We developers are familiar with the benefits of Open Source-distributed code: we can re-use the stuff other people achieved in our own applications and experiments. Giving back to “the community” feels nice, too. Most of the day-to-day benefits are centered around the free re-use. But the mentality of being part of Open Source is far more than that. I realized how precious the mindset is to me when I thought about how the gym I train at is managed.
These wishes by Dan I can easily get behind:
The picture Dan is painting is dim, but it’s also spot-on. Wishes don’t always come true, and you probably know that some people on the web simply complain and write open letters to Apple instead of wishing for a better future.
Dan’s stance is more productive than complaints, though: Because when you complain, you’re adopting the mentality of a deserving victim. Change the status quo instead.
It’s your turn to do what’s right: if you don’t believe in what’s going on, make something better. On the Mac, you have the power to do so. As an indie app developer, you can distribute your software outside the Mac App Store. Or you can try new business models like Setapp is doing (which I presume to be subscription based for unlimited access to a wide range of apps).
Bitching doesn’t help. It doesn’t improve your own mental state, and it doesn’t make the world a better place. Only doing something will bring change.
Drawing from Dan’s list of wishes, a controversial topic is In-App Purchases. Some people say IAP are the future of making business, that paid up front is dead, and that developers should deal with the reality and adapt. Instead of finding out the truth, think about what you want to make, and which future you want to help bring about. Then act accordingly and never falter.
I watched “Managing Consistency of Immutable Models” by Peter Livesey where Peter shows how RocketData works. Very worth the time! I’d call RocketData a uni-directional data source. It’s uni-directional because you set up the DataProvider as the source once, wire update notifications to view updates via the delegate property, and you’re done with the setup. Update events include:
I utilize NSResponder actions in TableFlip to move the selection around. Naturally, neither a standard NSTableView nor a custom NSResponder implement default behavior for (most of) the methods I need to support arrow key movement, tab movement, and the usual shortcuts, like Cmd-Left to jump to the first cell in the current row. Or Alt + arrow keys to insert a row or column next to the selection. So I implemented this in a custom NSResponder subclass.
I participate in this year’s BundleHunt “Holiday Bundle” (running until January). I submitted both the Word Counter and TableFlip – mostly to see what happens.
I’ll disclose the details of my calculation later. This is an experiment: does presence in a bundle with so many hundreds of thousands of subscribers affect my regular sales and visibility? Being part of the bundle is like advertising, only I don’t really pay anything, I just make a lot less money when somebody buys the app from the bundle ($0.60 per license sold, or 97% discount for an app priced at $19.99). If the bundle sells 5000 times and 50% of bundles include one of my apps, that’s about $47,000 I will thus have “spent” on marketing. Imagine that. What a crazy number!
“These 2500 people could’ve paid you $20 instead and you’d be rich!” – Not quite.
My tools are targeted at users with very specific needs. The bundle is mostly targeted at folks wanting to make a deal. It’s people I may usually not attract at all. So even if I sell 2500 licenses through the bundle, I bet most of the customers will be people who wouldn’t have bought the apps without the bundle. I don’t really lose money if that’s true.
Part of the experiment is to find out what kind of people are going to buy the bundle.
I said this sometime in the past already: if you care about 1 app in a bundle of 10 and don’t want or need the other 9, contact the developer directly and ask for a discount. If MyDreamApp costs $50 and is part of a bundle for $20, ask the developer to buy the app directly for $20. This way they will make 10x more than from the bundle alone (ignoring bundle fees). That’s infinitely more % than not having you as a customer at all. It’s a good deal for everybody.
If you really do want to buy the BundleHunt Holiday Bundle because of the great offer, use this link and I’ll get $5 extra as an affiliate. Merci beaucoup!
I’ve just finished updating the book “Exploring Mac App Development Strategies” for Swift 3. Looking at my Word Counter, this 4th edition sports about 15000 new words in the book and code combined: I re-wrote a lot of chapters and source files. I also expanded a few sections to add more context and incorporate things I learned in the past 2 years.