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PC_load_letter
January 6th, 2011, 10:29 AM
...and I'm really jealous :D I'm already tempted now to bite the bullet and get a Macbook. IMHO, I think that it is a brilliant idea to capitalize on the huge number of available iOS apps and making them available to the OSX platform.

Could it be possible, in principle, that some day the Android apps will be available for purchase on Linux computers, maybe through something like the Ubuntu software center?

Evil-Ernie
January 6th, 2011, 10:52 AM
Another reason to hate Apple. It really grinds my gears that Apple take credit for something that already existed (applets) by restricting them, putting a price on them and marketing them as an Apple product.

In saying that its shows what can be achieved with drive and a good idea, imagine if the Linux community as a whole could come up with a similar system for open source software with comparable quality control and ease of use, and of course market it!

PC_load_letter
January 6th, 2011, 10:59 AM
I totally agree, I don't care much for Apple policies or products either, but they have very smart marketing plans that it seems, to me, that the Linux community is lacking.

My point is, I am willing to pay for Linux apps that do interesting & fun stuff. In particular, anything related to music production (a la Garage band or Logic), games, audio & video apps, educational apps ...etc., but where are they?

Evil-Ernie
January 6th, 2011, 11:07 AM
I totally agree, I don't care much for Apple policies or products either, but they have very smart marketing plans that it seems, to me, that the Linux community is lacking.

My point is, I am willing to pay for Linux apps that do interesting & fun stuff. In particular, anything related to music production (a la Garage band or Logic), games, audio & video apps, educational apps ...etc., but where are they?

+1

I think Ubuntu does well for its marketing but there is always room for more. Marketing is seen as a dirty word, understandable with a community such as Linux where a lot of people involved shun consumerism. But the way I see it even if something is really good nobody will get to know how good it is if they dont know it exists.

I would be happy to pay for software too if it is worth it.

JeffDavidoff
January 6th, 2011, 11:30 AM
Yes Apple really knows how to sell Apps. BTW: Here is the link to the App Store: http://www.apple.com/mac/app-store/

It doesn't seem to be open yet though.

kaldor
January 6th, 2011, 01:22 PM
I'll give it a shot later in the day and see how it compares to Ubuntu's Software Centre/others.

I guess Linux users have one less thing to brag about :)

m4tic
January 6th, 2011, 01:25 PM
Another reason to hate Apple. It really grinds my gears that Apple take credit for something that already existed (applets) by restricting them, putting a price on them and marketing them as an Apple product.

Where did they write "Technological first" ?

fatality_uk
January 6th, 2011, 02:02 PM
Where did they write "Technological first" ?


The easiest installation ever.
The Mac App Store revolutionizes the way applications are installed on a computer — it happens in one step. Enter the same iTunes password you use to buy apps on iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch. And within seconds, your new app flies to your Dock, ready to go.

Not a "Technological first", but the inference is that it revolutionizes the way applications are installed on a computer not a Mac, but a computer :)

aG93IGRvIGkgdWJ1bnR1Pw==
January 6th, 2011, 02:21 PM
Hmm, if only we had some sort of centre from which to install software on Ubuntu.

oh wait

m4tic
January 6th, 2011, 02:24 PM
Not a "Technological first", but the inference is that it revolutionizes the way applications are installed on a computer not a Mac, but a computer :)
Cannonical should've made Software Centre cross-platform

aG93IGRvIGkgdWJ1bnR1Pw==
January 6th, 2011, 02:33 PM
Cannonical should've made Software Centre cross-platform

Because GNU/Linux PCs aren't "computers"? This argument doesn't make sense.

kaldor
January 6th, 2011, 02:39 PM
Because GNU/Linux PCs aren't "computers"? This argument doesn't make sense.

What did that have to do with being a computer or not?

Software Centre is open source and written in Python (I think) anyway. It should be easy enough to port if Canonical wanted to... but what would be the point?

kaldor
January 6th, 2011, 06:07 PM
It's been out for about 2 hours now and was released in the form of a Snow Leopard update (10.6.6).

It's not that special. Not to say it's not good, but the software seems overpriced.

I do, however, like how you can buy individual iWork applications instead of paying for the whole suite. Keynote for 20 dollars seems good to me :)

MisterGaribaldi
January 6th, 2011, 06:34 PM
I'm no fan of Apple's App Store, and I dread what may come of this in the long term.

Apple's App Store ≠ apt/yum/etc.

weberc2
January 6th, 2011, 07:21 PM
I've been using Ubuntu for a semester--a convert from Win7 and I absolutely love it. To me, one of my favorite features is the software center, except that it seems to lack robust application searching and the applications contained therein are a small subset of the total apps available.

If there are PPAs available for other softwares, they can be added but it's often a difficult task. I'm aware that there are often command-line recipes for installing most software, but to my knowledge, the software center doesn't know about software which isn't installed through it or available in it and moreover (I know this is probably blasphemy in a Linux community) I'm actually a big fan of GUI applications over the terminal for a lot of tasks (I have a special place in my heart for the Term, but I don't want to use it for everything).

My personal Software Center experience would improve if:

1) Either the center offered far more applications or made it easier to add other sources (and to sift through the software from other sources)

2) Included a more comprehensive, robust search. I'm not sure what the 'search' box actually searches through, but sometimes the term I search for doesn't show up in the results and sometimes searching something altogether different will cause the application I was originally searching for to display. It would be great if we could search by name, description, categories etc. A tagging system would also be great.

3) User participation data. Allow software reviews, a rating system, display a software's popularity, etc for all software.

4) In-depth knowledge of software installed on the user's machine (I'm guessing the center already knows most of this, but it would be nice if there were good ways of searching through that software so I can clean out what I don't use). Perhaps this is accomplishable some other way, but I'm unaware of it.

5) Good integration with Synaptic so we can see which software uses which packages.

These are all ideas/preferences from someone who is relatively new to Ubuntu. I also think these would help to transition new users into the Ubuntu experience.

Oh yeah, and this is all relevant because I think the Mac App store will be big precisely because it does some or all of the previous.

jrothwell97
January 6th, 2011, 07:23 PM
Not a "Technological first", but the inference is that it revolutionizes the way applications are installed on a computer not a Mac, but a computer :)

Yes, because it's not like they've thought to liaise with software developers, impose restrictions on what APIs can be used in apps distributed via Apple's repositories to ensure software consistency, hence also separating "desktop" apps from back-end libraries and command line programs in the process, and making it attractive both to the consumer and the developer in the process by using existing infrastructure and excellent UI design, is it?

zekopeko
January 6th, 2011, 07:40 PM
Hmm, if only we had some sort of centre from which to install software on Ubuntu.

oh wait

If only I didn't have to wait at least 6 months to get new versions of my apps and when they do come I have to upgrade my entire OS.

Use PPAs you say? Why I always like to upgrade core parts of my operating system with unsupported software or risk my other apps that depend on a specific version of a library to simply stop working.

conundrumx
January 6th, 2011, 08:29 PM
...and I'm really jealous :D I'm already tempted now to bite the bullet and get a Macbook. IMHO, I think that it is a brilliant idea to capitalize on the huge number of available iOS apps and making them available to the OSX platform.

Could it be possible, in principle, that some day the Android apps will be available for purchase on Linux computers, maybe through something like the Ubuntu software center?

While a lot of iOS app developers took the initiative and ported their apps to OSX, there is not some magical click button to do this. The underlying technologies are all the same, I heard turn around from iOS to OSX app was 4 weeks for one developer.



It's not that special. Not to say it's not good, but the software seems overpriced.

I do, however, like how you can buy individual iWork applications instead of paying for the whole suite. Keynote for 20 dollars seems good to me :)
It's not a special and unique snowflake, but it is very nice. Some apps will still need to be sold through other avenues, but for little niche programs (like Caffeine) it'll be nice to have the App Store handle updates.

I'm blown away you would think anything on the App Store is overpriced. Aperture retails for $200, $80 on the store. Apple Remote Desktop is the same. iWork package is $80, buying all the components on the store would cost $60. A lot of developers cut their prices, and the ones that didn't are worth it (Cultured Code's Things, for example).


I'm no fan of Apple's App Store, and I dread what may come of this in the long term.

Apple's App Store ≠ apt/yum/etc.

It's a little disconcerting, but as long as the day never comes where this is the only way to install OSX software it's just a nice, well presented and easy to use way to get and update software.

stmiller
January 6th, 2011, 08:32 PM
Centralized place to find and install software via download ...

Updates and patches automatically built-in ...

All managed and provided by the OS vendor ...

Sounds like Debian Linux since circ 1998

http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/1998/11/msg00389.html

*ducks* :)

PC_load_letter
January 6th, 2011, 08:56 PM
Centralized place to find and install software via download ...

Updates and patches automatically built-in ...

All managed and provided by the OS vendor ...

Sounds like Debian Linux since circ 1998

http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/1998/11/msg00389.html

*ducks* :)

No need to duck, that's not why I feel a little jealous, it's because the OSX platform will now have A LOT more apps, probably some of them are really cool or don't have equivalents in FOSS.

I'd like to hear someone's opinion as to why can't Linux in general benefit from the apps in all these Android stores (Now Amazon will have its own). It's a win-win, Android gets more customers and Linux users get more apps.

kaldor
January 6th, 2011, 09:12 PM
I'm blown away you would think anything on the App Store is overpriced. Aperture retails for $200, $80 on the store. Apple Remote Desktop is the same. iWork package is $80, buying all the components on the store would cost $60. A lot of developers cut their prices, and the ones that didn't are worth it (Cultured Code's Things, for example).

Aperture and iWork are both definitely fairly priced. I have no use for Pages or Numbers and always wanted to use solely Keynote but didn't want to shell out nearly 100 dollars. 20 dollars for Keynote is quite fair :)

But for a large sum of the applications it seems overpriced; seems like 10-30 dollars is the norm.

I assume the no-GPL thing applies to the Mac App store as well, which kinda sucks.

conundrumx
January 6th, 2011, 10:36 PM
I assume the no-GPL thing applies to the Mac App store as well, which kinda sucks.

Any "no GPL thing" is on the GPL side, not the Apple side.

jrothwell97
January 7th, 2011, 07:31 AM
Aperture and iWork are both definitely fairly priced. I have no use for Pages or Numbers and always wanted to use solely Keynote but didn't want to shell out nearly 100 dollars. 20 dollars for Keynote is quite fair :)

But for a large sum of the applications it seems overpriced; seems like 10-30 dollars is the norm.

I assume the no-GPL thing applies to the Mac App store as well, which kinda sucks.

No, because the App Store is not the only way of getting programs on to a Mac.

pelle.k
January 7th, 2011, 09:58 AM
A couple of things irk me with the app store:

You cant transfer an old app licence to app store licence
(App store) Apps can't live in the menubar (think tray/indicator) only, dock icon have to be visible
App store GUI is nonstandard (no titlebar/toolbar), and you can't customize the toolbar (iOS'ish look)
App store app defaults to putting newly "purchased" apps on the dock without asking (like i'm a retard)

I'll always have (k)ubuntu to lean on should apple make a mess of (dumb down, put collars on) OS X though. :)

ade234uk
January 7th, 2011, 12:30 PM
Apple is an expensive hobby. Apple is no longer different in my eyes. I was on the verge of a G5 some years back, but once they moved to Intel it just felt like I would be buying an expensive PC. Then Ubuntu just got better and I use this as my home machine.

KingYaba
January 7th, 2011, 05:35 PM
Apple is an expensive hobby. Apple is no longer different in my eyes. I was on the verge of a G5 some years back, but once they moved to Intel it just felt like I would be buying an expensive PC. Then Ubuntu just got better and I use this as my home machine.

The PPC line was stable and well-built. Apple Intel machines have been riddled with problems. More so than usual I should say.

PC_load_letter
January 15th, 2011, 02:02 AM
Food for thought:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/web/01/14/mac.app.store/index.html?hpt=C2

One million downloads of the 1000 apps available in the store, all this in one week!! Now why can't we (Canonical and the Ubuntu community or the Linux community in general) compete with that? To generate some monetary flow to the devs and the software companies that release Linux apps.

Windows Nerd
January 15th, 2011, 06:21 PM
So now I can play the same useless, interesting-for-about-20-minutes apps on a Mac too! I'm not exited nor interested in the Mac App Store. I just Virtualbox a Mac installation, don't actually have it installed on a physical machine. So I won't be adding it in, and if they force the update, well I'll just keep rolling back :).

dpny
December 14th, 2011, 05:13 PM
The PPC line was stable and well-built. Apple Intel machines have been riddled with problems. More so than usual I should say.

I own a G5 and a Mac Pro, and, uh. . . no. Especially considering the last generation of water-cooled G5s had a habit of flooding their cases.

coffeecat
December 14th, 2011, 05:57 PM
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Thread closed.