Mac App Store: The Doors are Officially Open

Hmmm …

Well, that seemed to have gone rather well.

Cautious well, at least …

As many of my Mac using friends, relatives and co-workers will no doubt be able to tell you, today saw the official launch of the Mac App Store.

As you’ve probably guessed from the pictures I’ve included …

Now, granted, I’ve not got much in the way of cash to spend on it, that doesn’t mean I have had a look around the place.

Now, I came away feeling rather impressed.

Impressed …

And a touch thoughtful, as well.

Now, as I’ve come to expect, the actual interface is — as I’ve come to expect from Apple — clean and easy to use.

Navigating around the store is a cinch, everything seems to be where I’d expect it: especially after all this time using iTunes.

There’s a seemingly good choice of software, as well, especially of the sort of casual game I like: and seemingly, there’s enough bits and bobs around at a reasonably price to keep most of us end-users happy for hours.

Including the updated version — I should add — of the iLife suite: seemingly priced up individually at £8•99p.

Easily with-in reach of an iTunes card.

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Which is where I start thinking about pros and cons and implications.

I’ll happily admit that the App Store strikes me as a good way of replacing and renewing assorted bits of software.

Saying that?

On a personal front, I’m still a touch unsure of replacing the versions of the suite I have on my faithful ol’ Mini, as iLife ’11 doesn’t include a current version of iDVD: that little app’s become more important to me, as I’m slowly building up a collection of photos of me nephew, Jude, and not all of my family have TV’s that’ll accept a USB drive with a movie on them: shoving a DVD in the DVD player’s the only way to go.

And I couldn’t help but notice there were one or two …

Well …

Absences …

For starters, I’m blowed if I could find some of the obvious things you’d think of looking for: obvious bits of productivity software, like the Mac version of Microsoft Office*, or Adobe Readerª.

And obvious gaps where I’d expect to see some of the open source stars: things like OpenOffice.org, Firefox, and GIMP, to give you the three pack leaders, for example.

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Now I can’t help but think that’s a shame, in a way.

After all, one reason I know a lot of people make the switch to a Mac is the easy availability of well known bits of software.

It strikes me as being a bad thing that Apple’s guidelines for the App Store seem rather tight on that front.

On the other hand … ?

Apple giving the treatment to an idea that’s been around on phones and Linux for a while can only be a good thing.

But I think we’ll have to give it a chance to develop …

* Which, to be fair, you can’t download from the Great Satan’s own site, here in the UK.

ª Although I can understand that, given that Preview has been the default .pdf reader under OS X for some time, and that the ongoing … distance … between Apple and Adobe has been public for a while.