization as a game changer in
the industry, the majority of players in the field were already there 10 years
ago (Parallels and VMware) or came out of nowhere (Xen, Qumranet and
Virtualbox).

Now the buzz is that Apple or Google will dominate, but real people are there,
working anonymously in the next revolution, in the next previously unthought
idea, time will come when Apple will not be so shiny, maybe 10 or 20 years
from now, maybe even longer, this industry (consumer electronics and its sub-
industries) have only a small history, yet there were cases of powerful
companies going from heaven to hell in question of years, cases of previously
anonymous players leading the directions of the industry, so I kindly disagree
that Apple or Google will be the only companies in the new decade, maybe there
are some unheard, powerful and new technology, but as Microsoft suffered to
understand there are more things shaping the industry than just power and
money.

But besides of that, you got an upvote from me.

------
nileshtrivedi
Ubuntu's new Software Center is already on to this :)

------
jw84
A Top 10 chart is now going to be the biggest marketing lead generator for Mac
devs.

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mkramlich
the big question is whether the App Store will become the only allowed way to
get software onto a Mac. Anybody heard anything? If they disallow all the
historical ways I suspect there will be an exodus of disgrunted developers,
many going to Linux.

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tmlee
All the mac users can only hope not.. The fact that they have an app store is
that we can see that Jobs is trying to pitch the Mac to the rest of the users
as well... normal users wont be able to find apps online, they need a central
location to do so. The thing that struck me was that, why is he doing that?
Isnt the "iPad" meant to do all that, and leave the Mac as trucks?

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goatforce5
I'd say that everything that was announced about Lion was targeted at happy
iPhone/iPad users who have perhaps been on the fence about buying a Mac.

"The new OS X? It works just like that iOS thing you know and love!"

"Back to the Mac" should have been "Come to the Mac".

