While Jettison and HistoryHound are still supported and sold on the St. Clair Software website, I’ve pulled them from the Mac App Store. The versions that were in the Mac App Store were older revisions, and it just didn’t make business sense to rearchitect the apps to meet Apple’s current requirements for approval so they could be kept up-to-date.
For both applications, complying with Apple’s sandboxing and feature constraints to get them approved for sale would have required significant rewrites. And in Jettison’s case, it would also require that buyers download a separate helper app to enable its full functionality. I realize that some people will be put off or inconvenienced by the fact that these apps are no longer in the Mac App Store – my apologies if you’re one of those folks, but it just doesn’t make sense for Jettison and HistoryHound.
Without going into a full-on rant about the Mac App Store (I could ramble on for days), let’s just say that while the Mac App Store is convenient for consumers, it doesn’t really serve the needs of some developers. Much has been written about it already (here, here, here, here and here, for example) so I won’t rehash it all – and despite years of “constructive criticism” from developers, Apple hasn’t fixed some major problems.
I hope you’ll continue to purchase our applications, as well as those from other independent developers selling outside the Mac App Store. While it’s a little less convenient than the Mac App Store, it allows us to bring you the best software we can, and also gives us the opportunity to foster a two-way relationship with you – both of which really matter to us.
– Jon
That’s ok., don’t worry.
we still love you completely and with our entire consciousness
Fully support you.
Never heard of you until now, but you’re not alone. Many others feel the same way.
Divided and together we can progress, but not divided and blindly following.
I’m not going to buy your products anymore if you don’t use the store, and tell my Fortune 500 friend and contacts to do the same. The store is proof of competence and safety. If your products aren’t there, your either incompetent or up to shady business.
I’m sorry you feel that way. My 28 years of writing and supporting Mac software (yes, longer than some App Store developers have been alive 🙂 ) is a much better testament to my competence and not being “shady” than my adherence to Apple’s sandboxing rules. Indeed, part of the _point_ of me selling my applications outside the App Store is my desire to have a real relationship with my customers – when a developer sells on the App Store, Apple gives us no information about who buys our software and restricts our interactions with you.
Actually, quite the opposite. Most of the top Mac developers, like Google, Microsoft, Adobe, and Wolfram, don’t put most of their apps on the Mac App Store. Most Apple apps aren’t sandboxed, either, so they wouldn’t be allowed on the Mac App Store.
On the flip side, it was only about a year ago that Apple removed thousands of infected apps from the Mac App Store, so being sandboxed is no guarantee of safety, either.
Why would you call this man incompetent or shady? As if no other possibilities exist? And then to threaten to tell your ‘Fortune 500 friend’ (singular!). That’s seriously mean and pathetic. It’s enlightening that the author is classy enough not to respond to your insults in a hostile way.
And at least he can spell.
The hundreds of apps available outside the Mac App Store that are legitimate and safe prove J. Wolfenberg’s statement patently false on its face.
It is based on a ludicrous assumption and nothing more.
J. Wolfenberg, piled higher and deeper. You should clock sometime how much true garbage makes it into the app store.
sarcasm is strong with this one.
You offer a very simplistic argument not really befitting of some you might assume would be capable of a more nuanced view. It does rather lead me to question the integrity of your comment.
[…] Jon Gotow: […]
Don’t listen to supposed Phd. App Store is a burden to developers and a tax which will only naturally die anyway given way to PWA, etc. I can only think Mac store would do same. Just release as a SaaS app and you’ll be fine.
I don’t blame you. I decided years ago to focus on “Web Apps” instead of investing in developing Apple Apps or Android Apps because I’d been burned by Apple before and they really do not make sense, except that Apple gets a cut of the money your customers pay.
Even that cut of the money isn’t huge issue it they allowed web apps on it, but they ask far too much when they require you use their tools and specifications because those tools expensive even if they give them to you for free.
I learned this back in the `90s when I invested in the “Apple Media Tool” to create interactive CD-ROMS. The cost, lifespan, and investment in doing “their way” just wasn’t worth it.
As far as what “J. Wolfenberg, PhD says”, he’s obviously not up to snuff on the issues he mentions and really shouldn’t even be in a position to make any decisions at all about “competence and safety” issues because he is deferring those entirely to others who’ll profit off of blowing smoke up his ass.
[…] schreibt der Entwickler Jon Gotow Mac-Software, den Rückzug von der Apple-Vertriebsplattform erklärt er in einem entsprechenden Blogeintrag mit wirtschaftlichen Gründen. Die Apps seien schon älter gewesen und es habe schlicht keinen Sinn […]
[…] Apps, die im Mac App Store angeboten werden, müssen Apples Sandboxing-Technologie nutzen, die den Zugriff auf Nutzerdaten einschränkt und viele Funktionen unmöglich mache. […]
Jon,
How do Jettison owners who bought the app on the Mac App Store install it on a clean macOS install without a serial number?
Just follow these instructions: http://stclairsoft.com/Jettison/faq.html#5
Note that for your case, you have to visit the Purchases tab in the App Store application, re-download the App Store version of Jettison (which you can still do, despite it no longer being for sale on the App Store) and then follow the rest of the instructions.