I make web stuff.A few weeks ago, Apple ruffled feathers in the developer community by quietly removing the link to the Downloads section from its formerly high-profile location in the main navigation bar on its home page. This disappointed many of us, as it will likely lead to far fewer casual visitors to the Downloads section, and consequently, far fewer click-throughs to our product pages.
Recently, The Unofficial Apple Weblog observed that Apple has stopped updating the Mac downloads directory entirely. For those few apps that happened to be among the last admitted into the directory, this is a boon. They are permanently fixed as the “most recent” updates, since March 26. For the rest of us, this does not bode well.
Does Apple plan to introduce a new App Store for “authorized” Mac apps? Are they simply disinterested in the Mac since the iPod, iPhone, and iPad have taken one such an important role in their public relations? These are some of the questions that run through the minds of Mac developers as we try to interpret meaning from the unexplained actions.
