Hi, I’m Phil Nelson, a writer, developer, and audio-visual maker of stuff. I have been making stuff online for over 25 years. I run RetroStrange and Set Side B. Good to see you.
Blog Archives
[This’ll make it a lot easier to socially tag our window gardens in the favela future:][link]
>FluidDB is a platform for the web of things, each represented by an openly writable “social” object.
[link]: http://www.fluidinfo.com/ “Welcome to Fluidinfo”
[The Mac App Store][mas], not even 48 hours old, has already set off small ripples and large waves of change across the Mac OS X development space. From Thursday every single new Mac user knows the Mac App Store as the primary place to purchase software. Even long-time users such as myself will slowly adapt. In the not-too-distant future of Mac software development not being on the App Store will about the same as not existing at all.
[mas]: http://www.apple.com/mac/app-store/ “Mac App Store”
Given that it is installed by default on every new Mac (and every Mac updated to 10.6.6), it comes as little surprise that many developers are moving to App Store exclusivity, forgoing the Old Ways of custom-brewed payment and serial number systems. For users this is basically only good. I click on the app, confirm I want to pay for it, and it’s there on my computer in the expected place. All done. No more worrying about [Disk Images .vs. Zip files][dmgzip], or any of the other dozen (now) archaic issues distributors and users of third-party software have had to deal with. As a person who buys software for his Mac, this is entirely a Win.
[dmgzip]: http://daringfireball.net/2009/09/how_should_mac_apps_be_distributed “How Should Mac Apps Be Distributed?”
However, as a person who already owns a pretty decent amount of software for my Mac, there is a real turd in the punchbowl. For developers who have already created and shipped their apps before the Mac App Store existed, Apple has what some might call a “[sweet solution][sweet]”: pretend it didn’t happen. Apple provides no way for users of who have already purchased a software title to “migrate” this software to the App Store version. One of my own most-used pieces of software is a web developer tool called [Coda][coda]. It costs $99, which I’ve already paid, and is not a small sum. Were [Panic][panic], the developers of Coda, to decide to now switch to the App Store as the exclusive means of distributing their apps, I would be be shit out of luck.*
[coda]: http://www.panic.com/coda/ “Coda”
[panic]: http://www.panic.com/ “Panic”
[sweet]: http://daringfireball.net/2007/06/wwdc_2007_keynote “WWDC 2007 Keynote”
One needn’t resort to hypotheticals like the one described above. Two real examples of this are [CoverSutra][cover], an app for controlling iTunes which lives in your menu bar, and [TapeDeck][tapedeck], an analog-styled audio recorder. The developers of these apps are small and independent. Both of these developers have been on the Mac for some time, and previously used serial numbers to authenticate copies of their software. Both companies promised free updates (of some kind) to their applications for users who registered. Both developers are now moving towards App Store exclusivity, with one key difference: Sophiestication Software is dropping support for non-App Store users, including those who previously purchased the software and were promised free upgrades up to (not including) version 3.0. SuperMegaUltraGroovy, while discontinuing sales TapeDeck outside of the App Store, are continuing to support users who have already purchased the software with the (promised) free updates in the 1.x line.
[cover]: http://www.sophiestication.com/coversutra/ “Coversutra”
[tapedeck]: http://tapedeckapp.com/ “TapeDeck”
SuperMegaUltraGroovy’s track is the hard one. As a small developer with very limited resources, supporting two payment systems is twice the pain. Odds are high that this will cut into their development time somewhat, and will most likely cost them money in the short-term. But I (and obviously, they) think it’s the right thing to do.
If the [comments section of the blog post announcing CoverSutra’s exclusivity][covercom] is any indication, their users feel the same way. Sophiestication promised purchasers of CoverSutra free updates until it hit version 3.0. Then, this week, version 2.5 was announced as an App Store exclusive application, cutting off those users who’d been promised the updates to 3.0. These users now feel cheated, and lied to. In their zeal to get CoverSutra out and on the App Store, Sophiestication has effectively fed a [shark sandwich][shark] to the customers who got them there.
[shark]: http://www.spinaltapfan.com/atozed/TAP00471.HTM “Shark Sandwich”
We won’t know for a long time if their respective strategies financially hurts or helps either of these companies. We do know that one company has customers angry and being left behind, one doesn’t, and people have a habit of not forgetting these sorts of things. When dealing with users of any kind of software or service, sentiment is king. And right now, the prevailing sentiments for TapeDeck and CoverSutra couldn’t be more different.
[covercom]: http://www.sophiestication.com/blog/coversutra-2-5/ “CoverSutra 2.5”
Flying Meat, makers of fine Macintosh softwares such as [Acron (the image editor for humans)][acorn], [are selling t-shirts][link]. A Flying Meat t-shirt is your ticket to me buying you a beer.
[link]: http://www.buyolympia.com/q/Item=flying-meat-shirt “buyolympia.com: Flying Meat – Flying Meat”
[acorn]: http://flyingmeat.com/acorn/ “Acorn – The Image Editor for Humans”
[A progress and “what comes next” report for every active project from what is possibly the most beloved (and accomplished) Mac software house.][link]
[link]: http://www.panic.com/blog/2010/10/panic-state-of-the-union/ “Panic Blog » Panic State of the Union”
[Too many good points to quote, just do yourself a favor and read it.][link]
[link]: http://ignorethecode.net/blog/2010/10/24/lion/ “ignore the code: Lion”
[The smoothest forum package][link] you’ll find right now [hits version 2.0][announce] (finally). I missed this when it happened on July 21st, but better late than never.
[link]: http://vanillaforums.org/ “Vanilla – Free, Open-Source Forum Software”
[announce]: http://vanillaforums.org/blog/vanilla-2-released/ “Vanilla 2 is announced on the blog”
I’m not sure if this is due to [Wikipedia’s new skin][skin] (with the “usability” enhancements), some other MediaWiki update, or if the problem is on Apple’s end (*Update*: [It is a problem with Wikipedia’s new skin][fix]), but this is another good example of why Apple doesn’t want to rely on third-party vendors for anything.
[skin]: http://techblog.wikimedia.org/2010/03/the-change-in-interface-is-coming/ “Blog post on wikipedia’s new skin”
The image above is what I get when looking up the word “Dictionary” in Snow Leopard’s built-in Dictionary application, and clicking Wikipedia. The Wikipedia page is very long, and should have vertical scrollbars, but there are none.
*Update:* [Mac OS X Hints has information on how a “fix”][fix] which involves logging in to Wikipedia and setting your skin to use the previous one.
Hat tip to [Shawn Medero][shawn].
[shawn]: http://shawn.medero.net “Shawn Medero”
[fix]: http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20100525215150144 “Mac OS X hints fix”
[This is the first commercial game I can think of taking this step][link] while the game is still live. All of the Ryzom source including tools, client, and server codebases are fully open source free software. For more, [see the FAQ][link]. It sounds to me a lot like a MUD codebase, and that makes me smile.
I do not see this helping them in the marketplace, but I’d like to see this become a trend. I have a lot of old PC games which are no longer playable due to DRM or other online components which no longer exist.
[faq]: http://dev.ryzom.com/wiki/ryzom/OpenSourceFAQ “Ryzom – OpenSourceFAQ – Ryzom Core Development Site”
[link]: http://blog.ryzom.com/post/575861866/the-mmorpg-ryzom-goes-free-software “Ryzom goes open source”
[Panic’s release notes for Transmit 4][panic]. Contrast with [Bare Bones’ release notes for BBEdit 9.5][bb].
[panic]: https://panic.com/transmit/releasenotes.html “Transmit 4 release notes”
[bb]: http://www.barebones.com/support/bbedit/arch_bbedit95.html “BBEdit 9.5 Release Notes”
