Ondrej Holzman Apple's success is based on the perfect combination of hardware, software and services, but although one could not work without the other, Apple's iron is usually at a higher level and, above all, more reliable. With its own software and services, Apple has already experienced several fiascos, and one of them is now fundamentally destroying the Mac App Store.
What a surprise it was when suddenly last week they stopped for thousands of users to run applications on their Macs that they had been using for several years without any problems. However, not only users were surprised by the Mac App Store error of gigantic dimensions. It also took developers completely by surprise, and what's worse, Apple has been imploringly silent on the biggest problem since the Mac App Store was created.
Most of the apps that are sold in the Mac App Store have had some certificates expire, which no one was prepared for, as it seems that even the Apple developers did not anticipate this. Then the reactions were different - probably the worst was catchphrase, that the XY application is corrupted and cannot be started. The dialog advised the user to delete it and download it again from the App Store.
It turned on again for other users request about entering the password to the Apple ID so that they could even start using the application, which had worked without problems until then. The solutions were various (restarting the computer, a command in Terminal), but definitely not compatible with something that is supposed to "just work". The problem, which Apple's PR department successfully ignores, immediately sparked a heated debate, where the Mac App Store and the company behind it are unanimously caught.
The Mac is supposed to be for getting work done. This is just one more reason to buy direct. #MASProblems pic.twitter.com/90ddVyQx4t
— Dan Counsel (@dancounsell) 12. November 2015
“This is not an outage in the sense that the user is aware of some dependence on online resources, this is worse. This is not only unacceptable, this is a fundamental breach of the trust that developers and customers have placed in Apple.” commented situation developer Pierre Lebeaupin.
According to him, users and developers trusted Apple when they bought and installed apps, that they would simply work. That ended just last week - users couldn't launch their apps and developers had to deal not only with dozens of emails asking what was going on, but worse, were watching, as angry users give them one star in their reviews because "the app won't even open anymore."
In the Mac App Store, developers were powerless and since Apple refused to comment on the whole situation, many of them chose escape routes and started distributing their applications outside the software store. After all, this is a tactic that many developers have resorted to due to the numerous problems with the Mac App Store in recent months. Each for slightly different reasons, but we can expect this outflow to continue.
“For many years I was sarcastic but optimistic about the Mac App Store. I guess my patience, like many others', is running out." he wailed si Daniel Jalkut, who develops, for example, the MarsEdit blogging tool. "More than anything else, sandboxing and my assumption that the future is in the Mac App Store have shaped my priorities for the last five years," Jalkut added, hitting on a very pressing issue for many developers today.
When Apple launched the Mac App Store nearly six years ago, it really looked like it might be the future of Mac apps, just as it was with iOS. But as quickly as Apple entered the desktop software business, they left it just as quickly. For that is now the Mac App Store as a ghost town, Apple itself bears most of the blame.
"This is a huge hassle for Apple (which it hasn't explained or apologized for), as well as a huge hassle for developers," he wrote Shawn King on The Loop and asked the rhetorical question: “Finally, when your apps stop working, who do you write to? Developers or Apple?”
That being said, some developers have started ad-hoc listing their apps on the web, just to be sure that a bug in the Mac App Store won't disrupt their operations and they'll be in control. However, developing or selling outside the Mac App Store is not just like that. If you do not offer the application in the apple store, then you cannot count on the implementation of iCloud, Apple Maps and other online services of Apple.
“But how am I supposed to trust iCloud or Apple Maps when I'm not even sure I'm going to run an app that accesses them? As if these services themselves didn't already have a tarnished reputation. (…) Apple owes an apology to all the developers who trusted it with its Mac App Store and who had a long day with customer support just because of Apple's incompetence," added Daniel Jalkut, who says he will never buy from the official app store again.
Jalkut no longer believes in the Mac App Store, he himself sees in the current problems above all the consequences that will affect the software store in the future and probably will not benefit any party. But at Apple, they won't be surprised when developers start leaving the Mac App Store years after they were frowned upon.
"Apple must change its priorities for the Mac App Store or close it entirely," wrote back in July, Craig Hockenberry, the developer of the xScope app, who was upset about how Apple was pushing development opportunities to iOS while the Mac didn't interest him at all. Mac developers don't have access to nearly as many tools as their "mobile" counterparts, and Apple doesn't help them at all.
In recent years, he has promised a lot for them - TestFlight for easy application testing, which is one of the basic parts of development, but at the same time something that is not completely easy to do when distributing in the Mac App Store; analytics tools that developers have long had on iOS — and in other cases, even seemingly small things like not being able to write app reviews when you have a beta version of the operating system installed, Apple shows that iOS is superior.
Then when the very essence of the whole store, which consists in the easy download, installation and launch of the application, stops working, the indignation is justified. “The Mac App Store is supposed to make things easier, but it's also one big failure. Not only is it abandoned, but sometimes the previous functionality stops working." he wrote in a widely linked blog post, developer Michael Tsai, who is responsible for, for example, the SpamSieve application.
Prominent Apple blogger John Gruber his text he commented clearly: "Harsh words, but I don't see how anyone could disagree."
Neither developers nor users really can disagree with Tsai. While developers calculate on their blogs how many days or months they have to wait for Apple's response to fix a small but important bug in their applications, the Mac App Store has become a nightmare for users as well.
It's no coincidence that MobileMe has been mentioned again in this context in recent days, as the Mac App Store is, unfortunately, starting to become a similarly unstable and unusable service. Not being able to download updates, having to enter passwords all the time, slow downloads that eventually fail, these are the things that are the order of the day in the Mac App Store and drive everyone crazy. That is, all of them - so far only Apple seems to not care at all.
But if he really cares about the Mac as much as he cares about mobile devices, as CEO Tim Cook himself keeps repeating, he should start acting on it and not act like nothing is happening. The aforementioned apology to the developers should come first. Right after that deploying a capable team to solve the problem called Mac App Store.
Unfortunately, Apple adheres to the strategy of keeping silent about errors. A statement like "Yes, we know about it, we're sorry, we'll release a fix in a few weeks" is probably too humiliating.
The Mac app store is one big mess, but it's something that would have so much potential. There are unfinished business in the whole of OS X regarding the redesign to flat design, so for example the lighting is still for the most part skeumophilic. The upper edge of applications as it should be (Apple cites Safari as a model (beautiful thin line)) is still old in many applications, even in the Finder, where it is, however, a little better disguised. Some Apple apps are missing, iTunes is a mess, and developer tools are out of date. When Apple introduced Swift, I hoped that it would be improved and development for the Mac would shift. This is how it looks like Apple Mac is slowly depreciating both software and hardware (touch id is missing, web cameras are not updated, audio system...) in favor of iOS.
God forbid if you connect a monitor with a non-standard resolution to your Mac. You just can't fix smudged letters.
It's starting to remind me a bit of the history of Nokia
It seems to me that Apple has thrown more demanding users overboard and aims purely at the masses - phones, watches, iOS.
So what? Apple is now interested in what kind of boxes they have in the store, if their smileys have all shades of skin, and if by any chance the staff in their stores are not racist. And also how many employees will go to the parade to show that they don't mind the buzzers. But the fact that iOs and Osx now has an awful lot of flies is no longer an issue.
When you don't like apple, there is nothing easier than switching to a competitor.
Ahhhh, any criticism is forbidden? Not everything Apple does is great. It is normal. Uncritical adoration will not remove these faults. I understand that when you throw tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands of products into Apple, you don't want to hear that something isn't perfect. Price does not always reflect quality.
asked the rhetorical question: “In the end, when your apps stop working, who do you write to? Developers or Apple?”
Yes, I was looking at "bundles" and found out that if I buy the applications one at a time, I get a better price than if I buy the bundle. I wrote to Apple and they told me that the price of the bundle is set by the developers, and I stupidly assumed that the developer would set the price of the application, the price of the bundle, and if a person has bought an app, the price of the bundle is added to the triple digit, me stupid. (If someone here can explain to me how it works, I will only be glad)
While developers calculate on their blogs how many days or months they have to wait for Apple's response to fix a small but important bug in their applications, the Mac App Store has become a nightmare for users as well.
Yes, I have been waiting in vain for 2 years for Apple to fix a bug that prevents me from using JavaScript for automation with 3rd party applications, especially BBEdit (Apple was reported)
I'm quite scared of this situation. It's a fact that some voice applications also told me that I have to re-enter the password, etc.. I didn't feel any other big impact, but it's true that the appstore is scary.. it looks defacto like a hunchback.. nothing happens there :)
It bothers me even now, I run some applications once a month. The ones that start daily were fixed the same day, but even today it happens to me that it says that the app is damaged and a restart will help :-(
The more things go on, the more things stop working at Apple... The era of "It just works" is irretrievably gone. But the main thing is that we have amazing surfaces with an uncluttered design, oversaturated, garish icons like from the circus, thin unreadable font and new emoticons.
really? strange... but the GUI in its current form seems to me to be the best and clearest ever on OS X. just perfect..
I manage all necessary applications through *brew cask*. I know it's not for normal users who can't open a command line, but I'm completely satisfied. :)