Leaving the Mac App Store • Hacker News Board

Re: Leaving the Mac App Store

#101

Post by mikeash » Tue, Dec 01, 2015, 5:00 PM UTC

thesimon wrote: post #74

X-Istence wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, they don't contact the app store to approve each launch. Apple has a root CA that expired, during this "event" apps wouldn't launch because they couldn't verify the code signing certificate. Apple updated their certificate, and all apps started working again. See: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10560634

But as the top comment says: The actual issue was that some developers used an old version of OpenSSL, which couldn't handle the SHA2 cert. Apple apparently "deprecated" their SHA1 cert and started to use an SHA2 cert. IIRC some apps were still working because they used the right OpenSSL version. I guess Apple didn't communicate enough with the developers that they'll start using SHA2.

> I guess Apple didn't communicate enough with the developers that they'll start using SHA2.

Understatement of the year right there. Apple didn't communicate this at all. The first time anybody outside of Apple found out about this was when apps started failing to launch.

If Apple had merely told developers a month ahead of time, "Hey, we're switching to SHA-2 certificates, make sure your receipt validation code handles it," this whole thing could have been avoided.

In a crazy hypothetical world where Apple's app store team actually gives a shit about third party developers, they could have even tested SHA-2 certificates against the apps in the store, and directly contacted affected developers to tell them to get stuff fixed.

Re: Leaving the Mac App Store

#102

Post by to3m » Tue, Dec 01, 2015, 5:02 PM UTC

relaxatorium wrote: post #81

The thing that's craziest about the MAS to me is how bad the actual application is. It's super slow, constantly hangs, and is just such a bad experience from the consumer side that it undermines the (very real) benefits of having a centralized store of applications you've purchased and installed. It'd be one thing (and a fairly standard Apple move) if the customer experience was good and they didn't care about trampl…

I dread ever having to run the Mac App Store to get an upgrade. (Luckily, I only have to do it for Xcode and OS X.)

It asks for my password literally every 15-20 seconds. Once I tell it to upgrade everything, it selects only one upgrade, and keeps telling me there are upgrades. While the upgrades are going, it keeps asking me for my password.

At that point I go off and watch TV. When I come back, it's actually downloaded all of the upgrades, and there's a message about how there are more. After I've entered my password a few more times, it tells me I'm up to date.

Then it asks me whether I'd like to upgrade.

I guess once their work experience students get bored working on Xcode they put them on this instead.

Re: Leaving the Mac App Store

#103

Post by oalders » Tue, Dec 01, 2015, 5:02 PM UTC

laveur wrote: post #77

ismail wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For syncing apps and tools have you tried homebrew and cask. Create a brewfile and stick it in your dotfiles.

Brew is not consumer friendly at all. My parents (in their 60's) own a mac that I bought for them. It was a great decision for me as I barely have to support them for technical problems. I only get questions on how to do something. If I was to try and explain brew to them it would be a disaster. Explaining the Mac App Store is far easier.

I feel the same way. https://www.cakebrew.com/ does make brew a bit friendlier, but it's still not simple enough for me to explain to my parents.

Re: Leaving the Mac App Store

#104

Post by mosburger » Tue, Dec 01, 2015, 5:02 PM UTC

What are the alternatives to MAS? I've been considering distributing a small OSX app at a fairly low price based on its value. Are there any good ways to sell low-priced licensed software that support pushing updates to users easily?

Edit: I should mention that in my particular case, the app is an Electron (formerly Atom Shell) app, so a solution that involves an ObjC library might be a bit difficult to implement.

Re: Leaving the Mac App Store

#105

Post by tdkl » Tue, Dec 01, 2015, 5:04 PM UTC

Also what's wrong with Apple and their approach to software lately ? Have they become just a hardware and accessories company?

Chris Pirillo gave a great talk about all the issues with the upfront statement that Android Marshmallow runs better on older hardware then iOS 9 on theirs (20min): http://youtu.be/n5iuR8pKBfQ

Re: Leaving the Mac App Store

#106

Post by theinternetman » Tue, Dec 01, 2015, 5:05 PM UTC

cdnsteve wrote: post #88

Has Sketch considered Steam? They support Mac.

The Steam mac client is pretty janky which might explain them not using it.

Re: Leaving the Mac App Store

#107

Post by S_A_P » Tue, Dec 01, 2015, 5:06 PM UTC

j2bax wrote: post #73

S_A_P wrote: post #7

That is my biggest complaint about the Mac App store. I think in general prices have been reduced for most apps. But upgrade pricing is a must for customer retention. If they try to sell me the next version of Logic for 199 Im not buying it. I spent 599 for logic 8 platinum, 129(I think) for logic 9 upgrade and then 199 for Logic pro X. Im not interested in giving them another couple of hundred dollars for a while.

Logic Pro is a professional DAW as I'm sure you are aware given your years with it. If you can't afford the $199 upgrade, you should probably just use Garageband for free. Personally I prefer this pricing strategy over requiring a monthly subscription. And $199 is far cheaper than the alternatives.

I agree- however, if you follow what other DAW upgrades cost(and I agree, forget this monthly subscription crap) Studio One Upgrade from 2-3(highest version) - 149 Reason 8 upgrade from any version - 129(sometimes 99) Cubase 8 upgrade - 75

Logic is pretty expensive to upgrade for what usually amounts to a free plugin or two and minor functionality increases...

Re: Leaving the Mac App Store

#108

Post by Jasber » Tue, Dec 01, 2015, 5:07 PM UTC

Two years ago I released a Mac app (https://heyfocus.com/) that couldn't be in the MAS due to sandbox restrictions (tried 3 times—frustrating experience).

I sat on it for an entire year because I was convinced nobody buys stuff outside of the AppStore anymore.

A year ago, the project still had really good traction, so I decided to try to sell it directly as a test (using Paddle.com).

Boy, was I wrong! TONS of people buy outside the MAS, and Focus is doing better than ever. If you're questioning it like I was, give it a shot.

Re: Leaving the Mac App Store

#109

Post by ThomPete » Tue, Dec 01, 2015, 5:09 PM UTC

Jasber wrote: post #108

Two years ago I released a Mac app ( https://heyfocus.com/ ) that couldn't be in the MAS due to sandbox restrictions (tried 3 times—frustrating experience). I sat on it for an entire year because I was convinced nobody buys stuff outside of the AppStore anymore. A year ago, the project still had really good traction, so I decided to try to sell it directly as a test (using Paddle.com). Boy, was I wrong! TONS of peopl…

And there is a very good reason for that.

People don't use the app store to find solutions to problems, they use google for that.

I had my app all the way up on top selling apps on the MAS and it had no effect on my sales.

Re: Leaving the Mac App Store

#110

Post by CrimsnBlade » Tue, Dec 01, 2015, 5:09 PM UTC

song wrote: post #3

I avoid buying from the mac app store as much as possible. If Apple ever decided to change mac os x to no longer allow external applications, I would switch to Linux right away. I don't want to do that because I do like the os X better a GUI... But there's no way I'd stay on a system that wouldn't allow me to do what I want with it.

I wouldn't be too afraid of the Linux GUIs. With the amount of customization that is available for these you can probably make it operate very similar to the way your OS X GUI does. Granted that could take some extra work on your part.