Catalina: Apple turns macOS into a closed platform; many audio-devs warned from the upgrade

[Markus Krause]

If you can control what software is running on your OS you can also control the market on this system.
This is what Apple does on the IPhone, it is what Sony does with the Playstation, Microsoft does on the XBOX, it is what Nintendo does,...: They take a %xx percentage fee from the sale over every game the is sold from the developer

[Urs]

Now, I realise that the revenue limit isn't that high in the grand scheme of things, but I still find it hard to believe that many "small devs of free software" actually go over that.

Hehe, sure.

But if people start complaining about costs for certificates... what about cost for websites? You need a certificate for your domain too. I can imagine that sending emails will cost (gnupg costs now, no?). We live in a world that's bee so corrupted by cyber crime, there'll be more and more measures of defence which we will have to pay for. It's sad, it pisses me off, too, but I accept the necessity and I know who to blame for it.

[Urs]

If you can control what software is running on your OS you can also control the market on this system.
This is what Apple does on the IPhone, it is what Sony does with the Playstation, it is what Nintendo does,...: They take a %xx percentage fee from the sale over every game the is sold from the developer

It's very simple: The day we have to sell our 149€ licences for 1.49€ through App Store, we'll be Windows and Linux only. Until then I prefer not to worry.

(As for cuts, they do 70/30? - seems pretty standard for software vendors)

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

If you can control what software is running on your OS you can also control the market on this system.
This is what Apple does on the IPhone, it is what Sony does with the Playstation, it is what Nintendo does,...: They take a %xx percentage fee from the sale over every game the is sold from the developer

Does Microsoft host apps on their appstore without taking a cut of the sales? And what about the games it sells through it's Xbox and PC stores? Are you so convinced that Microsoft will not end up doing something similar to Apple, at some point down-the-line, once Apple have paved the way? Maybe Linux is in your destiny

[Markus Krause]

If you can control what software is running on your OS you can also control the market on this system.
This is what Apple does on the IPhone, it is what Sony does with the Playstation, it is what Nintendo does,...: They take a %xx percentage fee from the sale over every game the is sold from the developer

It's very simple: The day we have to sell our 149€ licences for 1.49€ through App Store, we'll be Windows and Linux only. Until then I prefer not to worry.

(As for cuts, they do 70/30? - seems pretty standard for software vendors)

I still got an old contract with shareit. The average fees that i pay are below 10%

Every developer will have to decide for himself what is best from the economic aspect for him. To be honest and realistic: I assume i would pay the percentage fee to Apple instead of loosing a complete sale.

[Markus Krause]

If you can control what software is running on your OS you can also control the market on this system.
This is what Apple does on the IPhone, it is what Sony does with the Playstation, it is what Nintendo does,...: They take a %xx percentage fee from the sale over every game the is sold from the developer

Does Microsoft host apps on their appstore without taking a cut of the sales? And what about the games it sells through it's Xbox and PC stores? Are you so convinced that Microsoft will not end up doing something similar to Apple, at some point down-the-line, once Apple have paved the way? Maybe Linux is in your destiny

As mentioned before: The microsoft appstore for windows is optional. We are selling our software outside of it since 2001.
I added the appstore for the XBOX.

[Markus Krause]

No. Microsoft does not take a and never did take a percentage fee for any PC game - no matter where it was sold. The only exception is their own, optional App Store.
This is the reason why PC games are usually cheaper than the Playstaion or XBox games

Please note: I am not so biased at Microsoft as you might think. There are many things that i dislike and should be improved, but this is not the topic of this thread

[JunSev]

Thanks for all this info Markus.

[machinesworking]

If you can control what software is running on your OS you can also control the market on this system.
This is what Apple does on the IPhone, it is what Sony does with the Playstation, it is what Nintendo does,...: They take a %xx percentage fee from the sale over every game the is sold from the developer

Does Microsoft host apps on their appstore without taking a cut of the sales? And what about the games it sells through it's Xbox and PC stores? Are you so convinced that Microsoft will not end up doing something similar to Apple, at some point down-the-line, once Apple have paved the way? Maybe Linux is in your destiny

As mentioned before: The microsoft appstore for windows is optional. We are selling our software outside of it since 2001.
I added the appstore for the XBOX.

Yeah, and the App store is optional. You're still selling your software outside of it. You seem to be insinuating something different than that.

Digital signing =/= App store only sales.

[mladi]

Thanks for all this info Markus.

+1

[Markus Krause]

If you can control what software is running on your OS you can also control the market on this system.
This is what Apple does on the IPhone, it is what Sony does with the Playstation, it is what Nintendo does,...: They take a %xx percentage fee from the sale over every game the is sold from the developer

Does Microsoft host apps on their appstore without taking a cut of the sales? And what about the games it sells through it's Xbox and PC stores? Are you so convinced that Microsoft will not end up doing something similar to Apple, at some point down-the-line, once Apple have paved the way? Maybe Linux is in your destiny

As mentioned before: The microsoft appstore for windows is optional. We are selling our software outside of it since 2001.
I added the appstore for the XBOX.

Yeah, and the App store is optional. You're still selling your software outside of it. You seem to be insinuating something different than that.

Digital signing =/= App store only sales.

With software notarisation in Catalina macOS is not longer an open platform. Apple now got full control about what software is allowed to run on their system and which is not - at least for legit commercial software.

If you can control what software is running on your OS you can also control the market on this system. This is what Apple does on the IPhone, it is what Sony does with the Playstation, it is what Nintendo does, Google does, the XBOX does, ... : They all take a %xx percentage fee from the sale of every software that is sold from the developer. It is currently not the case for macOS but the door for this scenario has been opened for the future

[spinmeister]

With software notarisation in Catalina macOS is not longer an open platform. Apple now got full control about what software is allowed to run on their system and which is not - at least for legit commercial software.

This article seems to say that it's quite possible to run unsigned apps in Catalina (except kernel extensions):

https://eclecticlight.co/2019/06/15/wil ... -catalina/

Do you think that article is wrong or is Apple just doing something similar to what Microsoft has been doing for a long time with the warnings when unsigned code is installed?

And do you really have to pay $99/year - even if you don't use the app store?

[Forgotten]

Yes, it's possible to run unsigned apps in Catalina that have been distributed without using the App Store. It's just not as straightforward as running signed apps.

[Markus Krause]

Yes. Every dev needs to pay $99. Also when the software is distributed outside the App Store

It is possible that the article is not longer completely up-to-date. I will read it later, since i am tired now and want to go to bed (3 AM at morning here).

The whole signing process is very complicated. It's a little different and even more complicated for plugins than it is with regular apps. There also seems to be an additional, hidden grace period for audio-plugins from Apple's side. We currently do not know when it will end, but Apple asked us in an email how long we would need to finish the who trasition process of notarizing. Newer devs have to notarize everything while older devs only stuff after Aplril 2018.

Here is a thread with the most up-to-date info that we currently have:
viewtopic.php?f=33&t=531663

[Forgotten]

This is a pretty clear article on what works and what doesn't:

https://appletoolbox.com/everything-you ... -catalina/