As a startup entrepreneur you’re always on the lookout for ways of serving more customers at each chance you get, whether it’s through marketing, generating leads, sales, or just plain ol’ helping someone else out. It’s about earning more than a starving artist’s wage. But as with any business, there is the craft of your business that you love to do and then there is the business of your craft, how to make money doing what you love to do.
Having said that, there are a number of quotes that I’d like to share:
- Never hand an ill workman good tools.
- An ill labourer quarrels with his tools.
So, what do these mean? A poor technician, i.e. workman, artist, writer, etc. makes excuses for the tools they use in getting the required results. It’s the same as saying that buying a great word processor will make you a good or even great writer. Not quite.
A good word processor (the tool) makes the task of writing easier, but it does not make your writing (your skill) any better. Whether it’s a book an author is producing or a graphic by an artist, it takes work and talent, using good brushes to do oil paintings with or using a good saw to finely and precisely cut wood. If you don’t know how to use them well, i.e. your talent or skills, it won’t make the results any better.
Apple is a tool maker
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Ok, Apple has changed things with how their systems works at getting new applications. Here are my thoughts:
- Installing App Store: I went through the “Software Update” menu and the software was installed.
- Accessing the App store: There are two ways of getting to the app store, through the Apple menu just below the “Software Update” and the app store icon next to the Finder icon. I’ll delete the app store icon, don’t want to take up valuable app screen real estate. I have my dock to the left, gives me more room on the bottom of the screen.
- Version tracking 1: First, I own iWork ’09 and the app store shows that it is installed. Bad part, I was expecting a new version. It’s been two years and this current version is getting long in the tooth.
- Version tracking 2: I own Pixelmator and in the About menu it shows 1.6.2 and when I go to the App store it shows version 1.6.4. Is this an upgrade? The app store that it’s a bug fix. The company that owns this app indicates that it’s an Apple thing, i.e. they want to, but can’t.
- Installed apps: I have installed Money3 to evaluate it for my finance program and dumping Quicken 2007 for the Mac. The app store shows that it is installed on my desktop (that’s where my temp stuff resides for the moment). It does NOT show Pixelmator installed on my Mac and I own it. Hmm.
- Top Apps: There are three basic categories of apps, Top Grossing, Top Free, and Top Paid. I don’t care for any of these Top ratings, I want to know which ones are Top Rated!! Add in an ascending and descending for cost and and ratings and you’ve got a better idea. The problem with the three initial Top categories is that they are not a true indication of the quality of the application. Maybe there should be a Top Demo listing added.
- No Demo App: There is not indication if an app is a demo app or not. If I am not able to evaluate the four to five financial apps for my business via a demo versions it makes the app store worthless at the moment. I’ll visit the vendor’s web site from now on until this feature is implemented. Where the “Buy” drop down button should be should have a “Demo” version of the software.
- Staff Favorites: I like this, gives me some idea as to what Apple folks are thinking.
- Purchases: I purchased the free app TextWrangler (updated from version 3.1 to 3.5) from Bare Bones and the first time it requires your password from your AppleID. Then the “Buy” button changes to “Installing” in the app store and a dimmed out icon shows up in your dock. Mousing over the icon gives a status of “Downloading” but no progress bar anywhere. Once it has downloaded it bounces to show that it’s done. Visiting third party Mac software web site and clicking on an iTunes story link does a quirky windowing thing moving from iTunes to the App store window. Buggy from my perspective. And will all future Mac software ONLY be able to go through the Mac App Store? Remains to be seen, but I’m guessing this will be the trend.
- My Ratings of the App Store: Meh. Too many things connected and intertwined and too few options.
There you have my thoughts. Do you have any?
