Coda 2.5 is essentially complete. But, we’re still encountering sandboxing challenges. So, in the interest of finally getting Coda 2.5 out the door and in the hands of you, our very eager and patient customers, we’ve decided it’s time to move on—for now.
In short: Coda 2.5 will not be sandboxed, and therefore will not be available in the Mac App Store.
It’s unfortunate, but the folks at Panic aren’t the only ones running into these issues.
Panic is highly-focused and high quality. Just like, say, the OMNI group. If both of these long-time developers are being spurned by Apple in such a manner, I have no confidence to continue purchasing any more apps in the Mac App store convenient though it may be. I love how Apple’s solution is basically telling developers “go fuck yourself if you don’t like it” and folks are all “OK, guess we invent our OWN sync solution.” So what happens ultimately? I see tons of fragmentation and iOS spilt between competing cloud sync services. What if Panic decides to out iCloud Apple? They certainly have the talent and resources to pull it off given Apple’s track record in this area.
Yeah, Apple still has a limited, Disneyfied vision of what the third-party app market is. Companies like Panic need to keep sending them messages until they get the idea…I bought the current versions of Coda and BBedit but directly from the developers. That’s the way to go, IMHO. On top of everything else, in that way the developers get 100% of the purchase price, not just 70%. BTW, what exactly is Apple doing to earn that 30% anyway??
where are they telling them to fuck themselves? no, apple accomodates both models of app development — MAS, which includes lots of incentives like sync, and plain old non-MAS apps (which have not been removed at all), where you have to do more heavy lifting yourself.
so youd have to be crazy to not continue to buy MAS apps just because some other apps are incompatible with sandboxing.
and what does this have to do with iOS?
the 30% has been well argued for too long. besides infrastructure, it’s about distribution channels and sales. have you ever released a product before, like in the store? i have. you have to pay distributors to carry your product because they are the ones who get it in front of customers (the retailers, and then their customers the consumers). youre paying for their sales channel. without them, you have far less access to customers unless they come to you. that sounds great (100% earning!), but the reality is, they dont come so much….unless you spend much more in direct marketing. paying a distributor is cheaper and easier.
The MAS app should be similar or better than buying an app standalone, but certainly not worse. But when Apple is trying to entice devs to use MAS-specific features that don’t actually work as expected, and the devs clamor for change and Apple- content with their 30% doesn’t want to comply- yeah there is no real catalyst to get Apple to address obvious weaknesses in their app sandboxing. Likewise:
-and what does this have to do with iOS?
This is analogous to the lack of inter-app communications on iOS. Glaringly onvious, low-hanging fruit.
Apple needs to change here. Until then devs and consumers will continue to be on the losing end of this deal.
Open wins. 😉
Couldn’t resist. Lol. (Leave your pitchforks in their holster)