The Chrome App Store Swinging the Pendulum WAY open

I’ve been very critical of Apple’s recent moves in deprecating java and excluding java-based applications from their new Mac App store. Their restrictive policies seem to be strong-arming developers into using their closed set of tools (and allowing apple to take 30% of all sales). So when I heard about Google’s new Chrome App store, I was naturally excited about the promise of a more open environment where apps are not shunned merely because they were built with a non-approved tool.

Unfortunately, it seems that they have gone a little too far in the opposite direction of Apple. The Chrome App store is meant to be a marketplace for web-based applications (i.e. anything that runs in a web browser). It allows users to install web applications so that they are added to their dashboard and can be easily accessed. Google provides tools for developers to handle purchases through the app store and keep track of user’s licenses. Unlike Apple’s closed model where only Cocoa-built apps need apply, the Chrome store invites all technologies that run in a web browser including HTML5, Flash, Silverlight, and Java (applets and webstart apps). I applaud Google for taking this step and for keeping the market open to such a wide array of technologies, but the current state of store is a little disorienting because they don’t seem to be very strict about the applications integrating into the app store frameworks. Many of the “applications” are just glorified web pages that can’t really be called an “app”. Others that could be classified as apps aren’t integrated at all with the app store other than the initial link – so that when you click on the icon, you are just taken to the app’s homepage that contains all kinds of advertising and gives an option to register for an account or login. When you’re clicking on an “app” icon to open an application, you expect to be taken directly into some sort of app interface…. you don’t expect to have to fill out a registration form or log in every time you visit.

My suggestion to Google would be to become a little more discerning about what kinds of apps get accepted into their store. They should start with a set of rules about one quarter the size of the Apple App store submission guidelines to ensure that the user experience is as close as possible to using a desktop application. If users have to sift through too much garbage, they’ll just give up and the app store will become a glorified set of bookmarks.

Apple to shut down its download section -> Why I’m not submitting to the App store

I suspected this step was coming. Since Apple is making a push to get people into its new App Store for OS X, it is shutting down its download section. This is decidedly bad news and depending on how it affects the market, it may mark the end of my development for the Mac platform. We’ll have to wait and see.

Why not just add my apps to the app store then?

I use Java for much of my development

I really do prefer to work with Java vs using an old language like Objective-C that is limited in so many ways. Apple has cut off access for developers like me who don’t want to use their “approved” APIs.

Apple Takes a 30% cut

This commission seems a little high… Of course it depends if the app store generates more sales to make up for the commission.

I don’t want ALL of my upgrades and transactions going through the app store

Apple dictates that all updates and license keys must be managed through their store using their API. This ensures that apple gets their cut of any transaction….

I still want to be able to distribute my apps to Windows and Linux users

I don’t have the man power to rewrite all of my apps from the ground up for every platform. Mac’s Approved APIs don’t lend themselves easily to distribution on Windows and Linux where many of my users reside. This is, of course, a business decision by Apple to try to lock users in to ensure that most software is “Mac Only”.

I am extremely disheartened by the direction that Apple is taking with OS X. I truely hope that the App store is a failure so that the market, if nothing else, can reign them in.