QuickPick Rejected From the Mac App Store
QuickPick is Seth’s application and document launcher. Apple has apparently decided to remove/retroactively-reject QuickPick as being too similar to 10.7’s Launchpad.
Update (2011-04-13): Developer Seth Willits told me that QuickPick was created in early 2007 for Mac OS X 10.4. He says that although the screenshots make it look similar to Lion’s Launchpad, it’s actually much more like the desktop.
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All the way back to Sherlock, they've been stealing 3rd party developers' ideas without compensation by just recreating them and relying on their disproportionately superior legal forces. (Back in the day when non-psychos ran the company, they used to actually license things like WindowShade from 3rd party developers instead of just stealing them in an effort to play fair with the little fish.)
Now they're just taking it the next logical step and not only stealing good ideas from 3rd party developers, but then trying to limit those developers ability to distribute their work.
It's great to have Cupertino as your "partner", no?
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Apple in 2011 = Microsoft in 1997...
Anyone still think Apple ISN'T going down the closed platform route?
Come on people. The end-game is clear. Apple want to control all aspects of the entire ecosphere, from the hardware to the development tools to the end product. And they want a cut of everything.
The Mac App Store is a joke. Not only are typical sales extremely poor, but the nature and layout of the store means price-slashing is the order of the day. That is, of course, if you finally get through the hoops and delays of the Application Submission process.
Apple have always been fairly ruthless and arbitary with its developers -- it's just been the price of doing business with them -- but now we're seeing what market dominance can really do.
"Anyone still think Apple ISN'T going down the closed platform route? Come on people. The end-game is clear."
If by "closed platform route" you mean that they're going to fully iOS the place, and you can't run code on your Mac without buying it from Apple's selection of products or purchasing an expensive "developer" license that will greatly limit the audience and supply for 3rd party OS X tools, I'm not sure.
I sure as hell think it's likely that's where they're going, but I'm not sure quite yet.
In a way, they might let everything open just atrophy, instead of just locking it down in 'jail'. Or, at least that might be the strategy for a while.
But, of course, I've begun planning for my exit, even though I'm not sure the lockdown is definitely where we're definitely headed. No more Apple file formats like iWork. No more things like Aperture where my organization and metadata are locked into the platform. If I have to move, I'm getting myself ready. And if I don't have to move, I'm fine with putting a bit wasted preparation in now.
As the Zach Holman post lays out nicely, OS X Isn't for Developers. And thus, OS Isn't for folks who rely on the obscure tools built by those developers which have been a boon to the platform over the past decade. As we move on, it's looking more and more like OS X Isn't for Hobbyists. And eventually we get to the point where OS X Isn't for General Purpose Computer Users...
[...] first mentioned this unfortunate story in April. I have a feeling we’ll be seeing a lot more situations like this once Apple starts requiring [...]
