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Comment by YooLi | Hacker News Reader

Of course Apple doesn't want beta software in the Mac App Store. I don't want it either. If I want to experiment with some Firefox nightlies, I'll go and get them from the dev site. The Mac App store is geared at people who want software installation and maintenance to be painless and worry free. They are 'curating' it to be that way. It's not a software directory listing service where everyone can list their offerings.

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What happens when Apple "curates" it such that apps of a political nature are no longer allowed? Or apps that compete with their own?

EDIT: (1) There is a risk that the vast majority of the population (non-geeks), will increasingly rely on the store to get apps, so smaller innovators/FOSS projects will not have the same exposure as others if rejected. (Think the Microsoft antitrust issue with the preinstallation of IE on Windows. People could still get Netscape elsewhere.) (2) This could also be a first step, much like the iPhone/iOS app store, in Apple being the arbiter of all apps that are allowed on Mac OS X.

Then you have to go somewhere else to get those apps?

Walmart doesn't sell Target's house-brand goods either.

Not sure I follow you. What do you mean what happens? To me it means they won't be in the store and you will have to get them like you have been getting them this whole time. What happens when Shell 'curates' their convenience stores so Newsweek is no longer sold there?

edit:typo

In reply to your EDIT:, then people who are bothered by that switch to a different OS. Apple's OS isn't the only OS out there.

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