The world as frankps sees it!
Posts tagged App Store
First experiences with Mac App Store
0A lot of junk and some pleasant surprises…
Today I’ve installed MacOS X 10.6.6 and tested Apple’s new App Store for MacOS X. The App Store is only available for 10.6 (Snow Leopard), and it will also be an integrated part of Mac OS X “Lion,” due later this year. Linux has long had repositories, which in principle is the same as Apple’s App Store.
First of all, this is the first time installation for applications has become problem free on a Mac. There is only one way to install the apps, and all the necessary files are put in the right folders (directories). In other words, installation has never been easier. All installations from the App Store are also maintained through Software Update, making it a lot easier to keep your applications up to date.
An Update Nightmare
Sadly, the App Store does not scan your harddrive for already installed applications, to take over the maintenance over these applications as well. This put the user in a difficult position, from where did I install the applications and how do I keep them maintained. Users now risk to have applications maintained through Software Update, from within the application itself and from downloading new versions from web sites. Not a good thing!
Some people commented on articles and forums all over the web, that the Mac App Store also recognizes apps that you have purchased outside of the Mac App Store. This is true if the version of the app matches the Mac App Store version exactly, using something called the “Bundle ID.” For example, if you noticed that the Mac App Store showed iPhoto as “Installed,” even though you bought it through the boxed iLife set, but the Mac App Store did not notice that you already have Pages installed, it may be because you haven’t installed the latest iWork update.
The Panic developers posted this on their blog today:
PS: If you’re a current customer, there’s no way to convert a previous purchase into a Mac App Store purchase — that requires a re-buy. But remember, what you have now will continue to work just fine.
UPDATE: The Mac App Store may show software bought from us previously as “Installed”, even though they’re two different licenses. You will not get Mac App Store auto-updates unless you purchase from the Mac App Store. To re-enable the “Purchase” button in the Mac App Store, just drag the app to the trash and empty your trash. Your preferences/sites will not be affected.
Poor Password Protection
Another problem is that you only have to type in the password for your iTunes account the first time you buy an application. If you press buy on another application a minute later, the application will be bought instantly and installed. There is no regret button!
Install Apps on Several Macs
App Store lets you download commercial software to several computers. It seems not to be limited to five computers, and you can install the apps again and again, and again (this even made Paul Thurrott go excited!). Brilliant for some of us, as we can have the same applications on our work and home computer! Some of the applications has even got a hefty price cut. Check out Aperture. Other applications have the same price as the iOS version. And a few has gotten a much higher price then the iOS version of the applications.
My First Installed Apps
The first application I installed was Twitter, and it’s available for free. I later bought iPhoto 11 for a pleasant price, 85 NOK. I guess will be buying iMovie as well, and I am happy to not have to pay for Garageband! Perhaps I even buy Aperture, even though I love Lightroom. I was surprised to see how much junk applications there was in the App Store, but all in all, I happy to see that some of the best small software houses were already present.
The End of Optical Drives?
PaidContent reflects that with the App Store consumers are relying less and less on inserting a CD or DVD to provide applications—and suggest that like the Macbook Air, the next set of Apple computer products may eschew the disc player altogether. They might be right. Cloud Computing is here, and important backups should not be made on discs stored next to the computer. The backups should be stored up in the cloud at reliable supplier (not a here today, gone tomorrow company).
Updated my iPod Touch to the latest iPhone 2.0 software
03 years ago
I couldn’t wait and upgraded the iPod Touch as soon as the upgrade was made available. The iPhone, bought in U.S., is still running the old ROM, as I guess I have to wait for a hack to be made available.
My first impression was that this software upgrade should have been free for those of us that already had bought Mail, Todo and Google Maps. But ok, 10 dollars are not much these days … . There were not many noticeable changes for me, as wireless was already working and I was already using the Installer. I guess I’m first to go wow Monday morning, connecting to the WPA Enterprise network we have at work. I change that I did notice at once, was the far better Norwegian translations!
One of the first things that I will do at work next week, is to write user manuals (in both Norwegian and English) for the inbuilt VPN client and the enhanced WPA support. I am looking forward to finally be able to use the iPod (and later the iPhone) at work, Mail has a close to perfect IMAP implementation. Far superior to any embedded device that I have tried, and that is quite a few!
But for now I will write some lines about my first impressions of the App Store and the applications you can find there today. But before I start, I should say that I have not tried any of the commercial applications available in the App Store, that I will first do when I have upgraded my iPhone with the latest ROM.
The first thing that I noticed was that the App Store was far better to navigate then Installer, and the integration with iTunes and iTunes Music Store is perfect. It just reminds me why most people still are willing to pay for software, most open source software have a not to user friendly interface!
Having said that, don’t rush in to upgrading to iPhone 2.0 if you are using many of the applications that were available on the Installer, as only a few of them are available on the App Store. All the applications that were available through the Installer, must be rewritten to work on 2.0, but I guess in time most of them will find it’s way in to iTMS.
I have started playing with some of these early applications, NetNewsWire, Express, Exposure, eReader, Evernote, iPint, NYTimes and Remote. iPint is “spamware” (I know, one of my terms) and will find it’s way out of my iPod fast …
I guess most Mac users will love having their favorite RSS reader available on their iPhone, and I can only hope that Vienna gets ported to the iPhone as well.
There is a few applications that I miss not having available on the iPod: RagingThunder, iChabber, Fring and not to forget MobileScrobbler. As many of you perhaps know, I am a great fan of Last.fm.