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« Last post by mouser on July 08, 2010, 10:32 AM »
I agree with TheQwerty's point about it providing some value as well.
For me -- the core problem with the App Stores is much more fundamental and foundational, and that is that all of the incentives for such a store push it to favor the money-making applications being sold. The store makes money when people BUY things. The author makes money when people BUY things. The store makes money (like google ads) by selling ads to promote the things you can BUY. But no one makes any money on things that are free.. the store makes no money, the free software authors don't pay for ads, etc.
This means that there is every incentive and a constant financial motivation to promote and encourage commercial applications from companies that will buy ads, and every incentive to make it harder and harder for free software developers to get access and exposure.
In a sense, with the App Stores (much as with google ads), the game is rigged from the start. Freeware authors are allowed in, but they can never be allowed to displace the profit source that comes from ads and companies selling things. If free resources ever get within striking distance of impacting the profit from paying companies, additional walls will go up to adjust the scales. Maybe this means charging for secure certificates, maybe this means excluding apps that don't pass some elaborate evaluation process, etc.
The app stores do provide a service to the end user.. my concern is that there may be a huge risk that once you have an App Store that becomes *THE* gateway that all users use to find and choose software, you have essentially let the big corporations set up a checkpoint that ensures that the big monied developers have preferred access/exposure and that the small indie free authors fall farther into oblivion.
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