Is Apple's Mac App store a game changer?

The Mac App Store is coming in roughly 90 days. Steve is excited, and so are quite a few other people. According to two articles with brief developer interviews on Cult of Mac Most developers are looking forward to it. (1, 2) They also aren't sure exactly how it's going to work into their business strategies, yet, but they're excited about figuring it out.

What does an App store on Mac mean to the rest of us, though? It's hard to say right now, but the idea of high quality software for $0 and up is enticing. The software in the iPhone/iPad app store is generally of high quality. Apple's App review policy ensures that it stays that way.

Will the App store put an end to traditional software distribution? I doubt it. Not in the near future anyway. Apple wants 30% of the apps sale price, which won't fly with companies like Adobe or Microsoft. Not to mention that internet speeds are still slow enough in many places that downloading the installer for something like the Adobe Creative Suite - especially the Master Collection - would take too long for most people. But Adobe and Microsoft may find themselves left in the cold if they continue to push bloated programs that no one can truly master because no one uses most of the 'features' they have. Why spend $150 for a program that does more than you'll ever need if you can spend $20 and get a compatible program that will do everything you do need?

Another good thing for consumers is that Apple's approval process, while flawed, does create a minimum quality that developers won't be allowed to fall below. It will put a dent in shareware on the Mac, if not kill it. Why hunt for shareware of questionable quality when you can go to the app store and download an app you know will at least do what it says, and probably cheaper than a shareware program.

What about competitors? Will Microsoft create an App store for desktop Windows? For all versions? What about Google and the Chrome OS? If they do, will either have an approval process similar to Apple's? I can already answer that last question. They won't. Google's Android has an app store, but there is no review process that I'm aware of. Microsoft won't because it's not in the companies DNA. Steve Jobs has always been a micromanager, at least of projects he's really interested in. He has always wanted to control as much about the Mac's user experience as he can. The App store is one more step to total control.

If successful the Mac App store will have a profound change on software delivery on the Mac, and quickly. It's already having an effect. The effect it will have on other OS's is harder to predict, but unless it totally flops, it will have an effect. If it is as popular as the iPhone app store, Microsoft will have an App store for Windows by Summer 2011 at the very latest. They're probably already working on one. So the Mac App store has kept a few Microsoft software engineers employed for a few more months even if it flops.

(1) http://www.cultofmac.com/mac-app-store-what-do-developers-think/64859

(2) http://www.cultofmac.com/mac-app-store-more-developer-reaction/65036.

Apple sprays for worms

In my inbox today I had an email from Apple detailing over 80 vulnerabilities plugged in their latest OS update - OSX 10.6.3. Included in the details are the people who reported the various vulnerabilities. It fixes everything from a bug that allows a Mac to be hijacked when a user performs a spell check to the Apache web server built into OS X. This is a large update, and it really covers a lot of stuff. If you want to learn more, you can check out Apple's page on it.

Apple also released a security update for Leopard (10.5).

If you have a Mac running OS X Leopard (10.5) or Snow Leopard (10.6) you can get the updates through Software Update (either automatically or under the Apple menu) or the Apple download page.

OS X: Safer but less secure than Windows

Darren Murph at Endgadget reports that Charlie Miller is going to expose 20 zero day exploits for OS X at the upcoming CanSecWest. Mr. Miller has been exposing holes in OS X for years, and has twice won the PWN 2 OWN hacker contest by taking control of Apple computers. A third time he took control of an iPhone.

A zero day exploit is a piece of malware that takes advantage of a vulnerability that is not generally known, so there are no patches, updates, or workarounds to keep it from being used. Unless the person who discovers the zero day exploit informs the creators of the software being exploited the vulnerability probably won't patched until after someone writes some type of malware that takes advantage of the exploit.

If you, like me, are a big fan of Apple Macs, you know that Apple likes to tout the security of OS X and the Mac. If you are an honest Mac user you realize that OS X has vulnerabilities. Some have even been exploited, if not very successfully.

Charlie Miller is very good at what he does - find security holes so they can be patched before the bad guys can take advantage of them. His years of work in computer security have given him a good perspective on the state of Mac security vs Windows security, and that insight produced one of my favorite quotes on the subject:

"Mac OS X is like living in a farmhouse in the country with no locks, and Windows is living in a house with bars on the windows in the bad part of town."

In other words, Macs are safer, because there aren't that many people trying to break into them. Windows computers are more secure because the security holes are constantly being patched. As much as I wish it weren't so, the analogy works.

OS X: Safer but less secure than Windows for now

Darren Murph at Endgadget reports that Charlie Miller is going to expose 20 zero day exploits for OS X at the upcoming CanSecWest. Mr. Miller has been exposing holes in OS X for years, and has twice won the PWN 2 OWN hacker contest by taking control of Apple computers. A third time he took control of an iPhone.

A zero day exploit is a piece of malware that takes advantage of a vulnerability that is not generally known, so there are no patches, updates, or workarounds to keep it from being used. Unless the person who discovers the zero day exploit informs the creators of the software being exploited the vulnerability probably won’t patched until after someone writes some type of malware that takes advantage of the exploit.

If you, like me, are a big fan of Apple Macs, you know that Apple likes to tout the security of OS X and the Mac. If you are an honest Mac user you realize that OS X has vulnerabilities. Some have even been exploited, if not very successfully.

Charlie Miller is very good at what he does – find security holes so they can be patched before the bad guys can take advantage of them. His years of work in computer security have given him a good perspective on the state of Mac security vs Windows security, and that insight produced one of my favorite quotes on the subject:

“Mac OS X is like living in a farmhouse in the country with no locks, and Windows is living in a house with bars on the windows in the bad part of town.”

In other words, Macs are safer, because there aren’t that many people trying to break into them. Windows computers are more secure because the security holes are constantly being patched. As much as I wish it weren’t so, the analogy works. Hopefully Apple is working to change that.