Mac App Store Frequently Asked Questions
 

We've been getting lots of feedback about the Mac App Store- here are a few questions that have come up recently.

[B]Is the Mac App Store the only way to buy your apps going forward?[/B]

Not. We'll continue to sell our applications directly from our [URL="http://store.omnigroup.com"]online store[/URL] in addition to the Mac App Store.

[B]Does the Mac App Store automatically integrate with my existing apps?[/B]

There are some cases in which an app will appear as "Installed" in the Mac App Store if the app ID and version number match up. This might lead you to believe that your existing apps can be updated through the App Store. However, if you didn't purchase the app from the Mac App Store, you won't be able to update through the Mac App Store. As soon as the version number changes, the Mac App Store will no longer think it's installed and will instead offer to sell you the app (the button will say "Buy Now" instead of "Installed").

[B]How will updates to the applications be handled?[/B]

The updates to apps purchased direct from us will be available as soon as we release them. Updates for the Mac App Store purchases may be delayed slightly, pending Apple's review process.

[B]I see a different version number on the Mac App Store than I see on your website; what's going on?[/B]

We're going to attempt to keep the versions of our products available on our website aligned with the ones on the Mac App Store as much as possible, but we may need to do updates specific to one store or the other on occasion.

The previous answer describes one case where this may happen; there may be a few others. If we need to fix a bug in our licensing code, for example, we don't think Mac App Store customers will want to download a whole new application just to keep the version numbers in sync.

[B]So, should I buy your apps directly through you, or through the Mac App Store?[/B]

It depends. It's important to think of the Mac App Store and our own [URL="http://store.omnigroup.com"]online store[/URL] as two separate channels that you can buy our apps through: the Mac App Store offers simplicity and convenience, while buying direct from us offers more flexibility in terms of upgrade pricing, bundle discounts, access to beta releases, and educational discounts.

If you're comfortable with the way you've been buying our apps all along, then there's no real reason for you to start purchasing through the App Store. If you're new to us and our apps (or even the Mac platform in general), it might be easier to buy from the App Store.

I'm a fan of the MAS already for the ease of install and update and the ability to install my apps on multiple Mac's (3 atm). Let's face it, for most apps it's a cheap way to get more than 1 license.

It would be nice if more developers follow Pixelmator's example.
[url]http://www.pixelmator.com/transition/[/url]

What about a free update to v2 for MAS OF buyers like Pixelmator did?
Or a short period lower price on the MAS after sending emails to all licensed OF users?
Any attack strategy in the works on the Omni front?

I am holding my breath on some apps for now but will upgrade to the MAS version after a while anyway. Since it's all still pretty new I'm waiting to see if any special deals on some apps I have pop up.

There will be a v. 4.0 OF for Mac. If I bought v.3.x from Omnigroup then on the Omni web store I'll pay an upgrade price. If I buy OF 3.x now from the MAS then how much will I pay for v4?

Seen on the Omni [URL="http://www.omnigroup.com/blog/entry/mac_app_store_or_omnis_online_store_your_choice/#comments"]blog[/URL]:
[quote=Ken Case]
At present, the Mac App Store doesn’t offer upgrade pricing for major upgrades. But if Apple hasn’t added support for that by the time we need it, our plan is to offer upgrade discounts on our own online store to Mac App Store customers.
[/quote]

That's probably as close as you're going to get to an answer, given that no one has disclosed a price for 4.0 (you said OF, but I assume you meant OO). As Ken has said elsewhere, Omni feels the value of their software is the same whether bought through their store or the Mac App Store, so they attempt to set the pricing identically. Seems like that boils the question down to "if I buy OO 3.9.5 today, and OO 4.0 comes out soon, will I have to pay full upgrade price for an upgrade?" and at least if you buy within 30 days of 4.0's availability, the answer should be that you can get it for free, so long as 4.0 doesn't cost more than 3.9.5 does. Omni might have to eat the 30% cut to Apple to do that "free" upgrade through the Mac App Store, however. Instead of buying it through the Mac App Store expecting the upgrade in a few weeks, it might be appreciated if you instead download the free demo of the current version and use that until 4.0 becomes available, whereupon you buy through the MAS. I don't think that 4.0 is going to be ready in anything like a month from now, however—I'm just describing a hypothetical situation where there's reason to believe it is within a month of release.

Thanks for that summary (and yes it was OO). This was a specific example for a general case but in the specific sense as long as Omni has their own store I'll be buying from them.

I have OmniFocus version 1.8.2 installed on my MacBook, and unlike other applications available in the MAS, it is not recognized as installed. I notice, however, that OmniFocus for Mac is also version 1.8.2. Are there any significant differences between these two applications other than their names?

I also have OmniOutliner Professional version 3.9.5 installed. When I select "Check for updates..." it tells me that 3.9.5 is the most current version. Yet, there is an OmniOuliner Pro for Mac on MAS which has the version number 3.9.6. Are there any significant differences between these two applications other than their names and version numbers?

Can I expect some future alignment in which MAS recognizes my installed versions of Omni Group products?

[QUOTE=hussar;91687]

Can I expect some future alignment in which MAS recognizes my installed versions of Omni Group products?[/QUOTE]

No, you cannot. Note the App Store cannot (and likely never will) be able to update apps that were installed outside of the App Store. So it's open to interpretation whether it is showing these as "Installed" is actually a bug.

[QUOTE=hussar;91687]I also have OmniOutliner Professional version 3.9.5 installed. When I select "Check for updates..." it tells me that 3.9.5 is the most current version. Yet, there is an OmniOuliner Pro for Mac on MAS which has the version number 3.9.6. Are there any significant differences between these two applications other than their names and version numbers?
[/QUOTE]

Sorry for the confusion this caused! There are differences, but no bug fixes or new features. OmniOutliner 3.9.6 only contains the specific changes that were necessary to get the app approved for sale on the Mac App Store. (Dropping support for OS 10.5 and earlier, for example.)

We're going to attempt to keep the version numbers aligned as much as possible, but the two may be out of sync on occasion. We didn't want to ask folks to download a new version if the only relevant change was the version number.

(Great question - I'll add this to the FAQ.)

[QUOTE=Luna;91399]It would be nice if more developers follow Pixelmator's example.
[url]http://www.pixelmator.com/transition/[/url][/QUOTE]
This is precisely how it should work, anything else just looks silly. Is there any logic to not following this example?

[QUOTE=Aldaron;92020]This is precisely how it should work, anything else just looks silly. Is there any logic to not following this example?[/QUOTE]
Yeah, the part where you lose all the flexibility of the Omni store (upgrade and educational discounts, sneaky peeks, etc.) would be a substantial loss to both Omni and its customers.

[QUOTE=whpalmer4;92021]Yeah, the part where you lose all the flexibility of the Omni store (upgrade and educational discounts, sneaky peeks, etc.) would be a substantial loss to both Omni and its customers.[/QUOTE]
Do you work for them? I was asking for an authoritative view.

I believe the authoritative view was posted above by jbrown @ Omni:

[i]buying direct from us offers more flexibility in terms of upgrade pricing, bundle discounts, access to beta releases, and educational discounts.[/i]

[QUOTE=Aldaron;92028]Do you work for them? I was asking for an authoritative view.[/QUOTE]

No mention of that in your query! If you want to ask a question directly of Omni, ask them directly via phone or email, don't post on a forum intended for user-user communication and expect other users to somehow divine your unspoken desires.

Another advantage for buying directly from Omni Group...
 

For those of us who still have Macs running Leopard, the MAS version will NOT work on anything except Snow Leopard. This is the deciding factor for me right now. I love the idea of the MAS but until all my Macs are running Snow Leopard, it doesn't make sense.

Why have I not upgraded to SL? Still own and use software that isn't SL capable.

[QUOTE=Aldaron;92020]This is precisely how it should work, anything else just looks silly. Is there any logic to not following this example?[/QUOTE]

This would be a terrible outcome based on the current US Dollar / Australian Dollar exchange rate. Buying on the MAS would result in a significantly more expensive purchase due to Apple's policy with regards to currency hedging. I am glad that Omni are maintaining both purchasing options.

I'd prefer the flexibility of buying directly from you guys, but now with the Mac App Store, does the Omni direct license still legally prevent me from running the software on both my home and work machines at the same time?

Ken, our licenses support being installed on multiple macs. If you choose the "Personal" license option on your various Macs, you're all set. The licensing code does check the local network to make sure they aren't in use on too many machines at the same time, but they don't "phone home" to us.

Great, thanks, Brian. From the license page, it sounded like you couldn't run it on more than one machine.

The license page does suggest you are not supposed to run it on multiple machines simultaneously. That would make it impossible to sync between two Macs using Bonjour syncing without a family pack or multiple licenses, however. Perhaps some clarification is in order...

I appreciate OG's desire to maintain two separate sales channels for their customer's flexibility and maintain equivalent prices. I am guessing it also help's OG's profit margins overall in maintaining the two channels, and a profitable company is one that gives you more good stuff more often :) ( ahem... as in Apple)

However it is confusing to customers and as the MAS becomes more and more used, that confusion will ramp as people expect to see "installed" on legacy purchases and update options through the MAS. Perhaps OG could brand or Title the non MAS store products differently... At least that would make it more clear.

It would also be more complex for OG to manage though. At any rate i wish them luck with the strategy.

I think that separate names would be WAY more confusing for people than simply having it in the app store and via OG's web site. If you needed something for your home and went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond and also saw it on Amazon's web site under a slightly different name, would you be confused? I would.

FWIW, it looks as if the the AppStore version of OmniFocus is unable to run a number of scripts on these forums which the non-AppStore version is able to run without any problem.

This is because its seems that the AppStore versions may have a different "bundle identifier", e.g.[INDENT][I]com.omnigroup.omniplan.MacAppStore[/I][/INDENT]rather than[INDENT][I]com.omnigroup.omniplan[/I][/INDENT]
If this is the general pattern with AppStore versions then the form of reference to applications which Apple has recommended since OS X 10.5 will not be transferable between shelf and AppStore versions of Omni products

[CODE]tell application id "com.omnigroup.omniplan"

end tell[/CODE]

might have to be edited to something like:

[CODE]tell application id "com.omnigroup.omniplan.macappstore"

end tell[/CODE]

Unless the 4-letter creator codes for an app also now vary between directly purchased and Appstore versions of Omni apps, the simplest and most durable edit might be to replace the long bundle identifiers with the short creator codes, which Applescript will also recognise.

Thus

[CODE]tell application id "OFOC" -- OmniFocus
tell application id "OOut" -- OmniOutliner
tell application id "OPla" -- OmniPlan
tell application id "OGfl" -- OmniGraffle[/CODE]

etc.

Creator codes can be discovered by running a snippet like:
[CODE]tell application id "sevs"
creator type of (application processes where name contains "Omni")
end tell[/CODE]

(Where sevs is the creator code for "System Events", otherwise known as "com.apple.systemevents")

In addition, existing applescripts which query the cache or modify defaults preferences will not run (without modification) on copies of OmniFocus purchased through the Mac App Store, even if they use a defensive form like

[CODE]tell application id "OFOC"[/CODE]

For a hack which should usually enable the AppStore variant of OmniFocus to run such scripts, see[URL="http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=21458"] this post[/URL].

For reference, two related posts:
[INDENT][URL="http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=21470"]Network externalities: Appstore-bought OF is worth less[/URL]

[URL="http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=21496"]FAQ: Enabling App-Store versions to use existing scripts and hints[/URL][/INDENT]

[COLOR="White"]--[/COLOR]

this is me
 

the part where you lose all the flexibility of the Omni store (upgrade and educational discounts, sneaky peeks, etc.) would be a substantial loss to both Omni and its customers

Anyway to change it?
 

So I just bought OmniOutliner tonight from the App store, and with what you said about upgrade pricing, I think I made the wrong decision. Any way to reverse that? When you move to version 4, I'd rather not buy it all again.

[QUOTE=kevinplarson;112657]So I just bought OmniOutliner tonight from the App store, and with what you said about upgrade pricing, I think I made the wrong decision. Any way to reverse that? When you move to version 4, I'd rather not buy it all again.[/QUOTE]

Not to worry, you won't have to lay out any more cash:

[url]http://forums.omnigroup.com/showpost.php?p=97278&postcount=3[/url]

I purchased OmniFocus after finding it in the App Store today, but I'd like to use it in English, rather than the default language on my desktop (Japanese). After searching the forums here I found the English-only version on your website, but after downloading it I realized it would require a license key and wouldn't recognize my previous purchase from Apple...any workarounds for this problem?

someguy2012: You shouldn't actually need the English-only version. You can just tell the system that you prefer to run this app in English.

1. Quit OmniFocus
2. Open the Terminal app from Applications/Utilities
3. Paste in the following command:
[CODE]defaults write com.omnigroup.OmniFocus.MacAppStore AppleLanguages '("en-US")'[/CODE]
4. Press return.
5. Launch OmniFocus

If that doesn't work, or you have any other questions, our Support Ninjas are happy to help: 800 315-6664 or +1 206-523-4152 or [email]omnifocus@omnigroup.com[/email]

That worked perfectly! Thanks for your help.