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« Last post by mouser on July 03, 2010, 08:46 PM »
I want to comment on this. Windows 8 leaked documents suggest that Microsoft is going to get on the "App Store" bandwagon and have a kind of store where people can easily buy applications online and have them installed automatically, etc.
I don't buy the argument "Why should anyone work hard for the greater good of humanity when others become millionaires by selling crap to people?" -- i don't think that holds weight. People code for all sorts of reasons, and money is a minor one.
BUT:
I do not know if i am over-reacting or not thinking things through, but I do have a real worry that this "App Store" trend, while extremely convenient, will lead us down a path where we have "preferred" sellers (big companies) which come to dominate these "App Stores" and put freeware coders in a very bad position.
If getting your app into an official "App Store" requires some certification process that costs money and requires bureaucratic hoop jumping, and if money can buy higher placement in these stores, and if these online "stores" become the preferred place for people to get programs, etc.
I worry that App Stores are going to exacerbate the winner-take-all problem we already have on the internet where the top search results reinforce their position and lead to dominance of a category for no other reason than a positive feedback loop.
I worry that freeware coders are going to be even further disadvantaged by the nature of the App Stores, and that the financial success of the Operating System as a whole benefits from such phenomena, rather than being motivated to reduce it. Just as google benefits from advertisers spending so much money to get higher ranked search results, the App Stores will benefit from an environment where money is involved in App Store downloads.
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