High Caliber Guns Archive

UPDATE 01-17-11

Many people were unhappy to hear about the loss of the menu bar option. I found out today that the Sparrow developers have found a way to keep the option while at the same time meeting Apple's demands. This speaks volumes about the developers of Sparrow, but changes nothing about the problems with Apple's App Store policies. Let me be clear, I am not against the App Store nor do I think Apple's rules are draconian. Still, I think there are problems, sometimes damaging to users and developers, that are the result of Steve's desire to control. Ironic considering his beginnings.

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Let's face it, sometimes being addicted to what Cupertino has to offer is just a pain in the butt. Of course being fanboys we always find a way to convince others that what might look bad on the surface is actually a good thing. For that matter the really hard core fanboys among us actually convince themselves that what feel wrong at first is actually oh so right! Case in point, the new Mac App Store.

    I've read the inevitable articles from both sides. According to some the new app store is great for developers and customers alike while others think it is an abomination. My opinion of Steve's newest idea? My opinion is that my opinion doesn't matter...and neither does yours. 

    You may think that the market drives Apple but make no mistake, Apple is at the wheel. Sure, when they start selling Microsoft quality software and services left and right they will lose much of that power, but turning Apple into fruit salad will be a slow process and in the end Apple will continue to make billions of dollars as we continue to buy "Vistas" at just below critical mass. For now though we just accept what Steve has to offer and thank our lucky stars that he is willing to make himself like one of us and let us read one of his occasional emails usually containing some form of the word "no".  

So what causes me to utter blasphemy toward Steve and his new app store before it is even open for business? The story goes like this. For the last few weeks I've been using Sparrow to check my Gmail. Why did I start using this crazy cool app? Two reasons: first, I was tired to checking my webmail with Mail.app and second, Sparrow allowed me to avoid having to keep a tab open in Chrome to read my email while at the same time running a Gmail notifier in my Menu Bar. But today I found out the bird is flying the coup.

I wrote the folks at Sparrow this morning suggesting a new feature related to running the app in Menu Bar only mode as opposed to running in Dock only or Dock and Menu bar modes. I was informed that this would no longer be an issue in the next release of Sparrow. Why? Was it because the developers at Sparrow were ahead of me? Nope. The reason I need not worry my fat head about menu only mode is because the rules of the Mac App Store prevent them from using whatever solution they had devised to make this magic work in the first place!

That's right, the Mac App Store isn't even open and it just robbed me of an app and Sparrow of a sale. Now Apple will be ok without the sale, and the folks at Sparrow will likely be ok without the sale, but that leaves one person still shafted. The user.

Still, all is not lost.

Steve is doing this for our good, and I trust that in the end I will thank him some day. A man who's face has been on more magazine covers than Elvis's has been on plates can't be wrong. Not only that, Steve is all about making magical stuff that makes our lives better. How could the Mac App Store not be good?

UPDATE 01-06-11 (Mac App Store Launch Day)

I don't know how many, if any, others have read this post. I don't know if it has caused any confusion regarding Sparrow's feature set, but let me clarify. Sparrow has not removed the menu bar icon. They have removed the option to show only the menu bar icon. That is to say, if you wish to use the menu bar icon you must also have the icon showing in the Dock.

This is the opposite of intuitive, but it is not, strictly speaking, the fault of the developers of Sparrow. Still, it doesn't change what I'm saying here. As a matter of fact I could probably think of five or six times that I have installed an app and immediately removed it when I found out I have to have an icon living in two different places. It just doesn't make sense, especially for the types of apps a menu bar icon is usually used for i.e. Gmail, Twitter, Facebook etc.

Sparrow is a nice piece of software in my estimation, and if you don't use the menu bar icon or don't mind having two icons I recommend you give it a try. If you prefer to access your Gmail from the menu bar alone Steve has put his royal stamp of disapproval upon the idea.