Apple Updates Mac OS X to 10.6.6 and Adds the App Store
It's interesting, I'll give you that. The App Store is very interesting. It's still the first hours of the App Store, but there are several things I like about it, and a few that worry me. First, the things I really like about it:
- Installed apps go into /Applications, just as I had hoped. Good.
- Previously purchased apps can be detected by the App Store, and shown as "Installed". This is not universal, however, as I have BBEdit and TextWrangler from BareBones, and BBEdit was identified as "Installed", but TextWrangler was not. Maybe it had to do with the version... BBEdit was current and TextWrangler was 3.1 while the shipping version was 3.5, but still... it makes me think there's something that has to be done to the app in order to facilitate this feature.
- It's very much like the iOS store, so it's easy to find all kinds of things, but it'll soon fill with all kinds of junk, and the process will be challenging once again. Still... this is the ideal way for my Mom to get an app. It's just so simple.
I'm not sure how things will play out. For example, if you don't have the App Store app running, will it detect the updates? Probably not. It's not like the Dashboard that runs all the time, but maybe that will change in 10.7 (Lion). At that point, I'd expect them to have something small running all the time for the App Store. Then updates are "sent to you" even if it's a pull from the client, as opposed to the "push notifications" on the iPhone.
I'm surprised that as many apps of mine are already there. BBEdit was a shocker. I'm guessing Xcode isn't going out this way, but that might be a mistake on my part. I'll have to spend more time looking for what's there, and maybe it'll be better than I think.
UPDATE: Of the apps I use every day, here's the status with regards to the App Store:
| Name | In Store | Detected Properly |
| BBEdit | Yes | Yes |
| MarsEdit | Yes | No |
| VoodooPad Pro | No (in Review) | |
| Acorn | Yes | Yes |
| DrawIt | Yes | Yes |
| ZeusDraw | No | |
| Chrome | No | |
| LaunchBar | No | |
| Colloquy | No | |
| NetNewsWire | No | |
| Xcode | No | |
| Unison | Yes | Yes |
| Coda | Yes | Yes |
| Transmit | Yes | Yes |
| Adium | No |
I'm sure I'll be seeing a big change in these as the days and months progress. I'm just not sure how it'll pan out in the end. I'm a little concerned that this is going to be the preferred method, and that's OK, as long as the apps don't suffer. I think in the end, there will be plenty of apps that won't use this delivery system because they won't pass the rules Apple has set down.
[11:28] UPDATE: I got back news from MarsEdit support - the reason that it's not being seen as "Installed" is that the App ID used for the "direct sale" app was not available for use in the App Store version due to Apple's rules. Daniel states that there are differences in the apps as well, and he's waiting/working to see how these issues work themselves out in the coming weeks and months.
[12:26] UPDATE: It appears that this "Installed" status is a bug in the App Store. It's doubtful that the updating will work, and so it may be that I can buy new software in the App Store, but updates and upgrades seem to be out. As it appears now. Sad, but understandable. I wish Apple had made some kind of "Import..." function in the App Store that they have in iTunes to "recognize the pre-installed apps. Even if it deletes them and re-installs them from the App Store. That would have been nice.