UPDATE 01-17-11
Many people were unhappy to hear about the loss of the menu bar option. I found out today that the Sparrow developers have found a way to keep the option while at the same time meeting Apple’s demands. This speaks volumes about the developers of Sparrow, but changes nothing about the problems with Apple’s App Store policies. Let me be clear, I am not against the App Store nor do I think Apple’s rules are draconian. Still, I think there are problems, sometimes damaging to users and developers, that are the result of Steve’s desire to control. Ironic considering his beginnings.
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Let’s face it, sometimes being addicted to what Cupertino has to offer is just a pain in the butt. Of course being fanboys we always find a way to convince others that what might look bad on the surface is actually a good thing. For that matter the really hard core fanboys among us actually convince themselves that what feel wrong at first is actually oh so right! Case in point, the new Mac App Store.
I’ve read the inevitable articles from both sides. According to some the new app store is great for developers and customers alike while others think it is an abomination. My opinion of Steve’s newest idea? My opinion is that my opinion doesn’t matter…and neither does yours.
You may think that the market drives Apple but make no mistake, Apple is at the wheel. Sure, when they start selling Microsoft quality software and services left and right they will lose much of that power, but turning Apple into fruit salad will be a slow process and in the end Apple will continue to make billions of dollars as we continue to buy “Vistas” at just below critical mass. For now though we just accept what Steve has to offer and thank our lucky stars that he is willing to make himself like one of us and let us read one of his occasional emails usually containing some form of the word “no”.
So what causes me to utter blasphemy toward Steve and his new app store before it is even open for business? The story goes like this. For the last few weeks I’ve been using Sparrow to check my Gmail. Why did I start using this crazy cool app? Two reasons: first, I was tired to checking my webmail with Mail.app and second, Sparrow allowed me to avoid having to keep a tab open in Chrome to read my email while at the same time running a Gmail notifier in my Menu Bar. But today I found out the bird is flying the coup.
I wrote the folks at Sparrow this morning suggesting a new feature related to running the app in Menu Bar only mode as opposed to running in Dock only or Dock and Menu bar modes. I was informed that this would no longer be an issue in the next release of Sparrow. Why? Was it because the developers at Sparrow were ahead of me? Nope. The reason I need not worry my fat head about menu only mode is because the rules of the Mac App Store prevent them from using whatever solution they had devised to make this magic work in the first place!
That’s right, the Mac App Store isn’t even open and it just robbed me of an app and Sparrow of a sale. Now Apple will be ok without the sale, and the folks at Sparrow will likely be ok without the sale, but that leaves one person still shafted. The user.
Still, all is not lost.
Steve is doing this for our good, and I trust that in the end I will thank him some day. A man who’s face has been on more magazine covers than Elvis’s has been on plates can’t be wrong. Not only that, Steve is all about making magical stuff that makes our lives better. How could the Mac App Store not be good?
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UPDATE 01-06-11 (Mac App Store Launch Day)
I don’t know how many, if any, others have read this post. I don’t know if it has caused any confusion regarding Sparrow’s feature set, but let me clarify. Sparrow has not removed the menu bar icon. They have removed the option to show only the menu bar icon. That is to say, if you wish to use the menu bar icon you must also have the icon showing in the Dock.
This is the opposite of intuitive, but it is not, strictly speaking, the fault of the developers of Sparrow. Still, it doesn’t change what I’m saying here. As a matter of fact I could probably think of five or six times that I have installed an app and immediately removed it when I found out I have to have an icon living in two different places. It just doesn’t make sense, especially for the types of apps a menu bar icon is usually used for i.e. Gmail, Twitter, Facebook etc.
Sparrow is a nice piece of software in my estimation, and if you don’t use the menu bar icon or don’t mind having two icons I recommend you give it a try. If you prefer to access your Gmail from the menu bar alone Steve has put his royal stamp of disapproval upon the idea.
Apple has always said the menu bar is off limits. They used to fight with developers more, but since they couldn’t control third party developers’ use of third party libraries, the developers would always win.But I’m sure someone will still find a way to gain access to the menu bar, even for App Store apps. It’s a setback, and I give them six months, tops. I also don’t expect app developers to put their official name on the solution they find, so expect to have to execute a shell command in order to kick it off, until they find a more elegant approach.
Apple’s stance on the menu bar has appropriately been a moot point…until now. Nobody gives a rip what Apple (or Microsoft etc.) want when it comes to developing apps. As long as your app provides something useful to end users and you can make it work AND make it stable users couldn’t care less if it is hacked. And who does Steve hurt with this crap? The end user, but not enough for anyone to care. I couldn’t disagree more with your assessment of the situation. Steve has proved quite resilient when it comes to fighting off apps that don’t play by his rules in the iOS App Store. If a developer pulls a fast one it won’t be long before the app is pulled from the store. In turn the developer will fall in line or offer two versions of their app (assuming Steve allows them to do so).And let’s not play games. You hide it well, but I know you better than most people that might read this. We both know you fall into the second group of fanboys I mentioned in the first paragraph. I know I must be a disappointment to you as an Apple protege. :)
I guess. Most of the time, I don’t want anything other than Apple items in my menu bar if it’s up to me. And I guess that’s because Steve says it’s bad (like crossing the streams). My Dock is completely unmanaged, just like Steve says it should. I don’t care if the Finder is missing some obvious functionality it’s supposed to have. Yes, I fall in line like a good little fanboy.If Steve says Terminal is bad, that’s the kind of thing that will make me consider another platform. I *think* I’m safe for now.
Sad indeed. I think you won’t be safe for too much longer in the general scheme of things. He’s already moving iLife towards an iOS feeling UX. It won’t be long before we’re locked out of everything (unless you’re a developer of course…that agrees to all of Steve’s terms of course).
I really don’t think it’ll be that bad. I guess we’ll find out.
In fact, it’s not that bad. I just installed the Twitter client on App Store and it added a goofy looking bird to my menu bar. So *their* (i.e. Sparrow’s) solution doesn’t work. They have to use the Apple API. And apparently the Apple API allows this. So maybe it’s not as “feature full” an API as they (Sparrow) would like.Ok, I get it. The Apple API isn’t exactly what developers want. But I’ve seen Apple bend over backwards to get their API as close as possible. I’m not sure what the beef is *other* than they *could* screw people.And yes, if you are one lonely developer who wants a certain feature in the API, Apple won’t listen to you. So go write your own OS. It’s been done.
Yeah, that’s a great solution. I’ll write a new OS! Brilliant.
Yep. Love it or leave it. :)
Hardly a realistic solution for most users.
I remember when being a Mac user meant you were also a PowerPC fanboy, yet when Apple switched to Intel x86, few complained. The ones that did thought Apple was finished. Yet Steve Jobs was praised as if it was his idea all along.Kinda like when Apple opened a web store only after jailbreaking happened, because supposedly Apple’s original plans were for app makers to make web apps that ran in Safari.
I remember a very brief period of time when I defended my graphite iMac with a PowerPC and OS 9…then I used it for a few months and realized it sucked just as bad as WIN98. This time around I went in thinking it would be about the same and soon realized OS X with Intel is freakin’ amazing.
No, you just became a bigger fanboy during that time. :)
Well, actually I sold my iMac and went back to Windows for several years so…