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Operating Systems Security Software Apple

Mac OS X 10.6.6 Introduces App Store 408

Orome1 writes "Apple today released Mac OS X 10.6.6 which increases the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac. What's also very important in this release is the introduction of the long-awaited Mac App Store with more than 1,000 free and paid apps."
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Mac OS X 10.6.6 Introduces App Store

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  • by Fibe-Piper ( 1879824 ) on Thursday January 06, 2011 @10:56AM (#34777086) Journal
    People were previously not able to buy enough Apple products online, in the Apple store, and Best Buy and Walmart. Finally a new way to consume more!
    • It should be said that Apple is closing down their previous marketplace because of this, though. :p

      http://news.yahoo.com/s/zd/20101221/tc_zd/258336 [yahoo.com]

      • Does this mean that anyone without OSX 10.6.6 can't get the app store, and therefore can't access the traditional software downloads area from their Mac?

        • Yes, provided they also decide they will never again apply a patch to their install of 10.6, for whatever stupid reason. This isn't a "Leopard" to "Snow Leopard" upgrade. It's a routine patch, just like previous ones with security fixes, bug fixes, etc. Skipping it would basically mean you're not going to ever patch your system again.

          But considering the "traditional software downloads area" was simply a directory with links to various development shops' websites, and not a repository run by Apple, I thin

          • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

            by vux984 ( 928602 )

            Yes, provided they also decide they will never again apply a patch to their install of 10.6, for whatever stupid reason.

            And what about everyone who doesn't have 10.6?
            10.5 and even 10.4 are still pretty common.

            I think it's very likely that people looking for Mac software will find it just fine using Google if they decide they just can't use the App Store.

            Hopefully. It would suck if you got to the developers website and it just linked back to the app store to buy it.

            • by Americano ( 920576 ) on Thursday January 06, 2011 @11:39AM (#34777798)

              Everybody who doesn't have 10.6 can continue installing software like they always have - they lose nothing by not installing this patch.

              If you need an app that's only sold on the app store, and the developer totally refuses to sell it any other way, then do business with someone else, or consider whether or not it's time to upgrade to 10.6.

              More and more software is being released "Snow Leopard only" because it takes advantage of features and frameworks that were added in Snow Leopard. At some point, getting "new stuff" will require you to have a system that's capable of running that "new stuff".

            • Officially this is a feature of 10.7 "Lion". They're just releasing it early.
              You can't seriously expect Apple to include new features from a paid software update into their old systems. The $29 upgrade to 10.6 is hardly an issue for anyone able to afford a Mac to begin with.
              The only people that can really complain are the G5 owners who don't have the option to upgrade to 10.6. But they should be considering themselves lucky that their computers haven't already been killed by the PSU/Logic Board capacitor
            • They do as they normally do, go buy a boxed copy of iWork from the Apple Store, or go download TextWrangler or Delicious Library from the developers' websites.

            • by LanMan04 ( 790429 ) on Thursday January 06, 2011 @12:54PM (#34779340)

              Here are the stats I see on our website (major financial institution):

              OS X: 100.00%
              Intel 10.6: 53.27%
              Intel 10.5: 31.25%
              Intel 10.4: 5.64%
              PPC 10.4: 4.78%
              PPC 10.5: 2.33%

              The remaining 2.73% is crap data.

            • I really can't see doing this (I'm a Mac developer myself)... I'd much rather sell "directly" through my existing payment processor (about 10-11% fees in total) than through the App Store (30%), but I'd still like to have the App Store as an option, since it will undoubtedly provide me better exposure. But I'm certainly not looking at going to an App Store-only model.

              The one unfortunate thing - I'll have to have parallel releases of my app, as the App Store version can't have any home-brewed copy protectio

            • 10.4 and 10.5 will still be just as useful. They will not be any less productive. Using those OSes means that you are likely on hardware that is at least 4 years old for 10.5 and longer for 10.4. You clearly have known how to get software for a while, so continue doing it that way.
    • Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Thursday January 06, 2011 @11:35AM (#34777706)
      Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • Since they aren't paying for duplication, printing, shipping & counter space costs, software downloads SHOULD cost significantly less than hard copies. I'm looking at you, Blizzard!
        • Surely the hard copy costs substantially less than £125 or so per box for Aperture or even £19 per box for iLife. People turn a profit selling things off the shelf for less than that total with higher marginal costs and lower volume.

          Seems to me they should cost only slightly less than hard copies, if anything.

          • Floor space on the App Store isn't worth $5,000 per square foot like in an Apple Store. :-) Hence the price difference, though that might change. ;-)
      • Comment removed based on user account deletion
        • by Graff ( 532189 ) on Thursday January 06, 2011 @12:16PM (#34778594)

          Apologies for replying to myself, but it'd be useful if someone could post the USD prices for comparison - see if they're trying to implement regional price differences (over and above the necessary exchange rate + taxes) or not.

          Take a look at this article:

          Mac App Store Launches with 1,000 Apps, Big Discounts [wired.com]

          Apple's flagship photo-editing software, Aperture, is in the store for just $80. You can still buy it from the conventional Apple Store, but it'll cost the usual $200.

          The three iWork apps, Pages, Numbers and Keynote, cost $20 apiece, a saving on the usual $80 bundle price.

    • People were previously not able to buy enough Apple products online, in the Apple store, and Best Buy and Walmart. Finally a new way to consume more!

      Now they can do it without using gas and 'consuming more' helps the economy. See what thoughtless hate buys you?

  • Apple today released Mac OS X 10.6.6 which which [sic] increases the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac

    Looks like CmdrTaco has been studying at the Fox News School of Journalistic Neutrality. I believe the preferred formulation would be, "Apple today released Mac OS X 10.6.6 which Apple claims 'increases the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac'".

    • Didn't you mean the CNN School of Journalistic Neutrality?

    • Looks like CmdrTaco has been studying at the Fox News School of Journalistic Neutrality.

      Or, you could notice the fact that the story starts with "Orome1 writes " and that the text is a direct quote from TFA.

      So, maybe someone just refrained from editorializing to suit your tastes.

      We could equally say "SirGarlon (845873) needlessly pisses and moans about articles he feel should be slanted to his tastes".

      When Firefox (or whatever piece of software floats your boat) gets its next announcement on Slashdot, are

  • It would be interesting to hear from anyone with more experience on the subject.

  • Using software update, anyone know if this can run without mods on my hackintosh?
    • If you updated the last delta without having to replace your kernel and rebuild the cache, etc., then you SHOULD be able to, but you'll probably get a more definitive answer on one of the dedicated OSX86 sites. I can tell you that VMware installs require nothing more than running the updater and rebooting, though.

  • I don't think we're going to see this blow up like the iPhone app store. I don't think people are crazy for apps - they are crazy for mobile apps. The mobile platform offers a specific set of benefits and drawbacks that makes it ideal for the app explosion we've seen:

    - Location awareness
    - Accelerometer functionality
    - Forward and/or rear-facing cameras
    - The novelty and utility of the web in your pocket
    - Bandwidth limitations and limitations imposed by the form factor, reducing the utility of what's possible

  • Why do we need to upgrade and reboot the operating system to run, just, a new application? What has changed in the OS itself that enables this AppStore application to run (and I'm confident that it's not the additional Postscript patch) ?
    • by 0racle ( 667029 )
      There is more to 10.6.6 then just the App Store, not much more but there are various patches and security updates also included.
    • I would imagine there are some new underlying hooks that help implement the updating process. The new store not only installs directly to your machine but the OS keeps an eye on each and every program and integrates it into the "Software Updater" feature that is natively included in the system utilities.
    • by am 2k ( 217885 )

      Apps have to return a special exit code when the appstore verification fails (for example when the app was copied from another Mac). The global app launcher has to check for that exit code and launch the verification process in that case. I guess the dock app also needs minor modifications for that download animation.

    • by v1 ( 525388 ) on Thursday January 06, 2011 @02:12PM (#34780804) Homepage Journal

      Why do we need to upgrade and reboot the operating system to run, just, a new application?

      Love it or hate it, Apple will drag its userbase, kicking and screaming if necessary, forward. In the end it's for the good of both Apple and their customers. If you want to live in the past, install windows xp ;)

      Apple supports their OS to, at most, one version back. Period. No exceptions, no extensions. But they also do their damndest to make the transitions as painless/smooth/transparent as possible. (classic,rosetta,etc) If you make it easy and orderly, and do it periodically, it's not a problem for the vast majority of users.

Programmers do it bit by bit.

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