Indie Relief

In the opinion piece I wrote yesterday, I stated that I didn't want to believe the Mac software market was dying. After thinking it through, I really don't think it is, but today I got yet another reminder of why I don't want it to be true: Indie Mac developers are just great people. That was one of the things that attracted me to Mac development back in the days when Mac development really was a dead-end as a career path.

Case in point: Indie Relief. Over 150 Mac and iPhone developers have banded together to offer all proceeds of the sales from their application to Haiti to help with the relief efforts there. Now, if you know about the economics of indie software development, you should realize that this is a pretty big deal. Few indie developers are living the high life, and many scrape by some months. Yet, all the developers listed on the Indie Relief page are donating every last cent of their income from their application for a period of time. We're not talking about donating $10 or $100 dollars, we're talking about basically handing over paychecks.

Take a look over the list, and if there's some software you've been thinking about buying, now is the perfect time to do it.

Read more »

Posted in: Charity,Mac Developers

A Mac App Store

Back before WWDC, one of my long-shot predictions was the creation of a Mac App Store following the same business model as the iPhone App Store. It didn't come true, and now with the various issues surrounding the App Store, I've changed my mind that it would be a good idea. I've come to the conclusion that I like not having Apple as the gatekeeper for what Apps can do.

But, it's nearly impossible to argue that the App Store isn't convenient. It has its issues, but its a great idea, which is why the App Store is flourishing despite all the negative press.

Now, a third-party called Bodega is extending the idea to Mac applications, and it's a snazzy little application.



In some ways, Bodega outdoes Apple's iTunes Store. The interface is clean and easy to use, and it's filled with lots of little touches reminiscent of the Delicious Generation. For example, when you move the window around when the "Featured" option is selected, the little hanging signs you can see in the picture above swing with gravity and creak as they move. It's an unnecessary, yet completely satisfying little touch.

This project is still in its infancy, but it shows a lot of promise and it's one I'm definitely going to keep an eye on.

Read more »

Posted in: Cocoa,Mac Developers

MarsEdit

My next post will be the first one not written using Blogger's web-based tools. I recently bought MarsEdit from Red Sweater software, and I couldn't be happier about it. I now feel rather foolish for struggling along with the web-based posting tools for so long, realizing that every time I lost a post or spent hours tweaking the layout of code samples was all unnecessarily wasted time.

MarsEdit is a really great program that makes blogging much, much more pleasant and fun. It supports most of the major blogging platforms, is constantly being updated and made better, and it's just very Mac-like and easy to use. Plus, it's developed by an independent Mac developer, which means that by buying it, I'm supporting a peer, not some faceless corporate entity.

Daniel Jalkut (the independent developer behind MarsEdit) also maintains a great blog which has nearly 100 posts dedicated to different aspects of Cocoa programming which you should check out.

Read more »

Posted in: Blogging,Mac Developers,Other blogs