Why the Mac App Store Needs Demo Versions
I’ve been in the market for a new RSS reader for a while. I used to use NetNewsWire, and started, back in 2009, looking for a replacement. Recently, though, I was having problems with my Mac freezing, and they only occurred when I scrolled through lists of articles in NetNewsWire. I have since dumped the program, (in part because the developer of NetNewsWire expects me to create a Google account to get support – yes, I paid for NetNewsWire. I went over to Vienna, but I’m not totally satisfied.
So when I saw an article about NewsRack, I was interested. No need for Google Reader (a deal-breaker), tabbed browsing, and a nice interface. However, am I really prepared to dump $7 on a program that may not be for me? In my tests of other RSS readers, it generally took me about three minutes to decide which ones I don’t want to use, and I really don’t feel like tossing away $7 for such a privilege.
The lack of demo versions is a serious weakness of the Mac App Store. For a $2 program, I probably wouldn’t hesitate, but once it gets up to $5 or so – not to mention the many programs at $20, $30 or more – I’m not taking that kind of a chance. Some developers offer “lite” versions of their apps, and this is a good idea. But Apple really needs to provide a demo function to reassure users that they won’t feel cheated if they buy an app that doesn’t work for them.
Posted: 2/8/2011 by kirk | Filed under: Apple & Mac OS X | Tags: Apple | 2 Comments »
AMEN! This is one serious flaw in the App Store concept…and one I think would be easy to fix by the software developers.
It’s not unique to the App store, however, but to almost all software downloaded. It’s tough to find somebody at the developers’ sites to refund your payments as it is, but impossible (almost) at the App Store.
Great catch!!
I used NetNewsWire for a while, but have switched to the Reeder beta. Unfortunately beta 10 (the newest one) is freeezing on startup and the previous beta has expired.
I really hope beta 11 drops soon.