Steve Jobs snuffs App-Store-for-Mac rumor
Mac OS X users won't be limited to Apple-approved apps as are users of the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. So says no lesser light than Steve Jobs himself. Last Friday, a rumor zipped across the interwebs that the next version of Mac OS X - which will be version 10.7 - would institute an App Storesque "gated community" in which …
"There's a rumor saying there will be a Mac App Store and no software without authorization from Apple will run on Mac OS X. Is that true?"
The correct response would have been "YES". Because there was a rumour.
Jolyon
Here's an interesting thought before the comedians come barging into the thread.
Suppose that, instead of a shiny new PowerBook G3, you'd bought $5700 worth of Apple stock in 1997.
How much would that stock be worth today? No, you're quite wrong. It's $1.32m.
(http://www.kyleconroy.com/apple-stock.php)
Yep, thought that would shut you up.
As good as your point is, you've got your numbers wrong - you actually mean $330,563
Still a good profit, but I don't get why you would exaggerate...
Now you know it's a possibility watch the steady justification for implementing it.
Obviously he said "Nope" but only because "It's due on OS XI, that'll teach them bastards from Adobe!"
But I bet he likes the idea. How long before the world of Mac users is flaming Fernado Valente saying:
"now look what you've been and gone and done. I hope you're bleedin pleased with yourself".
Did anyone actually think Apple would do that? No, really? Apple have worked hard to make Mac OS X a great platform for porting open source software to, a great platform for writing code on.
How was this actually even going to work? How would software get written? On the iPhone/iPad you develop on Mac OS X, how was this going to work?!
It's retarded - are people actually this stupid?!
I have been asking Mac users how long they think it will take before there's an App store with approved software for the Mac. Doing my part spreading the fud. This is obviously not going to happen right away, but if Steve's liver can keep him going long enough he will shut the Mac down as tight as he can.
Don't worry, you'll probably be able to change the wallpaper.
"Don't worry, you'll probably be able to change the wallpaper."
Unlike Windows 7 needlessly crippled "Starter Edition"
I will only say "Remember SONY". They also said that they would never remove OtherOS from fat PS3s. They did so about a month before they removed it.
Jobs has turned around so many times, everyone is used to this.
- G4 is "teh best processor"! Intel Sucks!
- The iPhone will NEVER have third-party native apps! Webapps r teh shiznit!
- Multitasking? Who needs that?
- Cut & Paste? Who needs that?
- MMS isn't supported because nobody uses it
So your argument is that because a different company changed it's position quickly Apple will do the same?
Let's see.
G4 - when it launched (1999?) it was about 2.5 times faster than the equivalent Intel PIII. In the intervening time the market moved on. It's not like Apple switched the next year, it was almost 10 years.
3rd party apps - Apple didn't say "never", they said they didn't see the need for them. However, once the phone was out in the market, it became clear that there was both a demand *and* a need due to patchy network coverage/battery life. Oh look, they changed their position based on the evidence. How dare they!
Multi-tasking - Again, they didn't say "who needs that?" they said that they thought it would drain the battery too fast and (quite correctly) it can cause stability problems in the OS and other apps. They wanted to work out if they could do it in a way that avoided the pitfalls, which they claim to have done for OS4, we'll see in due course. It was the fanbois to said "Who needs it?" and I have to say for probably 90% or more users they're likely to be right.
Cut & paste - Again, Apple didn't think people really needed it, but they reacted to the market.
MMS - As far as I know they have never said anything about MMS apart from the initial "It isn't available" and the "here it is" when they made it available. Again, I suspect they didn't think anyone really needed it - I've only ever sent one MMS in my entire life and I've only ever received two that weren't marketing crap. Even my service provider appears to have quietly dropped "picture message" bundles from its offerings, which leads me to suspect that not many other people are using it either. It's entirely possible that the people who were most likely to use MMS now just upload their pictures to FaceBook (or whatever social network their friends are on).
Quite apart from anything else, trying to lock down OSX to an app store after it's been on the market for so long *and* already has a reasonably large software base is likely to be pretty much impossible, especially as anyone really huffed could just load another OS on the machine and walk away.
It just rules out that there will be an app store at the gate of the 'walled garden' that OSX could become.
Really, I would be thrilled if there were an app store for OSX or Windows. (Linux already has this covered more or less - for free-only apps that are part of the distribution.) As long as its not the _exclusive_ way to get software onto the computer, it would be a welcome addition.
Once its built, then you can add on facilities to manage apps centrally, IT shops in small and mid-sized businesses will switch en-masse to that model.
That doesn't rule out that there will be a Mac App Store which complements 3rd party software on OS X... with huge icon in the Dock which says 'Get software here'. His Steveness would still make some pocket change out of it.
There already is - after a fashion. Look under the Appe Menu for "Mac OS X Software..."
What happened to that? Or the Lin(dows|spire) one-click to run repo?
On the Linux front: Ubuntu has something similar (though with free-as-in-beer binaries), where you can click and get. You can do the same in Fedora Core and RHEL by typing "sudo yum -y install {whatever you want/need}*" Other distros have similar bits.
Microsoft does have "Games Explorer" in Windows 7, where you get taken to the web and dropped off in a small marketplace to buy/download games and such. You can also buy upgrades to pricier versions of Windows (e.g. Pro -> Ultimate and the like) from some versions of Windows 7.
On the OSX front, most long-time users (disclosure - including me) just go to versiontracker.com and do our looking around there for free and paid-for (via demo) stuff.
Apple could make a killing off of putting up an App Store for Macs, but minus the walled garden approach... problem is, the tech 'press' doesn't seem interested in exploring this angle (not as dramatic, etc).
Mine's the one with pockets chock-full of burned CDs and DVDs...
* Dunno if Fedora or RHEL has a GUI utility for YUM, since I rarely run it with X turned on.
Really?
Don't think so...
If Apple instigates such a policy then no user will upgrade to the latest versions of OSX. They can't afford to because they would loose access to the "non-approved" software they are already using. All developers will do is continue developing for the previous operating system and ignore the new version of OSX.
This is essentially the reason why Apple should not (and probably will not) instigate an OSX app store, it would destroy their Macintosh business overnight. Apple are many things but they are not stupid.
Oh btw, notice I haven't referred to Steve Jobs. He may be the boss of the company but even he can't control everything related to Apple. Has it ever occured to anyone that a lot of the ideas that Apple churn out come from the bright people he employs?
To convert the existing eco-system of how Macs run, all the software that's available and somehow re-engineer that into the App Store framework would be impossibly difficult..
I'm sure some folk think that no-one actually uses a computer for anything other than browsing, email and social networking which is why daft rumours like this are entertained.
Can't exactly see a studio buying Pro Tools via iTunes + plugins from the likes of East West or NI (which could easily top £20000 and require a 1TB download, not including hardware).
Doesn't mean there won't be an optional AppStore. Pretty good idea really.
"Quite apart from anything else, trying to lock down OSX to an app store after it's been on the market for so long *and* already has a reasonably large software base is likely to be pretty much impossible, especially as anyone really huffed could just load another OS on the machine and walk away."
You'll take what they give you and be glad to pay them.
I'm all for a Mac app store. Just think, Photoshop for $1.99, microsoft Office for Mac for an amazing 99c! That'll be the day!
