Do n’t get me incorrect : This is a huge mint for developers . Like the iOS App Store , it gives third - party developers a way to get their software system in front of every Mac exploiter , and makes it well-to-do than ever for Mac users to corrupt and install that software package . ( It also resurrect some of the same worry about Apple ’s purpose in , and control of , the third - party package market place . ) But — and also just like the App Store — for the typical Mac user , these care will in all likelihood be far outweighed by the benefit supply .
permit ’s confront it : installing and updating software isthe worst part of the Mac OS X experience . If you see about a program you like , you demand to find the developer ’s Website , locate a download link , and download it . If the download is an installer package , you must first unzip the parcel , then double - click the installer , then go through the installer ’s steps . If the download is an OS XTC platter image , the induction process is even more long-winded — and , for many exploiter , even more confusing . ( Issues come to to installing software from a disk image still predominate inexperienced - user question in on-line Mac assembly . )
In either case , you also have to hope what you ’ve download is a legitimate piece of software , rather than malware . ( This is n’t as much of an issue on the Mac as it is for Windows , but it ’s still a valid concern . )
What about updating software ? The Mac chopine has made some progress over the preceding few years thanks toSparkle , a framework developers can admit in their software to make it easy for substance abuser to update . Sadly , too few developers actually use it , which mean users are leave to update many programs the quondam fashioned style : Manually check for a new version , download it , quit the current rendering , and then add the update — which , as with the original install , could entail a zipped archive , a disk image , or a new installer package .
Over the years , a numeral of Websites , such as VersionTracker andMacUpdate , have attempted to make finding and downloading Mac software package easier , even volunteer “ premium ” versions that included utilities that catch specifically for Modern version of installed computer software and then let you download ( and , in the case of MacUpdate , automatically install ) those update . But now that we ’ve been using iOS devices for a while , these services and public utility company feel like kludges — workarounds for feature that should be build into the operating system .
Is it any curiosity then , that of all the “ normal ” ( read : non - techie ) Mac users I know , only a few regularly update their software program , or even set up new software ?
Yet when it do to their iPhones and iPads , those same citizenry on a regular basis — you might even say obsessionally — download unexampled apps and update their instal apps . Why ? BecauseiOS makes it dead - simple . There ’s a convenient place to research for — and take review of — hundreds of thousands of apps . You purchase and set up an app with a individual chink . The entire process is well-off and reflexive . you could check for updates forallyour installed apps at once , and automatically download and install all those updates , again , with a single click . And you’re able to be somewhat positive that whatever you get from the App Store is safe .
Imagine if finding , instal , and updating Mac software package was just as easy : You say about a cool new program , so you fire up the Mac App Store , type in the program ’s name , surf some substance abuser reviews , and then click the button to purchase the software . The program is automatically download and installed , without you throw to lift another finger . Once a week or so , OS X automatically check to see if fresh version of any of your App Store - buy software are uncommitted ; if so , a single click of the Update All button and you ’re current . It would seem so … amazing — if it were n’t for the fact that our iPhones have been doing it for a dyad eld now .
And here ’s some further intellectual nourishment for thinking : What if the Mac App Store also pretend it as gentle touninstall computer software on the Mac as it is on the iPhone ? come home a delete button and the program and all its supporting file are gone . That would be a vast footfall forward for Mac OS X usability .
Now , of course , some of the same concerns user and developer have about the iOS App Store — as well as a number of new concern — will apply to a Mac App Store . Though unlike with iOS , the Mac App Store wo n’t be the only situation to get Mac package . In fact , the same developer will be able to offer some software through the Mac App Store and some the old - fashioned way . ( In this regard , the Mac App Store is fundamentally what many developers have asked Apple to do with the iOS App Store : let them deal “ approved ” apps through Apple , and other software — including , say , program that may violate Apple ’s guidelines — outside the storage . And it bestow up some interesting possibilities : For representative , what if you could configure OS X ’s Parental Controls so your child could install costless Mac App Store apps rat 4 + ? Or configure the Macs in an office to permit installing of only Mac App Store software on an O.K. tilt ? ) Still , the Mac App Store wo n’t be a panacea for all the challenge Mac developer face .
But despite such concerns , when it comes to the everyday experience of your typical Mac user , the announcement of the Mac App Store — and the fact that it will be available in the next 90 days — just may be the big Mac word in quite a while .
Updated 10/20/2010 , 10:50pm to correct erroneousness about MacUpdate .
