With the very recent and public launch of Apple’s new App Store, a wealth of great Mac OS applications come within very easy reach of millions of users. It’s a very neatly implemented application, as we have come to expect from Apple, and largely does exactly what it says on the tin.
However, for Astute Graphics, and many other developers there are some significant clauses which prevent our products from appearing in Apple’s new third party storefront. The major clause from our own point of view is that Apple states all products made available via their system must install into the Applications folder and be self-contained. The very nature of plugins ensures that we can not comply with this. Therefore Astute Graphics’ plugin products are never likely to appear within the App Store unless further developments from Apple allow this.
Another issue we personally see with the App Store is the inability to offer a trial version. Autodesk offer a wonderful application now available at a very reasonable price via the App Store called SketchBookPro. They get around this issue by offering an Express version which has some key features removed, but it remains of great use to casual users. It also entices them to upgrade to the Pro version by simply being good at what it does.
And will we ever see Adobe Illustrator on the App Store for $19.99? Unlikely. Even if they did suddenly offer a 95% sale, their licensing system (as with many other developers) would preclude them from participating.
This post is not bemoaning what they have achieved; we will continue to look at Apple’s developments in this market with interest and do our part to consider options for future participation on the new wave of software retail.
Due to all the work associated with the launch of VectorScribe, the latest issue (June 2011, issue 188) of the UK-based Computer Arts magazine had been gathering dust. But we finally got around to a quick read and were very pleased to see Phantasm CS Studio v2, which was only launched under two months ago, receive a mention.
Astute Graphics policy on licensing and installation on second computers
12 May
2011
No Comments
Since the introduction of the new Astute Graphics licensing system in Phantasm CS version 2, it has provided customers the significant benefit of being able to transfer licenses, change between operating systems and Illustrator CS3, CS4 and CS5 without the need to purchase license upgrades. The recently-launched VectorScribe plugin for Adobe Illustrator also uses the same licensing system, providing the same benefits to users.
Astute Graphics’ policy towards the installation of a plugin on a secondary computer was originally outlined in this earlier post. However, since the launch of VectorScribe, we will clarify the situation with installing a license on a secondary computer in this article; the following applies to both Phantasm CS version 2 and VectorScribe.
Read the rest of this article »
Posted in Comment, News, VectorScribe