> So, while I don’t like Apple’s general direction, I do think that an iOS-like OS is great for consumer computers. I’m just not sure it’s great for the rest of us and everyone’s wallets when Apple is in control.
Let's get down to brass tacks. Nobody says you have to buy an Apple computer (and the author of this post points out that he doesn't have one). We're done here, right? Not quite.
Picking through the ranting what I think I see is someone who's upset about Apple's success and what they're doing with their market inertia. It was pretty much a given that if the App Store for iOS took off there would be an App Store for OS X. If we were in a pirate movie right now we'd call that a "parlay." Apple has done a lot of things right if your metric is strictly financial success. Where people seem to be incredulous is that (although highly subjective) Apple has also done a lot of things right when it comes to user/consumer experience. Nerds are not the primary audience for Apple's products. My parents, grandparents, and people who are more interested all things non-technical are. An App Store on OS X (and the existing one of iOS) is good for the two parties most important to Apple, normal users and Apple.
If you feel strongly about how this has shaken out then I challenge you to ask yourself, "why?". There are tons of ready-made excuses along the lines of "openness", "freedom", and "I don't like guys in turtle necks." None of them really matter. The problem of how non-technical people find and install computer software is decades old. As designers and developers we've largely left that problem to platform developers, sales, and marketing people. Now someone has come along and placed a viable solution into the mass market all while creating the potential to make a tidy profit. We call this capitalism.
This is a good quote to choose from the OP, because it gets at something I think people fundamentally misunderstand about Apple: they make products that _they_ want to use. The "consumer" they target in a "consumer computer" is themselves!
So while their Mac offerings certainly vary in terms of size and performance, they all must pass this test. The _worst_ Apple computer should still be one that they would be happy to use. To write software, to make music, to make spreadsheets, to enjoy movies.
This is why they've never compromised on keyboard size.
So to think that the Mac App Store is some sort of move towards draconian control misses the entire point. It's not control they want, but a trusted directory of Mac apps that don't crash or behave maliciously. Even a power user shouldn't have to waste their time on bad software (unless they want to).
Let's get down to brass tacks. Nobody says you have to buy an Apple computer (and the author of this post points out that he doesn't have one). We're done here, right? Not quite.
Picking through the ranting what I think I see is someone who's upset about Apple's success and what they're doing with their market inertia. It was pretty much a given that if the App Store for iOS took off there would be an App Store for OS X. If we were in a pirate movie right now we'd call that a "parlay." Apple has done a lot of things right if your metric is strictly financial success. Where people seem to be incredulous is that (although highly subjective) Apple has also done a lot of things right when it comes to user/consumer experience. Nerds are not the primary audience for Apple's products. My parents, grandparents, and people who are more interested all things non-technical are. An App Store on OS X (and the existing one of iOS) is good for the two parties most important to Apple, normal users and Apple.
If you feel strongly about how this has shaken out then I challenge you to ask yourself, "why?". There are tons of ready-made excuses along the lines of "openness", "freedom", and "I don't like guys in turtle necks." None of them really matter. The problem of how non-technical people find and install computer software is decades old. As designers and developers we've largely left that problem to platform developers, sales, and marketing people. Now someone has come along and placed a viable solution into the mass market all while creating the potential to make a tidy profit. We call this capitalism.