Plans for MoneyDance Mac App Store app?
Chad
via web
I am seriously thinking about purchasing your product but do not see it listed in the Mac App store, do you have plans on putting a version in there?
via web
I am seriously thinking about purchasing your product but do not see it listed in the Mac App store, do you have plans on putting a version in there?
Support Staff 2 Posted by Ben Spencer on 19 Aug, 2011 10:26 AM
We would love to sell Moneydance in the mac app store and currently Apple are not allowing apps into the store that use Java. Java is the technology that allows Moneydance to run on Windows, Mac and Linux. If Apple ever removes this restriction we will definitely be in the store. Until that time the only way to purchase and download Moneydance is through our website.
Sincerely
Ben Spencer
Moneydance Support
3 Posted by John Selden on 19 Aug, 2011 01:49 PM
Ben--
I was actually going to raise this question myself. Isn't there a way around this? When Apple deprecated its build of Java, there was some uncertainty about the future of Java on the Mac platform. At the time, Sean assured us that Moneydance would continue on the Mac even without Java, because there was a Cocoa build of MD waiting in the wings.
Maybe it is time to finalize the Cocoa build and get into the Mac App Store? I have no idea about the size or growth of the MD user base, but it seems possible that future discoverability (and thus sales) of any Mac software will be limited if it is not in the App Store. And we all want to see MD succeed and grow.
Last month, after it was announced that OS X Lion would no longer support Rosetta, it became clear that Quicken 2007 users would need to find an alternative. I saw an article touting 10 alternatives to Q07 on the Mac. I was appalled to find out that MD was not listed! Most of the options were crappy check register programs that had nowhere near the feature set and maturity of MD. So how did MD get left out? The article only covered software in the App Store. This is the kind of thing that makes me worry: how can MD get the exposure it needs to grow without being in the App Store?
I know there are a lot of factors at play here, not the least of which would be the extra software development time to build and maintain a non-Java version. But if you all have any thoughts on this issue that you'd care to share, I'd be grateful.
4 Posted by Chad on 20 Aug, 2011 05:15 PM
I understand you want to keep the software across the platforms, but I think the App store is what it is all going come down to. Like I said I'm ready to buy financial software, and I like the way your software looks and the reminders feature, but if you have no plans to stay current with the technology, than I will look elsewhere.
Support Staff 5 Posted by Jon Hoover on 20 Aug, 2011 08:47 PM
Hi,
We have no immediate plans to switch out from java for Mac right now, though as was said, it is an option should it come to it.
Personally (i.e. not the company line on this) I think whether Moneydance participates in the App store is less a matter of our willingness to stay current with technology and more whether we want to be complicit in Apples increasing agenda to manipulate and constrain the limits of what their customers purchase and what developers for Apple are allowed to write programs in.
It is unfortunate that we are not allowed to participate in the app store due to conflicts between Apple and Sun (developer of Java), and hopefully at some point in the future we will be allowed to.
Sincerely,
Jon Hoover, Moneydance Support
6 Posted by bwells on 21 Aug, 2011 05:48 PM
Besides not being able to sell in the app store, does the conflict between Apple and Sun mean that MD will not work with Lion?
7 Posted by -Kevin N. on 21 Aug, 2011 05:52 PM
Hi bwells,
Look to this knowledge base article:
http://help.infinitekind.com/kb/frequently-asked-questions-2/is-mon...
HTH -Kevin N.
8 Posted by bwells on 21 Aug, 2011 06:07 PM
Thank you!