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Leaving the Mac App Store

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Re: Leaving the Mac App Store

#161

Post by SneakerXZ »

robotcookies wrote: post #48
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 feel the same way. And it's funny how many people think along similar lines and then go straight to their iPhone without a second thought. It's as if because it's always been that way with the iPhone (no external apps) that it makes it ok.

Because limitations imposed by iOS are not limiting me from things that I want to do and benefits outweighs negatives.

Re: Leaving the Mac App Store

#162

Post by jbob2000 »

SyneRyder wrote: post #112
jbob2000 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "store" was really great for small/solo developers to release an application. It's really expensive to setup your own server to distribute an application. It's also really annoying to have to patch your apps without a store. What's changed is that there are lots of open source options for distribution and patching, so developers need a "store" less and less.

> It's really expensive to setup your own server to distribute an application. I haven't found it expensive at all. I've been selling apps outside App Stores for over a decade and never needed more than my $9/mth shared web hosting. Accepting credit cards is even easier & cheaper through someone like Fastspring or Kagi, who only take 8 - 9% instead of Apple's 30%. > It's also really annoying to have to patch your app…

I don't disagree, there were always solutions. The app store just made it easier than the alternatives. But now the alternatives are easier than the store.

Re: Leaving the Mac App Store

#163

Post by ingenieros »

mrec wrote: post #151
cmdkeen wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is ridiculous when Steam is there as a shining example of what a store could be. Not having to worry about keys and updates is fantastic for me, plus good discovery and upselling opportunities for developers. Someone is going to crack desktop app stores one day and do very well. The cost of entry is high (not necessarily in cash, more in reputation) but there are plenty of players who could do it. There's even…

I use and generally like Steam, but I'd never call its discovery "good". Users are drowning in the number of titles, the recommendation engine is pretty poor, and there's no support for filtering . I'll never buy an RTS or a multiplayer-only game, stop showing them to me. I'll never buy an early-access game or a game with 3rd-party DRM, stop showing them to me. I could cull 90% of the stuff in my discovery queues, au…

Are you currently following any curators? This usually helps me find games that I wouldn't have found out about otherwise.

Re: Leaving the Mac App Store

#164

Post by clumsysmurf »

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…

Every time I start MAS, softwareupdated goes from 30mb to about 500mb, without doing anything. When I close MAS it continues to steal that memory.

Re: Leaving the Mac App Store

#165

Post by facetube »

WorldMaker wrote: post #50
roosterjm2k2 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Steam seems to remember for a while... i've played Euro Truck Sim while traveling with no internet...

It varies with different games on Steam. Steam doesn't require its DRM, so some games have no DRM, even when installed by Steam, which is great. More critically, though, Steam also doesn't require its DRM be exclusive so some games are protected both by Steam's DRM and something else, where that something else may have its own weird requirements before launching a game.

Can confirm. I bought Goat Simulator from Steam about a year ago, have uninstalled Steam, and even moved the application between OSs and devices without any issue.

Re: Leaving the Mac App Store

#166

Post by blinky88 »

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…

This is really it. It's so painful to use. Slow, buggy, and unreliable.

Re: Leaving the Mac App Store

#167

Post by microtonal »

ThomPete wrote: post #52

I used to have an app in the MAS but recently removed it and is using Paddle instead. There are so many things wrong with the MAS. Sandbox is the biggest complaint I have. I can understand it with the iOS to some degree. At least there they are constantly providing new features and hardware changes to help apps keep being innovative. To give an example of the Sandbox issue. We are using AppleScript for some of our lo…

Although I am happy that apps are moving out of the MAS (it is slow, updates are slow, no possibility to offer upgrade licenses), as a user, Sandboxing is something that I want for every possible application. The model where an app can e.g. touch your whole home directory should go.

Re: Leaving the Mac App Store

#168

Post by sosborn »

Karunamon wrote: post #147
sosborn wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

UIWebView and Safari are different things. Yes, Safari uses (essentially) UIWebView, but a browser is much more than its rendering engine.

The important bit there is "do anything interesting". Forget about any plugins that directly manipulate the markup (so no µ/adblock, no ghostery, no noscript). Yeah, they can display web pages, but iOS Firefox/Chrome provide almost no benefits over the stock safari. Less in fact, since it's a near certainty that Safari is using privileged APIs to integrate with the OS in a way that no other browsers are allowed to. (…

You can actually load whatever you want into a UIWebView. You could do the request, manipulate the response and display your modified HTML.

Adblocking is of course now integrated into the OS.

Re: Leaving the Mac App Store

#169

Post by chc »

ingenieros wrote: post #163
mrec wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use and generally like Steam, but I'd never call its discovery "good". Users are drowning in the number of titles, the recommendation engine is pretty poor, and there's no support for filtering . I'll never buy an RTS or a multiplayer-only game, stop showing them to me. I'll never buy an early-access game or a game with 3rd-party DRM, stop showing them to me. I could cull 90% of the stuff in my discovery queues, au…

Are you currently following any curators? This usually helps me find games that I wouldn't have found out about otherwise.

Some people, when they have a problem finding good games, think "I know, I'll find a curator." Now they have two problems.

Re: Leaving the Mac App Store

#170

Post by [deleted] »

zanedeg wrote: post #159
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…

I use focus everyday, thanks for the great app!

[deleted]
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